In 1888, Pearl Playford, at the age of nine, came with her
parents to the southwestern Michigan town of Watervliet.
It was here that she would become a career newspaper
woman, and here that she would witness the early growth of
this young community.
Pearl’s newspaper career, which began in the early 1900’s,
continued for over fifty years. Gaining experience, she
worked as a linotype operator, ad writer, and news writer
for various newspapers in Southwestern Michigan and also
in South Bend, Indiana. Then, after most people have long
been retired, at nearly 80 years of age, she began her
weekly column, “Reminiscing With Pearl Playford.”
Writing of her early newspaper days Pearl states, “When I
first began work for The Record conditions were far
different from now. The office didn’t have a typewriter and
all copy was written long hand, and I do not remember that
there was a telephone. We went every morning to get a pail
of water at the town pump…”
Stories of living and growing up in the small village were
special to Pearl and she often wrote of the people and the
customs of the times. “I have seen Watervliet grow from a
mere hamlet to the city it now is. I can recall the early
days when there were no cement sidewalks, no electricity,
no city water, no street lights, and but a few houses…”
Through the years Pearl wrote not only of Southwestern
Michigan history and local issues, but on a wide variety of
topics, including national politics, world history, women’s
rights, prohibition, holidays, religion and even the
weather. She quoted old records and other sources
extensively, especially newspaper and magazine articles she
had clipped and carefully saved in scrapbooks over the
decades.
There was a time when communities had a sense of
togetherness, and making a living was not so easy as today.
Pearl recalls, “Back in the ‘good old days’ everything was slow. There
were none of the conveniences of the present day, and
farmers and housewives worked from daylight to dark, but
they had time to be neighborly and were always
ready with a helping hand to assist someone in need.”
“To grow old gracefully and gratefully is something we
should all strive to do” was Pearl Playford’s philosophy.
It is apparent from her writing that she followed her own
advice.
Richard Russell is the compiler of “Reminiscing With Pearl
Playford, Columns From The Watervliet Record 1959-1966.”
To learn more about Pearl Playford and her life,
and to read some of her columns, visit http://www.reminiscingbooks.com