By Crystal Hayduk
There are times when you expect a person to leave their work, either for another opportunity or retirement.
But Lisa Allmendinger’s announcement to stop publishing Chelsea Update is most definitely NOT one of those times. (See her story here.)
Lisa is solid local news. She knows things, she knows people, and she is passionate about Chelsea.
When she phoned to talk about her plans to retire because she received a terminal diagnosis, it felt like a gut punch. Lisa is not only a person who has made journalism her life, but also she is a caring human being with virtue and integrity. During the years I’ve known her, she has become much more than my editor and publisher. She has become a good friend.
I met Lisa in the board room at the Washington Street Education Center. We were both attending Chelsea School District Board of Education meetings—she for The Ann Arbor News and I for The Chelsea Standard (owned by Heritage Newspapers). From the start, our relationship was collegial and friendly.
While Lisa had been writing news since she was a youth and had made it her full-time career, I was relatively new to the work. One might say I accidentally became a writer, although in hindsight, I believe it was always part of God’s plan for my life.
From a very young age, I read everything I could get my hands on—including the evening newspaper with my dad. Wasn’t the Vietnam War, civil rights, and Watergate topics of parent-child conversation for most first graders? To balance the hard news with humor, I didn’t limit myself to Peanuts and Blondie. I devoured Erma Bombeck’s column, “At Wit’s End.”
My dad gave me a manual typewriter for my eighth birthday, and I taught myself to touch type with the help of a paperback manual. Writing stories and educational articles became a favorite pastime until the demands of high school and college homework took precedence.
When my third pregnancy ended in miscarriage in 2003, a friend gave me a blank book to journal my grief. I filled that book and several more. I rediscovered my joy in writing. By 2007, I was a mother to three daughters and officially a freelance writer and regular contributor to The Chelsea Standard.
Lisa gave birth to Chelsea Update in 2012 and invited me to write for her anytime. Because transitions are hard, it took me a year to make the move. Writing for Lisa and Chelsea Update has been a great thing ever since.
Lisa is a wonderful mentor. She nurtures my strengths and interests. As a freelancer, writing has never been my day job, so I write in time seized between my other obligations. She patiently waits for my submissions, always encouraging me to take the time to confirm facts to get a story right. She unfailingly supports me when the needs of my family take priority. “Family always comes first,” she says.
For now, my heart and mind are filled with many lovely memories that I shall continue to cherish as time goes on. I will be forever grateful for the people I’ve met along the way, for their trust in me to share their stories with the readers of Chelsea Update.
And I will be forever grateful for the tremendous opportunity Lisa offered that allowed me to be a part of her vision for truthful journalism.
