Her intended weekly goal was to ensure that the Estevan Mercury and Southeast Trader Express were scrutinized and detailed closely before going to the printing press, She was proud of her background contribution to the weekly editions and wanted all of us to be as proud of the production as she was.
Carol Toth began work at the Estevan Mercury in 1967, first as a typesetter and proofreader as well as assisting with various general office and administrative duties on a seven-person staff.
It was the dawning of a new era of printing as the industry was switching from setting type in mechanical cold lead print to the more modern photo typesetting that combined the two systems. Her early typesetting equipment required her to re-type all the newspaper news copy on a punch tape, not unlike the old ticker tape one would see being used in investment firms on Bay and Wall Street.
The industry evolved, and Carol moved with it, embracing each forward step in typesetting until the current desktop style of typesetting arrived allowing reporters and columnists to inject their words directly into the system.
With typesetting duties then reduced, Carol absorbed the job of proofreading even more enthusiastically as she scrutinized the copy of each contributor, making the necessary corrections on the paper before sending it back to the author to make the final groomed product work to send out to the public domain. She accepted other duties such as refining the weekly classified advertisements and detailing the copy submitted by our rural correspondents.
Carol served four separate publishers, but her main boss was always the public and their perception of our product. She wanted us to be the best we could be and would insist that all those around her shared that same ideal.
She would straighten out grammatical errors, provide punctuation when and where it was required, or eliminate it when it wasn't. She questioned sentence structures and corrected spelling, ensuring that the Canadian Press style superseded the automatic American centric computer spell-check systems.
Long time editor Jonas Weinrauch, now retired, said, "Carol was our walking dictionary and if she wasn't sure, she would have a number of dictionaries around to refer to when needed. Carol also knew the Canadian Press Stylebook way better than any of the journalists. If you missed something or misspelled a word, you'd get the copy sent back to you with Carol's red ink corrections."
The veteran journalist added that it was easy to observe the fact that Carol also "knew Estevan's history and the people in it because of her many years devoted to producing the weekly Remember When column. The column featured archived articles from the Mercury, dating back 10 to 70 years.
Another Mercury stalwart, former owner and publisher Peter Ng said, "Carol was the epitome of a devoted, long-term employee. That she chose the Mercury for her life's work benefited the community greatly. Behind the keyboard, as typesetter, she made it her mission to know local names and people in the news. Over the years she became an encyclopedia of resources for all our editors and reporters who passed through the Mercury doors. Her towering strength was consistency and longevity with a focused determination to help present Estevan in the best light through pages of the newspaper."
As it was noted in her obituary, Carol also enjoyed working daily crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Words were her friends.
The Mercury's current publisher, Brant Kersey added, "When the words loyalty and dedication come up in the work place, we use Carol as the measuring stick. She was loyal to the Mercury office for over 45 years, so incredibly dedicated she even enjoyed proofreading newspapers when she was on holidays."
She was also a devoted caregiver to her mother for years and spent many quality hours with her dog Muffin, and they enjoyed spending time at the family's cabin at Kenosee Lake.
Carol and her life partner Ed Handsor also enjoyed many trips together.
She was predeceased by Ed and her parents Steve and Bunnie and is survived by her brother Wayne of Calgary, sister Kathie and her husband Dan Betnar of Estevan as well as niece Meghan Betnar and her husband Daryl Donovan and nephew Daniel Betnar.
Carol just recently retired from the Mercury, leaving her extended family of dozens of co-workers and former co-workers to now mourn her passing.
We will miss Carol Toth, our unique, loyal and genuine friend.
