City Girl Makes Good at Exchange
Published: Friday, October 25, 2024
A Chicago native who grew up spending summers at her grandparents' house in Syracuse couldn't resist the urge to move to Indiana to start a family and set down roots. After working seven years at another newspaper, she found a job selling advertising space in The Farmer's Exchange. Forty-three years later, Sharon Thorson is ready to retire.
As one of the paper's two advertising representatives, Thorson traverses throughout northcentral and northeastern Indiana each week selling ad space in the paper. She loves that job and says many of her customers have become good friends.
"I've formed some wonderful friendships, people that I'll still be in touch with when I'm gone," she said.
She started with Michiana's Popular Farm Paper in 1982, just as The Farmer's Exchange was getting back on its feet after a devastating fire a year earlier. The blaze ruined the presses and office area and caused a three-week pause in the publishing of Michiana's Popular Farm Paper. Steve Yeater, then business manager and, later, third generation publisher, hired Thorson and showed her the ropes.
Back in those early days, Thorson carried around thick books containing the marketing materials provided by various equipment manufacturers. The ad slicks, as they were called, contained logos and stock images of tractors, combines, plows, hay rakes, milking equipment and anything else needed to produce a newspaper ad. She also carried a camera to take photos of cars, pickups, grain bins or whatever was being advertised for sale.
She brought all of those materials back to the office in New Paris, where the graphic artist would scan each element into the computer and produce a proof of the ad.
Thorson would take the proof to the advertiser, who would then approve it or recommend changes.
When new technology came along, it streamlined the communication process. Now, all those trips and all that back-and-forth communication take place via email and sometimes fax.
"The technology was so incredibly different," she said. "The cell phone, I think, was the biggest thing. Of course, email and the internet."
The photos were always a wild card. Thorson said she was never sure about picture quality until she brought the film back to the office and had it processed. Now, she uses her smart phone and can see the results right away.
With the advent of email, Thorson's traveling time decreased considerably.
She still visits a long list of advertisers every week and cherishes the scenic drives to places like Warsaw, Pierceton, Syracuse, Claypool, Millersburg, Middlebury, Shipshewana, Howe, Topeka and LaGrange.
During the winter months, Thorson braves the winter cold, and occasional snowstorms, to make her weekly routes and to attend the Fort Wayne Farm Show and the Northern Indiana Grazing Conference. She staffs the Exchange booth at those events, selling subscriptions. Her fortitude recalls the words of Charles W. Eliot's poem "The Letter": "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
Thorson said she appreciates the many loyal advertisers who support Michiana's Popular Farm Paper.
The favorite parts of her job are connecting with her many customers on a weekly basis and driving through the rural countryside as the seasons change.
"In the spring, I love my drives," she said. "All the newborn animals, especially the horses."
Mike Gelbaugh, who has been an Exchange advertising representative for the past four years, will take over Thorson's sales territory.
Thorson grew up in inner city Chicago and attended the University of Illinois-Chicago, but she always looked forward to coming to Syracuse every summer to live with her grandparents. She stayed there from Memorial Day to Labor Day and felt sad whenever she had to return to the big city.
"My heart was always here," she said.
Eventually, she got married and settled in the Kosciusko County lakes area.
Thorson has been selling newspaper ads for a half century and feels "it's time" to retire so she can spend more time at home with her husband, Dal. She said she will miss working at the Exchange and seeing her customers on a weekly basis.
"I've done this for so long, it has become part of me," she said. "It's part of who I am."
As she retires after over four decades of steady, reliable service, Thorson thanks the Yeater family for giving her the opportunity to work at the Exchange. She also has many kind words to say about her longtime customers who greeted her every week.
"I'm grateful to everybody who has helped me along the way to learn the farming industry and for the compassion that everybody has shown," Thorson said. "Everybody has been great, and I have just enjoyed the people so much."
Return to Top of Page