110 years with experience to spare
by Terry Toole

Una and Uva get the inserts ready for the next edition.

At the risk of being accused of working my help too long, we show that "experience is the best teacher."

This is truly a family newspaper, one of the few that is left in this nation. Zula Brown Cook Toole started the Miller County Liberal on January 1, 1897, which is almost 110 years ago.

After Grandma Toole started backing off, my dad, Joseph E. Toole took over along with my uncle, Bert Priest. They were about as close to co-editors for a number of years as two people could be to run a newspaper. I never heard them have a cross word. Grandma was still the boss as long as she lived.

When Bert and Willie bought the Liberal, it was run by them until I bought it in 1976, and I will be here as long as I possibly can.

Those who have worked with us became as close as blood kin. Hopefully everyone who helped with this newspaper has gone on to bigger and better things.

We use as much family to help run the Miller County Liberal as possible. Those who stay over 10 years are considered family members.

The photo above is a good example of how we pull from family and experience to get out each edition.

Uva and Una Mason represent over 186 years of experience. They are both 93-year-young twins. Uva is my favorite mother-in-law, who most weeks inserts two to five inserts. Each insert goes into each of the 3000 newspapers printed each week. At times, Uva, who is in charge of the insert department, invites her twin sister up to the office to help her insert.

At 71+, my first wife, who is also 71+, said that her greatest nightmare is for something to happen to me. I do a good bit of the hard, physical work, but that would be the easiest to replace.

We have two others who help us each week. Wanda is like a daughter and could get the next edition out without either of us. If I can't get any of our children or grandchildren interested in journalism, I guess we will have to adopt Wanda.

This is a long way of saying that although we are only 110 years old, we have joint experience of over 400 years of experience still helping run your local newspaper.