A leap of faith
During my six years with the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin I have made no secret of the fact that I think a life of weekly deadlines and cranky readers and advertisers leaves a great deal to be desired. I have whined loud and long about agreeing to take this job for just a couple of months until a proper editor could be found to be in charge of the Peabody news. And I have whined even louder and longer that no such person has been hired.
I am no kind of journalist and I know that. I admit this has truly been a humbling experience, and you know about how much I enjoy being humbled! While there have been some nice moments, there also have been some really rotten ones. It has been a learning experience and I confess that I thought I would do a better job at it; I thought it would be easier than it is.
One of the people who always made it look easy was the man who hired me, former Marion County Record editor and publisher, Bill Meyer. He told me once that his mother (also in the newspaper business) used to say, "You can make a news story out of anything." I am still working on that. I truly believe he could do it. I cannot.
And in the early days of my time with Hoch Publishing, he often came into the Marion office from home or from one of his haunts, sat down at the computer, and pounded out an editorial in about 15 minutes! It takes me that long to think of a topic — if I am lucky! Putting an opinion piece together is agonizing. I can't imagine doing what he did for as many years as he did it.
While I can never claim to have ink in my veins, I must admit this has been a ride I never thought I would take. And as I said it has had some nice moments. I appreciate the fact that Bill Meyer and Hoch Publishing took a leap of faith and invested in the Peabody community. They kept the newspaper here when it would have been just as easy to close it up after six months or a year. I think under Bill's direction, the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin has done some good things and though I may grumble, I am glad to have been a part of it.
Five years ago, at a staff Christmas party, The Mister thanked Bill for his investment in our town and his commitment to keeping a newspaper here. Bill replied that he thought Peabody was a community with a good future that deserved to have a newspaper of its own. Sometimes I wonder if we see as much good in our own community as he saw. Sometimes I think we don't.
At any rate, I thank Bill Meyer, not only for the degree of faith he had in me, but also for the faith he had in Peabody. I'm not sure either of us deserve it, but I'm glad he took the leap.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
