Three generations strong

newspaper until 1990 when my

brother was born, taking a
rowing up, I spent a lot of nine-month hiatus to stay at
time at The Courier-Times home. When she returned, her
office. My mom, Amy (Mastin) position changed to news
Merritt, worked there most of
clerk/typist, which eventually
my childhood. Whether it was morphed into a reporting posisitting at a desk while she fintion that handled obituaries,
ished writing a story, watching education, business, entertainthe press run or exploring the
ment and finally, crime and
photography dark room, there courts. She also worked in prowas always something to do.
duction and pre-press.
Merritt, who graduated from
We used to laugh that the
Ball State University with a
only department I never
degree in telecommunications, worked in was circulation,
began her career at The Couri- Merritt said.
er-Times in 1988. I was a year
In late 2001, Merritt left The
old and her job title was a
Courier-Times to work for the
proofreader/tearsheet delivery
New Castle Police Department,
person for display advertising. but returned in 2003 as a city
There was no email then, so editor before leaving for a final
I physically took ad copy to
time in 2006 to work for Angadvertisers before it ran, then
ies List Magazine.
took them tearsheets once the
One of Merritts most vivid
ad was in the paper, Merritt
memories working at The Couexplained.
rier-Times was Sept. 11, 2001,
She continued to work at the the day the planes crashed into
By KATIE CLONTZ

kclontz@thecouriertimes.com

the World Trade Center.

We didnt know what had
happened at first, even though
we had the TV on, Merritt
remembered. Then we scrambled to localize the story. I
found a girl from New Castle
who had been in the subway
there that very morning.
Since 2008, Merritt has lived
in South Carolina with her
husband, Scott, a Shenandoah
graduate and self-employed
specialty contractor. Upon
moving to South Carolina,
Merritt looked for a journalism job, but found that local
newspapers were laying off
staff, not hiring. Instead, she
found a position working as a
human resources specialist in
recruitment and staffing for
the U.S. Department of State.
My maternal grandmother
Ima Jean Winstead was the
second person in my family to
work for The Courier-Times.

Thrift Store

Writing is something I have

always loved, and in some
ways, its a family business.

serving
as co-editor of
The Phoenix my junior and
senior years. Like my mom, I
attended Ball State University,
although I graduated with a
degree in news editorial journalism.
Shortly before my college
graduation in 2009, I accepted a
position at The Courier-Times

as a part-time news clerk/typist,

which eventually led to a fulltime reporting position covering
crime and courts.
I left the newspaper in 2010
to work in Indianapolis as a
social media content specialist, where I remained for
four years. By that time, I
was tired of commuting
every day, and missed writing news in my hometown
and the excitement of having a daily deadline.
As luck would have it, a
reporting position opened up
at The Courier. I applied and
got hired back to cover my old
crime and courts beat. I love
being back in New Castle and
covering what is going on in the
community.
Writing is something I have
always loved, and in some ways,
its a family business.
Since this column first
appeared, Katie has been named
Managing Editor of The Courier-Times and currently has that
position.

Make your

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page 48

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Friday, October 16, 2015 | 175th Anniversary

people

people

Photo provided

Three generations of women worked at

The Courier-Times, including, from left,
Ima Jean Winstead, Amy (Mastin) Merritt and current Managing Editor Katie
Clontz. Winstead is Katies maternal
grandmother and Merritt is her mother.

She worked at the newspaper

part-time from 2002 to 2006,
typing press releases, school
lunch menus and honor
rolls. She also helped
type content for specialty sections like Creative
Kids and Letters to
Santa.
I liked my job
because it had flexible
hours, Winstead said.
It was my second job,
so I worked a lot in the
evenings. It was a pleasant place to work and I
liked the people.
Having a mom who worked
in the newspaper industry
sparked my love of writing. As
an elementary school student,
Young Authors and Illustrators
Day was always something I
looked forward to. I had tons
of notebooks crammed with all
the short stories I wrote. My
topics varied from big, beautiful
dresses to tiny sea urchins.
I wrote for both the middle
and high school newspapers,

page 49

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175th Anniversary | Friday, October 16, 2015