Citizen at 40: Campbell stands as longest-serving correspondent
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
Sometimes, a correspondent for The Citizen is spreading the word.
Linda Campbell has lived in Belgrave for 40 years, and she’s been the hamlet’s main line to the media since her column debuted in The Citizen’s Feb. 8, 1995 issue. “I just get news from the community, and things like that. It’s not much of anything, but I like doing it - I enjoy doing it,” she confided. “And I like to keep people informed of what’s going on in our church!”
That first column, like her most recent one and many of those in between, do indeed cover the weekly sermon and activities from Campbell’s church - Knox United Church. Her steady missives chronicling the church’s interpretations of Scripture have been a mainstay of The Citizen for 30 years - an unobtrusive recording of faith and an ongoing portrait of a community that still finds meaning in gathering together.
Over the years, Campbell has written about the small but significant rhythms of Belgrave life - births, bake sales, school fairs and Sunday services - often recording them by hand. “I just write it out - I use the fax,” she explained. “It’s a fax machine that The Citizen supplied. They gave one to all the correspondents.”
Early in her tenure, she covered one of Belgrave’s most cherished traditions: the 75th edition of Belgrave Elementary School Fair, in 1995. First held in 1920, the fair began as a showcase of local students’ skills in sewing, crafts, baking and farmwork. By mid-century, it had become a lively mix of competitions, concerts and parades that brought together children and families from across the township. In 1949, the completion of the Belgrave Arena brought the fair under one roof, marking a new era for what had already become a cornerstone of rural life.
When the 75th anniversary of the fair came around in 1995, Campbell captured both its nostalgic charm and enduring appeal, just as she did for the 2025 edition of the grand event. “The children really enjoy it,” she pointed out. “Because I don’t think there are many school fairs around anymore - that I know of, anyway.”
Belgrave may not be as bustling a village as it has been in years past, but Campbell still finds things to write about. “We used to have ball teams and we used to have hockey teams, but we don’t any longer,” she reflected. “They either go to Blyth or Wingham or somewhere else now.”
Of course, when all else fails, there’s always the weather to talk about. “It’s been a good summer, hasn’t it? Everything seems to still be looking good,” Campbell remarked. “The lawns are still green. The leaves are coming out on the trees, which are beautiful when they do change colour. But I’m just not sure about this year. Because of our weather during the summer being hot, somebody said we’re not going to get colourful leaves like we used to. But I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Through all these changes, Campbell’s writing has remained a constant - a small but steady act of connection. In a world where headlines move faster than small-town conversations, her column endures as a reminder of what community journalism is meant to do: to witness, to share and to care. “It’s to keep people informed of what’s going on, or what people have done, or what they hope to do maybe,” she explained. “I know the paper’s getting smaller. But that’s nothing. I mean, some papers aren’t even existing anymore, are they? The little towns can’t carry on. But I enjoy whatever is in The Citizen. Everybody seems to look forward to that paper every week. And if we didn’t get it - that’s just not the same anymore. You need that paper to keep going.”
For 30 years, Linda Campbell has helped her community do just that: keep going. Week by week, word by word, she continues to remind readers that even the smallest stories are worth telling, and that Belgrave, in all its quiet faith and fellowship, is still very much alive.