It’s been a joy to write this column for 20 years

by Ruth Griffiths

Mother’s Day is the 20th anniversary of my column in Rural Roots.

Rural Roots used to be published on Sundays, but switched to Thursday publication to accommodate production and distribution schedules. Rural Roots is published by Prince Albert Daily Herald 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 the Prince Albert hospital and became a Registered Laboratory Technologist. My first job was in the lab at Prince Albert Medical Clinic. In 1975 left behind my science career to become a stay-at-home parent.

I started work in 1981 as the Women’s Editor for the Daily Herald. 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. I returned to the newsroom part-time and was laid off again in December.

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 for the Acquired Brain Injury group, Abbeyfield House and Calvary United Church.

You can see that the continuous thread through the last 20 years 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.

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