By ARTHUR VIDRO
Old Days
It was a big event. At Stevens High School, a presidential candidate seeking his party’s nomination spoke to an enthused audience.
He would go on to win the party’s nomination and then the election itself, after which he served as a beloved president for too short a period of time.
The campaigner was Sen. John Fitzgerald Kennedy. It was early 1960. In the audience sat Frances Weiss, reporting on the event for the statewide newspaper, The Manchester Union Leader.
Fran’s interest in writing was lifelong. She took journalism classes as far back as junior high, where she served on the editorial board of the school newspaper. Her higher education took her to Hunter College (where she again served on the newspaper’s editorial board) and then the Columbia School of Journalism, where she was one of just 15 women in her class of 80.
Fran moved from New York City to Claremont in November 1958 to work for the Union Leader as a “bureau chief.” Always on call, she covered Claremont and Newport as an independent contractor for the paper’s area representative.
It was a big change of pace for the New York City girl.
Fran, now 87, was happy to share her memories of being a news reporter in Claremont during the days when Eisenhower was president.
“I didn’t get assignments,” says Fran. “It was up to me to find the news.”
And find the news she did.
“My regular beat included police, fire, city hall, and municipal court,” she recalls. “I once got a ride in a fire engine, which was quite a thrill for me.”
She snapped her own photographs for her news stories.
“I was paid $50 a week and $5 for every photo they published,” Fran recalls.
“I bought the camera and the film. I sent the undeveloped film to Manchester via bus. They didn’t always publish my photos so some weeks I had a deficit. The camera I used was a Japanese version of the Rollei.”
Most of her articles also traveled by bus to Manchester. The bus stopped in front of the Moody Hotel in downtown Claremont.
“At first I had a bedroom and kitchen, with bathroom down the hall, in a large apartment style building downtown,” says Fran. “I soon moved to 73 Sullivan Street, where I had a compact but complete apartment in the attic. There was a small grocery store across the street where I parked my car for $5 a month and also bought some groceries.”
She doesn’t remember Market Basket or Hannaford being in Claremont. “There was a supermarket in town, but it was relatively small.”
The Kennedy visit isn’t the only piece of news she remembers.
“I always liked upbeat human interest stories. I enjoyed the talks at the local Rotary Club (also the free lunch). I was not the only woman present. One played the piano.” At one such talk she heard Manny Lee, half of the Ellery Queen writing team, talk about writing.
However, covering news stories is not always pleasant.
“Some sad stories stick out in my memories,” says Fran. “One night I got a tip from the police station that there was a big auto accident. I arrived at the scene before the police did any clean-up. Four teenagers were killed, and blood and body parts were high in the trees. I called the story in to Manchester from my apartment (which was also my office) and then threw up.”
She also recalls covering the drowning death of the daughter of a Dr. Stern who was practicing in Claremont.
“Claremont had a small Jewish population when I was there,” says Fran, “but they did play a meaningful part in town life. There was a Jewish doctor (Dr. Stern), a Jewish dentist, and a number of small business owners. There was a synagogue but no rabbi. I remember a Brotherhood Week luncheon at the synagogue.”
Until the Temple Meyer-David building was sold earlier this decade, one of Fran’s newspaper photos could be found on a bulletin board in the entry hall.
When Fran left Claremont, she didn’t go far. She landed a reporting job “with the Valley News in Lebanon where I got a higher salary and benefits like paid holidays and vacation and medical insurance,” she recalls.
This time she was on the newspaper staff, met her coworkers, dropped in at the office to type her articles, and was a more connected part of the journalistic team. She now submitted her articles in person.
During her year and a half in Claremont, Fran made friends with Hazel Pomiecko (1925-2011), who is honored nowadays by a plaque in the downstairs reading room of the Fiske Free Library. The plaque calls Hazel a “Daughter of Claremont and Goodwill Ambassador for the City.”
“When I first met Hazel,” says Fran, “she was a part-time bank teller. Later she went back to college, obtained her degree and was a highly regarded English teacher at the high school for many years. She also organized some travel tours during summer vacation.”
On one such trip to France and West Germany, a restaurant in Cologne refused to serve Fran, because she was Jewish. However, “other members of the tour insisted on sharing their food with me so I did not go hungry, but I was shocked.”
Fran Weiss went on to have a long writing career for nonprofit organizations, including The Salvation Army, the American Liver Foundation, and the United Jewish Federation of MetroWest.
She now lives in Belleville, New Jersey.
Thank you, Fran.
