Dr. D. Raymond Taggart, editor of the Covenanter Witness, died on Nov. 12, 1958. Mrs. Taggart and their daughter Martha prepared the next few issues out of material that they had on hand. The Board of Publication met to make future plans for the continuance of the paper. They decided on a co-editor arrangement, selecting Rev. Wyley Caskey of Winchester, Kan., and Rev. M. W. Dougherty of Denison, Kan.

The first paper produced in Winchester was dated Dec. 24, 1958. Early on each Thursday afternoon, Mr. Dougherty drove the 20 miles to Winchester to help arrange and paste up the galley proofs that had come from the printer. Mrs. Caskey would be proofreading the material during this process. They would decide on new material to be sent to the printer along with the pasted-up paper.

The subscription files were brought to our home from Topeka. They had been Mrs. Taggart’s special responsibility prior to this. She gave me some instruction about her system of record keeping.

A minister once asked me, “Don’t you find that work rather tedious?”

I replied, “No, to me those cards represent living people. When I see each name, I envision the person, if I know him. When a notice for a change of address comes, I wonder what that person planned to do in his new location.”

This was an almost daily activity, along with new and renewal subscriptions that came. These had to be mailed to the printer, for he mailed out the papers. When possible, we dealt with congregational groups through their subscription agents, who received a list of the current subscribers a month ahead of the expiration date. Most congregations cooperated in this.

Always there was a group from Ireland and Scotland. This method saved time and money. When we knew that we were moving to Sterling the first of September 1964, the Publication Board assigned the full responsibility to Mr. Dougherty as editor of the Covenanter Witness. The first issue from Sterling, Kan., was dated Sept. 2, 1964. The paper at that time was published weekly and contained 16 pages. The first issue of the month was always a missionary number.

Commenting on these six years of co-editorship, Mr. Dougherty wrote in his editorial: “These six years of fellowship with Dr. R. W. Caskey will always be remembered as rich ones. To have a set day when you are to sit down with a fellow pastor to carry out a common assignment is a great privilege. One of the fine things about our fellowship has been our unanimity of thought and our common concern for the Church and the Kingdom. I will continue to profit from the times together and I will think often with love and admiration for the man of God who sat on the other side of the paste-up table, week by week. I would not begin this new phase of the work without a public and church-wide recognition and appreciation of Dr. Caskey’s work in these last six years.”

A word of appreciation was also expressed for the faithful work of the many contributors of both solicited and volunteered material. An earnest request for prayer was made.

The week’s routine consisted of reading the mail, writing letters requesting articles, studying, reading of exchange papers, general reading, pasting up the paper, planning for the future. For me it was proofreading, correcting manuscripts, caring for the subscription files.

When we received the galley proofs in the mail, everything else would be laid aside. While my husband did the pasting, I sat down with a copy of the proofs before me, a Bible on my right hand and Webster’s Dictionary on my left, checking for any errors. Mistakes never seem so evident until one begins to read the finished product.

The study in our home was once a beauty parlor, and, when we moved in, a very large mirror was still hanging on the west wall. One day as we worked together there, my husband said, “If we ever get discouraged we can look into the mirror and double our office force.”

For some time, at the bottom of the inside cover page was a quotation from Dr. J. B. Tweed’s communicant’s class, entitled “We Hold the Following to be Truths of Scripture.” It is a wonderful summation of all the cardinal truths; it served as a testimony. In a letter to the editor, a woman wrote: “I am deeply grateful to know how really true you stand to the Lord Jesus Christ. This helps to give a greater stronghold in the Christian world. It has encouraged me in this year of 1968, as I read it again.”

The editorial in the Dec. 30, 1964, paper was in the form of a letter from the Covenanter Witness.

Dear Friends: As we approach another holiday season and the commencement of the New Year, what is more fitting than that I should come into your homes with the warmest of greetings?

The past year has found me quite busy as usual. I have traveled to every continent in the world. I have carried messages from one to another of you. I have attended Sabbath school, church services, and prayer meetings all over the church, helping whenever it has been possible.

But in all these great privileges I have had, I also have my troubles. One is my transportation. You see, I always travel second class. When I arrive at a post office, I have to wait until all my first class buddies are taken care of before I get any attention. Sometimes that makes me late getting to your place. I am just as unhappy about it as you are.

Another trouble I have is messages that come too late to go with me when they should. I get in a sour mood and so does the fellow with the paste pot. I hear him say, ‘Well, I guess we will have to use filler.’ And he says that right at me. But how can I help it?

But this is not the season of the year to cultivate ulcers. On this trip into your homes I want to share with you and others some of my ‘thankful fors.’ How very thankful we are for our contributors and subscribers.

When I leave the house of the ‘man with the brush,’ I am not very good looking. But how grateful I am to those fine people who change me from a dummy into a paper. They really make me look and feel good.

I have but one purpose in all my visiting you and that is to bring honor and glory to my Lord and to His Church. I have a great big job to do. Pray for me that I may periodically and faithfully bear to all my clientele a message of love, hope and challenge. Trusting in you for your constant prayers and wishing God’s richest blessing upon you for the coming year, I remain,

Most sincerely, your paper, The Covenanter Witness

Our paper for Jan. 12, 1966, was a special one, featuring the Publication Board. The cover pictured the former church papers: Reformed Presbyterian and Covenanter, Our Banner, Olive Trees, Christian Nation and the Covenanter Witness. It was an earlier version of this number.

Special commendation is due for the faithful writers who sent copy every week. Some principal articles that appeared through the years included: “God’s Providence in the Weather” by Andrew D. Robb, then a retired meteorologist; “Who Needs You? Children Do” by Mrs. Donald G. Weimer, a social worker, dealing with the problem situations of children in home and school; “The Stewardship of the Body” by Dr. Maribel McKelvy, a physician; “The Healing Touch: Lessons Learned through Illness” by Mrs. R. Wyley Caskey, a minister’s wife; “The Problem of the Geological Ages” by Mr. James Honeyman; “Tips for Sabbath School Teachers” by Mrs. Kathryn Wuthnow, a retired public school teacher; “Consider the Ant—Be Wise” by Waldo McBurney, a man of many “hats”; “Say It Again and Again” by Dr. Frank Allen, pastor, author; “How to Study the Bible Effectively” and “Corruption in the Church” by Dr. J. G. Vos, missionary to Manchuria, a pastor, Geneva College Bible professor, editor of Blue Banner Faith and Life, an outstanding scholar; and Rev. Donald Weilersbacher, a pastor, wrote on modern-day cults.

The paper was enhanced by the “Scribe with a Hard Pencil,” which he wielded for many years. Who has not chuckled over the experiences of Mrs. Triplechin? Or the radio announcer pointing out the merits of McLousy trucks, Molarizer toothpaste, Green Thumb lawn fertilizer and bug inhibitor, Irresistible hair oil, D-Day detergent, or Bow-wow dog biscuits? Human foibles were laid out before us in an inoffensive way by Dr. G. Mackay Robb with pointed spiritual applications.

When the Scribe laid down his pencil, Erskine’s Excursis appeared, signed CEC. Who would that be? I guessed right. It was confirmed in Sketches of Covenanter Ministers when I read about Cloyd Erskine Caskey. And everyone was always delighted when Dr. Sam Boyle’s cartoons appeared.

Our years included Christian Amendment Movement news, when the Christian Amendment was introduced into our Congress and lobbyists were in Washington, D.C.

The last editorial Mr. Dougherty wrote was for the Aug. 25, 1971, issue. Here are some excerpts: “Little did I realize when my mother read ‘Around the Old Arm Chair’ to me from the Christian Nation on a Sabbath evening that some day I would be gluing together a youth page for other mothers to read to His younger witnesses.

“Now as our term comes to a close as your editor-servants we would be remiss did we not personally thank our readers for their faithful prayers, their gratitude, and I am sure, oft worn-thin patience with us. We have considered you our congregation of His children and we only hope that we have made your relationship to Him closer.

“We would testify to the unfailing goodness and dependability of our God and His sustaining grace through the years. As we view the future we rest in God’s promise in Isaiah 46:4 (Living Psalms and Proverbs translation): ‘I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you. I will carry you along and be your Savior.’

“So now we stop our typewriter and close the door to the files, but not our hearts.”

—Mrs. M. W. (Velma) Dougherty