Bill Roberts always remained calm as he orchestrated the content of the Herald’s popular opinion pages for 26 years. That was sometimes not easy to do. In a year’s time, letters could amount to more than a thousand, some from writers who wanted their work to appear right now, some who needed some heavy editing, a few which needed an editor’s note. A letter writer might appear, unannounced, at the Herald’s front counter to press his case orally.

At north City Market, where Roberts shopped, there could be “thanks” delivered warmly, or not so warmly.

The immediacy of e-mail could bring a half dozen letters on a news story by 8:30 a.m., causing the queue to be reshuffled. Letters must appear in a timely fashion.

And, there would be an occasional telephone call along the lines of, “Oh, oh, I didn’t mean to hit send. Can I have it back?”

Most recently, the ways to comment on news stories and opinion pieces have become numerous. But the number of letters – almost all by e mail, now – has not declined. That is a tribute to the Herald’s news department as well as to its opinion content, but a lot of people clearly want to see their opinions appear on newsprint. And that has meant Bill Roberts.

Locally, La Plata County has many experts, or almost experts, on an endless number of topics who can also write. That makes Sunday’s pages rewarding to fill, and Bill has said so.

As to national columnists, Roberts has had an eye for selecting their more provocative columns. Some readers have said they consider that content to be their new thought for the day.

When it came to tactfully suggesting to a visiting political candidate that the position he just stated was full of complexities – or worse – Roberts usually had only one or two questions, but they were always on target.

Not so well known was Roberts’ involvement in the InterAmerican Press Association, where he advocated for a free press in meetings with newspaper owners and editors in Central and South American countries where governments and despots might be applying real harm. His committee memberships with his adventuresome efforts in friend-making and in Spanish represented the best of journalistic support.

In the many editorials Roberts wrote, there was always some wonderful language. He wrote well, using uncommon language to avoid the conventional. Addressing a weighty topic was a challenge he enjoyed; an editorial topic which would be mostly praise was something he passed to someone else.

The Herald’s popular community coffees will be returning soon. Roberts very ably worked to involve the dozen or so attendees in the conversation, holding off those who wanted to dominate. We’ll try to do as well.

Roberts’ fellow members of the editorial board will miss his insight and wit on a regular basis, and thank him for his leadership of the opinion pages which have engaged so many readers.