For 43 years, Sabo answered the call at the Delaware State News

DOVER – For years, we kept Linda Sabo’s number handy around the newsroom. If our technology let us down in the throes of deadline, she was almost always the first to know. No one likes a post-midnight phone call from the newspaper office. But Linda accepted them for years and always found a way to keep us moving toward completion of the newspaper. There’s no telling how many times her work allowed this newspaper to get to your doorstep. So it seems only fitting that she get a headline today. After 43 years with the Delaware State News, she is off to enjoy retirement. We had a nice surprise send-off party in the office for her Friday. Among the first to greet her at the door was our loyal mascot, Newshound. This editor has worked with Linda for 26 years now and the technology in the news business has evolved greatly in that time. It’s important to note that Linda’s first job with us was in the composition department. The work was lively and chaotic sometimes. Consider that we printed out stories on paper then ran them through a wax machine so that sticky side could be pasted on galley sheets. An Exacto knife was used to cut out the legs of type and the headlines and then everything had to be carefully pasted up so it was straight and evenly spaced. Linda had an eye for the pica spacing that was sharp. Through self-learning, she moved us through various computer ages. Before most of you ever heard a modem squawking as you received your AOL email, she was utilizing these to connect customers to the newspaper. She reminded us of one particular wild night when we first installed some high-end printers and she was the only one who knew how they worked and what needed to be done. Feeling ill but pressing on, she had collapsed only to be awakened, or should I say startled, by then-managing editor Tammy Brittingham, who may have been among the most determined people to ever work in a newsroom. Long story short is that Linda ended up in the hospital. And the phone rang. She shouldn’t have answered the phone, but it was a call from the newspaper. So she reached out with one of her legs and pulled the cord toward her. It wasn’t long before a hospital staffer intercepted the call. We can’t say that we’ll miss calling her late at night, but we’ll definitely miss her answering the call when we needed her. Congratulations on your retirement, Linda.

***

In other Delaware State News, we appreciate the interest and the comments about the special section on the 30th anniversary of the Air Mobility Command Museum. If you missed it or want to share with a friend, it can be found in the Special Sections link at delawarestatenews.net. The AMC Museum store now has copies for sale.

***

The weather gave the newspaper some significant delivery challenges in recent days. Who would have guessed that we would have seen so much rain? Harbeson had nearly 14 inches of rain. In Kent County, Milford and Harrington had the most with nearly 10 inches. Georgetown, according to the National Weather Service, had 6.52 inches total on Thursday — the third most recorded in a day since the National Weather Service started keeping records in 1948.