By:Angela Marshall
For 90 years, the Rockville Centre News & the Owl chronicled the life and times of the village. Beyond providing coverage, the Owl became part of the living history of the community. Its final paper was published April 26.
For many, news of the Owl's end brought bittersweet memories. For a long time, the News & the Owl was the paper, said former Mayor Lenny Sandel. Everyone at the paper was a part of the village family.
There is some debate as to the actual start date of the Owl. The last two publishers of the paper have said the paper was created in 1908, but Floyd B. Watson, former superintendent of schools, wrote in his history of Rockville Centre's public education that it was first printed in 1910.
On February 9, 1910 the Board of Education encouraged the publicity of a school paper by voting $10 toward such a project. The first copy appeared on Washington's Birthday of that year in a magazine type of publication called The Owl', Watson wrote in his study The History of Rockville Centre Public Schools, which was printed as a series in the Owl in 1957.
Watson went on to write that the publication was edited and published by A. J. MacElroy, a former principal of the schools. In 1912 it became a weekly newspaper and has continued as such unto this day. It is now known as The Long Island News and Owl' and is still edited and published by its originator, Mr. MacElroy.
MacElroy himself wrote in September 1919 that the paper was started ten years ago this fall, which would make the start date the fall of 1909.
While bound books for the paper are available only as far back as 1932, the Rockville Centre Library has microfiche versions from 1914 on. At that time, papers sold for two cents a copy and $1 for the year.
The paper's motto then was All for news and news for all.
Nine Front Street was home to the Owl for many decades. And residents felt at home going to the office to relay the latest news to the editors.
It was the central focus of publicity for the whole town, Sandel's wife, Lenore, said. She recalled hand-delivering many a news release from her women's organizations. I ran down there plenty.
Mayor Eugene Murray too has memories of the Front Street office. He and friends used to stop by for lead scraps left over from the printing, which they would melt down to make toy soldiers.
We're all very sad to see it go, Mayor Murray said. All the family events including births and deaths from the Murray family have always been placed in the Owl.
MacElroy, of Acorn Publishing, died in the 1960s and Robert Bacon took over as publisher in 1964. He continued until 1982.
Florence Moyneaux edited the paper from July 1, 1966 to March 1, 1968.
The editor's title was then turned over to the woman most residents still think of as the Owl, Helen Schrimpton.
You put things in her hands, Lenore said. Shrimpton would greet residents in the front office, and in back you could hear Bacon running his printing business. For years, he was looked to as the person to come to for fliers, wedding announcements and much more.
For more than 30 years, Shrimpton could be seen attending all the village's major events and even most of the minor ones.
The paper was her life. She devoted every waking hour to it, said Viola Kreeb, long-time Owl employee.
In 1992, Shrimpton was given the honorary title village chronicler
