Thursday, the Santa Rosa Press Gazette says goodbye to its longest employed member, 84-year-old Rosie Farhart, the paper’s archivist and custodian of 65 years. All are welcome to come by the Press Gazette at 6629 Elva St from 2 to 4 p.m. for her retirement party. Farhart said she’s looking forward to retiring. She said she’s going to “relax for a while and clean house like I always do. I’ll walk up and down the sidewalks, get some exercise.” In her time here, Farhart worked for about 9 individual owners and three companies.
One may wonder what kept Farhart at the Press Gazette for so many years. She said, “When Mr. Gould bought (the paper), he told Alfred, my boss’ son to let me go. And Alfred wrote him a letter. I didn’t have another kind of job. This was the only job I had and I had to have it. And Alfred wrote a letter to him and he said I could stay on so that’s why I’m still here to this day.
“I came here in August of 1945. I was only 15. We lived in Crestview and when we moved over here in June, (I was 16), that’s when dad got me to work with Mr. Maples. I worked from 8 to 12 and only got $11 a week. My dad got me the job…to help out at the house, and $11 didn’t go real far to help with food.” Her father, she said, worked at the Gazette as a lineotype operator. Farhart herself wasn’t just a custodian. Among the several things she’s done at the paper, Farhart said, “I’ve bound jobs. I’ve padded them and I labeled people’s names on the paper. Then I put papers in a bag, put the name on the front, put first class postage up here, stamped it, then put on the address.”
Currently, the paper is assembled in Panama City. “They took the press apart and then shipped all the rest to Panama City.” Farhart also handles switching the stored papers for the year.
A past boss of Farhart, Jim Hill, she said, his parents delivered the free press, now known as The Mirror. Her second boss, Farhart recalled, passed away in a car crash. “Mr. Gould bought it after Mr. Lenid got killed in a car accident in ’64. A teenager ran into him. He was tall and he got pinned in it and they couldn’t save his life.”
Farhart said, “I’ve seen things change. I’ve seen people come and go, and bosses come and go.” Farhart also has seen places come and go in Santa Rosa County where drug stores used to be, bakeries, the Piggly Wiggly, and the fire Milton will not soon forget.
Farhart remembers when the Santa Rosa hospital used to be across from the high school. Dr. John Holley, she said removed her appendix. “So many things have changed over the years.”
Jim Fletcher, the current publisher started at the Press Gazette in 1985. He said, “I can remember 30 years ago, when I first started at the Press Gazette. Rosie was on vacation. The entire office kept saying, ‘Wait ‘til you meet Rosie.’ When I did meet her, it was every bit the experience the office had promised. She’s been a dedicated worker as long as I can remember, and much longer than most people here can remember. It’s hard to imagine working at the same job for almost seven decades, but Rosie has managed to do it and keep her smile. She’s also a walking historian. Whenever she says something happened, you can take it to the bank.”
Pamela Holt, the paper’s editor for the last year, said, “I met Rosie back in the early '90s and we've been friends ever since. She has a memory like a steel trap. I will miss our early morning conversations and how well she takes care of us all.”
Come by the Press Gazette, tomorrow, and say goodbye to a not just an employee or custodian but a friend, a babysitter, an aunt, and a caretaker for so many.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: The end of an era