To the Editor:
Barbara Davis’s article (Jan. 20, “A year in the life of a copyeditor”) was moving and evocative of my years in the newspaper business.
In my years as a typesetter and proofreader at the Vineyard Gazette (until 1987), I became versed in the protocol and language of obituaries. That helped me so much when, in 2009, I needed to write both of my parents’ obituaries within just 18 days. Writing about my parents on the days of their deaths was cathartic and strangely comforting, as it forced me to recall their many accomplishments in World War II and beyond. The obits were published verbatim in the Waltham News Tribune. I knew them better than anyone at that point, so my role as a writer was clearly ordained.
Christine Powers
Waltham
