Matt Driscoll: Gratitude for remembering a good life lost

Re: “Matt Driscoll: Coloring a more complete picture of Klara Bowman, Tacoma’s ‘drunken teacher’” (TNT, 10/15).

Matt Driscoll’s writing is worth the entire Tacoma News Tribune subscription amount. With the Klara Bowman piece, as always, Driscoll is brilliant both in wordsmithing and more importantly, with his skill at diving straight into the heart and soul of a particular issue.

Only a real journalist would make the time to research a stale story from a completely different angle, gather a raft of supporting facts, visit a cheap motel in Kent, then travel to Spokane to visit with long bereaved parents in order to bring some deserved light to a serious social ill. Alcoholism has not been given the substantive discussion it needs, and Driscoll brought to our attention the life of a really good person who fell victim to that ill.

There are still heroes in the world, those who defend the defenseless and try to right wrongs. Not all of them wear capes or wield a mighty sword. Some of them wear glasses and wield a pen.

Thanks, Matt. You are a treasure.

This story was originally published October 17, 2016 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Matt Driscoll: Gratitude for remembering a good life lost."