Judy White is retiring after nearly 49 years of working at The Franklin Press. She was modest about talking about her time at the newspaper and didn’t want a lot of attention. “I’m just a simple girl moving on,” she said.
White started working at the newspaper in August 1972 while a senior in high school as part of a vocational program that gave students the opportunity to earn credit while going to school half a day and working half a day. The newspaper had just moved its offices from Palmer Street to the current location on Depot Street.
She was first assigned to the layout department helping put ads together. Nowadays, ads are designed on computers, but she remembers back then cutting out pictures and artwork for the ads and pasting them on paper with wax. Sometimes, they worked long hours into the night to finish all the ads before deadline. She said they still had Linotype machines used for typesetting then. “Talk about ancient!” She also remembers when there were two women tasked with typing all the copy that went into the paper.
“The whole newspaper industry has changed, the technology has changed,” she said.
After working in the layout department, she transferred into the bookkeeping department. When the company reorganized and Franklin became the hub for a region that includes five newspapers, she managed the regional accounting office. For about the past 16 years, she has worked as the newspaper’s office manager.
While working at the Press, she also took college courses and worked a second job at Walmart for a while. She was offered a full-time bookkeeping job at the store, but they couldn’t pry her away from the paper.
“Once you get newspaper ink in your blood, you don’t want to do anything else,” she said.
In nearly five decades of work, you are going to experience the good and the bad. White has seen changes in technology, co-workers move on to other jobs, and lost some work friends to death. Like many work places, she said there are times when you spend more time with your co-workers than your family, and she appreciates the closeness and caring of the people she has worked with over the years.
“The good memories are of the people,” she said. “I enjoy the work, but it’s the people that I will remember.”
Co-worker Audra Foley describes White as “kind, compassionate, smart, dedicated and much more.” White interviewed Foley when she applied for a job in the accounting department at the Press 18 years ago.
“Judy was the reason I took the job,” Foley said. She remembers when White worked evenings at Walmart after working all day at the newspaper. “She worked her tail off but was always pleasant and eager to help anyone who needed her. She used to come in early and bake the staff cinnamon buns and all sorts of goodies. It was great working with her and she will definitely be missed.”
White said there comes a time in life when you want to do something else. “I didn’t want to work my life away. I’ve really enjoyed the years I’ve had here. It’s been an experience, but I’m ready for the next journey.”
White admits she’s a little nervous about retiring. “It’s scary. This is all I’ve ever known,” she said. “I may wake up Monday morning and think, ‘What in the world have I done?’” Her last day at the paper will be Friday, April 30.
“To be honest, we can’t replace Judy,” said Franklin Regional Publisher Rachel Hoskins. “She truly is irreplaceable. We will fill her job, but we’ll never fill the gap left by her pleasant personality and her 49 years of experience and working knowledge. She is the person we all go to when we’re trying to remember something or time-stamp an event. She’s leaving a gap that you just don’t fill in today’s workplace. It is hard pressed to find people who spend four years in a job, much less 49. She’s a real asset to The Press and a dear friend. We will all miss her.”
Friends have encouraged her to find hobbies or something to occupy her time, and some have told her they are busier than ever during their retirement years.
“I’m going to be pretty boring,” she said with a laugh. “It’s time for me to be boring. It’s my time.”
Her top priority is spending more time with family, especially her five-year-old grandson. “He’s growing up so fast,” she said.
Painting and house projects, planting a garden and working in her flowers are on her to-do list along with some much-deserved time to rest and take care of herself. “I’m going to take it one day at a time,” she said. “It’s the freedom of it. To get up and do whatever you want to do.”
While some folks put travel at the top of their retirement list, White is happy to stay close to home. “I’ve been here all my life, and I don’t want to be anywhere else,” she said. “You can take the girl out of the mountains, but you can’t take the mountains out of the girl.”
White said while she has not made a lot of immediate plans for retirement, there are things she would still like to do. “When one door closes, another door opens. That is my motto.”