Once a week for 50 years...

“If you don’t try, how will you ever know?”

In 1971, a half century ago, the late Pete Bailey invited me to write a weekly column for The Jesup Sentinel. I was flattered by his offer, but reluctant to accept. I was writing a monthly feature for The Coastal Illustrated, a relatively new publication in the Golden Isles. As a mother of three, I struggled to meet its monthly deadlines. And now Pete was daring me to write weekly.

Hesitantly in February of 1971, I submitted my first column on the history of the PTA in our county. Taking on Pete’s challenge opened doors that I didn’t even know existed.

Over the years, I ended up working for each of the two competing newspapers in Jesup, GA, which eventually merged into The Press-Sentinel. For the past 50 years, I’ve written a weekly column.

When I worked at the newspaper full time, one of my duties was to oversee the newsroom assignments of the high school students on staff, including my teenage son. When he returned home as part owner and publisher of the local newspaper, the tables turned and he became my boss since I continued to write a weekly column. If you ever are offered the opportunity to work professionally for your children, grab hold of it. We can learn much from our children. I have.

When I retired from teaching, he encouraged to write feature stories again. Writing these articles, in addition to columns, has allowed me to meet people I did not know, to visit with some I’ve known for years and to catch up on the news about some of my former students; I’ve especially delighted in telling the success stories of these young people. All teachers wonder about their former students. While I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and writing about each person I’ve interviewed, I’ve taken double pleasure in telling the stories of former students.

In one year not long ago, I interviewed a Hollywood actress, a scientist and a math/drama teacher, all young people I remember fondly from teaching them. By the time a student reaches high school, we teachers usually recognize those highly motivated students; so none of these success stories have surprised me. However, I’m grateful that I am the one who had the opportunity to tell their stories.

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When my son asked me to reflect about my column’s anniversary, he specifically asked me to explain how I come up with different topics each week. It is the one question columnists are most often asked. I can even tell you the time and place when I realized the skill necessary for generating ideas on a regular basis. It happened during my first year of teaching in 1958.

Emily: “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it - every, every minute?”

Stage Manager: “No -saints and poets maybe - they do some.”

When I first studied Our Town by Thornton Wilder in college, I thought that it would have won “The Great American Novel” label if it had been written in that format instead of as a drama. However, when I taught this play at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, Texas, it changed my life. That epiphany occurred when I listened to two students read the above exchange between Emily and the Stage Manager.

At that moment, I knew I would never be a saint nor a poet, but a string of questions burst forth in my mind like New Year's fireworks. Why couldn't an average person like me take notice of every moment in her life? Why couldn't I train myself to look, to see? Why couldn't I record the moments, big and small, both in memory and on paper? Why couldn't I appreciate each day? I knew, at that instant, the small, everyday events which we tend to take for granted actually give our lives meaning.

Like all columnists and journalists, I look at every event I attend, every book I read, every word I hear, every person I encounter as a possible prompt for commentary. We all have stories to tell. The way children view the world remains one of my favorite sources.

I know I won’t write for another 50 years, but I appreciate the opportunity to continue to write as long as I think I have something to say. I hope all of you have enjoyed your own endeavors as much as I have in rising to a dare issued a half century ago.

(Author's Note: Last week, a column thanking a variety of people who propelled my 50-year journalistic career ran in The Press-Sentinel. Because I didn't think the readers of the other newspapers now carrying my column would know any of these journalists, I combined the introduction of that column with part of a column marking my 40th year anniversary. I now share that combined column here.)

2021