Eric Parsons/ Star staff Karen Hibdon receives a certificate from George Compton for her service to the veterans of Ventura County.

Eric Parsons / Star Staff 05/24/07 Camarillo. Karen Hibdon Communities Editor at work in the Camarillo headquarters of the Ventura County Star.

It should be so easy after 35 years of being "out there" in the community to simply vanish into the anonymity of retirement. But I think I owe the readers and myself more than that. I have to say goodbye.

It's been a very long ride and as one person put it, now is the time to embark on the next season of my life God has a plan, he always does.

As of May 30, I am retiring as The Star's Community editor. It's simply a title, but it's one that reflects what's in my heart and has been nurtured since my senior year at CSU Northridge, when I signed on at the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle as an intern, making a lofty $2 an hour.

My early introduction to the real world of ink and paper was in the lifestyle section edited by the late Kit Luther and later Paula Bunnell and Kitty Dill; the latter now heads The Star's Conejo Valley YourHub.com operation. Then photo editor, and later managing editor, Janell Tyler put a camera in my hand and sent me on my way to not only write, but also to shoot. And suddenly I found my Ventura College photography professor's words ringing true through the eyes of a camera lens, you see the world differently.

His words hit home, but it wasn't just the experience with the camera that has impacted my life, it has been the ability to share people's lives. Through my early years and even today, in my jobs as intern, reporter, lifestyle editor, Simi Valley bureau chief, senior reporter and for the last four years as The Star's community news editor, I have had the privilege of meeting some of the greatest people on earth, people who care about and work for the good of others.

I've cried with parents who have felt the agony of losing a child and the triumph of seeing those same people pick themselves up and stepping into the future armed with the memory of their child and the determination to help others in need.

I've had the opportunity to dig my heels in and hold firm to my belief that "good news about good people doing good things" will always sell newspapers, and most of my career has been spent doing just that.

Not to say, of course, that over the years I haven't had my share of covering that "bad news" folks are always so quick to blame newspapers for. I've reported on horrific things like a father who, on Father's Day, killed his children to get back at his ex-wife; another father whose own inner turmoil led to turning a shotgun on his three children and his wife. I stumbled upon Simi Valley's first drive-by shooting and because I knew the community was able to ferret out a more complete story along with photos than the competition. And I provided the written voice for a couple who for years had sought help for their mentally ill son whose personal demons were making their lives hell.

There have been murders and fires, car and train accidents and drownings, the Northridge earthquake and way too many brush and structure fires.

But more importantly, there have been field trips to Anacapa Island with youngsters who spent most of the trip hanging over the side of the boat as it maneuvered over choppy seas. The chance to go "undercover" wearing greasepaint, rainbow wig and red bulbous nose center ring under the big top with a troupe of "real" clowns.

I traveled with a group of students from Valley View Middle School in Simi when they were part of a contingent of student ambassadors on the first nonstop flight from LAX to Hong Kong, rode an elephant in training in a horse arena in Newbury Park and shared the pride a husband had when his wife with ALS was able to communicate with him through a message board that captured signals from her blinking eyes.

And I wrote about kids cleaning up a creek while they made "frogatoriums."

Most reporters I know prefer to keep a wide berth between their personal and professional lives. Not me. In the pages of The News Chronicle, The Simi Enterprise and later The Star, I shared my good news and my sad times with my extended family the readers.

That first Mother's Day, I wrote about the Caesarian birth of my daughter Laura and the subsequent heartache my husband Stan and I went through when we learned of her multiple handicaps. Years later, the readers shared again as our lives were turned upside down with Laura's death at the age of 11 and 10 days later the news of our stillborn son, Matthew. Co-workers, friends, readers I knew and many more that I didn't, came together to lend a hand and ease our pain.

Through it all, people are what has made me stick with a career I never wanted. Sure, there were the famous folks I had the opportunity to meet and to write about, like President Reagan and Pope John Paul II, my hero Gene Autry and other celebrities.

But ordinary folks, thousands of them, who do their thing daily and keep their communities vibrant through their dedication and commitment are the ones who have earned their place in my heart.

Just what this next season of my life has in store is anyone's guess. I plan to read a book, perhaps volunteer as a docent at one of the wonderful historical parks we have in the county, join a morning Bible study group, take time to smell the roses I've been nurturing, ride my horses, join Stan on a wild adventure, spend time with son Michael and his wife, Colette, and play with my beautiful 15-month-old granddaughter, Madison all without worrying I won't meet my next deadline.

I just may take one of those classes I covered at the senior center, volunteer for one of the county's nonprofits or perhaps write that novel that's been gnawing at me for years.

Yep, it's been a long ride, and now it's time to saddle up for a new adventure whatever that may be.