by Jim Magdefrau

Jane.

Chris.

Friday was a day to remember both of these people I was lucky enough to have as co-workers, mentors, teachers and friends. Both were a part of the newspaper industry and led the industry in Iowa. Every day.

Jane Ann Bigbee kept tabs on several local weekly newspapers, based out of the office in Marengo. In my experience, she cared about every story, the people who wrote them and the people in the story. When the papers went from eight columns to six columns, we worked together. Believe it or not, that was a pretty revolutionary thing in the day.

When the method of putting the papers together was with paper and wax, she’d check each page. Sometimes she’d break away, and that was only so she could help with a local civic activity, such as building a playground.

When she “retired,” she kept up with us at the paper and helped with solid stories and pictures. She had a keen interest in us and keeping the weekly papers going, at the age of 88. She never lost her attention for detail. I saw her at a meeting this winter. She had her notepad. When she had her notepad, people at the meeting were on notice to follow the rules.

My favorite memory was at a newspaper convention and hearing Jane and Al Pinder tell of Jane’s internship with Al at the paper in Grinnell.

I really don’t know where we’d be without her influence and her caring. She would contact me when she had pictures to download from her camera. I was helping her to me to help her to help me. This led to a long talk about the newspaper and the community. And grammar. Inside note … she hated the word “got” and would rework the sentence to get around using that word.

Chris Monroe played a key part in our state newspaper association, retired several years ago, while also battling cancer. She was at the first orientation I had when I was picked to serve on the state foundation board, sipping coffee in the corner of a deli in Williamsburg. This helped me get out of my own local newspaper comfort zone and into the statewide effort by many papers to help this industry. Things that she and the state association did served as a template and role model for other state associations.

I was in many meetings with Chris where she worked with a room full of bosses, and was able to get them all on the same page. Through her guidance, as well as current director, Susan Patterson-Plank, I stuck with the state boards, never missed a meeting, and made it to about two weeks short of being the foundation president. I’m still in the association, and I know that the boards are in good hands. But I still miss the meetings. Well, not the meetings, but the socializing before and after is what I miss.

Transparency in government. Accountability. Service. We can thank Chris and Jane for this. As well as their passion.

The newspaper is a reflection of its community, and helps to lead a community. Jane and Chris were two key people who guided the newspapers and the communities the newspapers serve. They led by example. For me, they still do.