I will never forget how nervous I was walking through the doors of the Cassville Democrat office for the first time.

It was 1986, and I was a recent graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Mike and I had just moved back to his hometown, and journalism jobs were few and far between.

The Democrat wasn’t advertising any open positions, but I decided I would go in and introduce myself to the Mitchell family who had owned and operated the small community newspaper for decades. With a newly printed resume quaking in my hand, I asked the Democrat’s longtime Office Manager Darlene Wierman if the editor, Bob Mitchell, had time to meet with me.

I remember Kathryn Mitchell, Bob’s mom, was sitting at the front desk next to Darlene, and Sue, Bob’s wife, was working in the production, or “pasteup,” room in the back.

It was as if Norman Rockwell’s painting, “A Country Editor,” had come to life and I immediately felt at home.

Luckily, I knew enough to visit the office on a Thursday after the weekly paper had been printed and mailed, so Bob did have a few minutes to meet with me. I walked into his office, introduced myself and handed him my resume.

He didn’t look at it for long and set it down on a desk cluttered with notebooks and papers and old issues of the Democrat. He asked me briefly about my background and my experience and then proceeded to tell me all about my husband’s prowess on the football field when Mike was a Wildcat and Bob covered those games every Friday night.

That initial conversation spoke volumes about Bob and the role he played in the Cassville community during his lifetime. I immediately knew he loved his town and cared about the people who lived there.

He was a true old-school newspaper editor who for decades “covered Barry County like the morning dew,” and his death on Nov. 7 at age 94 leaves Cassville without one of its biggest champions.

Bob ended up offering me a job as a general assignment reporter. My desk was initially located inside his office, and until I earned his trust, he would go to meetings and then ask me to write the story from his notes — a rather unorthodox way of reporting.

Soon, I graduated to attending council meetings and school board meetings on my own, and he seemed generally pleased with my work. I eventually moved out of his office and into my own, and when he and Sue would leave on a well-deserved vacation, he’d let me take the reins as interim editor.

With Bob, it was always a little hard for me to tell whether he thought I was doing a good job. He had a reputation for being a little gruff, and he wasn’t one to sugarcoat anything. I usually had to ask for his feedback, and sometimes, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was always what I needed to hear.

Working for Bob helped thicken my soft young journalist’s skin, and I learned a lot by watching him run the Democrat, which would serve me well when he offered Mike and I the opportunity to purchase the newspaper in 1995, almost 10 years after he gave me my first reporter’s job.

Buying the Democrat was a daunting step, and Mike and I felt the weight of the Ray/Mitchell family legacy on our shoulders. But as scary as it all seemed back then, I remember finding strength in knowing Bob wanted us to succeed.

And, he made damn sure we had all the support and knowledge we needed to run a community newspaper that had been serving local readers since 1871.

The shoes were big ones to fill, and there were definitely growing pains along the way as Mike and I pursued our own vision for the Democrat. We kept Bob on the payroll as an advisor and weekly columnist, so he was a regular visitor to the office on Main Street.

He continued to offer his advice — some solicited and some not — until we moved from Cassville in 2013.

It wasn’t until we were leaving that Bob finally told me he was proud of me. He came to our going-away gathering, and I’ll never forget the moment when he gave me a huge, unexpected hug.

With tears in his eyes, he told me he was glad he’d sold the Democrat to Mike and I, and he added softly that he was sorry to see us go.

Bob was a mentor to me, and he helped launch my journalism career. He taught me to love community newspapers and to use them as a vehicle to connect readers with the information they need to navigate life where they live.

He inspired me to take tough stands on issues important to the communities I have served and to not take it personally when people didn’t agree. He taught me that running a newspaper in a small town is what accountability is all about because you live among the people you are reporting on, and it’s a responsibility that neither Bob nor I ever took lightly.

To me, Bob symbolizes a storied time in the history of newspapers, especially in Missouri. He was an unabashed advocate for any effort he believed would strengthen Cassville’s economic future.

He was a key force in recruiting various industries to town, and he was heavily involved in the Cassville Industrial Development Corp. from its inception.

Bob could also be a sharp critic when he thought community leaders were headed in the wrong direction. This didn’t always make him the most popular person in town, but his bark was worse than his bite, and ultimately, Bob’s legacy is one to honor and respect because he consistently put home and family and community first in his life and career.

Thank you, Bob, for giving a young couple the chance to live out a dream. You made a big impact on our lives and those of countless others who have called Cassville home over the years.

Rest in peace my friend and mentor. You have earned it after an illustrious career that spanned a lifetime.

Lisa Schlichtman is the former editor and co-publisher of the Cassville Democrat who purchased the paper from the late Bob Mitchell in 1995.