Editor's note: It is with great sadness we write to say that today, Feb. 27, newspaperwoman Ruth Leubecker died at the age of 80. As a journalist, Leubecker dedicated decades of her life to telling the stories of the Machias region. Her impact on this newspaper and this community cannot be overstated. We send our deep sympathies to her families and friends and mourn with them tonight. To shine a light on her memory, we republish this piece from 2020 which tells only a fraction of her impressive accomplishments. - Sarah Craighead Dedmon / MVNO Editor

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

She was the first woman to become editor of any daily newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland. She founded and published the Chinese Woman’s Journal in Singapore. She produced and hosted Baltimore’s first cable television show, The MacLauchlan Report. She was the editor of The Annapolis Post, The Maryland Business Journal, The Community Times, The Catonsville Times, The Arbutus Times, The Daily Record, and the Anne Arundel Times. After graduating from college she interned at the Wall Street Journal, but really, it all began at the Machias Valley News Observer.  

“They published my first story, I was about 14, so I was in high school,” said Leubecker. “It was during book week, and I wrote a story.” 

Leubecker, born Ruth Gaddis, was raised in East Machias. After leaving Maine she moved to Maryland where she raised her two sons while earning her B.S. with honors at the University of Maryland. There, Leubecker studied journalism with a minor in Russian. She then spent 20 years in the Maryland newspaper business, almost exclusively in the role of editor, sometimes running more than one weekly newspaper at a time. 

For many of those years, Walter Cronkite was part-owner in those newspapers, so she met with him yearly. “He was a very nice man. We were good friends for quite a while,” said Leubecker. “He would come to Annapolis and we would have dinner.” 

Then, in 1983 she moved to Singapore with her husband.

“That’s a challenge when you’re a journalist in a country that does not have a free press,” she said. 

But Leubecker found a way, by creating her own publication. She founded and operated the Chinese Woman’s Journal from 1983 to 1988. There was no language barrier, she said because English is one of the island nation’s official languages. 

“I had a centerfold that was in Mandarin, but the rest was in English,” said Leubecker. 

When her husband’s work in Singapore ended, she returned to the United States, writing for a London-based paper as their Far East correspondent, then becoming the chief liaison for Maryland’s Governor William Donald Schaefer. 

 A glowing write-up in the Baltimore Evening Sun praised Leubecker and two colleagues for enlivening an old Baltimore news institution, the Daily Record, where she was executive editor. The Daily Record is still in publication today. Photo courtesy Ruth Leubecker

Leubecker moved back to East Machias 28 years ago, and for all of those years, she has been a constant presence at the Machias Valley News Observer. She built a house on family land in East Machias, where every neighbor in every direction is family, and assumed many roles at the newspaper.

Former MVNO publisher and editor Karen Hinson recalls what a help Leubecker was during her early years. “When I came to the MVNO, I knew nothing about running, or editing, a newspaper. I came out of necessity, thinking I would just be there for a few months,” said Hinson. “It was a learning experience, and one that depended a great deal on Ruth.”

At a time when the paper was desperately in need of a salesperson, Hinson recalls that Leubecker stepped up to do the job. “Just listening to her calling accounts was an education,” said Hinson. “She was, and still is, an encyclopedia of knowledge about the newspaper business. There is no role she cannot fill in a newspaper.”

  MVNO publisher Pierre Little said Leubecker’s expertise, ethics, and willingness to share what she knows make her an invaluable asset to the newspaper today. 

“Ruth has been a tireless newspaperwoman for 40-plus years. She has always been extremely frank and clear on our journalism standards and has often been a key advisor on tough stories to junior reporters,” said Little. “Her weekly column, The View Downeast, is full of witty and practical analysis on important issues impacting citizens of Washington County, and we are so grateful to have her.”

 Over the years, Leubecker said Machias has changed.

“There’s no question about that, and of course, I’ve changed with it. I can’t get out and about like I used to,” she said. “But you can do a lot in this day of computers right from here. A lot of people come to me or call to suggest stories.”

Today, Leubecker’s family includes her two sons, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, Molly and Emerson. When she’s not working, she’s enjoying life at the lake, knitting occasionally, writing often and reading. “A lot of reading,” she said.

Having witnessed sweeping changes in her industry, Leubecker is still optimistic about the future of news and newspapers.

“I’m not worried. I think it will all come out in the wash and even out. Newspapers have always had these ups and downs,” she said. But there is one aspect of today’s industry that concerns her. “Community journalism at its best is when you have a good weekly newspaper. There’s no one at these little family papers to take over, this upcoming generation, they don’t want to run a newspaper.” 

Leubecker wrote a recent column about a pair of sisters in their 80s who ran a weekly newspaper in Ohio. “They finally just went out with their boots on, so to speak. There was no one to turn it over to,” said Leubecker. “I worry about [those papers] petering out. They wouldn’t peter out if there was someone to take them over.”

In 2018, Leubecker, right, is seen here attending the wedding of her grandson Colin MacLauchlan and his wife Christina. Photo courtesy Ruth Leubecker