I seldom turn my television set on before the evening news. Well, truth be known, I seldom turn my television set on at all.

If we are in the middle of storm warnings, a vital election, or college basketball season, I have the machine on with great frequency. Beyond those events, it is on just about never.

Isaiah Eldridge, KAKE photojournalist and former Peabody kid, has filmed local activities for a series of short highlights about Peabody featured on “Good Morning Kansas.” The show features events around Kansas. Until he began covering Peabody events, I had never heard of the program.

He did a nice spot about Peabody Cruise several weeks ago. As it turned out, I happened to be downtown for that and caught a shot of Isaiah at work.

I took a picture of him taking pictures. It appeared as a stand-alone photo on the front page of the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin that week. It was a great example of the local press filming the big city press filming a local event. It is tough to go wrong with that kind of coverage.

I just heard that he has been in town several times since then to film preparations for the 95th annual Peabody Fourth of July.

The trouble was that I received the information after he had come and gone, thus no in-depth coverage about a hometown kid going the extra mile for his community. However, that is just what he has done.

Eldridge created a great video of the 2013 celebration. The video is available on the Peabody Fourth Fest site.

We are grateful he has highlighted the dozens of volunteers getting ready for July 4. It also is good for generating interest among people who watch the show.

Eldridge’s mother, Beth, was a community cheerleader. She and her family settled here many years ago and became involved in various facets of small town living. Beth was especially active in promoting Peabody events as well as activities that involved her children and grandchildren.

She died of breast cancer several months ago, and her death has left a void that Peabody may never fill. She was a champion of our community — a stalwart and positive supporter of many organizations and individuals.

I have no knowledge of Isaiah’s personal mission as he covers activities here in Peabody, where he grew up.

However, I know we appreciate his gifts. His promotional talent has been a wonderful addition to local groups getting the word out about the Fourth of July celebration and Peabody Cruise.

I like to think he has had a spiritual nudge from his mother. That sounds to me like something she would do, and he would know it.

Thanks for sharing your talent, Isaiah.

—susan marshall