The Tompkins Times
The Tompkins Times - Special tribute to John Charles Tompkins
The Tompkins Times - Special tribute to John Charles Tompkins
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
THE <strong>Tompkins</strong> <strong>Times</strong><br />
August 2, 1953 – June 2, 2023<br />
SPECIAL EDITION | REMEMBERING JOHN C. TOMPKINS<br />
GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN VOL. 69 • ISSUE 01<br />
<strong>The</strong> Life and <strong>Times</strong> of John Charles <strong>Tompkins</strong><br />
JOHN was born<br />
in Greensboro,<br />
North Carolina<br />
to John Edward<br />
<strong>Tompkins</strong> and Hilda<br />
(Ebbers) <strong>Tompkins</strong>.<br />
Both of John’s parent’s<br />
were from<br />
Edmonton, Alberta,<br />
Canada.<br />
As fate would<br />
have it — or perhaps,<br />
God’s divine<br />
purpose — ink ran<br />
through the veins of<br />
the <strong>Tompkins</strong> family.<br />
As a young child in the harsh winters of Canada, John Sr. took<br />
on the job of paperboy and worked his way to the top ending up at<br />
<strong>The</strong> Edmonton Bulletin. During the war, Hilda Ebbers took on a<br />
reporting job at <strong>The</strong> Bulletin. She caught the attention of many —<br />
endearingly known as “Jeep” because she was small and fast. John<br />
Sr. took notice too . . . a “special” notice.<br />
After marriage, John and Hilda eventually landed in the U.S.<br />
where John began a long career with Howard Publications. <strong>The</strong>ir<br />
work took them from Pocatello, Idaho to Greensboro, N.C. (where<br />
John and his brother Michael were born) to Chester, Pennsylvania<br />
(where his sister Patricia was born) to Hammond, Indiana where<br />
John Sr. became Publisher of <strong>The</strong> Hammond <strong>Times</strong> where he affectionately<br />
became known as “<strong>The</strong> Black Knight” because he always<br />
wore a black suit, tie and black shoes. Both John and his brother<br />
Mike began their newspaper careers in their youth at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Times</strong>.<br />
Like his father, John began as a paperboy and worked his way<br />
through the many departments of the news business learning what<br />
it took to run a newspaper.<br />
Anyone that knew John would tell<br />
you he was a serious young man (and<br />
kid!) with a very strong will. John<br />
spent one year at Culver Military<br />
Academy and then went on to attend<br />
Illiana Christian High School where<br />
at the age of seventeen he met a<br />
young and shy fifteen-year-old named<br />
Cindy Hardcastle. John and Cindy<br />
dated through high school before<br />
John went off to Calvin College. After<br />
two years at Calvin, Cindy joined<br />
John there. <strong>The</strong>y got married during<br />
her first year of college, but had to<br />
return to Hammond for John to help<br />
his father at <strong>The</strong> Hammond <strong>Times</strong><br />
during a strike by the International<br />
Typographical Union.<br />
the Baptist church he went door-to-door soul winning every Saturday.<br />
Later in life he taught an ever-growing Sunday School class at<br />
Rockford First Assembly (now City First Church) and also spent<br />
time mentoring young men. Not only was John passionate about<br />
teaching others the importance of knowing God’s Word and how<br />
to study it, he was passionate about giving financially and building<br />
God’s Kingdom. Even into his last years, friends report how John<br />
would speak to them about his faith, pray with them, and invite<br />
them to learn how to study the Bible.<br />
An entrepreneur at heart John wasn’t satisfied to work himself<br />
into a publishing position and remain in that role. He was a visionary<br />
and had dreams to build his own media company. It was after<br />
one of Dr. Jack Hyles’s sermons “Seven Steps to Success” that<br />
John put together on a napkin his plan to purchase his first newspaper.<br />
After gathering a few investors, among family and friends,<br />
at the young age of twenty-one, in 1975, John purchased his first<br />
newspaper, <strong>The</strong> Rochelle News-Leader in Rochelle, Illinois. John<br />
and Cindy packed what little possessions they had and left the city<br />
life of Chicago for a farm town in rural Rochelle.<br />
John was an avid reader and believed he could learn anything<br />
from books. He devoured biographies and business books learning<br />
from the mistakes and successes of others. Studying the likes<br />
of Rupert Murdoch, <strong>The</strong> Scripps Family, and the newspapermen<br />
of London’s Fleet Street (to name a few) John was eager to begin<br />
looking for acquisitions. In 1978 (?) he purchased his second community<br />
newspaper in Central Illinois, <strong>The</strong> Clinton Daily Journal.<br />
And from there, he established News Media Corporation. With his<br />
brother Mike working by his side, he continued to acquire community<br />
newspapers for the next three decades in a span of nine different<br />
states. John not only knew the newspaper business, he knew<br />
people. He cared for his employees whom he always referred to as<br />
his “business family.” He also cared for and took great pride in the<br />
communities, and their histories, that News Media serves.<br />
John and Cindy had three children together: Trina Marie born in<br />
1977; John Warren (known as J.J.) born in 1979; and Amy Lynn<br />
born in 1981. At different times, in their own ways, each child has<br />
learned elements of the newspaper business and worked for News<br />
Media Corporation. Presently, J.J. <strong>Tompkins</strong> serves as CEO and<br />
President; Trina is a published author and Amy an artist and filmmaker.<br />
All children have an affinity for writing stories, print, and<br />
publishing. Ink still runs strong through the <strong>Tompkins</strong> veins.<br />
Although John grew up in a Dutch Christian Reformed Church,<br />
Cindy’s mother told him he had to attend First Baptist Hammond<br />
in order to continue dating Cindy. Not many people could tell John<br />
what to do, but there was one person that was as tough as him —<br />
Eleanor Hardcastle, his mother-in-law. John loved hearing Dr. Jack<br />
Hyles speak at First Baptist. Faith was a huge part of John’s life. In<br />
At the young age of<br />
twenty-one, in 1975,<br />
John purchased his first<br />
newspaper, <strong>The</strong> Rochelle<br />
News-Leader in Rochelle,<br />
Illinois.
PAGE 2 • THE TOMPKINS TIMES<br />
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2023<br />
John’s Favorite Scriptures<br />
IT’S impossible for us to share John’s favorite scriptures as<br />
most of his Bible was marked up with red-pen underlines<br />
and yellow highlights. He knew God’s Word and shared it<br />
often. <strong>The</strong> following selection includes verses and passages that<br />
we knew were special to him and that we often heard him quote.<br />
<strong>The</strong> many<br />
interests and<br />
hobbies of John<br />
Kung Fu<br />
Tai chi<br />
Reading<br />
Teaching<br />
Sailing<br />
Rodeo<br />
Motorcycle riding<br />
Boating<br />
Bowling<br />
Dogs<br />
Going to the movies<br />
Quoting movies<br />
Watching the same movie<br />
over & over<br />
(He really loved movies!)<br />
Talking on the phone<br />
“In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word<br />
was with God, and the Word was God Himself.” ( John 1:1)<br />
“So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by<br />
the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ.” (Romans 10:17)<br />
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not<br />
be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is<br />
with youwherever you go.” ( Joshua 1:9)<br />
“But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope<br />
in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; <strong>The</strong>y will<br />
lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising<br />
toward the sun]; <strong>The</strong>y will run and not become weary, <strong>The</strong>y will<br />
walk and not grow tired.” (Isaiah 40:31)<br />
“For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor<br />
drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually<br />
delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith.<br />
And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own<br />
effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God;”<br />
(Ephesians 2:8)<br />
“Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven [standing<br />
firm and unchangeable]. Your faithfulness continues from<br />
generation to generation; You have established the earth, and<br />
it stands [securely].” (Psalm 119:89-90)<br />
“For we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a<br />
manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s<br />
promises]” (2 Corinthians 5:7)<br />
Psalm 91 Hebrews 11 <strong>The</strong> Book of Ephesians<br />
~ John C. <strong>Tompkins</strong> ~
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2023<br />
THE TOMPKINS TIMES • PAGE 3<br />
A Few of John’s Favorite Books<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Amplified Bible”<br />
“Buffettology: <strong>The</strong> Previously<br />
Unexplained Techniques That<br />
Have Made Warren Buffett <strong>The</strong><br />
Worlds Most Famous Investor”<br />
by Mary Buffet and David Clark<br />
“Kings and Priests”by David R.<br />
High<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Art of War” by Sun Tzu<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Father and His Family:<br />
God’s Plan for Our Redemption”<br />
by E.W. Kenyon<br />
“Good to Great: Why Some<br />
Companies Make the Leap …<br />
and Others Don’t” by Jim<br />
Collins<br />
“Rich Dad Poor Dad: What<br />
the Rich Teach <strong>The</strong>ir Kids<br />
About Money That the<br />
Poor and Middle Class Do<br />
Not!” by Robert T. Kiyosaki<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Fourth Dimension” by<br />
Dr. David Yonggi Cho<br />
“Understanding Your Potential:<br />
Discovering the Hidden You” by<br />
Myles Munroe<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Power of Now” by<br />
Eckhart Tolle<br />
John especially loved history,<br />
biographies of great<br />
leaders, business books, faith<br />
based books, and don’t tell him we<br />
told you so . . . but he also liked<br />
self-help and health books.<br />
John’s Favorite Movies<br />
<strong>The</strong> Godfather<br />
Last of the Mohicans<br />
Dances With Wolves<br />
Tombstone<br />
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels<br />
Coneheads<br />
Darkest Hour<br />
What About Bob<br />
Arthur<br />
Star Trek Movies<br />
Bruce Lee Movies<br />
Action<br />
Drama<br />
Comedy<br />
(OK, he liked them all — but<br />
especially Action and Sci-Fi)<br />
~ John C. <strong>Tompkins</strong> ~