Friday, January 13, 2012
Ed Shannon
s ’ t s i l a n r u o j A y e n r jou
This special section is dedicated to a cherished 27-year employee of the Albert Lea Tribune
We’ll miss you, Ed!
A special salute for a friend Editor’s note: Ed wrote this tribute to Geri McShane Murtaugh after her death in August 2010. He said it was the hardest piece he ever had to write. By Ed Shannon
Tim Engstrom/Albert Lea Tribune
Former Tribune newsroom employee Marlene Behle gives a gift to Ed Shannon last Friday of an old photo from the days they worked together.
Go inside to see testimonials from current and former staffers about working with Ed.
Rise and demise of a major industry
Editor’s note: Ed wrote this as a column for Between the Corn Rows on July 8, 2011. He said it’s one of the most significant pieces he’s written. By Ed Shannon
Just a decade ago a fire resulted in a real change for Albert Lea’s economy and employment. The details of this event are now being featured in a series of articles by Sarah Stultz and the outstanding photos taken by Jeff Mulfinger, the Tribune’s photographer in July 2001. As part of my coverage of this really destructive fire, I wrote a history of the development of meat processing in Albert Lea. Here’s a summary of this part of local life for 124 years. The long history of meat processing in Albert Lea started with the Brundin Meat Market on Broadway Avenue in 1877. A slaughter house was set up a few years later at the east end of Charles Street near the channel between the lakes. In 1898 the Brundin Packing Company
was organized, and the slaughtering operations were moved to a site at the corner of Newton Avenue and East Main Street. This firm was incorporated in 1908. Then it became the Albert Lea Packing Co., the Soth Packing Co. in 1910, and resumed the Albert Lea Packing Co. name in 1912. The present plant site was set up in 1912. By 1914 the firm had financial problems and was sold to Sulzberger and Sons of Chicago. In 1916 the Sulzberger firm was taken over by Wilson & Co. During the era between World Wars I and II, the Wilson firm expanded its Albert Lea operations to include all phases of meat processing. Thus, cattle and hogs came into the stockyards at the south end as live animals and left via the loading docks in both refrigerated rail cars and later semi-trailers as hanging carcasses or boxed meat products. Also, during this era and even later after World War II, the Wilson plant became the city’s largest employer and an important part of life for several generations of
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area families. On Jan. 31, 1970, the plant became a part of Wilson-Sinclair, one of several names used in the firm’s reorganization. Three years later the name of the Albert Lea plant was changed back to Wilson & Co. Then, in October 1976, still another name change was made to Wilson Foods Inc. The Wilson firm encountered severe financial problems in 1983 and declared bankruptcy. In March 1984 the Albert Lea plant was sold to Keith Barnes, a former Land O’Lakes executive. His original corporate name was CornBelt Meals, which was soon changed to Farmstead Foods. Barnes also acquired the Wilson & Co. plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Farmstead Foods filed for bankruptcy in March 1990 and closed the Albert Lea plant. On Dec. 4. 1990, the Farmstead plant was purchased by the Seaboard Corporation of Kansas and reopened. This firm retained the Farmstead label for meat products. Five years later the Albert
Lea plant was purchased by Farmland Foods of Kansas City, Mo. Within two years after the fire the entire plant area was demolished. Today there are very few reminders of the era when so many area folks depended on the packing house for their livelihoods. The former places of memories at what’s now Blazing Star Landing include the power plant, shop, ice house, stockyards, sewage plant and pond, office building, assembly room, hog kill, beef kill, loading docks, main gate and even the big coal piles. What’s now left are portions of the fences, a paved roadway for the sewage plant and Gate Three (the stockyards entry) and a roadway on the east side near the corner of Garfield Avenue and Eberhart Street. There’s still an interesting reminder of the century-plus era when meat processing was a major part of life in Albert Lea. It’s the special exhibit in the lower level of the Freeborn County Historical Museum on North Bridge Avenue.
The first two weeks of August will always be a very special time for Geri McShane Murtaugh and me. Now more emphasis has been given to this part of the calendar with Geri’s death at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester on Aug. 7, 2010. That particular date is the exact date Geri also started her outstanding 24-year career here at the Albert Lea Tribune. Right at that time in 1986, I had been at the Tribune for two years, give or take a day or two. On this particular morning two new employees came into the newsroom. Geri and her friend, Janelle Pollack, had previously worked for the Waseca newspaper. Either that day or the next morning I was asked by the editor to take these two young ladies on an orientation tour of the city. Special emphasis was given to the city hall, courthouse, law enforcement center and the fire department. And it was on this first day that Geri met Mike Murtaugh, her future husband, who was then working in the advertising department. A few months later Janelle left the city. However, Geri stayed on at the Tribune. After all, she was proving to be a real keeper and tremendous asset, if I may digress. Anyway, within a few years she became the city editor, then managing editor. After marriage and motherhood, she eventually took over as lifestyles editor and assistant editor. Thus, I take pride in knowing Geri for 24 years, plus working with and for Geri and her many, many news and feature projects. Right at this point, if I may digress again with a sincere compliment, I’ve always been amazed at the amount of excellent news and feature articles Geri created for the
benefit of the Tribune’s readers. During the years of knowing Geri, I could firmly rely on her help in case a ride was needed to or from some specific location. In turn, she could rely on my assistance in taking daughters Erin and Tierney to St. Theodore’s Catholic School from the Tribune on some days as Geri continued on with preparing another daily newspaper for publication. There are other aspects of this friendly mutual assistance we provided for each other, but this will suffice for now. As I was preparing this special column to honor the memory of such a nice person, there was a temptation to mention all the fine folks we worked with during her 24 years here at the Tribune. However, this would be a rather long list. It would have to extend beyond the newsroom to include advertising, classified, circulation, management, accounting, composition, and both past and present press room operations. As a result, there’s a chance I might miss the names of a few folks and that just wouldn’t be fair at all. I have no idea as to what some of her present and former Tribune colleagues are going to mention in their memories of Geri. One I have is based on her enjoyment of eating at the Wok ’N’ Roll and seeing how many different versions of prepared chicken she could eat during one visit. I believe the record is nine. She also enjoyed making monkey bread, bars and other goodies for Tribune potlucks and special events. And what I will always appreciate sincerely is her consideration for my diabetic-control diet. A prime example is how she would make bars with frosting, except for a small unfrosted corner so I could also enjoy the treat. Now here’s a point that may get overlooked. The name of Geri is actually a shortened version of Geralyn. I really became aware of this several years ago when I asked her to sign a legal document. This particular document had to be signed by someone who wasn’t a family member and a person who was more than just an acquaintance. As a close friend and colleague, Geralyn was the perfect person for this document signing. As I mentioned at the start of this special salute, the first two weeks will always be a very special time to remember Geri.
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