The Hinesburg Record Traces Roots to the ‘70s
Since then, the newspaper has had a variety of forms put together by a variety of people
By Mary Jo Brace
Record Staff
The Hinesburg Record has been around a while, but its roots began forming back in the early 1970s, when Kit Wright made the first attempt to provide a newspaper for the town of Hines- burg. Soon she joined several neighboring towns to bring out a few is- sues of The South County News.
Following this, Barbara Agnew published The Hinesburg News, which started as a two-sided sheet, bi-monthly and morphed into an eight- to 12-page mimeographed monthly, that ran from September 1974 to August 1987 and was delivered to locations around town.
Francis Birdsall and June Giroux took it over, aware that Hinesburg needed a way to continue to bring the local news, issues, and deci- sions that affected our daily lives that no other media was covering.
From October 1987 until April 1988 the pair, along with a lot of helpers, put out a paper that was roughly 10 pages of photo- copy paper printed and folded by Valley Print and Mail right here in Hinesburg (in what is now Frost Beer Works). After those five is- sues, the paper switched to a 20- page tabloid, which was mailed to each household in Hinesburg.
After the transition to tabloid, they used a room in June’s house, which became known as “The Record Room.” They acquired several large tables, purchased a paper cutter, photocopier, waxer, a light table, rulers, scissors and X-acto knives and away they went.
June would type the content on her typewriter, then take the arti- cles and ads that Frankie designed, cut them out precisely and they were ready to go. They used large gridded two-page paste-up boards, and very meticulously aligned the waxed content and ads on the pa- per, many times needing to cut and paste words and sentences to fit into the columns. This was extremely time-consuming. For fillers, they were constantly buying “clip art” books for every occasion under the sun.
In 1989, with the help of Ed McGuire, Steve Carlson, and a few others, they rolled into the comput- er age. This was before Windows, when everything was ctl-this and esc-that. This helped with correc-
tions and saving information, but they still had the paste-up process which took about a week. Hence the reason The Record has always had deadlines well in advance of publication.
The paper was always put togeth- er by volunteers, and there were many. I will say at the outset that it’s impossible to remember all of them. I am sure I will miss some. I apologize in advance.
As The Hinesburg Record ap- proaches its 39th year in production, we recognize and appreciate our community volunteers who brought their initiative, time, en- ergy and expertise in keeping this paper – and many sponsored town events – going.
Tasks may be simpler and faster with the use of computers, but it still takes the same dedication and commitment.
Back in the early days of The Record:
June handled the news: gathering, editing, writing and typing up submitted articles, organized candidate forums with Jack Barry as moderator, covered meetings of all town boards and schools, wrote human interest stories, paid bills and much more.
Frankie, the first president, was in charge of advertising and the business end of the paper. She was part of advertising, layout, printing and mailing the paper.
Others at the beginning included: Steve Carlson, who was a report- er, typesetter, copy editor and pres- ident; Mona Giroux and Elaine Hart, who helped to collate. Elaine eventually became circulation man- ager, too, and Mona spent 25 years as subscription coordinator.
Here are a few more of the many, many volunteers who’ve helped over the years:
In 1991, Sue Storey took over the graphic and production role, which she soon converted using desktop publishing software. Which meant no more cutting and waxing. She produced the first edition with color in 1992 for the Fourth of July issue. Color, due to cost, was used sparingly and only in few pages per issue until 2016 when we went full-color.
Laura Carlsmith wore many hats at The Record. She volunteered to cover the Planning Commission, reported on business news and the CVU board meetings, handled the mailing for a few years, then be- came finance officer before serving as board president.
John Mace, another past presi- dent, started in 1993 as a copy editor and mailer. He wrote many articles covering schools, business and special meetings. He also handled all things computer.
Sandy Latham began covering what was then the Hinesburg Elementary School board meetings as well as CSSD meetings, served as computer coordinator and did typesetting. In fact, Sandy helped us master the computer age and then was a member of the Record board eventually as President.
Pat Mainer, Sue Storey and Sandy were instrumental in the introduc- tion of HES student pages “School Daze,” a student-produced center-spread in each issue.
Judy Parker was our first proofreader and was followed by Janine Gunther, Sue Cobb Znamierowski, Terry Keeler, Jo Ann Moore, Page Guertin, Gwendolen Pearce. Julie Pierson, Ginny Roberts, Rachel Lapidow and, now, Laurie Wedge.
Kevin Lewis started in 2001, taking over from Sue Story as layout designer, becoming president in 2010. He also wrote many articles over the years, spear-headed us to become a 501(c)3, headed a plea for donations and secured matches, worked on the website, advertising and started the Record e-News. He did just about everything.
Advertisers have always been our main source of income and a source of important information for the residents.
Our first advertisers in 1987 were Hair Classique, Hart and Mead, H & M, Ray’s Appliance and Repair, Kali Yuga Kitchen, Larry’s TV Sales and Service, Hinesburg Pharmacy, TP Paving, Baron’s Florist, Charles Wood Co-op Insurance, Karen Lee’s Permanent Solution, Good Earth Trees, Able Plumbing and Heating, Personalized Styles by Linda, Anthony’s, Clifford Lumber, Century 21, Hauserman’s All State Insurance, Longhorn Gun Shop, Valley Print and Mail, Green Mountain Hardware, Arthur’s Deli, the Pork Schop, Lantman’s and Farnham Real Estate. Some of the advertisers are gone, but many re- main, some even under new man- agement. We thank them and all our current advertisers in this pa- per for their continued support.
Our ad designers and sellers have been numerous over the years, in- cluding Laura Carlsmith, Jeanette Gilbert, Marie Eddy, Cyndi Weiger, Kim Guidry, Ellen Polanshek, Marilyn Hinsdale, Helen Shepard, Ronnie Estey, Donna Orvis, Bruce Hilliker, Lisa Beliveau, Kristen Wahner and Kevin Lewis.
Finance Officers have included Frankie, Ellie Francis, Laura Carlsmith and Mary Jo Brace. Mailing; Frankie, Ann Thomas, Bruce Hiller, Mary Jo Brace. Photographers; Alden Pellett and Mary Pellegrino. Circulation Elaine Hart, June Giroux, Ray Mainer, and now me, Mary Jo Brace.
For years we ran a monthly themed section: back-to-school, summer camps, gardening, holidays; Elizabeth Hazen’s “Field Edge, Pond Edge” first appeared in 1987.
We’ve had many news/copy editors, June Giroux, Nancy Stowe, John Mace, Doreen and Mike Patterson, Jane Sheldon and now Cathy Ryan.
Reporters have been too many to mention, here are a few:
Helen Marston, Ed and Marilyn Burrington were early reporters and Charlie Wood was our first sports editor. All the town boards, police, fire, historical society, li- brary and town organizations have written and submitted articles and photos. Town clerks Gay Muller, Mary Zuber and Missy Ross. Holly Russell reported on most town boards. Other names include Tom Joslin, Laura Winters, Dave Pell, Claire LaForce, Jonathan Trefry, Stewart Pierson, Marie Eddy, Pam Ford, Erick Spivak, Al Barber, Alan Fortin, Chris Morrell, Jeanie Wilson. Jean Isham reported on businesses, Margery Sharp, Jen Bradford, Denise Giroux, Alex Weinhagen, Jane Sheldon, Betsy Knox, Roger Donegan, MaryJo Brace, Peg Cioffi, Geoffrey Gevalt, Merrily Lovell, Kevin Lewis, Bill Schubart, Jen McCuin and Jim Jarvis.
In 2021, The Record made an appearance on the Netflix documentary “My Love” by Elaine McMillion Sheldon that featured Dave and Ginger Isham of Williston. In one scene Dave is in his easy chair browsing a copy of The Record.
The Record also made a debut in a play in Edwardsville, Illinois, a few months ago. My granddaughter Emmaline used it as a prop for a performance she was in.
And here we are 2025 and after all these years we’ve gone from a mimeographed weekly distribut- ed in stores to a tabloid monthly (10 times a year) to all-digital, all the time on https://hinesburgre- cord.org with new stories most every day and a Monday email newsletter, The Weekly Record, to subscribers.
(And if you haven’t subscribed, please do. It’s free. We’re The Record, after all, and we intend to always be free. Go to hinesburgre- cord.org, type in your email ad- dress and that should be it. If you want to create a free account on our platform, Substack, you can just keep going and that will allow you to comment. Again, all free.)
So as we begin the new year, our core group is small and committed:
Cathy Ryan has been our news ed- itor since 2012; she goes through all that you send to news@hines- burgrecord.org, edits it and reach- es out to you with questions. She also writes stories and is now do-
ing a lot of posting on hinesbur- grecord.org.
Mary Jo Brace started in 1992 as finance officer; she handles book- keeping and a bunch of other things: mailing, circulation and ad coordination; she also writes and contributes photos.
Geoffrey Gevalt started in 2024 as Managing Editor, has written many articles, started the “My Story” audio stories and has worked endlessly on covering the news, the website and The Weekly Record newsletter.
Laurie Wedge, our proofreader extraordinaire, has been with us since 2022.
Now that we are a 501(c)3 nonprof- it, we assembled a new, indepen- dent board and the directors have put in many hours of work: Ginny Roberts, Dottie Schnure, Tom Giroux and Richard Watts.
The Hinesburg Record is a product of Hinesburg volunteers. Again, this report is flawed by the omis- sion of many names. It is an impos- sible task to list everyone who has volunteered and the various hats they wore. We apologize for the omissions.
But as you can see, we are now a team of four. We can’t sustain that, we can’t give the new web-based news outlet the breadth and strength we want if we don’t have more folks helping, more voices in the mix.
We need writers, photographers, artists, digital media creators, so- cial media experts; we need people deeply interested in town govern- ment who can cover meetings; we need people to cover events. And we need someone who simply loves to sell; we have to continue to raise money through advertising – and give our readers valuable ad con- tent – but we need help.
Because we can’t do it all. Your ideas, your help would be cher- ished. Your voice matters. And you might just have a lot of fun.
We have a bunch of volunteer opportunities available, some taking only an hour or two a month to some with more time commitments. Let us know: send an email to Geoffrey Gevalt at editor@hinesburgrecord.org .
Thank you for all your support.
Editor’s note: Mary Jo took sick and could not do her usual duty of sorting the papers at the Post Office and then distributing copies to local stores, restaurants and the library. So her sister Sue McGuire carried the load. Sue and Mary Jo are daughters of the late June Giroux.
