In 1949, Barbara Yeaton picked up a pen and wrote her first news report. “I just started doing it,” she said 50 years later. And she continued for 55 years, retiring at the age of 89.

Yeaton, a correspondent for the Lewiston Daily Sun, the Lewiston Evening Journal – and later, the Sun Journal – died last Friday night at Franklin Memorial Hospital.

We are saddened by her death, but we hold many indelible memories: Barbara Yeaton drying a roll of film out her car window as she drove from Farmington to Lewiston to get her photos submitted by deadline. Barbara Yeaton, well into her 80s, dashing out in the middle of the night to cover car crashes. Barbara Yeaton venturing into the Flood of 1987, braving washed-out roads and collapsed bridges to document the devastation.

With no official training in journalism, she succeeded by instinct and a dogged pursuit of the story. “You get a feeling,” she said in 1999. “And when you go out after something, you want to get it.”

She was feisty and energetic. In addition to raising three children, helping to run a farm and writing news every day, Yeaton belonged to numerous groups and clubs, including the Grange, Daughters of the American Revolution and the Farmington and Temple historical societies, to name a few. She was also an active church member and a hospital volunteer.She never lost her devotion to the community and her desire to represent it in print.

She represented it well.

Described by colleagues as dedicated, trustworthy, prolific and intelligent, Yeaton had a staunch work ethic and a deep streak of civic pride. She never complained. She never asked for help. She never expected special treatment.

When told of her 2001 nomination to the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame, she was shocked and somewhat baffled. For her, news was simply doing a job. For us, she was doing the job the way few people do, with unflagging energy, immense integrity and undying passion. She loved her work and couldn’t conceive of stopping.

At her Hall of Fame induction ceremony, she vowed to never retire, but declining health intervened. The grande dame of Franklin County news stepped aside, and in doing so, left a void never to be fillled.

She remains sorely missed by her loyal readers.

Now, with her passing, she will be sorely missed by her entire community.