A journalist who once turned down a job on an American newspaper to remain at his hometown weekly has died aged 89.

Tributes have been paid to John Reynolds, who served titles including the Falmouth Packet and Isle of Wight County Press during his career.

John, who grew up in Falmouth, began his career on the Packet and later went on to work in Wiltshire and the West Midlands.

He subsequently applied for, and was offered a job in Chicago, but decided to stay in the UK after being invited to rejoin the Packet while in Falmouth to say goodbye to his family.

John, pictured, later became chief reporter and became immediate boss to his future wife Pam, a trainee reporter nine years his junior.

Pam told the Packet: “In those days they were able to say they wanted a boy to join as a trainee reporter and I was the only girl who applied, and I got the job.

“I joined in 1959, and in December 1961 at Falmouth Central Methodist Church, we were married. We were married for sixty years when he died.”

The couple later moved to Sussex and then the Isle of Wight, where John was a sub-editor on the County Press between 1983 and his retirement in 1992.

County Press editor Alan Marriott said: “John was an interesting man with a wealth of knowledge. He was a funny man who was always a pleasure to work with.”

John is survived by Pam, daughter Claire, granddaughters Charlotte and Dominique, and his sister Teresa.

His funeral was private but donations in his memory can be made to Alzheimer’s UK through Geoff Leather funeral directors, Newport, Isle of Wight.