{"id":29273,"date":"2024-02-10T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-durango-herald-editorial-page-editor-dies-at-73\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:52:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:52:38","slug":"former-durango-herald-editorial-page-editor-dies-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-durango-herald-editorial-page-editor-dies-at-73\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Durango Herald editorial page editor dies at 73"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Bill
Bill and Cathy Roberts (Courtesy of Cathy Roberts)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Bill Roberts, former editorial page editor for The Durango Herald<\/em>, died on Thursday after he fell and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He was 73 years old.<\/p>\n

Colleagues and family remembered him as a man with an \u201cextraordinary\u201d dry and nuanced sense of humor he expertly wielded in provocative editorials, which were sure to stir up conversation among residents of Durango.<\/p>\n

Cathy Roberts, Bill\u2019s wife, said he used to say, \u201cIf you\u2019ve been around Durango for very long, I\u2019ve either (ticked) you off by writing an opinion piece that you didn\u2019t agree with, or I burnt your steak or I spilled your drink on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill had strong personal beliefs, but his views transcended partisan lines and he didn\u2019t adhere to any strict ideology, Cathy said.<\/p>\n

He had a burning desire to understand other people\u2019s thoughts on issues, even when he fiercely disagreed with someone\u2019s take on one thing or another.<\/p>\n

Although he might have opposed someone else\u2019s take on one subject, he was well aware they\u2019d likely be aligned on the next one, Cathy said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The late Bill Roberts, center, and, from left, his daughter Jordan Anderson, wife Cathy Roberts and son Ian Junkermann at Purgatory Resort in 2014. (Courtesy of Cathy Roberts)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In the days when editorial submissions were still delivered in print by hand, Bill took time to sit with, talk to and understand the people who submitted their opinions. No matter what his own thoughts were, those opinions would always be well represented in his work, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a thoughtful observer of events and people and wrote in a clear and persuasive, understated way,\u201d Ballantine Communications Board Chairman Richard Ballantine said on Saturday. \u201cHe always looked for something unique. And letter writers have told me that Bill took time with their submittals. His view of goings on in La Plata County and the world will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill was born on June 1, 1950, to Jean and William Roberts Jr. in Pittsburgh. He and Cathy married in 1996 and remained so for 27 years until his death on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Cathy met Bill after she was hired to be the Herald<\/em>\u2019s secretary, her first job after moving to Durango, she said. Bill was the editorial page editor then.<\/p>\n

\"The
The late Bill Roberts, former editorial editor for The Durango Herald, was featured in Herald Editorial Cartoonist Judith Reynold\u2019s 2017 caricature \u201ccelebrating his always interesting, always compelling writing for the editorial page.\u201d (Courtesy of Judith Reynolds)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Judith Reynolds, Herald <\/em>editorial cartoonist and a friend of Bill, who hired her in 1995, said it was easy to see Cathy and Bill were in love.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe blooming romance was pretty obvious at the Herald<\/em>,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were both working in parallel, and they clearly, clearly loved each other. And I was more than honored to be invited to their wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cathy said on Saturday that \u201chis intellect and his kindness were what drew me to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill valued public discourse and exchange and the facilitating role the newspaper played in that, particularly in the opinion pages, and took great care of letters submitted to the Herald<\/em>, she said.<\/p>\n

He had a wicked memory and could recall obscure facts off the top of his head, such as the name of the secret police in Haiti (the Tontons Macoutes).<\/p>\n

Even after his retirement in 2017, Roberts read several newspapers daily. At 70 years old, he decided to act on his long-held passion for music and take up piano lessons. It was challenging, but it brought him joy, his wife said.<\/p>\n

\"Mika
Mika Inouye, left, stands with Bill Roberts in May 2023 at the Third Avenue Arts Scholarship recital at St. Mark\u2019s Church in Durango. Roberts died on Thursday after falling and suffering traumatic brain injury. He took up the piano late in life at age 70 and Inouye provided him with lessons. (Courtesy of Judith Reynolds)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHe loved it,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cHe\u2019s always been a music lover but he wanted to learn to read music and play the piano. So it did kind of enhance his appreciation of music and it was a struggle. He worked hard at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynolds said Bill told her he wanted to make productive use of his retirement and that\u2019s why he took up the piano.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so open minded and so open to new things and also not taking himself terribly seriously,\u201d she said. \u201cReally, his willingness to be a beginner at something impressed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mika Inouye, a respected chamber musician, pianist and harpsichordist chair in town, gave Bill piano lessons, she said.<\/p>\n

Cathy said Bill was also a proud glider pilot, and flying was a \u201ckey part of his identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He flew commercially and eventually bought his own glider and would fly it in the Animas Valley. He was drawn to flying because of the challenge of training and obtaining his pilot license. It was about the mastery of flying, she said.<\/p>\n

In a Herald <\/em>editorial published Jan. 12, 2017, announcing his imminent retirement<\/a>, Roberts said the Durango newspaper \u201crepresents the second half of my working life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween expressing opinions in editorials and columns, editing letters, burning steaks and spilling coffee, I have had the opportunity to offend just about everyone around here. I hope I haven\u2019t too badly \u2013 or at least not too recently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He closed that piece by saying, \u201cWhat I am sure of is that because of the Ballantines\u2019 willingness to take a chance on me, I have been able to get to know this community and its people in depth and in a way few can. It has been an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bill
Bill Roberts, right, with Ken Walker outside Sweeney\u2019s at Purgatory Resort. Roberts co-founded the restaurant in the mid-80s, his wife, Cathy Roberts, said on Saturday. (Courtesy of Cathy Roberts)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cathy said Bill happened upon the Herald <\/em>after his co-owned restaurant business Sweeney\u2019s at Purgatory went under.<\/p>\n

Bill Roberts is survived by Cathy; their son Ian Junkermann and his wife Hannah; his daughter Jordan Anderson and her husband Ethan; his and Cathy\u2019s grandchildren Elisha and Grace; Anne Averyt and her husband Dennis; Barbara Roberts and her husband Russ Sherrie.<\/p>\n

Services for Roberts are scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church of Durango, 1159 East Third Ave.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"The
The late Bill Roberts, center, poses with his sisters Anne Averyt and Barbara Roberts in 2019 in Cypress, California. (Courtesy of Cathy Roberts)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the late Bill Roberts\u2019 sisters, Anne Averyt and Barbara Roberts, as sisters-in-law. They are his sisters, not in-laws<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colleagues remember Bill Roberts for his thoughtfulness, sense of humor and persuasive approach to opinion pages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,255,950,28,3151],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-death-and-dying","tag-durango","tag-headlines","tag-media"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80692,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29273\/revisions\/80692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29273"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}