Washburn to Retire October 1

McKENZIE — After 45 years of service at The McKenzie Banner, former publisher Joel Washburn is semi-retiring on October 1, 2024.

Washburn began working at the newspaper and print shop in the 1960s. His first job was sweeping the floor one day weekly for $1. He later worked in the print shop, operating a hand-fed letterpress.

As a child, he followed his editor father, the late James Lloyd Washburn, as his father worked at meetings, birthday parties, anniversaries, and ballgames.

In 1972, he was asked by retired teacher Nancy Holland to be the high school yearbook photographer and to submit photos to the newspaper.

He continued to cover sporting events throughout high school. A short break in service occurred when Washburn attended Union University. While at Union, he worked three years as a darkroom technician and a photographer at The Moore Studio for Mitch Carter. On the weekends, he came home and worked at the Ben Franklin Family Center, owned by Dennis L. Smith.

Washburn returned to the family newspaper and printing business in 1979 upon graduation. The elder Washburn died in 1985 at the age of 57, leaving sons, Joel and Jeff, who managed the formerly family-owned Dresden Enterprise, to continue the business along with their mom, Ramona.

Jeff and Joel bought their mother’s ownership in 2015 and later, Joel purchased Jeff shares in 2019. On October 1, 2023, Joel and wife, Teresa, sold the business to their daughter and son-in-law, Brittany and Jason Martin. At that time, Joel announced his intent to retire after spending more than four decades in the business.

After one year under the new ownership, Joel is now officially semi-retiring, in which he will still report on a few news events and work from home or from other countries as he travels and volunteers with the service-learning company, Global Citizen Adventure Corps. He will still maintain a handful of meetings as his “news beat” and maintain a photography business, but will not be involved in the day-to-day operations.