Cover Story

Looking back: Being a 'girl' never stopped us

By Linda Grist Cunningham and Jennie Pollock

ROCKFORD WOMAN

Apr 25, 2008 @ 12:01 AM

Jennie Pollock

At the shoe department in Kohl’s (dangerous place for my family!), my 5-year-old was bragging to the clerk about the soccer shoes she was wearing in the middle of winter.

An elderly couple walked by. The woman smiled, and her husband observed, “It’s great that girls can play sports these days.”

“Well, of course they can!” was my first reaction. It didn’t take me long to remember that the playing field hasn’t been open to us for very long. Some would argue that it’s still not an even playing field.

I grew up playing tennis and softball, and my parents encouraged me to be anything I wanted to be (which was always a journalist, except that one time in the 1980s when “L.A. Law” was cool).

Today, I have the life that my boss and my mom fought for. I have a career and a family that both celebrate the great potential and character of our gender.

My generation must continue to make strides as leaders, mothers and mentors.

Being a woman does not define us alone, but it is an important part of who we are.
I can’t wait to see what that means when my daughters grow up.

Linda Grist Cunningham

Lloyd T. Page Jr. called me “little girl” the whole time I worked for him. “Little girl,” he’d holler, “we need to talk.”

I called him Mr. Page; everyone in town called him Lloyd T. He was owner, publisher and editor of the Buena Vista News. Old-fashioned Southern Democrat and Baptist, he ran the back rooms of the town with a cigarette in one hand and a cup of black coffee in the other. While calling me “little girl,” he sent me to cover Virginia politics and pointed me to a secret school board meeting. I wrote about local banks not giving me a credit card in my name. Had to be in my husband’s name. Bank presidents demanded Mr. Page fire me. His response? “The little girl is right. Give her the card.” I got several.

One day he asked his “little girl” if she’d be the editor of his paper. “I’ve been interviewing all these men,” he growled. “Am not impressed. Never thought about having a girl as editor, but, what the hell, if you can do it, I’ll make you editor.” I said yes.

It has been a series of firsts and only’s for this “little girl.” Sometimes I didn’t wear them well. Then I’d remember that first publisher. He taught me it was results that mattered. Thanks, Lloyd T. I mean, Mr. Page.