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Full-time to part-time work [UPDATED]
Published 9:46am Monday, March 26, 2012 Updated 11:47am Monday, March 26, 2012I’m among the wave of baby boomers, born after World War II, who are joining the retirement ranks but who still plan to work on a part-time basis.
Starting in mid-April I’ll continue to write a weekly column for The Daily Journal, and will also work part-time in other communications capacities.
This old bird has been at it a long time.
My first byline for The Daily Journal appeared when I was a senior at Fergus Falls High School, in the fall of 1965.
As part of career day, I spent a day with classmate John Morstad in The Daily Journal newsroom. Back then the newspaper was located across from the downtown post office, next to what was then Norby’s Department Store and what today is Cooper’s Technology Group.
I was a summer intern for The Daily Journal in 1967 and 1968. The latter year I worked the summer with Bob Drechsel, a 1967 FFHS grad who is now a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Publisher was Chuck Underwood and the late Jim Gray was newsroom editor.
Bob and I worked together full-time at The Daily Journal in the early 1970s. After three years Bob went into the education field. After five years at The Daily Journal, I went on to work 25 years in public relations for Otter Tail Power Company.
I took an early retirement from OTP in 2002, and then worked 2 1/2 years at the Pelican Press newspaper in Pelican Rapids.
I returned to The Daily Journal in November 2005. All told, I have worked 11 1/2 years full-time at this newspaper. My resume also includes two years at the Fargo Forum.
A few weeks ago, following the passing of retired Daily Journal composing room employee Eero Latvala, I recalled the men and women who worked here in the 1970s. Many have passed on and a few still hold monthly reunion breakfasts.
My goal is to continue a weekly byline here at The Daily Journal through 2015. That would mark 50 years and put me in the running for half-century club recognition from the Minnesota Newspaper Association.
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Gary Puckett, of 1960s rock n’ roll fame with family ties to Pelican Rapids, is part of the Happy Together Tour 2012. Two of their performances take place Tuesday, Aug. 7, at The Sanford Center in Bemidji and Monday, Aug. 27, at the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul.
The Happy Together Tour, in addition to Puckett, features The Turtles with Flo and Eddie, The Monkees lead singer Micky Dolenz, The Grass Roots and The Buckinghams.
Last year, the Happy Together Tour featured five artists who performed in front of many packed houses throughout the United States.
This year they added Puckett for their third year of performances.
In 1968, Puckett and his band, The Union Gap, sold more records than any other artist including the Beatles.
They garnered six consecutive gold records and top 10 Billboard hits such as “Young Girl” and “Woman Woman.”
His late grandfather, L.A. (Lynnville) Puckett, worked as a police officer in Pelican Rapids. The singer, who spent a lot of time at his grandparents’ home in Pelican Rapids, grew up in the state of Washington.
His late father, Arlon Puckett, worked in the merchandising business.
Puckett’s aunt, Gloria Votapka, still resides in Pelican Rapids, in the Puckett house east of Pelican Rapids High School.
Tom,
Congrats. Keep up the informative writings. I enjoy your history lessons of Fergus past and present.