Paul Bass Photo
Beth Ewing left home Wednesday morning with a purpose.
The purpose: Bring her daughter to Yale New Haven Hospital.
“It’s OK. Nothing to be alarmed about. It’s not an emergency. This is something that has been coming for quite a while, a procedure she had to have. It should take two or three hours,” Ewing said after parking her Fiat back home outside the Victorian three-family home where she rents the second floor and her daughter and grandson live on the third.
Still, she had her cell at hand for updates. “They’re texting me already,” she said in a conversation on the “Word on the Street” segment of WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program.
Ewing, who’s 74, has always found purpose in her life.
“I feel great,” she said. “I’m a happy woman.”
Back in 1983, her purpose was to work for New Haven’s then-afternoon (now morning) print daily newspaper.
“I wanted to work there so bad, I had three different interviews. I just felt like that’s the place to be. I was determined to work for the Register … with all my heart.”
Ewing got the job.
The Register had just moved to a plant on Sargent Drive on Long Wharf at the time. It still printed its paper here in those days; especially on Sundays, the paper landed with a thud on the doorstep, crammed with advertising and articles by dozens of reporters.
Ewing began clerking in the ad department, taking orders and drawing up to-do lists.
She moved on to the paste-up department.
“I loved the creativity. I follow specifications on ad order forms. I did the camera work. I did negatives. I laid them out on the page.”
She held up her right index finger, pointed to the tip as she recalled preparing a full-page ad one day. “This right here, I don’t know if you can see. I don’t have any feeling there. You can almost see through it.
“I cut that off with my Exacto knife on my drawing board. The blood was pulsating.”
She was taken down Sargent Drive to the former Community Health Care Plan facility (now the YNHH/Hill Health/Fair Haven Health primary care center.)
“They hooked me up. They had to wrap me up and put a brace. I worked like that anyway. It didn’t matter to me. They didn’t let me come back that same day; I would have!”
She also loved the Jackson family, which owned the paper for generations.
The Jacksons sold to a junk bond-financing chain in 1986. The junk bond crash followed, and the company was sold to an equity firm that took a scythe, not an Exacto knife, to the newsroom, then the whole building.
Waves of layoffs changed the feeling in the building for Ewing. “Watching all your best friends leave, get downsized. There was nothing for them to do. People were being mistreated.” She hung on. The work was changing, too. “When they downsized again, they put me in the tear sheet department, which is heartbreaker. They can request a tear sheet, which is nothing more than a torn piece of paper. Bookkeeping and keeping track. I hated it. There wasn’t a lot I could do about that — I had children I had to provide for.”
Twenty-eight years after she joined the company, her day arrived. The Register went through two bankruptcies, changed distant owners. Technology was eviscerating the manual on-site processes that employed many New Haveners like Beth Ewing. Now her job was gone, too.
It turned out to be a ”blessing,” she said. The accumulated stress evaporated. She had a pension.
But she still needed a purpose.
“I came home. I’m like, ‘Wow. I’ve worked my entire life. I don’t know what to do now. What should I do? I’ll just relax. Which was very hard to do. But I had a lot of time to catch up with my family. And that was wonderful.
“Then a couple of years down the road I decided, ‘You know what? This isn’t the life for me. I don’t just sit. My life has to have some meaning.’
“I’m in my study one day. I’m thinking about the rest of my life. I’m thinking, ‘You know what? I’m going to get a job.’ I took a shower. Got dressed. Went downtown. When I came back a couple of hours later, I was employed. It was that quick.”
In her new job, she cared for “old folks” for a “companions and homemakers” nonprofit.
A few years later she was ready to retire for good. She found a new purpose: Taking care of her mother, who lives nearby on Blake Street. “She’ll be 98 in April. The doctors just can’t believe she’s doing as well as she is. She’s had some fallbacks. Her mind is intact. Does she forget things? Yes. And so do I.”
Ewing returned inside the house, where she has lived for decades. (Her landlord, and friend, is Harrison Broadnax, a retired City of New Haven affirmative action officer.) Her plan: “Have some coffee. Call mom, let her know what time the home health aide is coming to give her a shower.”
She expected a call from the hospital in a few hours to report her daughter is out of surgery and when Ewing should come pick her up. They had predicted they would need to wait a day for her daughter’s release. In the meantime, “I’ll go over to my mother to see what I can do for her.”
You can watch the full conversation with Beth Ewing on the “Word on the Street” segment of WNHHFM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program in the video above.
Click here to subscribe to WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” and here to subscribe to other WNHH programs.
Click here and see below for previous “Word on the Street” episodes and write-ups.
Word On Whalley: Wings Rise; Neon Fades
Word On Beers Street: That’s The Drill
Word On The Street: Sisterhood Is Wow-erful
Word On The Street: 1st Step Taken
Word On The Street: New Loos Arrive
Word On The Street: Kash Starts Fresh
Word On The Street: The Gig Cycle Spins
Word On The Street: Dumped Trash Disappears
Word On The Street: Job Interview Awaits
Word On The Street: Callaghan Suits Up
Officer McKernan Refuels For Double Duty
Word On The Street: Fred Keeps Moving
Word On The Street: Mimosa Mania
Word On The Street: Terry Hands Over The Brakes
Safety Hunter Keeps Eye On The Rising Tiers
Leather’s Grandson Returns To The Soil
Jorge Opens A Door
Word On The Street: Dad Awaits The Call
Word On The Street: Bridgette Beats The Sun
Word On The Street:“Blessed,” & Ready For Busy Barber Season
The Word On Brownell Street: Call Luciano
Nana Readies Leaf Bag #32
Word On The Street: Groom Plans Hectic Holiday, Needs Car Back
The Word On Garden Street: Turkey Times Two
Dr. J Clears The Way
Estelita Makes The Journey Back Home
Butts, Burger King Wrappers Vanish At Wendy’s Drive-Thru
Skateboard J Does A 360
Word On The Street: The Banana Vote Emerges
Word On The Street: Sprinkler Heads
Word On Orchard Street: Cheap Gas
Word On The Street: Keep On Truckin’
Martin Readies 1 Last Bridge To Nature
Word on the Street: Call Her“Queen”
Word on the Street: Coach Lance Called It
Word On Dixwell: Scooter Saves Gas
Budding Architect’s Word On The Street: New Haven’s More Laid Back Than Hong Kong
Word On Street:“Smell Good In Your Hood”
Blood (Pressure) Talk Comes To Barber’s Chair
Word On Street: Rizzo Can Stand The Heat
The Tomato Plot Thickens
Without Illusions, Lamont Stewart Makes The Most Of His Morning Walk
Pro-Punk Poet Prof Starts Summer Stretch
Barista Soaks Up New Hometown Flavor
Word On The Street: Park Pre-Work Workout Sets The Tone Homeless, & Working Exit 5
Aldo Salazar Does The Circuit
Brisa Mendoza STEMs The Graduation Tide
Timmy Turner Takes The Long View
Bike To Work Week Pulls Up To State Street Station
He’s Making Sure Soldiers Won’t Be Forgotten
Legion Ave. Rite Aid Closing; Actor Bummed
Word On Church St.: Drugs Are Everywhere
Indoor“Sunrise” Breakfasts Resume For The Hungry & The Homeless
“VillaFame” Has Designs On The World
Cherry Trees & NFTs Blossom In Wooster Square
9th Square Grows On New New Havener
Warbler Watcher Waits In The Woods
Reggie Gibson Makes A Clean Sweep
Sorry, Wooster Street: This New New Havener Has His Eye On Whalley Pie
Demons Stalk Methadone Run
Surveyor Bundles Up
Grandpa Boyd’s Toes Froze
Jay Jordan Shows Up Early For First Day At Mickey D’s
Track Champ Sets Sights On Firehouse
Can Collector Seeks Redemption
Reborn Stetson Library Opens Its Doors
Mom Prays To Pause Violence
Commuter Rolls With Switch To Train
Word on the Street: Math
Word At The Barber Shop: Ukraine Needs Our Help
Word On The Street: Pain At The Pump
Hamden’s Female Leadership Team Marks International Women’s Day
Taylor Picks Up Her Step
Wednesday’s Word on Grand:“Survival”
Turbocharged Community Soup Kitchen Plans Return To Indoor Dining
Prof On Track To Put Pain Behind Him
Word on The Street: New Beginnings
Lyric Hall Goes With The Flow
1 Valentine’s Day Later, Love Survives
Budget Airline Celebrates 100 Days At Tweed
Bobby’s Not Snitching »Grill Goes Cold After Inspector’s Visit
(Waste)Water St. Report: Omicron Still Fading
Word On The Street: Love Rides On Metro-North
Strolls Keep Soulmates On Life’s Path »Word on the Street: Where’s There’s Smoke …
Dude, Where’s His Car?
Word On The Street:“Level Up”
Word On The Street: Paying Rent, Staying Safe
Word On The Street: Brrrr!
Word On The Street: Caffeine
Word On The Street: 10 AM Georgia Hots