We won the whole shootin' match
The whole staff at the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin office is pretty proud this week. Yes indeed, both of us are thrilled! There is a newsletter called the "Kansas Publisher" that goes out monthly to all the members of the Kansas Press Association and guess what? In my most humble opinion they should call the current one the "Peabody Gazette-Bulletin Issue." It arrived in our mailbox last week.
It seems this year is the 140th anniversary of the Kansas Press Association and in October there was a gathering in Topeka of KPA members to kick off the celebration. The 12-page KPA newsletter highlights the Topeka meeting and many of the events that took place.
And Peabody scored
Back in September the KPA sent a crew to the Peabody Printing Museum to borrow early tools of the newspaper trade for display at the conference. Several of the artifacts are pictured in the newsletter with credit given to our museum for providing them for the attendees to view.
Newspaper folks were invited to guess the weight of the proof press on loan from the museum. The winner was given a copy of former Peabody Gazette editor Oscar Stauffer's book, "My Love Affair with Life." The book details, among his many accomplishments, his years as editor of this newspaper.
The Peabody Gazette-Bulletin also is featured in the "A Century Newspaper" column. The column regularly highlights a Kansas newspaper that has served its community for more than 100 years. Established in 1873, this paper certainly fits the requirements.
The feature shows an early picture of the east side of Walnut Street and credits editor W. H. Morgan for the newspaper's origin. It also mentions the Printing Museum and states that the "Peabody Printing Museum — established by curators Bill Krause and the late Bill Jackson — not only commemorates the history of the Peabody newspaper, but is considered one of the finest 'working' printing museums in the Midwest." Bill Krause was editor of the Peabody paper from 1954 until the paper was sold in the mid-1990s. He still contributes guest editorials to the Gazette-Bulletin and donates his time to the Printing Museum.
As if that's not enough, current Peabody Gazette-Bulletin publisher, Bill Meyer is pictured in a group of former Kansas Press Association presidents. And in a separate column Meyer also is honored as "Leader of the Year" by the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development.
Yikes! Janet and I have some work to do to keep up with these journalism giants! You might notice that neither of us is mentioned. I would have told you — in a heartbeat, right up there at the top — if one of the columns had said, "And now, introducing the duo that hopes to be around for another 140 years
Well, we all need a goal in life, right? I don't expect that this will happen, but to be even somewhere near the bottom of the list of famous Peabody Gazette newspaper people would be most excellent indeed.
In the meantime, Hoo-rah for Peabody and this newspaper and its mark on journalism in Kansas! We rock.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
