WATERVILLE – Clayton LaVerdiere, a reporter, columnist and editor for the Morning Sentinel for 50 years, died Thursday with his family by his side after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 85.

The son of French-Canadian immigrants, LaVerdiere joined his hometown paper in 1946 after returning from World War II.

For decades he chronicled the happenings of Waterville, often walking the streets with a photographer and turning his observations into front-page stories. He was known for his positive outlook, and his affection for the city showed in his writing.

“Here was a journalist who was on a first-name basis with Ed Muskie and considered being on a first-name basis with a Waterville millworker of equal importance,” said Glenn Turner, the Sentinel’s news project editor. “He understood the inner quality of the person, and for him it placed everyone on the same playing field.”

LaVerdiere joined the Sentinel as a proofreader and moved on to become a reporter, columnist, editor and community affairs director. He retired from full-time work in 1986, and continued to write a semiweekly column called “Tuesdays and Thursdays” for another 10 years.

For many years, LaVerdiere was known as the face of the Morning Sentinel. When he retired in 1986, the city declared Dec. 31, 1986, as C. Clayton LaVerdiere Day.

In 1997, North Country Press published a collection of LaVerdiere’s newspaper columns called “A Maine Point of View.”

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Mary, and their eight children.

A funeral is scheduled for Monday at Sacred Heart Church in Waterville.