Thankful for my friend Michele

Julie Reeder

Publisher

This week as I take the time to consider what I am thankful for, I have a special friend who is at the top of the list. I am always thankful to God for my family, community, our employees, readers, advertisers, and those who have stood with us 25 years. But this week, as a company, and especially me personally, I am pondering how thankful I’ve been for Michele Howard.

Michele and I started working together 25 years ago. I am thankful for her entrepreneurial spirit and her great attitude. This is the last week that we will be able to work hand in hand. She is retiring with her husband Spencer so they can start a new chapter in their lives.

While myself, along with the rest of the newspaper staff, are very happy for Michele and Spencer and wish them the best, she will be sorely missed.

Her presence will not only be missed by those of us who have had the pleasure of calling her coworker, but also the businesses and community members and everyone who has enjoyed working with her.

It’s not just her bubbly presence, her creativity and her great attitude, but also the homemade food and goodies she lovingly makes and always shares with everyone! She is a foodie in the truest sense of the word and, with her retirement, she will be able to devote more time to the craft that she is so passionate about.

I am thankful that Michele has been a trustworthy friend, a hard worker, conscientious, fearless, a little crazy at Halloween, and she is one of a few who has really made this Village News journey possible in the midst of recessions, community fires, terrorist ransomware attacks, the tragic loss of devoted staff members and an ever changing news industry.

I will cherish the victories and the old-fashioned hard work we shared to keep the community connected. She truly made a difference.

Thank you, Michele. May the Lord bless you and Spencer in retirement and may you enjoy every day together in this beautiful, friendly town which you’ve been so much a part of. You certainly deserve it!