Tuesday was a somber day for me and for everyone at the office as we learned that longtime Covington resident Doug Bolton had passed away at the age of 75.

I’ve met a lot of great people in my year and some change in Newton County, but there are few that compare to the type of man that Doug is. To put it lightly, he was a true servant.

I met Doug approximately three months ago when he came to our office over and over looking to speak to me. I thought at first, “Am I in trouble? Did I publish something bad about him?” Come to find out, he was looking to recruit me to join the Rotary Club of Covington.

I immediately thought,”What? Me? There’s no way.” 

But according to Doug, he had read my work in The Covington News and saw that I want to be more involved in the community. He decided to extend the olive branch to me to come out to a Rotary meeting. That’s just the type of person he was.

Doug and I finally talked for 15 minutes and he told me about what Rotary was and how some of my predecessors had been in the club on behalf of our paper. 

Now I’ve always been speculative about clubs. I wasn’t in a fraternity in college and I shied away from just about every club I’ve been in/tried to be a part of. For whatever reason, clubs haven’t been for me. Except from the minute I spoke with Doug, I knew that Rotary was for me. 

Doug didn’t come to my office to try to sell me on a news story or get me to investigate someone. While it would’ve been completely OK if he did, he was just here to meet me and help promote the power of serving those in need. That’s the type of person he was.

I went to my first Rotary meeting right around Thanksgiving and he immediately made me feel welcome. He filled me in on everything I needed to know and even invited me out to the Rotary Christmas Party. This was my second time meeting the guy.

We stayed in touch until we met for Empty Stocking in December, where we donated hundreds of bags of toys and other supplies to families in need for the holidays.

I got to talk to Doug for around 30 minutes prior to the event. We talked about everything from the holidays, to mainstream media and how things have been going here at the paper. I even joked with him about his activity on X/Twitter. He and I couldn’t have been any farther apart politically, but we got a good laugh about some of the stuff we saw on there.

I also got to meet his grandkids, who aren’t that much younger than me, but who are way taller than me. Doug made it a priority to teach his family the ways of serving. Again, that’s just who he was.

I came back to talk with Doug as well as some other Rotary members before wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a vow to see them next year. I had no idea that would be the last time I’d see Doug.

Tuesday’s Rotary meeting was a somber one in a lot of respect. But, of course, Doug was there in spirit. He was the true definition of a Rotarian.

There are plenty of others reading this that have far more memories with Doug than I ever had. He was a true symbol of excellence when it came to the Covington and Newton County community.

But I will never forget that Doug decided to take time out of his day (on multiple occasions, mind you) to track down this naive 23-year-old to be a part of something bigger than both of us. That will stick with me for the rest of my life.

Doug Bolton was the embodiment of a true servant, and the world was made a better place because of him. 

Job well done, my friend. You will be missed.

Evan Newton is the Managing Editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.