Farewell to Dan Shannon

Today we celebrated the life of Dan Shannon. Dan passed away in September after suffering from a brain tumor that he fought valiantly. He left behind his loving wife Ellen, three fabulous kids, two grandchildren and one on the way and as Ellen told us, a trifecta of kids-in-law, along with so many other family and friends.

After only a few hours sleep I drove home this early morning because it was important to me to go celebrate Dan’s life as I adored working with him at Durham magazine. Russ and I arrived at the Carolina Inn to a packed ballroom of so many friends and family, many of whom had traveled far and wide to get there.

True to himself, Dan had planned his own service right down to the last word, which was his, read by Ellen. He asked three people to speak, Rory Gillis, who was just a very young woman who came to work at the magazines when I was there and now is the owner of the whole Shannon Media outlet, which she renamed, much to Dan’s chagrin. Rory was funny and sweet and told stories that made me laugh hard and tear up.

A friend of Dan’s from Westport spoke next, despite not liking to speak in front of crowds. Dan had asked him while he was still alive. The friend said he didn’t necessarily feel comfortable doing that. Dan told him to think about it. In the most Dan way, we called back a couple of days later and said “The family has decided, you’re going to be a speaker.”

“So much for getting to think about it.”

That rang so true to me. When I met Dan it was because he had called me into this office after the first issue of Durham Magazine came out. My friend Nata had told him he should hire me. I did not know this when I went to visit him. I thought he just wanted my thoughts on the first issue, which you know I gave freely.

I told him what I thought of the magazine he told me he wanted to hire me. After a short back and forth about me not looking for a job he insisted I work there. “You have no idea if I can write, let alone do anything else.” Remember, we had just met!

He said, “You have a strong voice. That is all I need.” I thought he might be hiring me to read the magazine out loud.

The last speaker today was Dan’s youngest, son Drew. Drew was a kid when I worked with Dan. We used to talk bout raising kids during those early years. It was beautiful to see how great Dan’s kids turned out. Ellen gets a lot of the credit, but being a father was clearly what was most important to Dan.

Russ and I had sat at the service with Matt, who had been hired as the chief Editor of the magazine a couple of years after I started. He was a kid. It took him a while to get that I had no designs, or skills, on his job. I watched him grow under Dan’s tutelage. Dan treated most of the young people who worked at the company like his children, since most of them were young enough to be his children. Eventually children grow up and move on.

Right after the service Matt and I went to the front of the room to see Kevin, the art director, who came to the company a year after me and stayed. Carl who was there before me and left before Matt, and Rory. Rory said we need a picture of the OG of Durham magazine. I wished that Bri our Photographer was there because she was there before all of us. I also missed Andrea who was the editor after Matt.

I am thankful Dan was good at gathering talented smart young people and one old one, me. We all did not always agree on everything, but I think we all learned plenty and I loved them all. Especially Dan. Go with grace Dan Shannon. It was clear, you were loved.