Former WAFB anchor George Sells picks up new reporting projects for his community

Advocate, The (Baton Rouge, LA)

Dec. 17--Seven years ago, George Sells stepped down as one of the most trusted newsmen in the greater Baton Rouge area. For over two decades, the WAFB anchor brought viewers the news of the day.

Today, Sells is still reporting but in a very unexpected way.

It started with the death of a friend at St. James Place, where he and his wife, Sandy, moved three years after he retired. He put together a video obituary for Paul Davey's family and friends. Touched by the reception to it, Sells now produces similar videos for any St. James resident who dies.

"They show them in-house, and I give them to the family," he added. "It's fun for me (to produce the videos), and I've got the time."

Sells knows firsthand the pain of death. Sandy Sells passed away in her sleep only 27 days after the couple moved to the senior living community.

"The arms that went around me ... the people here at St. James were so supportive," said Sells. "I initially thought I'd move, but there was such a support system here. I felt the love."

A St. James connection led him to another project with Court Appointed Special Advocates, which recruits, screens, trains and supervises community volunteers to serve as advocates for abused and neglected children in the courtroom. Fellow resident and former LSU Law School instructor Lucy Bowers McGough told him about the need for CASA volunteers across the state and asked if she could put him in touch with juvenile court Judge Kathleen Richey.

"There is a tremendous shortage of volunteers in New Orleans, Monroe, Lafayette and other CASA agencies throughout the state. Not so much here in Baton Rouge, though," said Sells. "So, I created a series of spots (public service announcements) and got some of my peers to help me record them -- former WAFB and CBS Sports broadcaster Tim Brando and, for the ones in the New Orleans area, former TV news anchor Norman Robinson.

"I worked my butt off on this project," he added with a laugh.

Sells also has lent his distinctive voice to training videos for ExxonMobil, General Motors and Louisiana Farm Bureau, and he did an on-camera spot for Coke Zero, which was recorded in Atlanta.

"They were trying to approach an older demographic, and it was supposed to run in Phoenix, but the project got canned when Coke decided to go after the millennials," he said. "I don't know if any of them ever ran."

He's also recorded several books on tape in Atlanta.

"That's the worst job you could want because the writer is usually there," he said, "and they want multiple takes to get it exactly like they want it to sound."

Sells also keeps in touch with his former WAFB co-anchor Donna Britt, who is battling ALS. At least once a week, he said he visits her and reads books, letters, The New York Times and columns from The Advocate's Smiley Anders.

"Donna carried me those first six months or so after I started at WAFB," he said. "I never would have been so successful without her."

In addition to his various jobs, Sells also has taken on another role -- husband.

In April, he and Patti Toups married. They met standing in the takeout line at Gino's Restaurant.

"She didn't know who I was," he said, laughing. "She loves telling people that.

"She's gorgeous for a women who's the same age as I am," he continued. "The first thing I noticed about her were her steel-blue eyes."

When schedules allow, the couple visits his son, George Caldwell Sells, and his family in St. Louis, and her son, Greg Pace, and his family in Jupiter, Florida, where recently Sells visited Mar-a-Lago when President Donald Trump was there.

"That was interesting -- all that security," said Sells, who interviewed former President Bill Clinton back in 1993.

While he may not get to interview presidents or governors or even mayors anymore, Sells is still a newsman at heart.

"It was a big part of my life," said Sells, who was 15 when he started in the news business at WKPT AM-FM in his hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee.

And he binge watches television news.

"I stay up until about 2 a.m. and then sleep late," he said. "I'm partial to 'ABC World News Tonight' because I worked for ABC News in New York for five years. I go crazy when reporters and anchors make mistakes and I know they know better. Patti's not a news person, and she makes fun of me if we watch it together."

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