Editor leaves newspaper after 35 years

MARENGO — Wapello native Melinda Wichmann chose journalism as a vocation right out of high school. “I knew I didn’t want a career that involved math,” Wichmann said.

The 1988 Iowa State graduate is leaving the industry after 35 years in Marengo. “This was literally my first job out of college,” Wichmann said.

When Wichmann joined Marengo Publishing Corporation in the late 1980s, the company owned three newspapers in Iowa County and two in Benton County. Two newspapers in Poweshiek County joined later.

“I actually didn’t intend to stay,” said Wichmann last week from The Hometown Current office in Marengo. She fell for a third-generation family farmer near Homestead, and her plans changed.

“I met my husband, got married, stayed.”

Wichmann has seen changes professionally as well as personally. “I was hired as the society editor,” said Wichmann. She wrote stories about weddings and “all the society stuff that doesn’t exist anymore.”

Wichmann wrote thousands of obituaries, which are no longer written in house but are sent to newspapers from funeral homes and family members and are printed, unedited, for a fee.

Wichmann wrote features, community event news and a weekly column and provided photos. “When you work for a small paper, you do whatever needs doing.”

In 2000, The Des Moines Register bought Marengo Publishing. Shortly after, Gannett bought the Register. In 2019, GateHouse Media Inc.’s parent company, New Media Investment Group, purchased Gannett and merged the two companies under the Gannett name.

Gannett sold what was left of the Marengo Publishing newspapers – The Pioneer-Republican, The Journal Tribune, The Poweshiek County Chronicle Republican and The Star Press Union – last year to Southeast Iowa Union based in Washington, Iowa.

The Union also purchased Gannett’s competition in Iowa County, The Hometown Current.

“With every change, my position just evolved,” said Wichmann. Jobs were eliminated, people retired or left to follow other pursuits.

“And then it was just me,” said Wichmann. “I was the last person standing.”

Wichmann has produced five weekly papers for the past year, largely on her own. A part-time sports person, a few freelance writers and correspondents help her cover Iowa County and parts of Benton and Poweshiek Counties.

Wichmann’s ready for another change. It’s time to leave, she said, admitting that the phrase is cliché. “I’ve put in 35 years.”

Perhaps the biggest draw to retiring from a career in journalism is freedom from the clock. “I’m looking forward to life without deadlines,” Wichmann said.

“I’m going to devote more time to training and showing dogs. That has been a lifelong passion.

“And I have some very neglected flower gardens that need attention.”