Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: April 1990 Volume 28 Number 2, Pages 76–78

The Start of My Newspaper Career

Marge Worth Farra

Page 76

I started working for THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS in the mid-'50s when the late Elston Hillman asked my husband if I would be interested in working a couple of days a week. The work entailed answering the telephone, taking classified advertisements, and typing handwritten copy that came in.

I was raising two young sons at the time and was very active in the community, teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, P.T.A. chores and guiding a very active group of Cub Scouts once a week in the role of a Den Mother. The opportunity to earn some money sounded good to me!

Barbara and Elston Hillman were a joy to work with. They were friendly, easy going, and dedicated to their newspaper.

During one winter, shortly after I started to work there, was a terrible blizzard. Many people were snowbound in their homes for days.

At that time the late Ralph Burkey operated a grocery store on Route 30 in Paoli. He telephoned the paper to say that some of his customers who lived way out in the "boon docks" in Willistown were out of food and could get only so far out of their lane. He then reported that he had solved the problem: he drove his truck as far as he could and then deposited the food there, firing a gun to let the folks know it had arrived. Fortunately, they were able to get out that far to retrieve it.

There were many such stories phoned in to the paper. I typed them up and gave them to Barbara Hillman to use in the weather report. She must have been impressed, because within a couple of weeks I was given my first reporting assignment. It was to cover the meeting of the Willistown Township Supervisors.

That was the beginning of my 32-year newspaper reporting carreer.

It was an interesting career, covering anything from township and school board meetings to murders, fires, traffic and railroad accidents ... to the progress of quintuplets ... to the six years of litigation which preceded the development of Chesterbrook. I am grateful to the Hillmans for providing me with that opportunity.

Elston Hillman was a professional photographer -- and proved to be an excellent teacher of that craft as well. He used photographs for the paper that I had taken with a small Kodak, and then he taught me how to use his four-by-five Speed Graphic. He was just as proud as I was of a photo I took of the chancel of the newly constructed Church of the Good Samaritan, which included the impressive organ pipes. The organ company used the photo for its advertisement, and the church used it on its leaflet for quite a while.

Page 77

An active, bustling person, Barbara Hillman wrote some excellent editorials and some controversial ones!

Many of you may remember that, back in the '50s, the 69th Street shopping center in Upper Darby was the popular place to go to shop. A huge chimney was placed on the street at Christmas time, where the children could meet and talk with Santa. Their voices were amplified so that everyone could hear.

Many of Barbara's editorials predicted that one day King of Prussia would be a larger shopping area than 69th Street! There were many who pooh-poohed the idea, but she was adamant that it would prove to be true. I often wonder if she ever thought it would be as large as it is. It could swallow many 69th Streets and then some!

The small UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS office was a hubbub of activity. Helmuth Braendel, a staunch Democrat, hardly ever missed a week in turning in a "Letter to the Editor". They were interesting and sometimes controversial, but always enlightening.

Then there was the young girl with the long blonde hair, who was never without a baseball hat atop her head. She was doing her utmost to promote Little League baseball into the Upper Main Line. This was Joan Connor Toeniessen, a daughter of the late Marion Connor who used to report for the Wayne SUBURBAN and the DAILY LOCAL NEWS of West Chester. The upper Main Line finally got its Little League started -- and Joan, now the mother of five, is editor of the MAIN LINE TIMES!

The Hillmans often treated the staff to lunch at the Paoli Inn, which was across the road from the newspaper's office. The Inn was later destroyed by fire.

When THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS was sold to Marybelle Heintzelman, its quarters were moved to Route 30, in a house across from the Church of the Good Samaritan, and William Hall took over the editor's slot.

Bill Hall and I were the only news-gatherers. The late Pearl Stuart continued to do the billing, and another woman handled the circulation.

I envied Bill when he took the assignment to cover the appearance of Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong at the Berwyn Fire Company Fair -- but, after all, he was the editor.

Hall left after a couple of years with the paper to work for the Wilmington NEWS JOURNAL. He was replaced by David Yaeck, who was also editor of the Downingtown ARCHIVE.

Page 78

Yaeck divided his time between the two papers -- and I was left to gather news, take photos, and go to Downingtown once a week to help put the papers together.

I found this much too demanding, so after five years I terminated my stint with THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS. Within a few days I received a call from the DAILY LOCAL NEWS, and that was the beginning of my career there and another story. I must say I preferred working for a daily publication; I work much better under pressure. The daily deadline provided me with a challenge and helped me to get it all together.

The production of newspapers changed dramatically during my career, and it was an interesting period and a fascinating process.

For the reporter the methods have also changed, not only in reporting methods, but also in the equipment used.

I started typing on a heavy typewriter which required a really health yarm to shove the carriage back after each line. Then came the electric typewriter, with the automatic carriage return. (It was a little difficult to get used to -- for some time from force of habit my arm would automatically reach for the arm to shove the carriage back!)

Then came the computer terminal. What a joy! I was concerned at first about the codes and extra symbol keys, but for me it was a delight to work with and so easy.

I often wonder what career I might have chosen had it not been for the Hillmans. Before marriage I was a secretary for a lawyer. It was interesting work, but in no way compared with the interest and challenge which news coverage offers, nor can it provide the interesting people it was my privilege to meet.

The day of the small home-town paper appears to have passed, but at the time THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS was popular, and the people seemed to enjoy it and its news about the local area.

Readership of newspapers is down in general, and those who still get the news in print form seem to prefer a more sophisticated product. Today the trend is to gather foreign, national and local news, and combine the mall in one publication. Advertisers too, unfortunately, have adopted much the same thinking.

It all adds up to one thing: the day of the strictly local newspaper, with its down-home, friendly story about your neighbor, apparently is about gone.