ATLANTA — There are times in life, even when you can expend 750 words (my weekly column limit), isn’t enough to tell the story or sing the praises of a close friend, mentor or person who has made a difference in the lives of so many. None of us are perfect, including my dear friend and mentor, Dodie Cantrell-Bickley, but neither God nor your higher power or I expect perfection. Dodie is just someone striving to help you, as well as herself, to be a little bit better each day.

While recently celebrating Dodie, following a retirement celebration (effective at the end of May 2025), at the Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia, I witnessed Professor Cantrell, also selected more than once during her tenure as the best teacher and faculty member amongst Grady’s amazing team of tenured professors, adjunct & associate professors, administration and staff, be regaled by fellow faculty and the Associate Dean of the college, along with two other outstanding imminent retirees.

But Dodie isn’t done yet. At her lovely and warm home in nearby Braselton, while having supper with her husband Randy Bickley and I, Dodie teased of the benefits, "Tom Sawyer" style of hearing her eulogy while she is still around to enjoy it. As one of my first TV bosses in the mid-1980’s, first as Producer, then Assignment Editor and later News Director, Dodie has been giving me helpful guidance, tips and career advice for four decades now.

Here is an attempt at that eulogy. :)

I first met Dodie Cantrell as a recent graduate of the University of Georgia, and Grady College of Journalism, with a degree in Telecommunications Arts (Broadcasting). I had a few internships under my belt, and some on camera experience, but I was still more or less an apprentice, in terms of skill sets for the job. News Director Tony Villasana admitted later that he in part hired me as I crewed a live-shot with him the day of my interview, wearing a three-piece suit (one of two I owned at that time), and I was spooling cable at the Macon Coliseum and handling the grunt work without issue or complaint. Lesson learned there...NO task worth doing is beneath you.

Dodie was our 6 and 11 p.m. newscast producer. She wanted strong story lead-ins for the anchors and teases for the viewers heading into breaks. She liked TIGHT writing and kept reminding us, as we had the benefit of video to help tell our stories, to drop out the long series of adjectives, SHOW viewers with the video, and explain details with your script. Learning to fit complex issues into 60 and 90 second chunks has served me well in any number of areas in later life.

I probably learned more from Dodie than any of my many other talented colleagues at WMAZ. She would not allow lazy reporting, and she had ways of rewarding those of us always giving 110 percent. This was an incredible place to launch a career, not so much a banking or savings account. I left Macon for Atlanta and a job with Secretary of State Max Cleland in 1986, but my connection to many from that newsroom has been lasting.

In early 1987, I was inspired to join thousands of other Georgians marching into the Forsyth County Square and downtown Cumming, behind Atlanta Civil Rights leader, the Reverend Hosea Williams. It was a tense day in what was then known as a ‘sundowner’ county, Google it or ask around, and surprisingly, my father and I, who found very little to agree on during those years, found ourselves together in that March. There were white supremacists threatening snipers and bombing that peaceful march, downtown Cumming had hundreds of National Guard, GBI Agents and State Troopers present. Where we left our cars to make the March was several miles back, along Georgia 400, and a second long walk ahead...but who did we run into who gave Dad and I arrived back, in exchange for brief interviews... Dodie Cantrell.

Decades of friendship continued. Dodie became News Director and later GM at WMAZ, when Multimedia was acquired by Gannett, Dodie was later promoted to VP/GM of the First Coast News pair of ABC/NBC affiliates in Jacksonville. From there she hosted me for several Georgia/Florida games, with some great seats and the stadium just a few hundred yards away from the secured parking lot of the stations.

Along the way I got to know her daughter, Kristy Steele, who later interned with me at the GCI Group in Atlanta, and I met her husband Randy Bickley when Dodie threw him a surprise 50th birthday party at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and her extended family when Randy did the reverse for her later at the Warner Robins Aviation Museum. Her niece Betty Cantrell would twice compete in the Miss Georgia Pageant, I joined the family in Columbus for both competitions. She won that second round, after being first runner-up the prior year, and then on to Miss America, which Betty was crowned in 2016. Olivia got to meet Miss America when she returned home to Warner Robins, Georgia.

In 2013, my fraternity chapter at UGA honored me by naming our new Chapter house, Crane Hall. At the dedication ceremony, we had several dignitaries present, and I was attempting to secure the presence of our National President, Stephan Nelson, who was scheduled that day to be at his own chapter’s homecoming at Southern Mississippi University. Dodie and Randy Bickley and brother Mike Cantrell flew in a private plane to Hattiesburg, picked up Stephan, brought him to Athens and the dedication, in time to crack a nice bottle of champagne on the corner and make some very kind remarks.

During the mid-2010s, Dodie, or “Cantrell” as she is most often referred to by her adoring students, joined the faculty at the Grady College, focusing her efforts on the NewSource program and building our future multi-platform journalists. As she finished her Masters, she authored two books and went on a national book tour, took regular trips with students to places like Croatia and Turkey showing them the great differences of living in a country without a free press. My daughter Olivia and I had many field trips with Dodie and her grandchildren across Georgia, and with each fall and spring semester, Dodie would send an outstanding student or two my way to assist in guiding them around the Georgia Gold Dome during a legislative session, or making connections to land a tough interview, and each of those students would speak with admiration of “Cantrell” pushing them to write better, shoot better, think better...

Too many of those students to name are now anchors and journalists in Atlanta and across the southeast. Several of those mentees of Professor Cantrell also became mentees of mine. It is an honor we share. Perhaps the most surprising thing I can share with you about my friend and mentor Dodie Cantrell Bickley is the lower value/performance scores she often gives her own work. As a type-A, perfectionist Aquarian, I can relate, but I repeatedly have to tell Dodie, "If you don’t believe me...ask some of your prior employees, students, or even your own family."

Author, scholar, journalist, broadcast executive, professor, mother, grandmother and great friend...from my vantage point, Dodie manages to excel in each of these arenas. She is particularly good at identifying and honing talents, much like our UGA head football coach. And as most good mentors do, Dodie is always good for an occasional nudge in very specific directions. You can credit her, more than anyone else with the Crane patented commentary smirk, and perhaps over-used arched eyebrow...but the viewers notice, and comment.

I know you have a great view from up there, Dode (she is still well and here with us), I look forward to eventually joining you on the other side.

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