Company graduates, Richard Longworth and I, Mo Kelley, both BHS-53, still have the Boone News Republican on our mind. We've exchanged several emails recently that contain memories of our days at 812 Keeler Street. I have a feeling a bit of disorganization will occur but I'm just going to "ramble" about some of the things we've visited about concerning those great BNR days.
Before that, Richard commented on what I had posted about what appeared to be the "final days" of the BNR as we knew them. Richard wrote, "You're right, it looks like the Boone News Republican is finally dead, in name and spirit. I did as you suggested and googled on the BNR and up popped the Ames Tribune, with almost no Boone news at all. Does this mean that Boone is now no more than just a suburb of Ames, with no more interest or existence than, say, Jordan? Over the years, the News Republican defined Boone and its history. Go back into the files and the legend of Boone, as a place, as a community, as a civilization, emerges. All the tragedies and triumphs are there, with the people that lived and created this history. This is what a good local newspaper does. So what now? Boone is still there but there's nobody with the job of writing this daily chronicle, leaving future residents with no real picture of the place where they live. Without this past, there's no understanding of the present, or grasp of the future."
Richard's BNR history actually goes beyond the late 50's and early 60's. He was actually there a decade earlier. His first byline in the BNR, coverage of a high school track meet, appeared in 1949 and he wrote regularly for the paper through his high school years until graduation and, occasionally, after that, in the mid-50's. I, the Kornerman, started splitting my work day between KWBG and the News Republican after being discharged from the service in 1958. From then, until 1970, I had my hands in both, starting with sports and ending with a time as KWBG Station Manager and BNR Managing Editor.
Referring to the BNR building itself, Richard wrote, "I do hope they'll always keep the News Republican name on that old building. There's a lot of history in that old place. It has to be a pretty solid structure. Every afternoon when the printing press in the basement revved up, the whole building shook." I, the Kornerman, remembers those little steps that separated the news department from the "back shop" and, of course, those long stairs that led up to the second floor where Mary and Harold Garvey had their offices. I think, Harold also had the proper furniture available upstairs for a nap in the afternoon if he desired. Irma Hines, the Society Editor, also had her office upstairs.
I, the Kornerman, will never forget one of my few trips up that long stairway to Mary Garvey's office. Sometime in 1969, I suddenly realized I had probably reached my BNR-KWBG zenith and should attempt a move forward. For a very short time, I left the BNR-KWBG gig and went to work for KASI radio in Ames. It wasn't long after, that Mary Garvey contacted me and wanted to talk about the Managing Editor's job at the BNR.
I traveled up that stairway into her office and, basically, she told me "we have never offered any employee the money we're willing to pay you if you would return as BNR Managing Editor. We'd offer $10,000. We do pay Rollie (Peterson) more than that, due to his sales commissions." I, of course, accepted but it was just a few months later when Bernie Saggau, Executive Secretary of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, said he wanted to visit with me. He offered a starting salary of $11,000 to join the IHSAA and I accepted the $1,000 raise in April of 1970.
Our BNR "back shop" was a union shop, while the rest of the building employees were not union members. A call for a new contract, including pay increase askings would come up every so often from the union and after negotiations, a percentage settlement was reached. I always admired the fact that Mary Garvey always countered the union's increase with an identical percentage settlement for ALL of the remaining employees. She thought that was "only fair."
Dick Longworth was surprised to hear of the $10,000 offer. He wrote, "I can't imagine Mary offering anybody $10,000. I started with UPI in Chicago for $65 a week, which was enough to get married on. It helped that my bride was teaching school for $72 a week. I don't think I cracked the $10,000 level until the late 60's. UPI was pretty tight-fisted but, on the other hand, I was overseas a lot of this time and the dollar in those days went a long ways."
We'll call a halt, at this point, for this time, but in upcoming editions of the Korner, Richard and I will continue our memories of our time at the Boone News Republican.
K-----K
I, the Kornerman, had mentioned that I was certain there were probably some "misses" on our list of BNR employees who worked there during the time Dick Longworth and I did. I knew of one person, for sure, that remained nameless on our list. It was a very kind lady who did some work in bookkeeping and I knew she had a familiar Boone name. Suddenly, the other day, her name just "popped" into my head...........Pauline Uthe. Such a nice person and I'm so happy I finally remembered her. She needed to be on our BNR Hall of Fame list.
Max Moore, BHS-46, wrote, "I had a paper route, plus a car route to Ogden, Woodward, Madrid and Luther. I remember Bill Kerr who was in sports and my wife, Ramona Tingwald Moore, in advertising." The Kornerman says, "those two were a bit before the time Dick and I spent there." Tom Peterson, BHS-67, sent a snappy picture from the early 1930's of his dad, Merrill, standing by a neat little Dodge coupe in front of the BNR office. Tom wrote, "he drove that car to drop bundles of the BNR papers for the boys to deliver to Stratford, Ogden, Beaver and Grand Junction." The Kornerman says, "isn't that amazing to think about.....the Boone News with such a wide circulation.?"
Loren Frazier, BHS-58, added to all those Boone citizens who are in mourning over the passing of Larry Adams, BHS-65. Loren wrote, "I was so sorry to hear of Larry's death. He was definitely a valuable member of the Boone community. Like Gretchen Caldwell Otis, BHS-52, he, too, is irreplaceable. There are too few people, any longer, that care enough about the past that they are willing to sacrifice their time and treasure to protect and preserve it. Larry was one of those people. RIP."
K-----K
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