Kickstart: Heavy metal, heavy hearts

I'm going to step aside today and let Bill Bregar take center stage for Kickstart.

Bill joined the staff of Plastics News before its first print issue and died unexpectedly on April 5 of an apparent heart attack. He was 58.

Anyone who knew Bill knew he had a joke or a story for every occasion (not all of them fit for family trade newspapers). And when we started staff blogs on plasticsnews.com, Bill took advantage of his platform under the Heavy Metal name to share some of his wisdom, including a recent item on the importance of estate planning.

And now I let him share a few highlights one more time.

On his first job and the work ethic his father provided.

"My father was a coal miner in western Pennsylvania, then he moved to Cleveland to become an autoworker. He loaded door panels for Cadillacs onto the assembly line. They shipped them by rail to another factory.

"I never heard him complain that his boss yelled at him, or that he needed some motivation. He got paid. That was enough for people like my dad, who built the cars, made the steel and mined the coal that built our country."

On the role Sears played in the growth of rotomolded toys, starting with a Little Tikes turtle sandbox sold in its catalog.

"When I was younger, I went with my dad to the Great Lakes Mall. His name was also Bill, but we have different middle names. We would go on the same route — Orange Julius, the Pepperidge Farms store where we ate all the free samples (and later said how this made those mall stores go out of business). And on to Waldenbooks — an oblong store in the mall, with magazines and promotional books set in the front.

"We would go to Sears. Lawn mowers. Kenmore appliances. Craftsman tools. I took my son Sam there once and we played pingpong. And now my hometown Sears is closing in the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, Ohio."

From one of his first blogs in 2015 on the pending skilled worker shortage.

"Unfortunately, the worker slowdown hangs, long-term, over the economy like a dark cloud following Eeyore, like dirt hanging around Pig-Pen.

"And it's not just plastics. I've got a good plumber, but he's in his late 50s, and he's not going to be contorting his body to get to pipes under the sink forever.

"Where's my next plumber gonna come from?"

And from just last year, after his wife's unexpected death.

"Don, Frank and Steve are some of my closest friends. I've known them for more than 20 years. They know my whole story, with all the ups and downs, as well as the story of my wonderful wife, Nancy.

"They become an important part of your life, these people you work with, and spend so many hours around. And in the embattled world of journalism circa 2019, we're just like soldiers in a way. We've withstood a common enemy: Turmoil and layoffs that are devastating the publishing industry.

"But most importantly, these great friends have been there to lend an ear in this challenging point in my life. More than just coworkers, they are helping me deal with a dark time."