Doug Garrett, a photojournalist for WINK Ft. Myers, Fla., died unexpectedly sometime over the weekend of Nov. 25. A sad irony to his passing is that I heard the news right when I was remembering another WINK employee, Jon Quattlebaum, who died on Dec 12, 1994.
Doug Garrett, a photojournalist for WINK, Ft. Myers Broadcasting’s CBS affiliate in Ft. Myers, Fla., died unexpectedly over the weekend of Nov 25.
He had been with WINK News since 2017 and is being remembered by WINK News as a passionate journalist who cared for the community.
Robin Wolf, WINK’s assignment editor, says Garrett was always available with his WINK polo, WINK hat and gear, ready to go.
Wolf recalled his dedication and attention to detail. “He would call and say, ‘Hey, how’s my shot? How’s everything? How’s it sound?’” she said.
Wolf was the one who would wake Doug up to go to breaking news some mornings.
Lindsey Sablan, a news anchor at WINK, says: “Every single time I was sent down to do a story, immediately the interviewee would kind of bypass me and go straight up and shake Doug’s hand. He’d often ask a person where they were from, he’d find a Midwest connection, name a sports team, and before you knew it, you hadn’t even started the interview. They’re already looking at Doug and not focused on you.”
Garrett was there when hurricanes Ian and Irma slammed into Southwest Florida.
Garrett loved football, especially college football and his LSU Tigers. No one was surprised when he named his dog Nola.
Jolena Esperto, a reporter at WINK, rememberes how kind and calm Garrett was, even when tensions ran high.
“I was cramming to try to get him out in time,” Esperto says. “He’s like, You can go. I’ll stay here and I’ll finish. Don’t worry about me. And he just waited.”
NOTE: A sad irony to the passing of Doug Garrett is that I heard about the story in early December, right when I was remembering another WINK employee, Jon Quattlebaum, who died on Dec. 12, 1994.
I was the marketing director at WINK from 1992 until 1997.
Quattlebaum fell in a hiking accident while in Arizona. He was 19 days away from getting married on New Year’s Eve. Friends went from being ushers at his wedding to pallbearers at his funeral.
Quattlebaum did the kicker everyday at the end of WINK’s 6 p.m. news resulting in hundreds of feature stories.
His stories delighted viewers and all Jon did was bring them joy. The world was a little brighter every weekday at 6:25 thanks to Jon Quattlebaum.
And his stories still bring a smile to my face, even through a few tears.
Perhaps his most famous story was what happens to the pink flamingoes when the tourists, AKA snow-birds, leave Florida and go north in the spring.
CLICK HERE to read a column I wrote about Jon back in 1994. There are many stories that show his brilliance.
Jon, just know that we remember you well and with great fondness.
New Jobs Posted To TVNewsCheck
CLICK HERE to see new jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center including openings for a general manager (WINK-TV), creative services director, a news anchor/reporter, nightside news reporter, video technical support coordinator, investigative reporter, integrated digital specialist and local sales manager.
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