(Host) Thomas Winship, former editor of the Boston Globe, died Thursday at a Boston hospital.
During Winship’s 20-year tenure, the Globe won twelve Pulitzers and came to be regarded as one of the nation’s leading newspapers.
Since his retirement, Winship has spent much of his time at his home in Randolph Center.
VPR’s Steve Zind reports.
(Zind) As an editor, Winship met controversial subjects head on. Bullets were fired through the newsroom windows in response to the paper’s coverage of court ordered school bussing in Boston. The Globe was the second major daily to call on the U.S. to withdraw from Vietnam. It published unflattering stories about Senator Edward Kennedy.
Winship’s Vermont connections go back to the 1940s, when he met his wife Elizabeth Coolidge, one of the Vermont Coolidges.
Brookfield illustrator Ed Koren and his wife Curtis often went skiing or hiking with Winship. The Korens say Winship loved to stage manage dinner parties, where guests discussed everything from international problems to Vermont issues like Act 60 or Civil Unions.
(Ed and Curtis Koren) Tom would always preside. He’d hit his glass, and then he’d have a question that he would throw out. The whole table would address it for a good long time. Anytime there was danger of chit chat or of people veering off the topic, he’d bring them back.
(Zind) The Korens say Winship didn’t spend much time reminiscing about his days as Globe editor. Instead, he was keenly interested in the issues of the day, right down to the local gossip. Dairy Farmer David Silloway lives next door to the Winships. Silloway says Winship would call him every week or two.
(Silloway) His newspaper background showed on this end. If I didn’t have any news for him, he’d tell me I wasn’t doing a good job as a reporter. (laughs)
(Zind) While Thomas Winship leaves a legacy as editor of the Boston Globe, he also leaves a lasting mark in Randolph Center. The Winships have donated nearly 400 acres to the Vermont Land Trust. Much of it is the land David Silloway uses for farming. For Vermont Public Radio, I’m Steve Zind.