The End of an Era for Norfolk Now

By Colleen Gundlach

After 10 years and over 30 issues, Ruth Melville has put on her Norfolk Now editor’s hat for the last time. In June, the paper marked the end of an era with the publication of Ruth’s final issue as one of the executive editors of Norfolk Now, following her recent retirement announcement.

Melville is well known for her reporting of news over all areas of the town, from covering town government meetings to interviewing intriguing people to reporting on controversial proposals. She has been a backbone of the paper over these years.

When Melville and her husband, Stephen, moved to Norfolk to help care for his aging parents, she had no intention of volunteering to work on a small-town newspaper. But her rich experience as a lifelong editor of academic books caught the attention of Lloyd Garrison, co-founder of Norfolk Now.

When he heard that she had edited books for such prestigious publishers as the University of Chicago Press and presses at Virginia, Nebraska and Arizona, he set out to win her over to Norfolk Now. “And Lloyd would not take no for an answer,” says Melville. “He came to my house one day, sat on my couch and informed me that if I wanted to get to know people in town, I wouldn’t be able to do it by sitting in my house on the top of the hill. I would need to get involved, particularly with Norfolk Now. He was so right.”

Melville credits her work with Norfolk Now for opening her up to getting to know her new hometown. She says, “I was shy and calling people to ask them to let me interview them was hard. I was very nervous at first, but everyone was great.” 

It didn’t take her long to jump in with both feet, not only in Norfolk Now, but in numerous other volunteer community services, including the Norfolk Library (having served as a board member and a member of the Library Associates over the years), the Weekend in Norfolk committee (co-founder) and the very successful Norfolk Knitters (a group she formed with Norfolk resident Adair Mali, to bring knitters together to knit and chat.) 

One of the stories for Norfolk Now that Melville recalls as being challenging and interesting to write was “Human Remains Found in the Norfolk Woods,” which she wrote in June 2015. Human bones had been found in the woods near St. Mary’s Cemetery on North Street and proved to be those of an East Hartford man who had been reported as missing more than a year earlier. “I think I was out of town when I was writing that, but I was able to make some phone calls and do some on-line digging for that story,” Melville says.

Some of her favorite local interviews included Frank Dooley and his Olympic history and wildlife rehabilitator, and singer, Angela Luna Grano. “I’ve also written about local artists, writers, film makers, woodworkers, teachers, farmers and firefighters,” she said. Her first story was about Barbara Siegel, when she was named Person of the Year by the Register Citizen newspaper back in 2014. “She was such as easy person to talk with that it was a great first story for me.”

Melville remembers covering a few controversial topics over the years, such as the school consolidation issue in 2013-14, and the debate over placing wind turbines on Flagg Hill Road in Colebrook. While then-editor Wiley Wood wrote the main series of wind turbine stories, Melville authored the 2022 story when the state Superior Court overruled the Connecticut Siting Council’s approval of a third wind turbine at the site. 

Former co-editor Wood recalls, “Ruth brought excellent skills (to the paper) as an editor, it goes without saying. Her curiosity about new ventures and new people in the area and her straightforward and empathetic style in writing about them” set her apart.

As for her thoughts about the paper in general, Melville reminds us that Lloyd Garrison’s vision for Norfolk Now was that this should be a paper for everyone and that the more people who write, the better and more vital the paper will be. “We are always looking for more writers and editors,” she says. “The fun for the editor lies in seeing what the writers come up with from their own perspective.”

“Being an editor requires thinking on your feet,” she says. “We plan our issue and sometimes what we plan doesn’t work out. We work with production, and although the first set of proofs is often pretty rough, with the second set, it’s beginning to take shape. It’s great to finally see the freshly printed issue, all stacked in boxes ready for distribution and mailing.”

What are her thoughts for future editors and writers? “We don’t always agree with each other, and it does sometimes become frustrating, but it’s also fun and exhilarating. From the story conference, through the writing and editing, on to layout and design and the printers, we try to work as a team.”

The staff of Norfolk Now thanks Ruth Melville for her years of lending her time and talents to the newspaper and wish her all the best in her next chapter.