Sunday I had just finshed dinner and was sitting in my living room sipping a cup of hot tea and making afternoon plans when members of the Superior Volunteer Fire Department were called to Webber. Rita and I gathered our cameras and headed to Webber. All we knew was a fire was threatening a trailer and spreading along the railroad track.
The fire call gave us reason to get out of the house, and do a little exploring. As we drove toward Webber, we reviewed previous times we had followed the fire department to that area. I recalled the night I watched fire destroy the Lovewell Elevator and Rita recalled watching a fire destroy the building which had housed the Webber grocery store.
On the way to Webber, we noticed a van parked near where BNSF railroad tracks cross a county road. On the return to Superior, we saw the van was still there. Curious as to what it was doing, we turned off the blacktop to investigate. We wouldn’t have been surprised to see a Railcrew Express van there waiting to pickup a crew bringing a train into Superior, but this vehicle didn’t look like those used by Railcrew Express. It was more of a panel or box truck design.
As luck would have it, the two occupants were standing alongside the van which offered a shady place to rest out of Sunday’s wind and they were willing to talk to us.
While visiting with the man and woman, we learned they worked for a contractor who clears unwanted growth away from railroad crossings that are not protected by flashing lights or gates. It was their job to make sure plants did not obscure a motorist’s view of a railroad crossing warning signs. They apparently had done a good job because I wasn’t concerned about the crossing.
They told us they had just finished clearing the Cedar Road crossing and were resting a bit before going to the next crossing. Asked about the area served. they replied it was pretty much any place in the continental United States west of Chicago. Orders as to where they were to go next were received as jobs were finished. That day they were in Kansas but their next job might be in Montana or Texas, they had no clue as to where they would be sent next. They expected to finish checking the line to Superior on Sunday and Monday receive new orders.
Their job didn’t sound like one I would like but they assured me it suited them and they considered it to be a good job. To like the job, I suspect one must enjoy travelling light and being constantly on the move.
Reminded me of the old saying “Different Strokes for Different People.” I don’t like travel and I like being near my stuff.
While I do not want their job, I suspect they would say the same about mine. Our two jobs are quite different.
Although both our jobs may lack some structure. I plan to print a newspaper each week on time but other than my plan to attend an Easter Sunrise Service Sunday morning, I pretty much just let the day unfold without a plan.
As the day developed, I had opportunities to take pictures for this and future issues of the newspaper and to have visits with interesting people.
Reminded me of a Christmas card the late Mamie Boyd, longtime associate editor of the Jewell County Record, sent to friends in 1961. The card included a picture taken of Mamie in 1901 when her hair was brown and she played Princess Beatrice in a play while studying Shakespeare as a student at Kansas State Agricultural College. Sixty years later she recalled how much fun it was to wear a crown and play the part of a princess. She wrote on the Christmas card “It was at Kansas State Agricultural College where I met Frank Boyd, my mate. We studied civics, political science, and other subjects too, early and late. We also wore out our shoe leather walking to our dates.
“Time flies away on wings, like the wind so fast it keeps my head in a swim. As time flies by, I gain friends so dear, I am growing richer and richer, year by year.
“Time and progress never change, never stop. The drama of life is endless and interesting. Meeting life’s challenges are so intrguing. Living and loving and serving are ever lasting. I am stil having fun along life’s highway.”
On the other side of the card was a picture of Mrs. Boyd and her new Chevrolet Corvair automobile which she had named “Pepper.” Below the picture she wrote “I go to the office each morning at eight. Home every night at six, if we don’t work late. Working? If you like your life’s work it is only play so I am playing all the time every day.”
Mrs. Boyd and I share a similar outlook on our work.
This week, this old editor is featured in a National Newspaper Association publication for his more than 50 years of membership in the association. I didn’t think that so unusual but my stories and pictures they shared filled nearly two pages of the tabloid size newspaper.
Part of what makes this job fun is knowing I am helping to create a lasting record of the goings on in the communities our newspapers serve.
Earlier this week, while checking a social media site on the internet, I found two stories we had published years ago which readers had clipped. saved in their scrapbooks and shared on an electronic service never imagined when the stories were written. In both instances the people sharing the stories said they wanted the younger residents to know the stories recorded in those clippings.
Last week we were asked to find a series of stories on the wartime scrap drivers published by The Express during World War II.
This morning, a former resident called from southern Texas to renew her electronic subscription. She inflated my ego a bit by telling how much she appreciated being able to get and read her hometown paper in a timely fashion. When she subscribed to the printed version, she often got three week’s worth of papers on the same day which for her was unacceptable service.
As she talked, I recalled being asked to take pictures of her first born daughter while I was an undergraduate student attending Kansas State University. That little girl is all grown up now and is probably a grandmother.
Saturday morning a Thayer County subscriber who receives the printed version of the paper called to tell me how much he enjoyed reading the paper. While we talked he ordered a subscription for a friend. While The Express is not the “Hometown” paper for either, I was told “Your paper contains so many interesting stories.”
It is this editor’s goal to produce an interesting paper each week but to do so takes the cooperation of not only the paid staff but also the readers.
For example, this week Sheila Lorence, a volunteer contributor, shared with us pictures she had taken at four Jewell County Easter Egg Hunts. She not only took the pictures but she got the youngsters names along with names of parents and grandparents and then wrote a story about the events.
Production of a newspaper is a team effort and we welcome our readers’ assistance.
Reader Comments(0)