This wasn’t how I imagined Lisa Allmendinger’s retirement from Chelsea Update.
She has spent the better part of 14 years providing a sustainable local news service, an all too uncommon feat in the news industry these days.
Lisa invited me to become a reporter for Chelsea Update soon after its inception. Like Lisa, I too, had been a reporter for the Ann Arbor News. Unlike Lisa, I had spent the first part of my career working in broadcast journalism.
My transition to the print medium had a great deal to do with wanting to report local news in the greater community where I lived. Although I live about 12 miles east of Chelsea, Lisa couldn’t say enough about her fondness for the Chelsea area and quickly convinced me that I would enjoy covering Chelsea and its surroundings. She was right.
It’s been my privilege to get to know the people of Chelsea and to experience the kindness and generosity of this community.
As coincidences go, my partner Suzanne Murray and I started selling French baked goods at the Chelsea Farmers Markets at the same time I started my job at Chelsea Update. We have so enjoyed meeting the folks who frequent the farmers markets, that we decided to one day make Chelsea our home and are currently on the waiting list for Silver Maples.
Thank you, Lisa Allmendinger, for introducing me to Chelsea, for paying me to do what I love, and for your commitment in making a go and a success of Chelsea Update!
