Newspaper production was much different at the time. Articles would be submitted, then have to be typed up on a typesetting machine, which was about the size of two large filing cabinets and an old tube television. It only had a few fonts to choose from, and would print on long rolls of paper, which would have to be cut into columns by hand and pasted with hot wax onto large sheets that would later become the newspaper.
“Back then, if you had a mistake you had to go right back to the beginning and re-type it, so you had to be more careful than you do now,” Wells said. “As for pictures, you could only fit eight photos on one memory card to start with, so I’d go and take my eight pictures and run back to the office to download them and then head out again. When we got one that fit 16 pictures, that was just great!”
She spent around seven years at the Melita New Era before she and her family moved to Deloraine, again for her husband’s job, and almost immediately started working at the Deloraine Times & Star under editor Ben Kroeker. The rest, as they say, is history.
“I never really expected it, certainly not when I just started my little part-time typing job,” she said. “I never took journalism or anything like that, but I learned a lot from Ben and from all of the editors I’ve worked with.”
Looking back on a 33-year career in the newspaper business, Wells said it has been mostly positive with few challenges. At first, getting the courage to approach people was daunting, as well as dealing with tight deadlines, but having a job that allowed her to be community-involved has been incredibly rewarding.
“I like going to lots of events anyways, so that was great,” she said. “Seeing my grandchildren in all their events and so on, at school, sports, and all of that. I’m so fortunate to be involved.”
In 2020 though, the Deloraine Times & Star closed its doors.
When Kroeker retired, the newspaper was sold to Bruce Schwanke, owner of Corner Pocket Publishing, and then to Glacier Media out of British Columbia. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Glacier Media put a pause on its collection of rural newspapers until September, and then the conglomerate decided to close them down for good. It was disappointing for Wells, but she was happy to continue serving Deloraine through The Recorder.
“You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” she said. “I just believe the newspaper is the pulse of the community and it’s important to tell everyone’s story. It connects the community. Nowadays, it’s a regional approach or you’re lost.”
A regional newspaper helps to connect all of the communities to each other, as well, to share services and economies. “We need to get over our little town rivalries,” Wells said. “If one of us fails, we all do.”
Once she is finished at The Recorder at the end of July, Wells will still keep herself busy doing what she has always done, but may use the time to enhance her mind.
“I’ve always wanted to take some courses, maybe at university or online. I’m on lots of boards and groups, that’s just me, that’s how I roll, I like to be involved, so that’ll continue.”
Overall, Wells has enjoyed her time in the newspaper business and in the southwest corner of Manitoba; so much so that she considers all of it home, since she has been able to get to know people from Deloraine to Melita and everywhere in between.
“It was hard to move from Melita, we raised our kids there, but Deloraine has been good to us, too.”
by JACQUIE MAYNARD
Recorder staff