The following excerpt was sent out:
Longtime Kansas City Star writer Dave Helling will soon retire after 45 years as a journalist.
Helling, a graduate of Shawnee Mission West High School and Creighton University, spent the first few decades of his career as a radio and TV reporter in Nebraska, Kansas and D.C. before returning to the Kansas City area in 1984 as a reporter at WDAF-TV, and later KCTV5.
He joined The Star in 2005. “It was the proudest moment of my life to come to work for The Star where fairness and thoroughness are still high standards that you need at a newspaper,” Helling said Monday.
Helling, now 67, joined The Star’s editorial board in 2017 after more than a decade as a political reporter and multi-media reporter for the paper.
Helling’s last day at The Star is Dec. 30. The Lenexa resident looks forward to spending more time with his wife, children and grandchildren.