The ever-shrinking O doesn't write many unpaid obituaries any more. Even Mark Hatfield was lucky he got one; Howard Morgan got stiffed, so to speak. But the paper produced one yesterday for John Hilsenteger, who died Wednesday at age 72. Franklin High Class of '57 and a former reporter for the Oregon Journal and the O, Hilsenteger spent 26 years as an official for the state's high school athletic association, and many years after that as a tireless volunteer for that organization. He was a master statistician, a historian, a stickler for detail, a mentor to many, and a great communicator -- all of which would have endeared him to us. Our deep condolences go out to his family, one of whom is a commenter on this blog when we haven't infuriated him by seemingly not loving Portland enough.

Before there were personal computers, every good newspaper used to have a file room cynically nicknamed "the morgue," in which clippings and photos were kept. It was to the morgue that reporters often were sent to find information to produce a retirement story, a retrospective, or an obit. Hilsenteger tried to save everyone that trip; he reportedly wrote his own obit. That will be an interesting read when it turns up.