Passing of the torch - from one editor to another

It’s the end of an area, so to speak, at the Southpoint Sun newspaper office.

Longtime editor Sheila McBrayne has decided to leave the newspaper business and will be handing over the reigns to Mark Ribble.

McBrayne graduated from Niagara College’s Journalism-Print program in 1990, and landed a job right away with her hometown paper, The Ridgetown Dominion. On getting the itch to write, McBrayne said, “My Grade 7 teacher , Mrs. Anderson , told me not to worry about my failing grade in math and gave me the best advice ever: You’re a good writer. You should be a writer. So that’s what I did.”

With short stints at the Dominion, Rodney Mercury and West Lorne Sun, she was among a group of friends who decided to start their own paper in 1994, The Ridgetown Independent News.

McBrayne was editor there from November 1994 until 2009, when she relocated to Wheatley. She came aboard at the Wheatley Journal in the fall of 2009. Five months later, she collaborated with Jim Heyens to create The Southpoint Sun with the first issue being published on February 3, 2010. The Southpoint Sun has grown and expanded over the years and has become the paper of record for the Leamington, Kingsville and Wheatley area.

Under the umbrella of Southpoint Publishing, they have diversified into many creative fields including custom commercial printing and specialty publications like Southpoint Living. Southpoint Publishing also owns The River Town Times in Amherstburg.

McBrayne passes the torch to Ribble, who has been with the company for about five years.

He started his newspaper career in 1985 as a pressman/compositor with the Leamington Post. From there, he migrated to writing a weekly column and also pitched in with advertising sales and editorial assignments. When the Post closed its doors in 2012, he spent some time with the Windsor Star’s circulation department before joining the Sun as an advertising representative.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge of being the editor and helping the Sun remain as this area’s top independent weekly newspaper,” he said. “Sheila has left some big shoes to fill.”

Sheila McBrayne (left) and, Sun's new editor, Mark Ribble (right)