It feels like the passing of Abbie Roberts marks the end of an era, but that’s not accurate.
The – 30 – in the headline and on this editorial speaks to a bygone era of marking the end of a communication. It was used when announcing the passing of a previous LCN editor, Dorothy Roberts, Abbie’s mother-in-law.
Abbie, who passed away at her home in Nobleboro over the weekend at the age of 94, married into the newspaper business at the dawn of the television age and wrapped up her hall of fame career before the internet became ubiquitous.
For the majority of her working life, newspapers like The Lincoln County News were the primary means of getting information out to the public. Much of LCN’s content from that period, and for much of its history, involves handwritten dispatches submitted by a wide variety of volunteer, neighborhood columnists.
You can turn to any page and see who was visiting who, who was coming in from out of town, whose student, spouse, or relative just accomplished something, who got into mischief or who came to grief in some fashion. It was community news in its purest form.
Copy came into the newspaper by mail, courier, or telephone. However it came to us, it was transcribed by a small troop of typesetters, converted into newstype, cut into columns, dunked in hot wax, and laid out for the newspaper by hand.
Almost all of that is done digitally now. These days most stories come in by email, or text message, or social media. We have not had a dedicated typesetter in years.
Today, words never actually appear on paper until they roll off the press.
The game has changed a bit since Abbie retired in 1993, but the mission remains the same; serve the community of which we are a part.
We have thought a lot about legacy in recent months as some of the stalwart leaders of our communities over the last few decades have increasingly taken their leave.
We suggest The Lincoln County News is just the most visible part of the legacy Abbie leaves behind. In their personal lives Sam and Abbie Roberts were both active members of their communities and they preached a level of community service that is still a through line for the Roberts family.
Sam and Abbie Roberts helped found the Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service Inc. They were active in their church, members of the Damariscotta-Newcastle Lions Club, volunteered with the Miles Memorial Hospital League, and on and on and on. That doesn’t count the thousands of daily deeds that went done unrecorded and unremarked.
All of that continues with the next generations.
Reflecting on her mother’s passing, Abbie’s oldest daughter Beverly Andrews talked about her mother’s kindness; how Abbie would make gifts to give away and how each of her four children have carried on their mother’s giving traditions in their own ways.
That is the legacy of Abbie Roberts.
