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Ron Lee’s move from Texas to Snohomish County a few months ago was as much a homecoming as a job opportunity.
The Herald’s new director of advertising grew up in Eugene, Ore., and his wife, Becky, was raised in Bellevue. She won all-state honors as a volleyball player at Sammamish High School in the mid-’80s.
After 21 years working for newspapers in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and College Station, Texas, Ron Lee says they were relieved not only to escape the grueling Texas heat, but to return to comfortable, familiar surroundings.
“We’re having a good time renewing our relationships with the people, the country and our families here in Washington,” he said.
The Lees settled quickly in Marysville, where their youngest daughter, Jayne, is a freshman at Marysville Getchell High School. Their older children, Dan and Amanda, are off at college.
But Ron Lee really knows he’s home now that fishing season is approaching. He plans to resume some of his most treasured childhood pastimes — the pursuit of salmon and clams.
Like any sportsman, of course, some of Lee’s early memories say more about perseverance than immediate success.
“I’ve got a very distinct memory of digging razor clams at Copalis Beach one fine March morning in my youth,” he says. “While pursuing a particularly vigorous clam I turned my back to the ocean and just at the moment I got a grip on its neck, I was blasted by a wave on the incoming tide. Knocked me over. I trudged back to the truck before hypothermia set in.”
He doesn’t expect any such surprises in his new job, where he directs a sales staff whose mission is to connect buyers and sellers in Snohomish County and beyond. As a seasoned pro, he knows how to build success — for advertisers and their customers.
“I got my degree in advertising and what attracted me to this industry was the fact that newspaper advertising works. I could help make folks’ cash registers ring,” he said.
“The other thing was that readers like newspaper advertising. When people are asked if they like TV or radio ads, they invariably say no. With newspapers, people say yes because they view it as information. Our audience likes reading ads.”
Lee’s goal is to give them plenty to read, and make those registers ring.
And to watch out for those rogue waves.
Contact Ron Lee at rlee@heraldnet.com or 425-339-3051.
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