Retirement — one of these days I guess I’ll have to seriously think about it. But at this point in my life, retiring seems like a long way off.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I realize I’m plenty old enough to retire. I turned 70 in December, have been employed full time for over 45 years — and a couple of months ago I actually signed up for full Medicare benefits. If I were reading those facts about someone else, I’d think “Wow, they’re old! Why are they still working?”
But here’s the deal: I don’t feel old.
And I really love my job. I get to do so many different things here at The Daily World that I never get bored. I have my everyday jobs that I do — like creating the “What’s Happening,” “World Gone By” and church columns; writing up engagement, wedding and anniversary announcements; making sure birth announcements get in the paper; formatting the “Dear Abby” columns; answering emails; talking to subscribers who stop by the office; taking phone calls; posting news stories to Facebook and Twitter; and proofing pages before they go to the press guys.
That’s right: When there’s a word misspelled in a headline or we have the wrong date at the top of a page or we list someone’s name incorrectly, I’m the one who should have caught that before the pages are actually printed!
Just recently, the editor told me I get to start putting together the “Pages of the Past” column for the weekly Vidette. I get to look at copies of that newspaper from 1893, 1918, 1943, 1968, 1993 and 2008. And for someone who doesn’t like history too much, I find myself getting lost in those old stories and having to remind myself to stay on task and get that column written.
But the other parts of my job are what really make it interesting. I like to describe it as “getting to do everything the editors and reporters need help with.” Things like someone wanting to know:
1. What’s Kurt Cobain’s birthday?
2. When did the Hotel Morck open?
3. When was the Doughboy statue put up?
4. When did Chehalis County become Grays Harbor County?
5. What’s the history of the Grays Harbor Symphony?
6. How long have the Olympians been hiking around the Harbor?
7. How long has the local paper been publishing crossword puzzles?
Day to day, I never know what I’ll be researching or if I’ll be successful in coming up with the answer but it certainly keeps my job interesting and keeps me coming to work each day.
Oops, before I forget, here are the answers I found to the questions above:
1. Feb. 20, 1967
2. March 8, 1924 (it cost $325,000)
3. July 7, 1926 (originally erected at the corner of Simpson and North Park, he was moved to Zelasko Park, just west of the Wishkah River, in March 1961 and is now visible on East Wishkah Street as westbound traffic comes off the Wishkah Bridge)
4. March 16, 1915
5. The symphony was founded in 1925 by Carl Moldren, a violinist and teacher of stringed instruments in Aberdeen. The orchestra was temporarily disbanded in 1941 and reorganized by Donald McCaw. He was an Aberdeen High School graduate and himself an early day symphony member, who returned to Aberdeen from Puyallup in 1947 to become music supervisor in the local school system.
6. Their first hike was Nov. 7, 1920. Apparently Oscar Lovgren led 22 hikers on an 8-mile trek to the pumping station on the East Hoquiam road. At one time the roster of the hiking club included 100 names.
7. Nov. 17, 1924. To this day, crossword puzzles are one of the most popular features in the paper. And I did make a copy of that original puzzle, so give me a call if you’d like to see a copy of it.
This is fascinating stuff, isn’t it? You can probably see why I get lost in the research. And why I love my job.
But I’ve rattled on much too long. Next month I promise to give you “rest of the story” of why I’m not ready to retire yet.
Karen Barkstrom, The Daily World’s editorial assistant, can be reached at 360-537-3925 or kbarkstrom@thedailyworld.com.
