Second-time retiring opinion editor Ken Allen has on many occasions made my day by calling to say he particularly liked a column I had submitted. I value Ken's opinion on matters of writing more than anybody else's that I know, and will deeply miss him as he finally departs The Gleaner.

Ken started with the paper in 1952, fresh out of high school and has spent his entire working life with The Gleaner, a great newspaper then and now. There was no CARIMAC then and journalists were trained by apprenticeship. Ken Allen became a highly educated man prior to obtaining any formal higher education. Other familiar older journalists like John Maxwell, with whom Ken started his apprenticeship at The Gleaner on the same day in 1952, and Wilmot Perkins, and, of course, the late Vic Reid, one of Jamaica's great novelists, Calvin Bowen, and Ulric Simmonds were apprentices too who became highly educated men in the great liberal arts tradition.

Ken has reverential respect, even awe, for that great editor and journalism teacher, Theodore Sealy, from whom he learned so much, not only about journalism, but about life and the world. A piece of memorabilia that Ken will take with him from his Gleaner desk is a memo from Sealy to staff about using language correctly and effectively in the craft.

Thinks too much

The absence of a robust community of thought and ideas is one of the fundamental problems of Jamaica. One of Morris Cargill's last columns was 'Martin Henry thinks too damn much'. The same could be said of Ken Allen. And I loved thinking with Ken. When he wouldn't call, I would call just to trade ideas, for which he seemed to always have time, and, of course, calling sometimes had the ulterior motive of providing him an opportunity to tell me that he liked a column.

Ken and I were/are intellectual soul mates. We see and understand the world in broadly similar ways and apply history and philosophy as critical analytic tools. I thought religious worldview, faith and practice might have been a point of difference. I was both surprised and elated when Ken told me how touched he was by my homiletic 'Forgiveness, healing, restoration' [October 19, 2008].

Howard Campbell's story last week on Ken's retirement, along with the great photojournalist Junior Dowie and senior proof-reader Harvey Josephs, mentioned Ken's degree from the prestigious School of Journalism of Columbia University on an Inter-American Press Association scholarship. What the story didn't say, and perhaps the self-effacing and quiet Ken didn't tell the reporter was that he did the same work as graduate students at the School of Journalism, but then having completed that one-year programme, he applied and was accepted to do the three year Bachelor of Science degree in government and public law.

Ken Allen has a deep and wide understanding of Jamaican politics and society from his over half a century 'ringside' position at The Gleaner. Ken has been my opinion editor, with a light and easy touch, for most of the 21 years of this column. And when editor-in-chief Wyvolyn Gager invited draft editorials from me, Ken and I worked even more closely together in a strong, synergistic partnership.

Shrewd analyst

Quite apart from a headful of knowledge of the events which make up our political history, Ken is a shrewd analyst of personal and political character and we have talked a lot about those. I will leave him to deliver his own post-retirement profiles of the prime ministers one of whom used to call the paper early in the morning to express his irate displeasure with any negative news coverage, splashing his tirade with colourful Jamaican expletives. One of the main reasons why quiet and peaceful Ken had only a short stint as editor-in-chief, was the 'political' pressure of the office - political pressure in the broadest sense of all kinds of sectoral interests wanting to twist the arms of the country's most powerful media voice to give them good press.

Like Ken Allen, Hartley Neita deeply knew Jamaican politics and politicians from a somewhat different ringside seat in communication and he had a passion for history. The Gleaner brought both giants together in the publication of Hartley's historical pieces including his daily flagship 'This Day in our Past'. As a history lover and user myself and amateur researcher, I immediately fell in love with Hartley's 'This Day in our Past', a must-read for me and regularly used in the column.

When a team of us out of the University of Technology was researching the history of telegraphy in Jamaica and needed stories from the newspaper archives, we tapped Hartley's expertise for the search. Among the juicy tidbits that Hartley dug up for us, on time, on target and very jovially, was this one:

October 19, 1966: The Government declares a State of Emergency in Western Kingston and the offices of the Parliament are deluged with telegrams addressed to the Development and Welfare Minister and Member of Parliament for Western Kingston, Edward Seaga. They are sent from the Corporate Area, mainly, but there are some from all over the island. Those seen by the news media are in support of Seaga regarding the debate taking place into the circumstances of the State of Emergency declared in his constituency. Most quote from the Bible and other religious sources. Examples are: "No weapon that is forged against thee shall prosper"; "You only murdered poverty to make us better people"; "We shall not turn our backs from you although the host of hell is upon you. For on Christ the solid rock you stand - all other ground is sinking sand".

Independent writer

Hartley became an independent writer churning out historical notes, articles and whole books, only in retirement. Vic Reid managed to become one of our major novelists while earning his daily bread as a journalist and government worker; John Hearne, while an instructor. Writing in Jamaica does not pay.

Now that my esteemed ally and mentor, Ken Allen, is properly retired, he should do a Neita for us. And the paper at which he spent his working life in distinguished fashion should perhaps set him up as one more of the great national contributions that The Gleaner institution has made.

Martin Henry is a communications consultant. Feedback may be sent to medhen@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.