By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
January 13, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — For the past six years, Joe Keefhaver was the man you spoke to if you wanted to place an ad in the Northeast News.

On Dec. 31, 2015, the former account executive retired, taking his last advertisement call for the newspaper. Keefhaver joined the paper in December 2009.

Working for a small, neighborhood-focused newspaper entails many jobs rolled into one as Keefhaver not only took advertising inquiries, but also focused on display ad submissions, rate information, and circulation of the newspaper.

This wasn’t his first foray in news, either. Keefhaver started the Platte County Citizen and owned the paper until 1983. The Citizen is still in existence.

“There wasn’t a local newspaper and I thought it was important to give the community a voice,” Keefhaver said.

After he left the Citizen, Keefhaver worked for several other newspapers in both Kansas and Missouri. He also spent time with the National Auctioneers Association— which is headquartered in Headquartered in Overland Park, Kan. — first as the director of publications and later as executive vice president.

“When I joined the auctioneers group, the role was journalism related, so it didn’t seem like tremendous leap,” Keefhaver said.

He stumbled upon the role of account executive at the Northeast News while in between jobs. While searching for his next role, he knew he wanted to stay in the newspaper business. He stuck to similar roles because he said he was always interested in reporting the news, although he hasn’t been involved with the reporting side in recent years.

“It looked appealing to me and I was fortunate enough to get the job,” Keefhaver said. “I feel like this is a distinct community within a large city and that was appealing to me. It was a good place to work and I always enjoyed interacting with the different people in the community. When the opportunity arose to get more involved with circulation, I enjoyed that quite a bit, too.”

Although no specific memory sticks out, Keefhaver said he always enjoyed being involved with the Northeast News’ annual Back-To-School editions.

“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed it,”Keefhaver said of his time with the paper. “I appreciate everyone who’ve I’ve worked with and always enjoyed working with the staff at the Northeast News.”

Keefhaver said he’s got a few projects lined up, and might do a little traveling, but retirement means spending a lot more time with family, specifically his three grandchildren.

“Joe came on board with us in 2009 and brought a wealth of newspaper experience to the Northeast News,” Michael Bushnell, publisher of the Northeast News, said. “He was an integral part of our office family and he’ll be missed dearly.”