Cibola County, New Mexico Montaño going on 25 years
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GRANTS – “Easier but a lot more work,” said longtime Cibola Beacon employee Ramona Montaño about her department’s change in the past 25 years.
Montaño was hired by Marian Barber, publisher of the Beacon, to set type and develop it in the darkroom in 1986. “There were two of us in the department and today there are two of us despite all the technology changes,” Montaño said.
She was 22 years old when she started at the Grants Daily Beacon. Lillie Belle McMinn was the composition department manager at the time. “Lillie Belle was great,” said Montaño. The small department was composing 10 to 12 pages a day. The Beacon was a daily in the mid 1980s, the decade in which uranium mining ended in Cibola County. The small town boomed between 1960 and 1980 because of mining. “It was boom and bust,” added Montaño.
Montaño said the biggest change in composing in the last 25 years has been from paste up on light table to digital today. She said she still enjoys the profession as much as she did 24 years ago.
While at the Beacon, Montaño has endured tough times such as the loss of her mom and dad. “On a daily basis we don’t realize how close we are,” she said in regard to working with the staff of 15 people. “However, when you look back and remember the good and bad times while working in the same place for many years it makes you realize how much influence your fellow employees have on you. Through the years my fellow employees have been there for me and I’m sure they’d say the same about me.”
Current Beacon Publisher Donald Jaramillo said he wouldn’t trade Montaño for anyone. “She’s there from the beginning to the end,” said Jaramillo. “Ramona is there. At the end of the day the most important thing is attendance – good times and tough times.”
Beacon Advertising Manager Sylvia Anzures Gonzales echoed Jaramillo’s remarks, “She’s been here for 24 years and we wouldn’t trade her for anybody.”
Montaño duties at the Beacon include composing ads for ROP and classified display, updating the Beacon website and typing legals. She is the fastest typist at the Beacon.
She has had to make some minor adjustments to her workstation because of her longevity. The Beacon has ordered a special chair and desk for her comfort as her hands and back begin to ache by day’s end.
The Beacon has gone through five owners since Montaño has been an employee, with Wick Communications being the longest. She’s worked for multiple publishers with Jaramillo as the longest. She enjoys working for Wick Communications because the support of the corporation and the Beacon still has the community newspaper feel to it.
Montaño’s only other employment was with the highway department for nine months.
“I saw an ad in the Beacon and the only qualification was typing,” she said. “Here I am 24 years later. It’s been fun and I hope I can stay here until I retire.”