Hattie Flynn has been a staple with the Announcer since 1973, giving the paper 50 years of service in one way or another. It all began with her sons friendship with the Mr. Birch's son. Mr. Birch, owned the Announcer at the time and asked Hattie if she would like a job working for the Announcer and Hattie accepted the position.

In 1975, the way the Announcer was put together and printed required several people and was quite a process from beginning to end. The printing was done on a very large and heavy printing press. It began with two ladies laying out and placing the ads of the paper. Then it was Hattie’s job “to bake” the ads onto a very large piece of metal for about ten minutes before the metal was rubbed with a special solution to print onto paper as the paper ran through rollers. Every so often during the process, Hattie would have to rehydrate the ink so that the ink would continue to print onto the paper. When the printing was completed, the large piece of metal had to be wiped down in order to remove the ink from it so that it would be ready for the next printing of the Announcer. After the Announcers were printed, they were then hand folded twice to the correct size and then counted out specifically by threes for each town.

Hattie also worked on the Buche’s sale bill. In the 1970s on each Buche’s sale bill, there would be a stamp that could only be visible if taken to Buches and placed under a black light. If the sale bill had the lucky number on it, that lucky person would win money. It was one of Hattie’s jobs to hand stamp each of the over 20,000 sales bills. All of this was done in the basement of the what is now the Rotary building until moving into its current location where Pechous Publications is located.

Hattie (Kubal) Flynn was born and raised near Geddes. She attended a country school south of Wagner near Marty. At the age of 58, Hattie did a home study course to receive her General Education Development (GED) certificate. It took her four years, but she never faltered and continued to work and take care of her family while doing so. Hattie was married to her husband, Leo, for 45 years until his passing. They were blessed with four children Emma, Patrick, Barbara and Teresa. In the early years of their marriage, they moved around quite often as Leo worked on building dams. Leo worked on seven dams during their marriage so the family lived in North Dakota, Montana, Arizona and Oregon before moving back permanently to South Dakota and settling in Wagner.

Hattie’s bright smile and warm personality can still be found at the Announcer as Hattie cleans the office once a week. Occasionally, the office is graced with the presence of Hattie’s small side-kick, Holly. Holly is an adorable ten-pound chihuahua that is always enthusiastic to help Hattie around the office. Hattie is 84 years young and shows no signs of slowing down. She works out at the hospital several times a week or as often as she is able to. Hattie is a jack of all trades as has done and continues to have an array of jobs. She is a very hard-working woman.

For Hattie it has been great to be a part of the Wagner community. She would like to thank all of her wonderful past and current employers for being so good to her.

Thank you, Hattie, for 50 years of your dedication and hard work for the Announcer and Wagner community.