I arrived in Bend on Oct. 23, 1953. I was 6. My dad had been here all summer, trying to wrap his head around The Bulletin, which he bought from Robert Sawyer that year.

My mother and the then-three Chandler girls came later, by train. It was truly a dark and stormy night when Dad picked us up in Chemult, drove us to Bend and took us all out to dinner at the Pine Tavern.

I don’t know if I first went to The Bulletin the following day, a Saturday, or waited until Monday. The Bulletin’s home then was 740 Wall Street, across from the large white building that at the time housed not only the post office but the entire staff of the Deschutes National Forest.

After that, I went to the paper with my dad most mornings on my way to school.

That first year the bookkeeper, Mary Manning, taught me to make change, and Dad began teaching about good newspapers and the people who work for them. Good reporters ask questions, lots of them, I learned. They learn to recognize and try to keep their own biases at bay when writing. Good editorial writers “read everything and remember it all.” They know that their opinions will be challenged, and that’s as it should be. The typesetters of the era were an amazing bunch to watch, typing, pulling levers and generally doing what looked like a complicated dance while seated in chairs. The press, so much smaller than the one today’s paper was printed on, was, to a 6-year-old, an awesome, noisy, scary piece of machinery.

Today, some 66 years later, the typesetters are long gone but reporters and editorial writers still need the same qualities they did in 1953, plus more.

I’ve been in love with newspapers in general, and this newspaper in particular, ever since that first year. The second job I ever had was at The Bulletin, where, at 16, I became a proofreader one summer. In succeeding summers I worked in advertising, at the front desk, even in the newsroom. And all the while, Dad would bring home and Mom would feed, journalists from all over the world. Dinner was never dull.

No surprise, then, that after a stint with the Providence Journal I returned to Oregon, completed a degree in journalism and, ultimately, went to work here. That was in 1976. Since then, I’ve had days marked with frustration, even anger, but never, ever, boredom. I’ve learned to think about what Bend needs, and what it doesn’t, at least from my perspective.

And I’ve taken pride in this newspaper all that time. Sometimes we miss things, to be sure, and sometimes we just goof them up. We’ve had dozens of reporters over the years. Most have been excellent, and a few have been downright spectacular. A very few have stayed only briefly, and that, too, has been a good thing.

These past few years have been rough on reporters, editors, indeed, everyone here. We’re not alone, of course. I’ve watched friends at other newspapers as their jobs disappeared out from under them. And, I’ve watched too many of those papers turn into shadows of their former selves. I didn’t, and don’t, want that to happen here.

Now, for the first time since 1953, I’m working for The Bulletin and it’s owned by someone else. The Forrester family owns the EO Media Group, and they’ve been in the newspaper business in Oregon since 1908, according to the Pendleton East Oregonian website. Their roots, in other words, are about as deep as you can get in Oregon journalism, and their newspapers are a reflection of that. One of my best friends worked for them for years without complaint.

I care deeply about this newspaper, and about Central Oregon. I believe a good newspaper plays a vital role in a community. Its reporters help keep government honest and citizens informed by telling them what is happening at school boards, city halls, legislatures — even ambulance and fire districts. It tells them how courts are operating and, sometimes, gives readers information that makes them laugh or cry.

I believe, too, that editorials are a critical part of a good newspaper. Readers may not agree with them — in fact, I’d be worried if all of them did — but editorials can highlight a community’s strengths and weaknesses and foster discussion and even change.

It’s all that, the Forresters’ long history not only with Oregon but with Eastern Oregon, their clear belief in good reporting and to strong editorials, that makes me so glad to see The Bulletin in their hands. They know good journalism and are committed to providing it. I can’t ask for more than that.

— Janet Stevens is an editorial writer for The Bulletin. Contact: 541-617-7821, jstevens@bendbulletin.com