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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1969-11-27, Page 4Seuedeote If the pen be mightier than the sword, then this community has lost one of its more conscientious "warriors" in the person of J. M. Southcott, publisher of the newspaper. For some 67 years J. M. was engaged in the betterment of this community, an opinion easily reached through a cursory review of the yellowed files in our office which contain the words of wisdom, sympathy, congratulations and challenge which flowed from his heart and mind over those many years. He was a pioneer in the publishing business, having worked his way through the many facets of the business to become a publisher. His career started on September 2, 1902 as a printer's devil with The Exeter Times, although he had been a carrier boy for the newspaper several years before that. As printer's devil, he was required to work 60 hours a week and his duties included looking after the fires, sweeping the floors and setting the type for the newspaper by hand. Only five-feet four inches in height, the young compositor had to stand on a wooden box to reach the eight-point type in which the newspaper was set. Each letter was handled individually at that time. In 1910, J. M. purchased controlling interest in the newspaper and became managing editor at a salary of $65 a month. In 1924, while he was in control of The Times, he purchased the Exeter Advocate and the papers were amalgamated. The charter of the company was surrendered in 1941 when J. M. acquired all of the capital stock. It remained in his name until 1953 when he took his two sons, Robert and Donald, into the formation of The Exeter Times-Advocate Ltd., a private company. He had a hand in printing over 3,000 editions of this newspaper, and while failing health terminated his active contributions to the news columns in the past couple of years, his frequent visits to the office often included a few "news tips" he had heard from a fellow lodge member or over a cup of coffee at a local restaurant. In a sense, he never did retire from a vocation to which he had devoted his time and talents. He encouraged changes in the mechanical production of this newspaper, although it spelled an end to an era which he had enjoyed so much. His sole interest was in seeing this newspaper grow and improve with the community and he looked on in awe at some of the computerized equipment at work as he probably did when he installed the firm's first linotype in 1911. * * * * J. M. was first and`foremost a family man, although his family extended into broader terms than most of us think. In the first instance it included his parents and brothers and sister and it was a tightly knit group that enjoyed the things that families did at the turn of the century. It never dissipated and at one time he and two of his brothers and a sister lived on nearby properties. This close association spilled over into their business lives. His own family was also a closely tied unit and he welcomed his two sons into the business. Then there was The T-A family, a name he gave to the group of men and women who worked in the actual production of the newspaper, as well as the men and ladies throughout the countryside who weekly contributed news budgets. On many occasions he spoke in glowing terms of the contributions of each and every one in producing a prize winning newspaper and a newspaper that reflected the growth and spirit of the community. J.M.'s other family included his community. Despite an energetic schedule that had to be followed in the weekly production of a newspaper, he always found time to contribute to the betterment of the community in an active way. He served on the village council here for two years, but was defeated when he supported a movement for the construction of a new school. He was a member and chairman of the board of education, a member of the arena board when that building was erected and later chairman of the same board. In other fields, he organized the district older boys' parliament which met for several years at James St. United Church; served as Scoutmaster of the Exeter troop for a number of years; was recording steward of James St. United Church for 32 years and he was associated with the late I. Hubert Jones in providing leadership at the Sunday School for many years. He was a member of the Exeter Lions, I.O.O.F. and had received his 50-year jewel from the Masonic Lodge. In sports, he once won first prize for the 100-yard event in a registered track meet in Stratford in the time of 10.2 seconds. He was president of the old tennis club and an active lawn bowler who competed in many district tournaments and was a member of an Exeter rink which won one of the events in the WOBA in London in 1955. In the newspaper field, J. M. was a past president of the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and in 1963 he was named "Man of the Year" by that group. He was a member of the Canadian Newspaper Association and a charter member of the Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association J. M.'s writings always displayed a keen sense of the country around him, and much of this was gleaned from his frequent attendance at newspaper conventions and events from coast to coast. He had been overseas twice with other Canadian editors on tour of England and the continent. He first went in 1922, when he attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace and was among the group presented to King Albert of Belgium. It was on this tour, too, that he and the late R. N. Creech, then editor of The Advocate, represented Exeter, Ontario, at a civic banquet in Exeter,-England. In 1956, he and Mrs. Southcott went overseas on a CWNA tour and while in Rome, they had an audience with the Pope. Over the years, J. M. was instrumental in the training of several printer's devils who, following their stay in Exeter, went on to new horizons. He was a man who never gave one the indication he was the boss. You didn't work for 3. M., you worked with him. The writer can recall early in his career as a printer's devil undertaking the task of cutting large press sheets in half to be fed through the folder. He came over to note that we should be careful to keep the papers straight. However, he followed this with an explanation of why it was important to the men who would handle the paper that it be straight. He took the time always to explain the "why" so the job could be put into perspective by the person undertaking that job. Later the same afternoon he came over to commend us on the fact we were now doing a better job, a job which he noted was an important part of publishing the newspaper. A young boy's pride swelled that day and this was one of the many examples we could use to point out how much we all will miss the "head of the family". * J. M. Southcott, in his 84th year, died Thursday morning at South Huron Hospital. He is survived by his wife, the former Florence Alma May; two sons, Robert, Exeter, and Donald, Clarkson; one sister, Miss Stella, Exeter; two brothers, T. Orville, Exeter, and the Rev. R. E., Oil City; and six grandchildren. He was predeceased by one daughter, Florence, in 1955, and also by three brothers. The funeral, arranged by the Hopper-Hockey Funeral Home, was conducted in Exeter United Church, Saturday, by the Rev. Glen Wright. Interment was in Exeter Cemetery. Pallbearers included six members of The Exeter Times-Advocate staff: Frank Creech, Robert Nicol, Harry DeVries, Bill Batten, Ross Haugh and Howie Wright, - 30 - 111•1110111•MINM Rewarding job ............................................................. Olaf A tommoolf newspaper, Amalgamated 1924 room. Harrowing is the world. So I spent Saturday afternoon Ong over the poems with her and getting her all muddled up. But she left with a pile of notes and the feeling that she could survive the ordeal. Sunday afternoon I met two more former students, under different circumstances. I couldn't help them with their work. It was in a funeral home and their mother was dead, tragically, after a brief illness. I kissed the girls and hugged them. There wasn't anything else to do or say. Sunday night, one of them, Liz, closest friend of our daughter since Grade 7, came around and spent two hours talking with my wife and me. No weeping, just talking in her sensible, sweet, 19-year-old way. And last of all, there was another former student, my own kid, Kim, staggering around in that horrible chaos of first-year university. Bell Telephone stock took another good shot in the arm when her mother called her Sunday night. She had just discovered that she'd been missing two biology lectures a week, all fall, because 0 they weren't on her timetable. And maybe this was the reason she wasn't doing so well in biology. And she has an exam in it this week and she knows she'll fail and she'd like nothing better than to quit the whole silly business and get a job as a waitress. And that's the way it goes, if you're a teacher. I've been at it for only ten years, but in that time, I've found very few youngsters who are vile or despicable. There are some. But most of them are funny, confused, lost, brash, shy, aggressive, kooky. It's only when they become adults that they seem to turn into pompous bores, nagging wives, stuffed shirts, shrews, gossips and all manner of unpleasant creatures of both sexes. • Perhaps there's a great universal truth in there somewhere. But I can't find it. However, it makes up for a lot of the frustration and nerve-rending days of teaching when the blase, sophisticated teen-agers come back to see the old man when they're in trouble. Most teachers become very fond of certain students. And, believe it or not, some students become very fond of certain teachers. This was made painfully clear to me over the weekend. I became involved with a veritable spate of my former students. They're all at university now and each was going through some part of the particular hell that that involves. It began on Friday afternoon. Gerry appeared at my classroom door, looking like a rabbit that has just nad a run-in with a wolf. While the class I was about to teach chattered about what they were going to do tonight, chewed their gum, waved their mini-skirted legs, or dropped into a deep slumber, Gerry told me his troubles. He is one of the nicest boys and one of the weakest English students, it has ever been my fate to encounter. He's the kid who rushed about last June and bought me a bottle of burgundy and six golf balls after receiving the incredible news that he'd passed in English. His only problem Friday was that he had three essays to write in six days. He was looking for a life belt. I was fresh out of them, but gave him some reference books, some sympathy and some ideas on how to tackle his essays. I don't think he has a hope in heaven of passing his semester, under those conditions, but he's learned something: you don't wait until an essay is breathing down your neck before you write it. That very night, another former student called her mum, who lives across the street from us. She wanted to know if the Smileys were going to be home for the weekend. If so, she was coming home, because she had to see Mr. Smiley. She has graduated and is attending a college of education, purportedly learning to be a high school teacher. Her problem was a little different. She had to teach some poetry this week as part of that 20th century form of the Spanish Inquisition known as "practice teaching." This involves facing a class of strange students, with an eagle-eyed professional teacher watching from the back of the 50 YEARS AGO An electric motor to run the organ blower was installed in Main Street Church last week. Mr. W. R. Stewardson has disposed of his barbering business to Mr. John Hockey. The Advocate this week replaced their gasoline engine with an electric motor. The contract for the Soldiers-Memorial at Hensel has been awarded to Messrs. Cunningham and Pryde for $2,500. The monument will be of granite and the statue will be six feet, the whole being about fourteen feet high. Mrs. Beavers, County President of the W.C.T.U. returned on Monday night after attending the provincial convention held at Guelph last week. 25 YEARS AGO A delegation of officers and brothers of Scarboro Lodge 438, ICOF, called on Rev. James Anthony and presented him with a jewel of the Order. Rev. Anthony has been an Oddfellow since 1901 and was a charter member and Noble Grand of Scarboro Lodge. Wilbert James Venner, driver of a gasoline truck for W. C. Allison, died suddenly of a heart attack at the store of James Trevethick and Son, Brinsley. County Treasurer A. H. Erskine in submitting the financial statement at Huron County Council, estimated a surplus of $27,601.24 at the end of the year. 15 YEARS AGO Beth Taylor, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Harold Taylor, Usborne, was presented with a Women's Institute scholarship of $100 at the annual provincial meeting in Toronto last week. A meeting to organize a community safety council will be held Tuesday night under the sponsorship of the Exeter Home and School Association. Stores in Exeter will remain open Wednesday afternoons during December, R. E. Russell, chairman of the Businessmen's Association said this week. Over 75 junior fanners from Huron County took a bus tour to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto on Saturday. The trip was conducted by Harold Baker, assistant agricultural representative, and two buses were required to transport the crowd. Thieves failed to open the safe at Exeter District Co-operative Monday night when they broke into the building near the station. 10 YEARS AGO Elston Cardiff Huron MP was named parliamentary secretary to Agriculture Minister, Harkness last week. Preston Dearing and son, Gerald RR 1, Exeter, captured every, major prize in the Dorset Horned sheep competition at the Royal again this year. Mrs. H. Cleven of Winnipeg is visiting with her sister, Mrs. C. S. MacNaughton, and her brother, Jack Fulcher, and their families. The Exeter Kinette club members on Monday night attended the Exeter Lyric Theatre as the social part of their meeting. Old Orchard Lord Vern 24L, owned by Whitney Coates and Son, RR 1 Centralia, captured highest honors for Canadian Herefords Thursday when it won the grand championship ribbon at the Royal Times Established 1103 Advocate Established 1851 exefer'Zinies-Atwocate SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND 0.W.N.A.i CLASS 'k and ABC Editor— Bill Batten Advertising Manager Phone 225.1331 Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Cleat Mall Registration Number 03M Paid in Advance Circulation, September 30, 1968, 4,520 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada W® Per Year' USA $8.80