by Ruth Griffiths
Mother’s Day will be the 24th anniversary of my column in Rural Roots. At an estimated 50 columns per year, that is 1,200 columns I have written for Prince Albert Daily Herald.
Rural Roots was created as a weekly news magazine in 1990 and distributed free to homes in North Central Saskatchewan. It’s an area that I know well, having grown up in Tisdale.
I moved to Prince Albert as a bride in 1969 and worked for a year in the lab at Victoria Union Hospital, before returning to classes in Saskatoon to finish a Bachelor of Science degree. I interned at both of the Prince Albert hospitals and became a Registered Laboratory Technologist. My first job was in the lab at Prince Albert Medical Clinic. In 1975 I left behind my science career to become a stay-at-home parent.
I started work in 1981 at the Daily Herald as the Women’s Editor. I thought it would be for just a year or two, but I ended up working 29 years for the Herald.
I moved to being Assistant City Editor, then City Editor and finally Rural Roots Editor in 1997. I was laid off in May 2010, along with eight other people, when editorial and composing functions were centralized in Moose Jaw.
After my husband died in 2006, I became a certified fitness instructor. My first regular class was with seniors at the Heritage Centre. It’s an age group with whom I feel a special kinship.
Since 2009, I have been the instructor for the Easy Adult Fitness program offered by the City of Prince Albert at the Margo Fournier Centre. I also teach chair-assisted yoga at Abbeyfield House.
You can see that the continuous thread has been writing this column, which I continue to do from home. Writing this column has been a special privilege. I hope to be able to continue it for years to come.
