When I retired from my position on the editorial staff of the Trumbull Times after 46 years, publisher Tom Nash suggested I write a column, “to stay in touch with the community,” he said, referring to the many years I was the social editor.

Although I agreed to give it a try, writing a column was something new to me. My experience had been in writing features, but in this type of writing you are simply the liaison between the person you interview and the reader.

Writing a column is personal; you have to tap into memories, experiences and opinions to make it work. This was my challenge.

I began by taking up on the suggestion of a granddaughter who once asked, “Grammy, why don’t you write about what your life was like when you were a little girl?”

That’s how many of my earliest columns evolved. But I found there were just so many of these in my memory bank, so I went on to write about later years in my life. Also, when I think the topic is relevant, I’ve tapped into features I wrote for the basis of a column.

Coming up with a focus for a column is the first step. When that happens, I usually start by “writing” the column in my head and woe to me if this happens as I’m falling off to sleep! Let’s just say head writing is not sleep conducive for me. It sometimes can surprise me as I go through the process of bringing thoughts to fingers to keyboard and then the words appear on the computer screen as another column takes shape.

So, two years (since my retirement) and 50 columns later, I hope I have met my challenge. What I do know for certain is that the challenge has brought unexpected fulfillment and pleasure to me.

I now have a list of e-mail addresses, people who look forward to hearing from me as I send along a new column attachment. Many write back with their memories the column has evoked. These responses are heartwarming connections indeed.

A recent most gratifying response came from two women who communicated with me, one by phone and the other by mail, after the column about my old 1950s electric stove was published in early October.

I should explain that my columns always appear in the Trumbull Times, and sometimes editors of our sister newspapers publish them as well. That’s how it happened that a woman who lives in Monroe read it in the Monroe Courier, and the other, an Easton resident, when the column appeared in the Easton Courier.

As I work from home, the Monroe lady’s phone call came to the office and was forwarded to me. I returned her call, and we had a friendly chat about our vintage stoves. She told me she is so proud of hers that she takes people out to her kitchen to admire it.

The letter writer enthusiastically referred to us, keepers of our old stoves, as “kindred souls.” She also wrote that while reading the column, “I howled with delight and immediately sent copies to everyone who had listened to my own [stove] saga.” That these two women took the time to contact me are just two examples of my feelings of fulfillment.

Now here’s the situation in reverse, when I was the one to reach out after a friend in Newtown, Pa., mailed me a copy of a column published in her local newspaper that she thought I would enjoy reading.

I was so impressed by the writer that, on a whim, I decided to express my appreciation by contacting him, columnist to columnist, so to speak, through the e-mail address published at the end of his column. His quick response to my e-mail was gratifying, indeed. That was last July, and we have been corresponding and exchanging e-mails and columns ever since.

With this in mind, it’s been decided that my e-mail address will be included at the end of each column. Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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