Editor/Publisher
Steve Whipple
Steve@MethuenLife.com
A Methuen native, I attended Methuen High School where I still hold the school record for Most Unimproved in classes that require any left-brain effort.
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I gravitated toward activities like writing, adult Dr. Seuss poetry and photography, so long as the camera had Autofocus.
At UMass Lowell, I dropped just one course. I considered it useless at best. In retrospect, nixing Editing & Publishing wasn’t the wisest choice, but it forced me to learn outside the books.
In 1985, I began as a (lousy) sports writer for The Eagle-Tribune. The following year, I began the Whip’s Wheels column featuring people and their hot rods, muscle cars and antiques. Interest in special-interest vehicles was and is so popular that I started the Whip’s Wheels newspaper in 1992. It’s still published each May through October.
We launched MethuenLife in February 2001. People liked the combination of good news, humor and lots of pretty pictures (thank you, Autofocus). So we published a second issue ... and a third ...
The same formula has worked well with the WindhamLife paper, now in its fourth year.
I’m asked if all that silly stuff I write about in my editorials is really true. Sadly, it is. About 90 percent is accurate and the other 17 percent is embellished. Which means, technically, I can sue myself for libel.
I’ve been super-fortunate to have the advertising prowess of my mom, Sue, and the editorial savvy of Melissa Fili to create a monthly publication we’re so proud of.
A bachelor, my time is divided between ruining laundry, extinguishing kitchen fires and avoiding speeding tickets in my finally completed 1970 Corvette.
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Managing Editor
Melissa Fili
Melissa@MethuenLife.com
A South Lawrence native, I moved to Methuen in 1996 and started reading MethuenLife with its first issue in 2001.
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One night I ran into ML editor Steve Whipple, a former Eagle-Tribune co-worker.
"Love MethuenLife!" I told him. "But why so many commas?"
And so in 2002, I joined MethuenLife as the copy editor (proofreading stories and writing headlines) with 12 years of daily newspaper experience on my side.
Then one day, there was a hole to fill in the paper. I suggested that Steve come by my chaos-riddled home and spend some time with my two young sons. Without a doubt, he’d find something wacky to write about, I guaranteed him. He suggested that I do the writing, and so the Mom’s the Word column was born in 2003. Reprints have appeared in award-winning publications and Web sites, including Bay State Parent magazine and MommaSaid.net.
In addition to writing and taking photographs for MethuenLife, I’m also the newspaper’s managing editor. I help develop story ideas, work with our writers on articles, and field comments, questions and news items from the public.
I enjoy sharing this city’s good news with our readers, and I love meeting Methuenites of all ages! I’ve been contacted by fellow residents as well as people in California, Texas, Florida, etc., who have been touched by MethuenLife stories, which is truly rewarding.
I married my husband Bill in 1995 and we have two sons, Jared and Shayne.
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Contributing Writers
We would like to introduce you to our team of talented individuals that contribute to the editorial content of MethuenLife.
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Advertising Director
Sue Whipple
Sue@MethuenLife.com
Having a father, Rudy Dietrich, who was born and raised on Milk Street in Methuen, I came with my family to reside in his hometown in 1951.
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With sons Steve and Bruce in tow, husband Gray and I moved to our own home on Howe Street in 1968. Bruce is still there with his family: wife Anne and my grandchildren, Justin and Alicia.
After employment at Macartney's in Lawrence, running a sewing business from home, working with Steve publishing Whip's Wheels, publishing my own senior-focused magazine Forever Young, I finally settled into the advertising, photography and delivery business of MethuenLife and Whip's Wheels.
While taking a concentrated computer course in 1990, I found, after getting sick before every class, that I was not cut out for this computer business. The teachers noticed! However, when one needs a job and one's son says, "Mom, you can work for me?" it’s hard to refuse.
Steve's teaching experience came in handy as he proceeded to teach a very difficult student. He paced behind me a lot! The end result of 14 years on “the box” is that if I can learn to use a computer, ANYONE CAN.
I am never bored: I love sewing, photography, reading, taking early morning walks, visiting my twin Sandi in Mississippi and working on home projects with my companion, Jim.
Methuen is an involved community. It is full of marvelous people with incredible stories to tell, friendships to be made and advertisers who become friends. It is easy to print a positive, feel-good magazine like MethuenLife when the town has so many good things to offer its residents. A very rich history ... still in the making.
My heart belongs to Methuen.
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Roger J. Aziz Sr.
MethuenLife Outdoors columnist
Roger can be reached at Goldfly62@aol.com
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I have been a Methuen resident since 1998, moving into the very home where my wife was born. I must admit that living on Howe Street now has been an adventure from those days about five decades ago when I courted my wife.
Writing my column on fishing and hunting in MethuenLife, starting in 2005, has been a pleasure. Prior to this I wrote for The Eagle-Tribune for 29 years. Two to three columns a week was more a chore than pleasure, and I also wrote for New England Outdoors magazine, a now-defunct monthly, for 12 years. I have authored three books on fishing. “Tight Lines,” a book on area fishing, is still available.
My fishing experience spans more than six decades. I fish for trout, bass, and anything that swims in this area and beyond. I am a fly tier who has contributed to the design improvement of many flies, making them unique for trout fishing.
Forest Lake was and remains my favorite Massachusetts trout lake. Through the years it has become heavily fished, but this is a tribute to its being fisherman-friendly. The lake has a great boat ramp in the town beach area.
I am presently using a sit-on kayak for all of my bass fishing and enjoying it greatly. It is something that I wish was popular a few decades ago. For trout, I use a 12-foot boat with motor. I also enjoy river fishing for trout.
I am married with three sons and am enjoying life in general and fishing in particular. And, I especially enjoy sharing my fishing knowledge and adventures with MethuenLife readers.
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As activity coordinator to the Methuen Senior Activity Center, I find this job is an honor to me. The reason is clear: I get to meet so many people from all over. To be able to help someone or see a sparkle in their eyes makes my job so much fun. We here at the center not only work for and with the seniors of our community, but with many from different communities.
What else makes my job so special is something that is near and dear to me: The Happy Hearts Chorus! I have been director for nine years of this very special group. Going to different places to sing and bring smiles is what I like to do the most! Does this job require a lot of work and planning? YES! The hours are long sometimes, but the results are immeasurable.
Working with MethuenLife helps the Methuen Senior Center reach many, many people in the community and surrounding cities and towns which gives us great results. From enrichment classes to trips near and far, MethuenLife helps us to get a great response.
I have lived in Methuen for 11 years with my husband Ralph. I have two beautiful daughters, Heather and Tara; a wonderful son-in-law, Jose; and two amazing granddaughters, Kortnee and Jadalyce.
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Dan Gagnon
MethuenLife Historical Snapshot writer
Dan Gagnon can be contacted via the Web site www.methuenhistory.org
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I have always had a fascination with the past. As a child I would climb around cellar holes in the woods near my house, imagining what kind of building stood there and who the people were who used it. I was fortunate to have parents who indulged my interest, and a friend, Ernest Mack, who shared his interest in Methuen history with me for more than 30 years.
I started writing the Historical Snapshot column in February 2001. Now I get to share my love of local history with the MethuenLife readers.
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I have been writing for MethuenLife since 1996 with emphasis on my passion for tea, my love of entertaining, and my family and friends.
I am the proprietress of AntiquiTeas Tearoom & the Shoppes of AntiquiTeas in Londonderry, N.H., established in 1994.
I am a very proud mother of grown children and now share my life and empty nest with my wonderful husband.
Column suggestions are always welcome.
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I have had the pleasure of writing the Travel Talk column for seven years.
I have been involved with the travel profession ever since I joined our family's business in 1970. In addition to assisting with vacation travel arrangements for hundreds of clients each year, I also enjoy creating and escorting bus tours from Methuen as part of our agency's Olde New England Tours division. I am delighted to have the opportunity to share travel information and tips with the readers of MethuenLife.
I am a Vietnam veteran and have been a Methuen resident since the 1950s. Some day I would like to arrange and escort a trip to Vietnam as a modern-day tourist destination.
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Krista McLeod
MethuenLife's Check It Out! columnist &
Director of Nevins Memorial Library
Krista can be reached at kmcleod@mvlc.org
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Being a librarian is the best, if not the oldest, profession in the world. Every day at the Nevins Library is fun, fun, fun ... OK that is not really true, but we do enjoy working with and for the people of Methuen to promote reading, literacy and culture in our community. I have been the library director at the Nevins Library since 1992, and before that I worked in academic, special and other public libraries. I am also involved with many regional and statewide library organizations and activities, and have served as president of the New England Library Association, the Massachusetts Library Association and the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium.
Writing for MethuenLife is important to me because we want to make sure that you know what is going on at your library. I live in Methuen with my husband, Matt McKeon, and our tween-ager, Madeleine. In our house we love movies, history and — guess what — reading!
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I’ve been covering sports since 1986. Currently, I write for Patriots Football Weekly, Boston Baseball Magazine and New England Golf Magazine, and co-host the “J-Team Radio Show” Mondays at 6:30 p.m. on AM 980 WCAP and www.jteamradio.com. My “Media Blitz” column can be read at www.bostonsportsmedia.com and I am a regular on the “Papa Joe Chevalier Show” at KLAV LasVegas and www.papajoetalk.com.
My columns have been published in The Boston Metro, The Providence Journal, The Lowell Sun, The Eagle-Tribune, and several other newspapers and web sites. My work has been honored with the New England Emmy Award, CableAce, Beacon Award, Hometown Video Award and the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters Award.
I have also been featured on “Monday Night Football,” ESPN Radio, WEEI, Sporting News Radio, FOX25, Comcast SportsNet, NESN, NECN, The Boston Globe and The Sports Business Journal. I have lectured on sports media at Emerson College, Boston University and Curry College. My television career has taken me to 7NBC, WNDS-TV 50 and SportsChannel America, and I have hosted radio shows all over New England.
MethuenLife gives me the chance to cover local sports, something I did for 15 years at Continental Cablevision, MediaOne and Comcast. There is something very special about local athletes and it is a treat to share their stories with my readers. Methuen has been my home since childhood and I am proud to be president of the city’s Cable Advisory and Methuen Community Television (MCTV) Board of Directors.
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Writing a financial column for MethuenLife has been fun and keeps me disciplined by maintaining a focus on what’s important to readers and clients. After getting an accounting degree at Merrimack College, I did a stint as an IRS agent where I developed an appreciation of how every part of a family’s existence revolves around finances. Over the years I got an MBA, worked in corporate finance, and taught taxes and finance at Rivier College.
I’ve been a financial planner now over 20 years and I take a holistic approach to client finances because every action taken has ramifications. A plan must be consistent, understandable and changeable to accommodate life’s challenges. Investments, debt, education, health and leisure, taxes and retirement are all inter-dependent. I hope to make these issues interesting and provocative so readers will give them the attention they deserve.
Finally, it is not true that I enjoy being the skunk at the cookout. Well ... maybe a little.
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Chris Young
MethuenLife In the Garden columnist
Freelance writer
Chris can be reached at chriswords@verizon.net
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Chris Young is a freelance writer with 30 years of journalism experience. She's been writing for MethuenLife since the paper was born but really joined forces with the Whipples when, in 1997, she joined the staff of Sue Whipple's paper, Forever Young.
Her favorite subject is gardening, but she seizes every opportunity to write about Methuen and its people.
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