Jill's Journal: ‘It’s one of my favorite stories to tell ...’

This past summer, a colleague on the South Dakota NewsMedia Association Board of Directors asked me about how the Brandon Valley Journal came to be.

The first words out of my mouth: “It’s one of my favorite stories to tell.”

And so, this week, I’m going to take you back to where it all began.

Once upon a time in the community of Brandon, there was a newspaper, the Brandon Valley Challenger. The paper was owned by a large conglomerate, Gannett, and was tagged to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, once a daily paper that was considered to be one of best dailies in the state.

For a little over 11 years, the Challenger was largely written by one woman, me, Jill Meier, the editor. She wrote news, sports, features. She printed obituaries, the police and property transfer reports. She took thousands and thousands of photos to go with the news, sports and feature stories that she wrote.

Then came the third week of October 2016.

“It’s a week that I’ll remember until my dying day,” I told my colleague.

The week began with an early morning phone call. I learned that a friend just a few years older than me had died the night before from a brain aneurysm. With an early-afternoon press deadline looming, I well remember tears rolling down my face as I continued to work to put the paper “to bed.” 

Oftentimes on Tuesdays, as I did that week, I took back some time for the extra hours I worked over the weekend. Honestly, it wasn’t a fair tradeoff, but I’d been a one-woman newspaper staff for the bulk of my career, and that’s what it took to get the job done. Ironically so, I was sitting on my couch typing up the prior days’ police report when my phone rang. An unfamiliar voice began rattling off who they were, where they were calling from and on such and such a date, I no longer had a job.

“No longer had a job.”

Those words stung, followed by a barrage of emotions that swept through me.

First, I was in shock. Next, I was scared about what the future had in store for me. Then, I was mad. Maybe even downright angry. And finally, I was sad.

I wasn’t the only “Argus Leader Media” employee that received their “walking papers” that day. There were eight of us, if I remember correctly. The only difference is they were done that day, while I was asked to stay on until the end of the year. They had no plan at the time on how to fill the one-person editorial staffed publication. As you will learn, those three extra months would eventually work in my favor.

With the loss of a friend on Monday and the forthcoming loss of a job on Tuesday, I was elated the ground wasn’t pulled out from under me on Wednesday. Truth be told, Wednesday came and went without issue.

Thursday, however, my week of H, E, double-toothpicks resurrected. Despite the earlier gloom and doom I was still trying to wrap my head around, the neighbor who lived in the apartment above mine “unleashed” on me. His words were harsh and threatening, and they actually had me shaking as I stepped inside my apartment that day.

By the time Friday arrived – I’ll be honest – the last thing I wanted to do that night was go to the Brandon Community Foundation’s annual fundraising event, Oak & Vine. But as an ex-officio member of the Foundation board, and as the local news media, I knew this was an obligation I couldn’t or shouldn’t simply “blow off.”

As it turns out, taking in Oak & Vine that evening turned out to be one of the wisest decisions I’d made in my lifetime.

I arrived at the venue about the same time as a local businessman and his wife. As we walked toward the door, as he often does, he asked how things were going.

“It hasn’t been the best week of my life,” I answered, followed by a quick rundown of the events that had unfolded.

It was clear that he was truly listening to what I was saying, and before we reached the door, he said, “I’d back you.”

To be honest, the thought of starting a newspaper from scratch at my age hadn’t crossed my mind. But as word filtered throughout the room that night, a few others let me know that they, too, would be interested in learning more.

Fast-forward nine-plus years from that tough week in October 2016, I can’t thank the people enough who believed in me to organize Brandon Valley Media Group and produce a community weekly newspaper. They say, “Good things happen to good people.”

I try to be a “good person,” to do what I can to help. I’m surely not the richest – and likely will never be – but at this time of the year, as we gather around the table to be thankful for our blessings – family and friends, our health, a roof over our heads, food in our bellies – I think of the “good people” who’ve had a part in how that tough week in October 2016 led to something I’ll be forever thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.