Longtime Peak editor Laura Walz died at her home in August with her husband Eagle and daughters Emily and Jocelyn at her side.
Joyce Carlson, Peak founder and former publisher, remembers a chance meeting in the parking lot of the old Inn at Westview that led to a multi-year relationship with Laura, who eventually became editor of the Peak.
“We should talk,” Carlson mentioned to her and luckily, she took her up on that. “I knew Laura was a writer and felt she would become a valuable member of the Peak team.”
Laura started at the newspaper as a freelance writer and, in mid 1997, she came on board as a reporter. Two years later, in April 1999, she became editor and held that position until her retirement in December 2013.
Unlike many newspapers where editors edited copy from reporters, the structure at the Peak was to have a copy editor so the editor was free to cover news stories, which was where Laura’s passion lay.
For years, through various elections, she was the mainstay at City of Powell River council and, at the time, Powell River Regional District meetings. She was the person on the other end of the phone contacting provincial and federal politicians on issues that affected our community as well as communicating with other community leaders on local matters.
“Laura approached her work with a fine balance when writing stories and only used the top 10 inches of the editorial page to profess her opinions on issues,” said Carlson.
She led the editorial team through weekly meetings, adding her own ideas to the story list and soliciting more from other writers, including, from time to time, freelancers for the many special sections that were published.
Laura was respected by other staff members from various departments, all of whom had a role to play to ensure the newspaper was delivered weekly to subscribers.
Learning opportunity
Current publisher Kelly Keil started working at the Peak at age 15 on a work experience basis while attending nearby Max Cameron Secondary School. She started in the production department and over the years worked her way into the publisher position.
“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from Laura at such a young age and admired her tenacity that was always rounded out with empathy and understanding.”
Keil added that “Laura was unapologetically herself and stood up for those she felt weren’t being heard, always asking the pressing questions, regardless if it was uncomfortable, so that our community had the facts on issues.”
During her tenure at the Peak, Laura earned provincial and national awards in recognition of the quality of her writing.
Aside from her role as editor, Carlson has some fond memories of Laura, including dressing up for Hallowe’en, which the staff did every time October 31 fell on a workday, and a staff Christmas party where people once sang phrases from “The Twelve Days of Christmas” according to their birth month.
“It turns out Laura was the only person with a birthday in January and she had to sing ‘A partridge in a pear tree all on her own,’ remembers Carlson. “She didn’t much like it but was a good sport as she sang solo 12 times.”
Jay Yule, school superintendent for qathet School District, said, “Laura was the consummate professional, yet a clear supporter of public education. Laura’s sincere smile and easy demeanour made you want to answer any question she asked.”
Giving balance
Stewart Alsgard, former mayor of Powell River, said he didn’t really know editor Laura Walz until he ran for office and to his “surprise” was elected. He remembers a question during his early days as mayor: “What do you think of Laura Walz?”
He responded it is not his place to comment, it is his place to continue to serve.
“She was very, very dedicated to her role; she was always there at city hall and well prepared,” explained Alsgard. “In advance of meetings, we made sure she had a copy of the agenda, and we were all well aware that she was very familiar with it when she arrived. Laura had done her homework and wanted to know what the next steps were.”
He added that she didn’t report that something was good or bad, she gave balance to the situation and reported so people could respond.
“On two or three occasions she was very cross with council and with me and when we fell into the doo-doo, down would come an editorial.”
That often resulted in many letters to the editor.
He recalls one of those times involved what he called the “great flag debate,” a decision to purchase flags for all the provinces of Canada and other organizations and erect a flagpole in front of city hall where three flags at a time were rotated.
Other contentious issues were the change from the Corporation of the District of Powell River to the City of Powell River and the city’s sustainability charter.
“Laura was a good investigative reporter in my mind,” said Alsgard. “Somebody was reading the view from the outside, always watching, and her name was Laura Walz.”
He added that she presented the building of the relationship with Tla’amin Nation “extremely well.”
The Community Accord was first agreed to in 2003, predating Tla’amin Nation becoming self-governing in 2016 by 13 years. Tla’amin and city leaders, then hegus Clint Williams and then mayor Dave Formosa, re-signed the accord between the two governments on July 20, 2018, at Dwight Hall.
On the lighter side, Alsgard remembers Laura attending council chambers to take photos and notes of tours of elementary students “who debated such weighty questions as the colour of the lines on the roads. She was a good sport and suffered through the debates,” he said with a chuckle.
In the days before social media and live streaming of council and committee of the whole meetings, Laura was the conduit between council and the people, said Alsgard.
“It was a role that she took very seriously as a committed journalist and the community was all the better for that,” he added.
During their 18 years working together, Carlson added that Laura was a steady leader in the editorial department and represented the paper admirably in the community.
“As I predicted nearly two decades prior, she was a wonderful asset to the Peak.”
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