Dear Wednesday Journal readers,
It was about 44 years ago that my wife Mary and I spent several days driving up and down every block in Oak Park. It was not an architectural tour.
We were counting every single family house in this burg as Wednesday Journal prepared to start free home delivery to every house. I was there as the publisher of our fledgling effort. Mary was there as our sports editor, features editor, bookkeeper and soon to be circulation manager.
Why bring this up? Well, we are about to mark our 45th anniversary and part of the charm of this place is that for decades we had young girls and boys who delivered the WJ to their neighbors. Over time we had hundreds and hundreds of carriers. It was a great first job. You could make $20 bucks or so a month. More with Christmas tips.
In many, many families the Journal route was passed down from child-to-child sort of like a light blue uniform shirt if you were a Catholic kid like me.
Right now, Jessica Mackinnon, one of our great freelancers, is interviewing surprisingly old people who used to be WJ carriers. You up for talking to Jessica? Tell her your tales of tossing a paper on the porch roof. How it felt to have some coins jangling in your pocket.
Reach out through me. And do it soon as the anniversary is around the corner.
My email is dhaley@wjinc.com.
