Len Lear, features editor for the Chestnut Hill Local, got his start in journalism by dialing a wrong number.

In 1966, after being out of work for an interminable 10 months, Lear happened upon an ad in the Temple News.

"Man Wanted" the ad read, so he called the number and told the person on the other end of the line that he was applying for the job. Only, there was no job. The Philadelphia Tribune wasn't hiring.

Lear, desperate after many incomeless months, insisted that he be permitted to come down and apply for a job. He went in and filled out an application to work at Philadelphia's Black newspaper, despite not being Black, having no journalistic qualifications and no experience taking photographs.

Four months later, The Philadelphia Tribune had a sudden opening and called Lear with a probationary offer. He rose to the challenge and found his passion as a journalist.

Two years later, however, he stumbled upon a copy of the old Temple News ad and realized he had dialed the wrong number! Lear's entire journalistic career is the result of his misreading an ad, and then not taking no for an answer.

Lear began working at the Local in 1982 having done everything from restaurant columns to proofreading to features and obituaries. I was delighted to have the opportunity to interview him on this month's segment of "A Local Lens," the radio show I've been hosting every second Friday from 9-10 a.m. on G-town Radio, 92.9 FM.

Although Lear is typically the person asking questions, he has no shortage of stories.

"I did hard news for many years," he recounted. "Even crime stories. I did not like that. It's too depressing. I would talk to a mother whose son had just been murdered. I hated doing that. I felt like I was imposing on someone who was grief stricken and I was there to get a story. I'm not cut out for that. I did investigative stuff about corruption, political corruption, et cetera, and even though that was rewarding, to uncover facts that the public didn't know about before, what I'm doing now is fun. That's why I have not retired – although I'm way past retirement age – because I love it."

Lear is 85 years old. What he loves most about his work is "meeting interesting people who have upbeat stories to tell, then letting the public know about these people who did something terrific."

Some of the recent people he's written about include 92-year-old Bishop Morris, a postman with the dream of establishing a neighborhood church, whose work positively impacted his community, and the Hasanis, an Afghan family who fled their homeland to escape to the safety of Philadelphia - stories you can read at chestnuthilllocal.com.

Lear also shared about the experience of encapsulating a person's life story in their obituary, a role he acquired after a previous Local obituary writer told a community member their mother's life wasn't "prominent enough" to warrant an obituary in the Local because she'd been a lifelong caretaker and had never worked outside the home.

"She was a stay-at-home mom for eight children," Lear recalled. "All the children went to college. They all wound up with families. They all had good jobs. They were good citizens. They volunteered. My God, what could be more important than bringing up eight children to be good citizens? So, even though I don't have children of my own, I told the woman to get the family together, I interviewed them and ran the obit in the back section. At that time, I was in charge of the back section."

Several years after that experience, Lear was asked to take over as the Local's obituary writer, and he cherishes visiting the friends and relatives of community members who have stories to tell about those who have passed.

He invites anyone with a story to tell, or who knows of a person he should write about, to contact him at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com. Some of his best stories, he says, come from word-of-mouth referrals and tips from community members.

Given that it was an ad that led to Lear's 58-year career in journalism, it seems particularly poignant that next month, on April 11, from 9-10 a.m., I'll be speaking with Leslie Cerf and George Ward, our advertising representatives. Tune in for that if you want to learn how to tell your business' story through advertising.

Daralyise Lyons is the publisher of the Chestnut Hill Local.