A Sad Day at The Capital.
The ugly head of the “Buy-Out Beast” has shown its face at The Capital this week. Actually, it popped up last month, but Friday was the last day for those who took the deal. It was a sad day in the newsroom. We lost five longtime employees, two in particular who I am really going to miss from our Community News department. Fran Jaques and Mary Felter were the Community News department; between the two of them there had to be more than 40 years of experience covering our area. They knew everyone and generated a lot of copy for our paper.
Fran covered the Food, Religion and Homes sections. She found, wrote and assigned photographers to shoot the “Home Of The Week” feature, as well as covered food features and the area religion scene. Mary Felter was the Community News Editor and covered the local social beat, including charity events. She also did the obits and many other things.
I am not sure how the paper is going to handle filling the space, both physically and in the paper, that these two ladies did. This certainly is a time of change at our paper and for Mary and Fran. They are of retirement age, and I am sure they will be fine. They both have kids and grandkids who will love the extra attention.
There were many tears and hugs going around on Friday as the two of them were packing the last of their stuff into boxes. I was able to say goodbye to Mary as she was leaving, but I had to go out on a Friday night football assignment before Fran left. So I went over to her desk and said my goodbyes. When I got back, both their desks, which were in the corner of the Community News department, were empty. It was a sad sight to see, and I felt that The Capital newspaper was a little emptier too.
Good luck, Mary and Fran.
P.S. We also lost a great joke, which has probably been told hundreds of times to the new people in the newsroom or at least the Photo Department. I remember in my first month at the paper J Henson asked me “Did you hear what happened to Fran?” My reply was “No,” then J said “Mary Felter.” Get it? (Mary Felt Her)
Fran covered the Food, Religion and Homes sections. She found, wrote and assigned photographers to shoot the “Home Of The Week” feature, as well as covered food features and the area religion scene. Mary Felter was the Community News Editor and covered the local social beat, including charity events. She also did the obits and many other things.
I am not sure how the paper is going to handle filling the space, both physically and in the paper, that these two ladies did. This certainly is a time of change at our paper and for Mary and Fran. They are of retirement age, and I am sure they will be fine. They both have kids and grandkids who will love the extra attention.
There were many tears and hugs going around on Friday as the two of them were packing the last of their stuff into boxes. I was able to say goodbye to Mary as she was leaving, but I had to go out on a Friday night football assignment before Fran left. So I went over to her desk and said my goodbyes. When I got back, both their desks, which were in the corner of the Community News department, were empty. It was a sad sight to see, and I felt that The Capital newspaper was a little emptier too.
Good luck, Mary and Fran.
P.S. We also lost a great joke, which has probably been told hundreds of times to the new people in the newsroom or at least the Photo Department. I remember in my first month at the paper J Henson asked me “Did you hear what happened to Fran?” My reply was “No,” then J said “Mary Felter.” Get it? (Mary Felt Her)
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