LEROYPENNYSAVER&NEWS - SEPTEMBER 11, 2016
MySilent Partner -TerryGuilford
byLynneBelluscio
Every so often someone will
say, “Hey, I liked your article in
the
Pennysaver
.” And I usually
respond, “It’s sure good to know
that someone is reading them.”
But that’s not thewhole story.No
oneever tellsTerryGuilford:“Hey,
you did a great job with Lynne’s
article.” Because, if you really
want toknow the truth, eachweek
when I push the “send” button,
it’s Terry who formats my words
for the
Pennysaver
. And it’sTerry
who strips in the photos. “Make it
look good, Terry.” And she does.
And sometimes, I’ll say, “Haven’t
found anything that works. See
what youcanfind.”And shedoes.
Terryhas beenmy silent partner
for a lot of years and she toldme
lastweek that she is retiring. “You
havegot tobekidding!Who’sgo-
ing tofixeverthing?”Well indeed,
she is retiring after 32years at the
LeRoy Pennysaver
. So we were
reminiscing about some of the
more “memorable” articles. Terry
didn’t work on the early articles.
It wasn’t until after Christine left
that Terry was given the task of
doingmy stories. Neither she nor
I rememberwhichwas thefirst ar-
ticle,but it’sbeenquiteawhile.Of
course thereare theannualflamin-
gostories. Istartedwriting them in
thespringof1989. Isometimesfly
an ideapast her andaskher “What
do you think?” If she laughs, I
know it’s a goodone.
Ofcourse, I remember the“chan-
delier”mistake - - andgivenall the
articles,Terryhasdone, I think that
might be the onlymistake she has
made. I certainlyhavemademany.
The chandelier story was to be
accompaniedby aphotoof a chan-
delier - - hanging from the ceiling.
Only problem was that when the
Pennysaver
cameout, thechandelier
photowas upside down.More of a
stalagmite than a stalactite. And I
don’t think anyone noticed.
Iama terriblespeller.Neverwon
aspellingbee inmy lifeandalmost
failed freshmanEnglish in college
because of my spelling (no spell
check - - twomisspelledwordsand
theprofessorwould fail thepaper.)
Once in awhile Terrywould send
a message – “Are you sure you
spelled that right? Or, is thatwhat
youwant to say?”She catches the
mistakes, thankgoodness.
Terry also sets the Historical
Societynewsletter.That’sawhole
different situation. I email her
seven or eight pages of copy. She
puts it in the right format and then
she sends it back to me to print
out. Then I literally cut and paste
and insertphotos - -or leaveblank
spaceswhere I want photos to go.
Sounds easy, but Terry has the
patience of Job. I have this idea in
my head of how I want the news-
letter to look, and sometimes I just
throw clippings and notes on her
desk and tell her to “make it fit.”
She’s good, and not once has she
ever thrownme out of her office,
althoughIamsure thereweresome
times. She still remindsme of the
“potash kettle” newsletter. I had
taken lots of photos of ironkettles
and to most people, one kettle
looked like another, but each one
was a little different. And then I
hadahard time trying to remember
whichdescriptionwentwithwhich
kettle. It wasachallenge tosay the
least. But she persevered and the
newsletter came out just fine.
I will miss stopping by to see
what screen savers she had on her
computer screen. Terry is a phe-
nomenal photographer. She cap-
tured thehungryblackbearat their
bird feeder. And thewoodpeckers
and warblers. And the humming
birdon thenest. I thinkmy favorite
isa familyofchipmunks,all stand-
ing up in a row. Terry showedme
a great photo of the
sun coming through
the trees in her yard.
In fact, that photo
won a prize. She is a
very talented photog-
rapher. I hope after
she retires, she has
the time to do more
photography.
In the last couple
of years, Terry has
submitted some of
my articles for the New York
State small newspaper association
review. Wewere both happy that
the “Curly Clips” article about
paper clips was recognized and
given an award a few years ago.
Like I said, I won the award, but
Terrymade it lookgood.Lastyear,
when Iwanted to put together the
LeRoy HistorySaver
, with a col-
lectionofmy
Pennysaver
articles,
it was Terry that made it happen.
Sheevensetmyfavoritepagewith
all the historical “classified ads.”
ThisweekTerrywillprintnum-
ber 3 of this year’s Historical
SocietyNewsletterandwilldoone
last
Pennysaver
article. It’sbeena
pleasureworkingwithyouTerry. I
hopenextweek, you’ll be inyour
backyardwithyour camera.
