When Grampa Fred came to visit our paper recently with his grandson, it was as though a member of our extended family had come home.
He asked about past columnists and writers as if they were familiar friends.
As he watched a video about our paper’s history, he often nodded in recognition of images or added his own commentary.
When the Producer’s first editor appeared on the screen he murmured “I remember him. He was a good editor.”
Past monumental times in our newspaper’s history were also entrenched in Fred’s mind.
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As the video showed the campaign by farmers to establish Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, Fred grinned and drew attention to the wheat pool cap he wore this day. He proudly announced he has supported the pool all his life – just as he has supported our paper through decades of farming.
But some things have changed.
Fred was intrigued with how the technology has progressed, from stories set in lead letters, painstakingly pieced together by several people, to having many stories and photos easily imported within seconds onto a computer page by one person striking computer keys.
But the decades fell away again as Fred entered our library.
He discussed front pages from the war years, chuckled about past cartoons and scanned articles for names of former politicians he could recognize.
As his weather-beaten farm hands gingerly touched the yellowed pages of our 1924 edition, he paused.
“I remember reading the paper in 1924,” he said, leaning to study the pages as if they were precious scrolls. “I was 11 years old.”
We both recalled what it was like to be 11 and eagerly await the arrival of the newspaper.
Fred’s eyes sparkled, his face lit up and for a few minutes he appeared to forget the crisscrossed lines on that same face, the roadmap for treatments scheduled for an hour later at the cancer clinic.
Thank you, Fred – for visiting and reminding us what the paper means to readers each week. Get well soon.
