Dave Mather (Initial Copy Editor):
History Through 26 Hymns and Songs

Many thanks to Dave Mather for taking an interest in providing initial copy editing comments for the History Through 26 Hymns and Songs book. His comments were a great help in achieving more consistent formating according to the Chicago Manual of style throughout, and thus improving its appeal and readability. I am deeply grateful Mr. Mather had the interest and took the time to provide copy edit comments for this extensive project. He brings a rich background of diverse experiences in such areas as news story telling, and academic publications.

There is an interesting back story as to how his involvement in this project came about. This is another of those instances where you can question, was it meant to be, or was it just another happenstance? See below.

Education

Mr. Mather has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Indiana University, Bloomington, with a Journalism Major and English Minor.

Related Experience

He has years of professional experience in a variety of different publication formats, including:

• Copy editor, Chronicle-Tribune in Grant County, Marion, Indiana.

The Chronicle-Tribune was created in 1968, by combining The Marion Chronicle (established in 1865 -the year the American Civil War ended- as an evening newspaper) and The Marion Leader-Tribune (established in 1912 as a morning newspaper). In turn The Chronicle-Tribune was purchased by Gannett Co. in 1971. In July 2007, the paper became part of the Paxton Media Group.



• Copy Editor and Graphic Artist, Gannett News Service, McLean, VA;


• Technical Editor, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Office of Analysis, Research and Technology, Washington, DC; and


• Presentation Specialist and Editor, Freedom Museum, Manassas VA.

In addition, he activily volunteers with a variety of different functional areas, including:

• Treasurer, Board Of Directors, Manassas Airport Regional Business Alliance;


• Photographer, Virginia Airborne Search and Rescue Squad; and


• Presentation Specialist and Editor, Northern Virginia Veterans Association.

Backstory

David's path crossed with Mr. Mather's when Mr. Mather was hired to be the lead technical editor for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology, in Washington, DC where David was a research project manager. Each research project produced a research report for publication.

It was David and Mr. Mather, with his staff, that were responsible for augmenting as necessry each research report to ensure it met the publication standards followed by the Office. For researchers who did not have inhouse publication staffs to ensure each final publication product met the high quality, standardized requirements of the FMCSA office, sometimes there could be considerable additional work required to prepare the final reports for publication.

In those roles David and Mr. Mather worked closely in the editing of numerous research reports to ensure the reports met the publication style and quality standards established by the office. Their numerous interactions in crafting final publications, led to personal understandings and respect between David and Mr. Mather.

Thus, when some years later David reached the point of having a working draft of the History Through 26 Hymns and Songs book, he naturally thought of Mr. Mather. It was fortuitous that both of them had moved on from FMCSA, and that Mr. Mather also had the luxury of having some discretionary time between his numerous other responsibilities and was interesed in assisting with copy editing for this publication.

The level of professionalism Mr. Mather brought to this task is greatfully acknowledged as adding greater uniformity.

So, was their working together on this project meant to be, or was it just another happenstance?

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