June 29, 2026 Editor, The News-Gazette: Glen Rose was an extraordinary writer and thinker. His death, in my opinion, was a devastating loss for The News-Gazette and for all of us who read it.
His intelligence and understanding of politics were profound. He never minced words, but he also never attempted to use his words as a cudgel. He never made gross generalizations about people whose politics differed from his own, and he never made up “facts” to try to prove the unprovable.
He was never mean spirited and divisive. He never implied that he had all the answers and anyone who disagreed with him was stupid.
His columns were more like essays, which, as Mr. Paxton noted, challenged readers “to think and examine their own views.” His writing was of a caliber one might expect to find in The Washington Post or The Guardian, but seldom in a small local paper.
We were lucky to have him, and I fear you will be hard pressed to replace him. But please try. Now, more than ever, we need intelligent, compassionate, open-minded voices to help us navigate the corruption and hate, the bigotry and lies that are increasingly commonplace in our society. Long live The News-Gazette! PHILLIP WELCH Rockbridge County
