Mr. Elliott Passes
Bud Elliott — one of the San Joaquin Valley’s longest-tenured television news anchors — passed away in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 18.
He was 76.
Mr. Elliott — whose name adorns this blogsite — had courageously battled Parkinson’s disease for more than a decade.
That disease had forced him to retire from KSEE 24 in Fresno in 2014 after 27 years on the air.
For years during the station’s evening newscasts, he co-anchored with Stefani Booroojian (right).
During his morning news stint, his co-anchor was Faith Sidlow (below).
And Bud reported on virtually everything in the life of our Valley.
He was the face of Crimestoppers at the station. He covered breaking news and agriculture. He even anchored a wedding, live on the air.
He did it all well.
Bud had had years of news experience before he and wife Peggy decided to move to the Valley in 1987. He had worked on local news in Denver and in Richmond, Virginia. He’d had a stint at CNN in Atlanta.
But it was in Fresno that he and Peggy and their two children put down roots.
I was privileged to get to really know Bud and Peggy after his retirement from Channel 24. We had covered several stories together before that (when I was at KMJ Radio) — and I retired a year before he did.
We started meeting at Starbucks here in Fresno — just two getting-older guys, palavering about journalism. Or politics. Or stories we had covered.
Back then — we’re talking 2016 — Bud was still active — and actively battling Parkinson’s.
At his doctors’ orders, he was going to a gym once or twice a week and boxing against a punching bag to keep his muscles active.
He was using his spare time to engage in woodworking.
It was in August of 2016 that we decided to try to keep our “voices” in the community alive by putting up this blogsite.
I remember as if it were yesterday that my son Bradley met Bud and me at the Starbucks at River Park in Fresno to find out how we wanted the blogsite to look.
And Bradley put it online within days.
As you can see if you go back into our blogsite archives of those early days, Bud and I often discussed politics. Donald Trump was just about to be elected to his first term as president, and we figured there would be plenty of fodder for discussion.
But Trump’s election unleashed a torrent of comments in every newspaper and on every website in the land, and we decided we had nothing original to offer regarding him.
So gradually, we pivoted to historical or lifestyle discussions.
And all too soon, Parkinson’s made it more difficult — and eventually impossible — for Bud to write.
We would continue to meet at Starbucks — any Starbucks at any time — and talk about journalism and life and the difficulty of getting older.
After all, we had experience with all of that.
In those years, we occasionally were joined by Bud’s former morning show co-anchor Faith Sidlow and our wives (right).
More than once, legendary Fresno Bee reporter George Hostetter would join us (left). George had retired from the Bee and was working on a news website. Between the three of us, we had enough tales about the stories we’d covered to last a lifetime.
George is now gone — passed away a few years back.
I come back to Parkinson’s. Bud’s doctors tried everything to slow the disease. Every modern technique. Every medication.
And for a time, it worked, slowing down the spread. And then, it didn’t.
The last time the four of us — Bud, Peggy, Sharon and I — got together was at the La Boulangerie bakery at Fig Garden Village in Fresno about a year ago.
It was emotional. Really emotional.
And now, Bud is gone.
Of course, I will miss our friendship and conversations all the rest of my life. More than I can express here.
What I will tell you is what I told a reporter who called today — that Bud was smart. Experienced. Curious. Everything that you need in journalism.
But more importantly, he was a fine, fine friend — and a great husband and father.
He was, in short, a nice man.
RIP, Mr. Elliott.