Mad About Maggie Lee

Editor's note: This piece has been rewritten from an article that first appeared in the Northfield High School newspaper, The Periscope, in 2006 for Maggie Lee's 85th birthday. Chelsea Sektnan wrote both pieces.

For most Northfield natives, Maggie Lee has been a fixture in the community their entire lives. On the street, her noticeable purple ensembles stick out and catches your eye. In the Northfield News, her columns “Do You Remember” and “Maggie Says" appear weekly to bring readers back to yesteryear.

On Sunday, members of the community will gather at the and later at to celebrate 90 years of Maggie's accomplishments and her many contributions to the community. The event, which starts at 5:30 p.m., offers a reception and free cake. Tickets are $10 (for The Grand part of the celebration for music) and all proceeds go to the Historical Society's capital campaign for renovations, a fitting fundraiser for a woman who helped shape—and now recall—so much of Northfield's history.

Maggie’s knowledge of Northfield doesn’t strictly stem from the archives of the newspaper. Her knowledge comes from her memory of the community beginning more than 90 years ago on Jan. 5, 1921, at the long since relocated Northfield Hospital on the intersection of Eighth and Water streets.

Since then, Maggie has accomplished many things in the community, most notably being one of the Northfield News' first woman journalists—and later an editor. She was a founding member of the Historical Society, helped shape the city's Riverwalk and, in 2009, was the recipient of the Joseph Lee Heywood Distinguised Service Award.

Maggie’s dedication and love for journalism began at an early age. She began her early career as a writer by writing endlessly in journals.

“I loved to write poetry and short stories,” she said in a 2006 interview for The Periscope.

Maggie decided she loved writing early on, but she learned that she liked news writing even better and became a writer for the The Periscope in high school.

During her senior year, Maggie achieved position of editor and loved it. While working for the paper, Maggie often took trips to one of the local newspapers, The Independent.

It was then she decided the newsroom was her calling—but it would have to wait. Maggie knew it wasn’t a practical job at the time because most of the employees were all older local people or family members of employees.

After she graduated from high school, she decided to use the dollar her great grandfather put in her bank when she was born and learn to be an accountant. She moved to the cities and, even though she claims she couldn’t type the required words per minute, graduated.

During the weekends she often took the train down to Northfield to visit her mother, and on one ordinary train ride, she met up with a friend who would help Maggie on her path to becoming a reporter.

On the train she met Margaret Starks—then a Northfield News employee—who knew there was an opening at the newspaper as a bookkeeper. Maggie immediately told her mother about the opening. Luckily her mother was one step ahead of her and had already setup an interview for the job. The next day Maggie had the job.

Although Maggie began working at the paper as a bookkeeper, she didn’t start writing until the onset of World War II. When the war erupted, many of the men in town went off to fight, leaving many of the women, including Maggie, in charge of jobs previously done by men. Maggie took over newspaper writing and from then on, Maggie says, she got her chance to write. That was 67 years ago. 

Since then, Maggie has spent almost every day at the newspaper. And writing kept her so busy that she never had time to get married.

“I love the business so much that no man interests me enough to get married,” Maggie said in 2006. “My job meant more to me than any guy I ever met.”

Along the road to 90 years, Maggie, as most people know, picked up an affinity for purple clothing.

The epicenter for her staple color began with a gift from her father, a purple wool flannel top and a dark purple pleated skirt.

“It always looked so nice,” she said. It looked so nice, she wore it until it wore out. “Nobody made purple clothing, then one spring, WHOOM, everything was purple. I figured that I was going to buy it when the buying was good. I enjoyed it so much that anytime I needed something new, I replaced it with purple.”

Maggie admits that she may have too many pieces of clothing, but she doesn’t mind.

“During the depression nobody had clothes, so now that I can have clothes, I’m a nut! I love clothing," she recalled.

As much as Maggie is crazy about clothes and the news, Northfielders continue to be mad about Maggie. After nearly 70 years of writing, the town still can’t get enough of her.

IF YOU GO
WHAT: Maggie Lee's 90th birthday celerbation—reception, music and conversation
WHERE: 5:30 p.m. at the Northfield Historical Society and later at The Grand
WHO: Open to the public
TICKETS: $10 (for The Grand part of the evening) can be purchased at the Northfield Historical Society.