Well, Forks Forum readers, I have made it one year and I am still here! And according to former Forks Forum editor Chris Cook I have six good years left before I get run out of town. But by then I may be too old to run?
So for now I will plug along and continue the tradition that is the Forks Forum.
Started sometime in the early 1930s, the Forks Forum has been published every week since, so that is about 4,380 papers give or take a few. So far I only have about 52 under my belt.
The farthest west newspaper in the contiguous United States, remember when the front page of the paper used to say that?
Since it is Thanksgiving week, I am thankful and incredibly grateful to be the editor of my hometown newspaper. I follow many amazing community members that have held this position before me.
Some of these people I only know from reading their names in old copies of the Forks Forum, but most of them I have known.
In the 1930s Mae Wenham was the editor. The Astels, Jim and Mamie, I did not know them but know they carried the Forks Forum through the difficult times of World War II, blackouts, rationing, but they kept things going.
Some people have been the editor and I didn’t even know like Ralph Hilt, my math teacher, he was editor for a while.
From 1965 until 1976 Gordon Otos was the editor. During that time I actually helped put the paper together on a few occasions with laying out the stories with wax and rollers, that was many years ago.
There was owner and editor Lorraine Maris from 1976 until 1990, ah the good times, I look at those old papers and see all the businesses and I miss those days.
The paper was then sold to Brown Maloney and Olympic View Publishing and some of the editors that followed were Robert Rochon, Bill Buley, Don Gronning, George McCormick, Denise Dunne Devanney and Dusty Routh. I truly thought he was going to be so wonderful for our community and then he died after just two weeks on the job at the age of 46.
Then Chris Cook came in to our lives and did an amazing job, but for some reason he wanted to go to Hawaii, go figure! Our two temporary editors Mark Couhig and the crazy Joe Smilie, who taught me everything I know! And, I will always be grateful.
So most of this past year has been on the job training. It is my mission to get people used to having someone around again that answers the phone, responds to your e-mails and tries to get your very important community announcements in the paper in a timely fashion. But, my biggest goal is to tell the story of my wonderful community. What makes us who we are.
After over 80 years and in spite of my learning on the job the paper has still made it out every week, although it was close a few times!
