Former Napa Register editor Ross Game left the Napa Register nearly 40 years ago, but he never stopped editing it.

Game passed away last month.

He left us an elliptical obituary that mentioned much of what he did and who he knew and what made him most proud. But the usual details, years spent in this job or that town, mostly were missing.

It left the impression that it was the people and experiences that mattered, not the raw facts — the 5 W’s — that consume a daily newspaperman’s days.

I met Ross in 2004, and on the few occasions I visited with him he had copies of the Register in hand.

He had marked them up with a ball-point pen to indicate what he viewed as inadequate headlines or less-than-stellar sentences, stuff that should have gone over there, not over here.

By that time, his regular routine was powered by an electric wheelchair. He’d buzz through town to Val’s Liquors on Third Street.

The news rack at Val’s contains all the local newspapers and several out-of-town ones.

He’d buy his fill, including the St. Helena Star and Weekly Calistogan every Thursday, and learn about the world anew every day — ball point pen in hand.

Later, at 11:30 a.m., he’d roll to the Buckhorn Grill in Napa Town Center.

He reliably was the first customer of the day, and the Buckhorn staff seemed accustomed to his arrival and his order.

The time and the order were always the same, but the cast would change around him.

Former county officials and sources and friends appeared on different days, and I had a seat at the table two or three times.

As editors, I’m sure we had a fair amount in common: reporters, publishers and budgets to complain about, legends of the newsroom to toast, mistakes to be spun into funny anecdotes and high moments of good journalism to crow over.

But in my talks with Ross, I was struck by the contrasts between us.

When he was Register editor, he owned a convertible with a car phone.

Back then, talking on the phone while driving was a James Bond-like novelty, not the most commonly-abused section of the California Vehicle Code.

He said he often let Gov. Reagan use the phone, and maybe Sen. Ted Kennedy, too.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the editor’s job at the Register isn’t glamorous.

But the next time a governor or a Kennedy asks me for a ride or for use of my phone will be the first time.