Monday, August 10, 2009 8:04 am

How many people do you know who have devoted 50 years or so of their lives to one cause, one mission, one passion?

We would guess your answer would be not many, or only a few. Few marriages last that long. Far too many people pass away before they reach the age of 50.

In a world which seems to be changing faster by the day, people change jobs on average of seven to 10 times during their working days.

Then there is Andy Bryson, a person who can be described as truly remarkable.

The Cannon Courier is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. For

50 of those years - a half century - Andy has been involved in every aspect of the production and delivery of The Courier.

At one time or the other - sometimes seemingly all at once - Andy has written stories, taken pictures, covered meetings, events and ballgames, put the paper together, sold advertisements, built advertisements, and delivered the paper.

He's hired people, trained people, and above all he's helped people.

He's swept floors, taken out the trash and cleaned the toilets.

He's tirelessly worked to serve the Courier's readers and people of Cannon County for days, weeks, months and years on end, taking little time off, but never complaining.

With his recent sale of the newspaper that he loved and labored over for nearly all of his life, an era has ended at the Courier and in Cannon County.

We are happy to know that Andy is not going anywhere, and will be around to help out during what we know will be the many times we will need to call on him for advice, counsel and assistance.

Andy has been a treasured asset to not only the Courier, but the community as well, and we hope he will always consider the Courier as his second home.