January is always a time of change, and as we take Prime into its 25th year of publication, we bid farewell to one of the magazine’s most popular columnists.
Mid-December, Jane O’Donoghue sent me an email saying she was withdrawing as a monthly contributor. Her personal “Christmas Carol,” which ran in the December 2016 issue, would be her last submission.
I’ve lost track of how many pieces Mrs. O’Donoghue has written for me – and Prime’s readers – over the years, but I know I will profoundly miss her contributions. From stories about her early life and family to travels to Ireland and other locales to her very thorough walk through the Downtown Springfield of the 1930s and 40s, she has, on so many occasions, taken all of us back to a time perhaps you, dear readers, remember, and I have fond memories of hearing about from my mother and grandmother.
Though she won’t be helping us to remember how things were, never fear, Mrs. O’Donoghue isn’t giving up writing. She’s leaving us to work on a book she’s had simmering for some time, I’m told.
I promised her a feature in the pages of Prime when her project is finished.
And for now, I just say, dear Jane, thank you – from all of us – for the memories.
You will be missed.
Thanks for reading,
Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
