Beloved Virginia TV news anchor Mark Spain has died of pancreatic cancer. 

The 64-year-old journalist had spent decades anchoring the news at ABC affiliate WSET-TV in Virginia before working in Indianapolis, Cleveland and Jacksonville. 

The seasoned newsman was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer on November 27 and began undergoing chemotherapy on December 16, according to his Facebook posts. 

However, two days later his wife, Lynita announced that he had succumbed to the disease. 

In a lengthy social media post, the grieving wife said Spain was ‘a pillar of the community’ and spent his last weeks staying positive and fighting the disease.

Lynthia also commented on how much the journalist loved his job and thanked well-wishers for their messages.  

‘Hello sunshines! It is with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my loving husband Mark. Our family along with the city of Lynchburg lost a man of hope, someone who loves his city and stood for equality, treating others with respect and kindness. He was a husband, father, brother, friend and a positive light in the community. 

‘My first true love. He brought so much joy, compassion, love and strength into our lives, and his absence will be deeply felt by all who knew him. The last 23 years have been a wonderful journey filled with love, laughter and many wonderful memories. A journey that I would do all over again.

His wife noted how ‘surreal’ the loss felt just about three weeks after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 

‘He fought hard, he stayed positive throughout the battle and wasn’t afraid. We have comfort in knowing he is no longer suffering, it was not easy watching him fight for his life and battle this disease, but he was not alone., and neither were we,’ she wrote.

‘He encouraged those around him. He loved to help others and longed for peace and was an ambassador for positivity. He loved his family and was extremely proud of his children. He also loved his job and felt so blessed to do what he did for a living. He was one hell of a journalist and took his job very seriously.’ 

Lynthia called him ‘a pillar of the community,’ adding how people loved to share how much they enjoyed watching him on the news.

‘As we navigate this difficult time, we take comfort in remembering the wonderful moments we shared with him. Your kindness and support mean the world to us. Friends, you showed up and showed out with love support during his fight!! You have all been amazing and a true village! I can’t thank you all enough for all of the prayers, cards, flowers, blankets, texts, comments and checking in on us,’ she said.

‘This new journey, one I never thought I’d be on, as a single parent will be a new and challenging one. God is walking along side us, guiding and protecting us. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers,’ she wrote. 

Kristen Mirand, a reporter and anchor at Buffalo-based WKBW-TV and a former colleague of Spain’s at Sinclair-owned WSET-TV posted tribute for him – remembering him as an ‘incredible person who inspired everyone he met’. 

The seasoned newsman was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer on November 27 and began undergoing chemotherapy on December 16, according to his Facebook posts. However, two days later his wife, Lynita announced that he had passed away from the disease

In a lengthy social media post, she noted that Spain, who was ‘a pillar of the community’, spent his last weeks staying positive and fighting against the disease

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Lynthia also commented on how much the journalist loved his job and thanked well-wishers for their messages

Spain had started his news career as a paperboy for the Cleveland Press at merely nine years of age

‘To know Mark Spain was to know positivity, faith & kindness. He was the anchor at my last news station in VA. 

More than a gifted journalist, he was an incredible person who inspired everyone he met Mark passed away after battling pancreatic cancer. His legacy will live on,’ she wrote in a sentimental X post. 

Spain’s colleagues at WSET memorialized him and said in a statement: ‘His smile and positivity were known to his family, our team here at WSET, and the thousands across Lynchburg and beyond who welcomed Mark into their homes each night on TV. 

‘When he first addressed the community regarding his cancer diagnosis in early December, he echoed that familiar sunny outlook despite the heavy situation. His battle against cancer was not fought alone.’

Jacksonville’s First Coast News, where Spain worked for 14 years, also remembered the anchor. 

‘We are deeply saddened to hear of Mark’s passing. He always worked to better the First Coast in every story he produced. 

‘Our thoughts are with his wife Lynita and his three children during this difficult time,’ General Manager Tim Thomas said. 

Spain had started his news career as a paperboy for the Cleveland Press at merely nine years of age. 

He went on to major in Communications from the Cleveland State University and collected accolades like 2018 and 2019 Best News Anchor award from the Association Press of the Virginias. 

Apart from his wife, Spain is survived by two daughters and a son. 

RICHMOND, Va. — Christmas Day will be dry and seasonable, with a mixture of sun and clouds.

Highs will be in the upper 40s to near 50.

Sunset is 4:57 p.m. for those observing the beginning of Hanukkah.

We’ll experience warmer weather this weekend, with temperatures rising into the upper 40s and low 60s.

Rain is expected on Sunday and Monday, with a 60% chance of rain on Sunday.

Overall, the weather is expected to improve, becoming milder and drier as the weekend approaches.

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Editor’s note: This is a reprint of a timeless column written years ago by the journalist Eric Newton.

More than a hundred years ago, an 8-year-old girl wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun: “Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?” The answer — “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” — is the most reprinted newspaper editorial of all time, a classic appearing in dozens of languages, in editorials, books and movies, on posters and stamps, even in the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

What makes it endure? Is it because “Yes, Virginia” perpetuates the best traditions of Christmas? Because it touches on the connection between parents and children? Because it makes us long for the days of the great American newspaper? Or is it something more?

The author, Sun editorial writer Francis Pharcellus Church, grumbled a bit when handed the little girl’s letter. “Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus,” wrote Virginia O’Hanlon. “Please tell me the truth …” Something in the innocent query touched the veteran newsman. Church quickly turned in a 500-word reply, printed on Sept. 21, 1897, on Page 6, with no byline.

“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” Church wrote. “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”

The editorial was destined to live on, far beyond Church’s death in 1906; the Sun’s, in 1950; and even Mrs. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas’ in 1971.

By its 100th anniversary, Church’s gift of words turned into a Christmas treasure for some 200 greeting card companies.

“You couldn’t stop it if you wanted to,” says Richard Church Thompson, a relative of the writer.

Howell Raines, a St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times alumnus and former executive editor of The New York Times, says the story speaks about generations: “What this child is doing is knocking on the door of the adult world and asking to be let in … and what this editor is doing is protecting her — and his adult readers.”

Crusty newspaper editors have a particularly soft spot for “Yes, Virginia.” The editorial evokes a time when newspapers were the most trusted news medium, when the great American editorial really was the great American editorial. As Virginia put it in her letter: “Papa says ‘If you see it in the Sun it’s so.’ ” But there is more. Church didn’t just spin another yarn about Santa Claus, notes historian William David Sloan. “He gave us a reason for believing.”

“Yes, Virginia” is not merely 100-plus years old; it’s as old as people. It’s not just about a girl in New York; it’s about children everywhere, and grown-ups big enough to remember. It’s not even about Santa; substitute the symbol of your choice. “Yes, Virginia” is about faith, about believing in things you can’t see, about wonder, joy and love.

Santa today is under attack. He’s too commercial, too European, too Christian, too fat, even. But whether you like him or not, let him live. Francis Pharcellus Church did, and we’re toasting him 100 years later. Virginia did, and she grew up to be an educator in New York to teach countless children with special needs about Christmas, newspapers, families, faith.

“No Santa Claus!” wrote Church. “Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

Eric Newton, the former managing editor of the Newseum, is now innovation chief at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Tuesday, September 21, 1897

Dear editor:

I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says “If you see it in the Sun it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

115 West Ninety-Fifth Street

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.