Editorial: An ode to the Paddock newspaper family

When word went out Thursday that as part of the company's conversion into full employee ownership, the Paddock family is in the process of selling its 120-year interest in the Daily Herald, we immediately began hearing from former co-workers all across the country.

Some offered stories from their times working for the Paddocks. Some got in touch to toss verbal bouquets in the family's direction. Some wanted to say thanks and to wish the family well. Some were just exercising the Paddock bonds that connect us all through decades of newspapering.

The depth of the affection most staff members here have always felt toward our owners is unusual in business.

You have to work here to fully appreciate it.

As a standing tribute that hangs outside our Editorial Department reads, for "a dozen decades, we've been blessed with the Paddocks and their spirit of community service. Across four generations, the Paddock family has been steadfast in its devotion to the newspaper and a source of inspiration for journalism excellence in our newsrooms."

The family involvement in the newspaper company began on Dec. 15, 1898, when Hosea C. Paddock bought the 28-year-old Palatine Enterprise for $175.

A teacher with dreams of newspapering in his blood, Hosea traveled the countryside on his horse Bonnie and later by carriage, trolling for news and subscribers, sometimes offering papers and advertisements in exchange for oats, apples, chickens and other produce.

He was followed by sons Stuart R. Paddock and Charles Paddock, who headed the newspapers into the 1960s, overseeing explosive circulation growth and actively promoting good schools and the public well-being as the suburbs boomed.

They were followed by Stuart's children - Stuart R. Paddock Jr., Robert Y. Paddock and Margie Flanders - who engineered the conversion of what were then triweeklies into a daily newspaper that would become the state's third-largest.

Today, Robert Y. Paddock Jr. and his cousin Stuart R. Paddock III are actively involved as company executives with overt devotion to both the good of the community and the good of the company's employees.

If you work here, you feel that devotion, and through decades of Paddock ownership, employees always have.

We don't just feel it. We're inspired by it.

We embrace our Paddock tradition and we give such thanks for it.