Maury WaldThanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love getting together with family, enjoying a home-cooked feast (I also enjoy cooking for the holidays) and reflecting on my many blessings.
This Thanksgiving season, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how thankful I am that I’ve been able to spend the last 34 years publishing Over The Mountain Journal. Since we started the paper in 1990, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of wonderful people, including a long list of tremendously talented journalists, advertising salespeople, photographers, office workers and newspaper carriers. Their contributions have made the Journal great and helped it survive for almost 35 years in a tough industry, and they’ve made my job easier.
It’s also been fun that over the years every member of my family has worked for and contributed to the success of this organization. I’m thankful for our readers and advertisers who have supported us. Working with and getting to know local advertisers and helping them grow has been very rewarding. Hearing a client say, “The phone’s been ringing ever since the paper came out!” or getting a call from a reader to say how much they enjoyed a story or that they always look forward to getting the paper makes it all worthwhile.
Here’s a few more reasons for me to be thankful:
• My wife, Christy, who supported me in my decision to start a business when I was 30 years old and who has been my closest adviser for the last 34 years. And my children, Tommy, Jordan and Eve, who have all worked at the Journal doing various jobs, including advertising sales, graphic design, photography, proofreading, delivering papers and more.
• My original partners: my good friend and college fraternity brother, E.J. Marino Jr., and his father, Edward, and brother, Tony. Their commitment and support in the early days was invaluable.
• My father, Maurice Wald, who paved the way for me in the advertising business and who also invested in the paper with his time and money, and my mother, Virginia, for her unconditional support and encouragement during the early days, too.
• Our community’s brick and mortar stores (especially the ones that advertise with us) and the consumers who support them.
• All the people who have said a kind word to me about the Journal over the years and even those that have offered some constructive criticism.
Owning and operating Over The Mountain Journal has been living the American dream. While not every day was easy, every day was rewarding because I was doing something I loved and believed in. I wouldn’t change the chance to live and work in our vibrant, big-hearted and fascinating community for anything.
In our very first issue, which appeared on Aug. 2, 1990, there’s a statement that has remained uppermost in my mind: “We believe a newspaper at its best must be more than a recorder of the day’s events. It must have a brain, a soul and a heart.” I like to think that OTMJ has been all of that and more.
It’s with a full heart that I write these next words: I’ll be turning 65 in January, and while it’s been a wonderful ride, I’m ready to step down and enjoy spending more time with my family. I recently sold OTMJ to Lee Hurley, a Birmingham native with lots of magazine experience in this market. I’m confident Lee will do a great job as he continues our mission and injects his own creativity and ideas. I look forward to seeing what comes next for the newspaper that has been such a big part of my life.
Thank you for 34-plus wonderful years of allowing us to highlight the great things going on in the Over the Mountain area. Here’s to the next 34!
Happy Thanksgiving!
English (US)