The Household, one of the most popular features of this paper, marks the end of an era this week. Hope Needham, who has edited the column for the past 38 1/2 years and brought it to its present popularity, will say her final good-bye to her thousands of readers as the old year ends.
Undoubtedly her goodbye is said with mixed emotions. "Hope Needham," who is actually Mrs. James V. (Lucile) Stevenson, of rural Streator, Ill., has lived with the problems, the joys, the sorrows of her thousands of readers for so many years that it is impossible she will not miss the daily flow of letters over her desk.
While, in her own words, editing of a column "is a lot more fun than digging ditches," it can become a task too. A newspaper is a hungry demon that devours copy day after day. If the editor of a column feels down in the dumps, gets the flu, or loses a loved one, the column must still go on.
For some time Mrs. Stevenson has felt she would like to unburden herself of the Household column chores, much as it, and its many friendships, have meant to her. Recently she urgently requested that a successor be chosen so that she could wind up her editorship of the column by the end of the year. Quite reluctantly, the editor agreed to her request.
"Hope," as she will undoubtedly continue to be known by the great bulk of her admirers, is reflecting on her years as the Household editor in her own column this week. A really complete resume, of course, would fill volumes. It is a bit startling to realize all the history that has been written since Lindbergh flew to Paris in his Spirit of St. Louis, and then to realize that Hope's editorship outdated that flight nearly a year.
Mrs. Stevenson took over the Household editorship after the death of Faith Felgar, the original editor of the column. In her more than 38 years at the Household helm, the column has attracted thousands of contributors, who poured in letters with their ideas, their doubts, their criticisms, their praise. Only a newspaper editor can really appreciate how well she handled her assignment, which is something like baking a cake. A little too much of this ingredient, not quite enough of that, and you could have a poor-eating cake, an uninteresting column.
Hope has seen the passing of many faithful and well-known contributors, too. Just this year marked the passing of "Old Sincerity," one of the column's "regulars" for many years.
One of the notable expressions of appreciation of Hope's work came in 1963 when considerable secret communications among Household readers were inaugurated by Lucy Bonnett, Prairie City, Ill., to give Hope her biggest surprise party. The culmination was the presentation of a check to Hope for a charity close to her heart, the establishment of a mission in Rio Muni in Equatorial Africa. The project among the Householders was given the title "Flowers for the Living." Building of the mission is in the preliminary stages.
Hope's tribute to the late President Kennedy shortly after his untimely assassination a little over a year ago, not only was a prime example of her ability to put words together, but was a tribute that could only come from one with her compassion for her fellow men and her understanding of what is in their hearts.
Her few short lines in Friday's column is her official goodbye, but her Household editorship will be remembered long after that issue is gone and forgotten.
A successor to Hope has been named and already is at work on the columns for the new year. Her first column will appear in the January 5 issue.
Memory Gem
Life is sweet because of friends we have made,
And the things which in common we share.
We want to live on, not because of ourselves,
But because of the people who care.
It's in giving and doing for somebody else --
On that all life's splendor depends,
And the joys of this life, when you've summed it all up,
Are found in the making of friends.-- Grace Walter Clarke.