Sunday, April 7, 2013

 Sons of Gamauf Hardware owner recall his legacy:

http://www.ohio.com/news/sons-of-gamauf-hardware-owner-recall-his-legacy-1.387622

I picked this story out of the Akron Beacon Journal, which is the local newspaper in Copley, where I am from. I chose to write about this story because the topic is about a Copley man, Addie Gamauf who just died a little over a week ago. If you live in Copley, and if your parents grew up in Copley, the chances are, you knew who Addie Gamauf was. I also picked  this story because I thought that it was relevant to class and what we learned about obituaries. Being close to the subject, I can vouch that story is very accurate to who Addie was. What I like about this story is that not only does it focus on who Addie was, but it also focuses what the future will be like after his death. Also I think that the legacy talk, and the future of the store makes this story relevant to more than just a few people. Another thing that I like is that the writer got a lot of the communities input. He incorporated quotes from six different people and might have talked to even more people. My only complaint about this story -- and I will say it is not a big complaint -- is that I am not sure if the writer got deep enough into who Addie was, but maybe that is just because I knew him. Maybe to someone who does not know him, they would think differently. So, with that I am interested in what you guys think about that. Do you think that the author described him well enough? Also how relevant do you think this story is to a wider audience? And, finally, what are your overall thoughts on this piece?

14 comments:

  1. I think it's nice that you chose on story on something close to you, or others, who live in that area. It is always easy to read and relate to piece of writing that was a part of your own life. Given that I am not from Copley and do not know anything about Addie Gamauf (prior to reading this) I think the author described him very well. The depiction of his life and what those close to him said about him gave me a really good picture of Gamauf's persona. While this is a story on a small town man I do think it is relevant to a wider audience; it reminds the reader that there are always special individuals around us, that hold traditions and stories, that can be inspirational to one's own life.

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  2. Overall I liked the character of this piece. The anecdotes about Addie Gaufman showed his life and how others around him related to him. I think they could have added more about his relationship to the community that you described as being a resident of Copley yourself. Additionally I thought there were some distractions from the writing (the flow of the story and layout) but overall a good story.

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  3. I thought this article was good for people who did not know anything about Addie Gamauf before. I can see where you are saying the author should have gone deeper into who Addie was. There were parts where I agreed with this, even without knowing him. For example, when his son says he is unsure of how his father got his nickname. That statement made me more interested to know how his nickname came to be, but the author left me hanging because the question was never answered. I also thought some of the quotes were broken up into too choppy of a structure. Other than that, I like the article. I thought it was a good hometown story about sons carrying on their fathers legacy. This was a great time to post this due to the obituary assignment as well as our current assignment about telling a story.

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  4. Having no background on this man and Copley, I feel informed about Addie Gaufman after reading the article. I think the author did a great job of describing the subject and his life. I understand his importance in the town now and the hardware store. The quotes from community members really helped emphasize his role in the community. Clearly, he was known by many and it helped the reader understand what kind of man Addie was. I enjoyed how they brought up his nickname because I was confused at the beginning why he got that name. Certain topics and inside jokes that were brought up throughout the story helped guide me to what kind of man he was and his importance in the community. I think the author did a great job of writing a descriptive article about this man.

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  5. As a reader not from the city of Copley I felt that the author did a good job at describing Addie Gaufman. I feel like readers get a general idea of who he was and the pleasant presence he had in the community. You hear about his character first hand from the many witnesses who knew Addie and the legacy he leaves with his sons. I thought the writer did great at capturing the man behind the story with the many accounts. To make the story more personal maybe they could have included a personal incident between Addie and a community member, but overall I feel it was a great piece. How relevant it is depends on location, but nonetheless it's a great story.

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  6. After reading the article, I feel very informed about Addie Gamauf and I think the author did a good job talking about the important aspects of his life. I'm not from the Copley area so obviously I never heard of Addie or the hardware store he owned, but I can tell how important he was to his community by reading the article. I like how the author included personal accounts from Auddie's sons and other people who knew him as well. Overall I really enjoyed the article.

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  7. I think this piece is a very well done obituary about a town-known man. It touches on the legacy (obviously) that he left behind- dying at 99 years old is something to be proud of. The problems I had with the article were that there may have been too many quotes. A little bit of the sentiment was lost with the numerous quotes that all seemed to just scratch the surface of this man's life in the this town. This also answers the question of if the piece full encompasses Addie Gamauf's life. As someone who had no knowledge of this man or the town, I would have personally liked more personal information about a man that seemed to be missed by everyone.

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  8. Hi feel like the author did a good job of describing Addie fro an outside perspective. It did not seem very personal however. For example his integration of quotes made it sound like the person talking didn't now Addie well even when the person talking was his son.

    I think the story is decently relevant to a wide audience. You don't want to make it too wide because that takes the intimacy out of it. Overall I liked the piece I just feel it could have been executed and written better.

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  9. I think this is a well-done obituary overviewing an important individual's life. It gives little tidbits on what he did throughout his life along with many quotes that show he was obviously a good, fun-loving man. However, I still don't feel as if I know much about him, I was left with just a general idea of what kind of person he was. This could be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on whether or not the audience was supposed to be small or large. Not knowing the man, though, I would say that I was left with quite a few questions by the end of the obit.

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  10. Obviously the man was beloved by the community and people who knew him, but I can't really connect with that. The description of Audie was a little vague. I did like how the author used short, sweet and simple sentences in order to describe him, sort of like how Audie was. The author could have gone into more depth about Audie, since I can't say I know much about him. I think the story is relevant to the people who are in the town, but otherwise it is not very broadly focused. It was a cute commemoration of Audie, and I think for people who knew him, this obituary was very appropriate.

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  11. Not knowing Addie, I believe that he was described adequately by the author. I really enjoy the character that was described and I feel like it was a great piece of writing. It's a shame that such a great man had to go right before his 100th birthday.

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  12. Though the writing isn't extraordinary (some words - particularly "agreed" - appear too often, and the author's use hyphens is questionable), this article is probably the obituary the family wanted: a short and sweet elegy, an anthology of happy memories. It's a very personal, very familial farewell to a beloved Copley resident, and not much else.

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  13. From all the quotes the journalist used a reader can tell how well known Addie Gamauf was in Copley. I also thought that the plethora of quotes did distract from Mr. Gamauf's accomplishments and history. This short story did give you a glance into what this man was like but not the fully story. However as a journalist one tries to keep obituaries relatively short and condensed. Under those circumstances, the writer did a good job.

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