Ex-journalist from Sewickley finds purpose in retirement from California as novelist

When Reg Henry left the newspaper industry and retired in an unincorporated town in California’s Big Sur region, he couldn’t escape his craft. Instead, he reinvented it.

Henry, 73, a former nationally syndicated columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, retired from the company in 2014 and quit writing the column in 2018.

Since then he’s written and published two books, the latest of which tells the story of a man who, while living in a retirement home, becomes a widower and reconnects with his love of writing and eventually, love itself.

The novel, “Love in the Late Edition,” was self-published in September and is available on Amazon and at Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley. Henry and his wife, Priscilla, and two children, lived in Sewickley on and off for around 30 years while working as a journalist in Pittsburgh.

“It’s upbeat, funny,” he said, adding the novel is sad at points, too. “But some of my best columns I ever wrote were always like that: sad subjects that nevertheless were viewed with bright humor.”

The novel’s main character, Alistair Brown, is an Aussie who retires from journalism to a retirement community in Carmelito, Calif. Henry is also originally from Australia. He has bounced back and forth from Pittsburgh to the West Coast.

He came in 1973 to Pittsburgh, where he lived before moving to California in 1983, staying there for six years. He then moved back to Pittsburgh stayed for another 20 years before retiring to California.

Though the story draws from his own life, it deviates from real life in the first chapter: Brown’s wife dies unexpectedly, leaving him alone and needing to find a new purpose in life — which he eventually does when he becomes editor of the community’s newsletter.

Henry also doesn’t live in a retirement home. That idea came to him after hanging out with friends, he said, one of which does live in a retirement home.

“He had poignant stories. I mean, people die in there all the time. Some of the stories were really funny, and some were sad,” Henry said.

He said his friend’s stories struck a chord with him, one that resonated.

Henry said he hopes the book is republished someday by the industry, or perhaps adapted for television or streaming services like Netflix.

“Senior living, I guess, is not a genre (publishers) want to get into,” Henry said. “But there are 65 million people who are on Social Security. If I could reach half a million of them, I think I’d have a huge hit on my hands. But I could never persuade anyone.”

Nevertheless, Henry said he has sold hundreds of copies of the book with warm reviews.

Susan Hans O’Connor, owner of Penguin Bookshop, said the book has sold out a few times. The shop keeps the shelves full by ordering directly from Henry, who signs each copy individually.

“The reception has been terrific. I think people are just really excited to hear from one of their beloved columnists and former neighbor,” O’Connor said.

One of those friends is Dennis Pedgen. He and Henry have been friends for around 25 years. He hasn’t read Henry’s novel, but he plans to someday soon. He did, however, read his column religiously every week.

“They were so funny,” Pegden said of the columns, which often detailed life in Sewickley. “It would be a hard topic and somehow he would make it something you’d enjoy reading and also laugh at.”

Henry said he’ll continue writing; it’s always been a dream of his to publish books. Now that he’s retired, he said he’s finally given himself the time to really hunker down and do it.

But who knows when the next work will come out. “Love in the Late Edition” took around three years to complete, he said. It’s a great way to stay busy during retirement.

“In retirement, you have to find purpose and stay busy, otherwise you’ll die early,” he said.