I Write What I See

In my job as a reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press I get to cross paths with a lot of fascinating people.

Doing this blog, it's the same, but with a twist.

Case in point: Lynda "Tuck" MacIntosh provided me a while with a number of photos and documents regarding the old camp cook Davey.

One caught my eye. It was a newspaper article written by Ron Poulton about Davey under the headline I Write What I See.

It appears it was written in 1947 and ran in the Winnipeg Tribune.

What got me curious was, who was Poulton? As it turned out, he was one of Canada's great newspaper men.

Here's his obit story as it ran in the Toronto Sun in 1993:

Newsman Poulton Dead At 77

The Toronto Sun

Wed. Nov. 17, 1993

Page: 42

Section: News

Ron Poulton was a writer's writer, a literary alchemist who turned mere words into gold.

The former Toronto Telegram columnist and Sun associate editor died aged 77 at his West Hill home Monday of natural causes, his wife of 48 years, Kay, by his side.

``He'd been enjoying his retirement years, his three grandchildren, reading history and gardening,'' the middle of three sons, Dana, said yesterday.

``He was a brilliant writer,'' said Sun editor John Downing. ``Each word was painted as a painter paints a brush stroke.''

Doug Creighton, a co-founder of the Sun ousted as CEO last year, remembered Poulton as a ``total pro.''

``He ran the bureau over in London for the Tely years ago,'' Creighton said from Edmonton, where he was promoting his new book, Sunburned. ``He was one of the best writers I've ever met.''

While at the Tely, he wrote The Paper Tyrant, a book on John Ross Robertson, founder of the Telegram.

He joined the Sun as associate editor two years after the demise of the Telegram. He is best remembered at the Sun for his 1976 book Life in a Word Factory, the history of the fledgling tabloid that turned Toronto on its ear.

History, however, remembers him as the wordsmith who covered the world for the Telegram.

He could move readers, such as he did in his 13-part series of Sir Winston Churchill's life and times or awe them with the tale of his 1961 visit to Hiroshima, Japan, site of the first atomic bomb attack.

Born in Moose Jaw, Sask., Poulton served with the Saskatoon Light Infantry during World War II, then with the Strathcona Horse Regiment before transferring to the Maple Leaf, the serviceman's newspaper.

The curious thing for me is how Poultan met Davey, and why he took the time to write this column. My only guess is because it was important to him just to tell the story.

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