It was actually an MSU English teacher who sent me to Dr. McGaughey. In my second year of English literature, my essay professor asked me if I would consider English as a major, and I wasn’t really interested in that. “Well, then you need to go talk to Dr. McGaughey and consider journalism,” was her advice.
So that’s what I did. And every day since that day when I went to his office and spoke to him about changing my major, I am grateful. Every day. For a girl from a REALLY small western Kentucky river town, there would have been every opportunity for someone of Doc’s stature to just give me a cursory answer and send me on my way. But that scenario could not have been further from the truth of what actually happened. He helped me get started with classes, watched over my shoulder as I made my way through my first semesters, mentored me as I took on the role of an MSU News editor, encouraged me, cheered me on, and ultimately handed me the E.G. Schmidt Award for Outstanding Senior in Journalism in 1976.
And of course, not only did Doc do all that, he also frequently crammed some of us on the newspaper staff into his car and took us on an outing to the racetrack. Doc was WAY more than an outstanding academician. He was a student’s best friend. For this girl who could have been viewed as a hayseed hot off the tractor, Bob McGaughey gave me every semblance of journalistic credibility as students who were there from big city high schools. He was, undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons I am today the president of my own publishing company. Forever grateful, Doc!
Darlene Mazzone, president of Mazzone Communications of Paducah and publisher of Paducah Life magazine
