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DG: And I'm going to kind of jump around here, but share with me your relationship with your parents and what sort of things they shared with you as you were growing up, and at what age. Did they always share with you their history and the history of the Review and the war, or was it something you got interested in later in life?

MW: Oh, that was just general sort of family knowledge. I was always aware of the position that they'd taken during the war. I didn't realize at the time how really momentous what they did was, just seemed like... and they didn't either. I mean, they always were, we were just doing what we felt was right, and doing the best job we could at running the paper. They really felt a responsibility. One of the things that they did from early on was to use the editorial voice of the Review much more strongly than it ever had been used before. There still were all these cute gossipy little articles about small town America, but they did use their editorial voice for, mostly for community activities. They were... one campaign that my mother had in her column and in the editorials was to cover the abandoned wells on Bainbridge. She was very concerned that a child would walk over and get trapped in a well, and so she mobilized the island, people got around and covered their wells. They did those kinds of things for the community. Always supported the library and that kind of thing. And that was a change with the Review to doing that. And they also were -- and I think this also was a change rather than just relying on people bringing news to the paper, they went out and covered school board meetings and city meetings, city council meetings if there were those in Winslow at that time. So they were very... it was very important to them that the articles be, the news articles be as objective as they could be and that they spoke their mind in the editorials. Alongside that, they established the open forum so that islanders could also express themselves. And through letters to the editor, they would print any letter that they got. They didn't, they would find space for any letter that they got as long as it was signed and wasn't libelous.

DG: That was an interesting topic, that I got lost there, I forgot my question, I mean. How long did your parents own the Review?

MW: They sold the Review in 1962 and my father continued as editor for a couple years and then he went to and joined the editorial board of the Seattle Times. And for a few years my mother went back to Bainbridge High School and was a reader for the English department and was a teacher at the high school.

DG: And to backtrack again, I remembered my question. What sort of reporting did he do for the Times before he bought the Review? What kind of reporting

MW: He was a "cub reporter," that's how he always described himself. Sort of the like the guy in Superman, I don't know, cub reporter, Jimmy whatever. He had the courthouse beat for a while, and I know at one... and I don't know when this was, but he was sent to Walla Walla to be one of the witnesses for a hanging there as the court reporter, and he said it was, he never really talked about that much other than to tell us that that had happened, but I think it really affected him to have to watch that.

DG: Yeah, that was a forming moment for him. Did he talk about other moments in his life?

MW: Well, we always talked about... yeah, it was normal dinner conversation around the table, what people had done today, and they would share what they had done, who they had talked with, and what they might be thinking about as far as next week's editorial and what was of interest on the island.

DG: So that's interesting. It sounds like, yeah, they were very open and they shared... you all along growing up were aware of their viewpoints and what they were doing.

MW: Oh, yes, especially my father. [Laughs] I wasn't always aware of my mother's viewpoints, but she was more quiet.

DG: So describe your father's personality.

MW: He had a good sense of humor and had good relationships with everyone that he worked with. He could, he had a volatile temper at home and could be uncomfortable to be around sometimes at home, but we all have our foibles.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.