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| Pam Payne poses for a photo with a cake at her retirement party on January 17. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
MADISON — A retirement party was held on Friday, Jan. 17, for Pam Payne, associate editor of the Catholic Herald of the Diocese of Madison.
Pam started working for the diocesan paper on October 28, 1974, about a year after current editor Mary Uhler started.
Pam began as a part-time “gal Friday” and moved on to work full-time as assistant editor and then associate editor.
She was always ready to accept new challenges in the way the paper was produced and became the computer expert on the paper’s staff.
On a personal level, she and her husband Rick have been married for over 46 years. They have two sons, Brian and Chris (with wife Ashley), and one granddaughter, Violet.
It was Violet’s birth in 2019 that prompted Pam to consider retirement. She wanted to spend more time with her granddaughter. At her retirement party, Violet wore a pink T-shirt that said, “I’m so cute Grandma retired to spend all day with me.”
Pam’s reflections
Here are Pam’s reflections on her more than 45 years with the paper.
“Little did I know that a call from one of my profs from UW-Eau Claire would affect my life for the next 45 years. Henry Lippold phoned me (yes, in those olden days, we had not heard of email or texting) and informed me of an opening at the Catholic Herald Citizen Catholic newspaper in Madison (where I was currently residing). It was for a ‘gal Friday,’ but perhaps with my undergrad project research focused on Catholic newspapers around the country, I might be able to get ‘my foot in the door.’
“Fast forward to 45 years later, and I still silently thank him for that phone call.
“That ‘gal Friday’ job evolved from typing carbon news articles, to sending out promos for advertising, to reporting on school and parish events, to traveling to Milwaukee (our home office) to help lay out pages in the cold type process, to learning how to turn on an Apple SE30 computer, laying out a broadsheet page on a nine inch computer screen, to being named assistant editor, scanning photos, learning multiple software programs, being named associate editor, graduating from a nine inch screen to a 27 inch computer screen, helping launch a web site and online e-Edition, working with four Diocese of Madison bishops, many office administrative assistants, advertising salespeople, reporters, and with two editors, Msgr. Andrew Breines and Mary C. Uhler. It’s been quite a ride.
“Our main goal at the Catholic Herald is to inform and educate people of the Madison Diocese through communications . . . to bring all in Jesus Christ to the Father. Little did I know that I would be the one educated through my work at the Catholic Herald resulting in my having a closer relationship with God, learning of how much he loves me, and how he shows me daily (even if I don’t always agree with him) that he knows best and will guide me in his ways.
“So, now, I believe it is time for me to move on from my role at the Catholic Herald to a new role of being a grandmother (in addition to being a wife and mom) who will spoil and unconditionally love my granddaughter and to also enjoy more time with family and friends, play golf, garden, and watch sport events that I enjoy. I will truly miss working with our staff at the Catholic Herald, and all the wonderful, talented, and spiritual people associated with the Diocese of Madison.”
We will miss you, too, Pam. May God be with you in your retirement!
Taking over for her will be Kevin Wondrash, who has been promoted from reporter to assistant editor.