by Tom Chillemi –
This week’s Southside Sentinel is the rare one of more than 2,500 editions that Peggy Baughan has not had a hand in producing.
The Middlesex County native is retiring — again — after working for the Sentinel for more than 50 years.
By summer 1968, Baughan had tried enough secretarial jobs, including a stint at the Pentagon, in her two years since graduating from Middlesex High School that she knew a traditional desk job was not for her. (See her related letter on page A4.)
Fortunately for her, a job opened at the Sentinel and in July 1968, Baughan went to work as an ad compositor. In those days she used a machine called a Varityper Headliner that had a disc with the letters of the alphabet along with numbers and symbols around the edge. Letters were printed one at a time on a tape, similar to film negative, that would after processing be cut and waxed to make the ad’s message. There were fewer fonts available than today. Today, graphic artists cut and paste in seconds using computers with dozens of type fonts.
“Since we have owned the Sentinel, Peggy has almost always been here — dependable, loyal, and willing to deal with constant changes in the way we do things,” said Publisher Fred Gaskins, who along with his wife Bettie Lee have owned the Sentinel since 1966.
Mr. Gaskins said Baughan was hired in 1968 to help design ads, but also to operate a small offset press acquired after the “hot metal” letterpress days ended at the Sentinel. Without experience, she learned quickly and the Sentinel was soon producing offset printed forms for local businesses that were previously done via letterpress. “Since then she has tackled almost every production job imaginable to get the paper ready to print, or to get it mailed to our subscribers, while mastering many new types of equipment and software,” said Mr. Gaskins.
“We are blessed to have had Peggy among many long term employees through the years. While she has worked mostly in the background, she has done it well and has been a key contributor to the creation of our weekly ‘miracle on Wednesdays’ for each issue of the Southside Sentinel. We wish her every happiness in retirement.”
During her five decades, Baughan wore several hats at the Sentinel mastering many aspects of printing and publishing. She became the chief ad compositor (now called graphic artists), she operated the printing press. She learned darkroom skills like making negatives to burn plates for the printing press, an art that has disappeared.
For a while she found time to write a short column about happenings around her neighborhood in Remlik, where she still lives.
Baughan was the circulation manager and finally the classified ad manager and laid out the classified ads, as well as the Sentinel’s church pages for many years. “I liked the work,” said Baughan. “It was different.”
Baughan earlier retired from the Sentinel briefly and ended up driving a school bus. However, she decided she wasn’t ready for retirement and returned after a few years to work part-time. “The Sentinel was where I belonged,” said Baughan.
Sentinel proofreader Connie Walton and Baughan have met quite a few deadlines together and had some long nights. “We have seen a lot of changes in the production of the Sentinel from large, loud typesetting equipment to today’s small quiet computers,” said Walton. “Now you are leaving to go on to your next adventure. Happy retirement Peggy, you will be missed.”
This week Baughan is free from deadlines that go with a weekly newspaper. She wants to volunteer where needed, but has no definite plans now.
