Water Well Journal
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/692787
was written to the women working in or married to men in the groundwater industry. It covered a variety of topics in a fun fashion. Renner was the wife of Tom Renner, NWWA's president in 1958, and the father of Roger Renner, MGWC, who was NGWA's president in 2001. The subject of women in the industry continued long after Renner put away the coffee cups. Peggy Webb wrote a column in the early 1970s titled "For Women Only" and "Mariel's Musings" ran in the late 1980s and early 1990s authored by Mariel McMullen. Women working at groundwater businesses has been the subject of numerous feature stories as well. There was one as re- cently as 2012. One in 1995 was titled "True Grit: Women in the Water Well Industry." WWJ has even discussed Hollywood through the years. In 1978, it detailed how actor Sylvester Stallone filmed the motion picture F.I.S.T. at A.Y. McDon- ald Manufacturing Co. in 1978 in Dubuque, Iowa. The film was about a young union leader, and Stallone thought Dubuque best resembled Cleve- land, Ohio, in the 1930s. In January of this year, WWJ ran a movie review of The 33, a major motion picture recounting the Chilean mine res- cue in 2010. Plumley and WWJ Copy Editor Wayne Beatty discussed the film and how it depicted the role of water well drillers in the rescue. Incredibly, WWJ even got into the record business in 1972. That year a thin, square, vinyl record was inserted into the magazine featuring NWWA president Howard White inviting people to attend the annual NWWA convention. Throughout the 1970s-1980s WWJ always featured a crossword puzzle crafted by Kathy Butcher, CMP. Butcher, who is currently NGWA's director of professional development, came up with clues for "Puzzle Well" from the content of the issue as well as the time of year people were reading the journal. It was a unique twist not often found in trade magazines. "Doing the crossword puzzle was al- ways a lot of fun," Butcher says. "Each one took about eight hours to complete. We thought having something like that in the journal was a unique way to ensure the readers were retaining the content. Plus it certainly made WWJ stand out." Fun Doing It Obviously, the faces working on WWJ through the years have been nu- merous. But while the people pounding the keyboards have changed and the technology has evolved—how many of you are reading this on a tablet?—one thing remains that was written in the December 1977 issue. An article titled "The making of the Water Well Journal" discussed how each issue comes together; it was jour- nalism 101 for groundwater contractors. The article ended with this statement: "But the most important person in the chain of events is you—the Water Well Journal reader. If you are pleased and intrigued by what you see; if you learn something from WWJ each month, we have been successful in the making of Water Well Journal." Without question that remains true today. Here's to the next 70 years. WWJ Senior Editor Mike Price contributed to this story WWJ Thad Plumley is the editor of WWJ and director of information products at the National Ground Water Association. He can be reached at tplumley@ngwa.org and on Twitter @WaterWellJournl. WWJ had an article in 1978 about Sylvester Stallone filming the movie F.I.S.T. at A.Y. McDonald Manufacturing Co. 2003 WWJ Editor Jill Ross' coverage of a 2002 rescue of trapped miners in Pennsylvania earns an APEX Grand Award for Writing. 2004 Thad Plumley is named editor of WWJ, a position he holds today. 2008 WWJ ends five years as a tabloid publication and goes back to its standard size of 8.125 × 10.875 inches. 2010 WWJ Editor Thad Plumley earns the journal's second APEX Grand Award for Writing with an editorial on employee productivity. 2010 An article detailing rescue of 33 miners in Chile is authored by Senior Editor Mike Price. The article wins an APEX Award of Excellence. 2011 Aftermath of Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico covered in May issue. 2016 A three-part series on aquifers of the United States highlights WWJ 's 70th volume in the April- June issues. 2014 The May issue debuts new graphic look including logo change. The redesign earns a 2015 APEX Award of Excellence for Most Improved magazine. waterwelljournal.com 32 July 2016 WWJ 70 YEARS continued from page 31