The departure of “our” editor, Leslie Brown, is a loss to Vashon-Maury Islands. In her, we had been gifted with a star journalist for seven years. Leslie raised the bar for anyone who is to follow. She has been not only a chronicler of life on this island in all its dimensions, she has been the island’s conscience, holding a mirror for us to see all our glory, our wrinkles and our zits, our quirkiness and our independence as a community.

We are a community of communities, and Leslie illustrated that regularly as well. Her brand of journalism founded on thorough research, clarity of language, intelligent insight and integrity is hard to find anywhere, much less in the wetlands of small-town newspapers.

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have her, the awards she garnered for our tiny newspaper and the recognition she’s brought to our islands. We are also fortunate in her leadership and the legacy she leaves behind because the staff that remains has embraced Leslie Brown’s standards, and we can hope they’ll both stay and carry on in her footsteps.

Thank you, Leslie!

— Susan McCabe