by David Smart

A writer since childhood, Mary O. Stone, St. Joseph the Carpenter, Sevierville, didn’t began her career in journalism until she was 65 years old. Ten years ago this May she produced the first issue of a tabloid newspaper which has a circulation of more than 13,000. Stone has been managing editor of the newspaper since the first issue.

The “original idea was to get people information on aging issues,” she said.

In 1987 Stone’s mother, then in her 80s, came to live with her. In a column in the May issue of “Experienced Living,” Stone says that before her mother came to live with her, “I was only intellectually interested in articles pertaining to caregiving. Only after she came to stay with me, did I truly understand the complexities of the problems. And how ill-prepared I was to deal with them.”

Having already discovered the difficulty of finding useful information, “I was pleased when Bob Childress offered me the opportunity to do “Experienced Living,” she wrote. Childress, a former publisher of “The Mountain Press,” said, that he was “concerned that the newspaper [“The Mountain Press”] wasn’t giving our ‘experienced’ citizens enough information relating to their age.” He contacted Stone, who was a member of the Sevier County Geriatric Screening team at the time, and asked her if she would be interested in editing a newspaper for “experienced citizens.”

In the first few years of publication, information was difficult to obtain, Stone reported. One of her main sources was the American Association of Retired People (AARP). “Information on aging is much easier to get today,” Stone said. One of the main sources she now uses for locating information is the Internet. It offers access to information from a variety of reliable sources, she said. In addition to health care data, there is information on many other topics that are of interest to older adults.

“In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the newspaper, we are conducting a contest to discover Sevier County people who are making the most of their vintage years,” said Stone. Each month for the next 12 months, an “Experienced Living Affirmative Aging Award” will be presented to someone. Entry is through nominations submitted by readers. “This is an opportunity for people to say something good about someone else,” Stone said. “It makes two people feel good,” she continued, “the one who has good things said about them and the one saying good things about someone else.” The name of the first winner will be published in the May issue.

“Experienced Living” is published by Jana Thomasson who also publishes “The Mountain Press,” a daily newspaper in Sevier County. “Experienced Living” is distributed as an insert in “The Mountain Press” on the 15th of each month.

“Mary has done a tremendous amount of work in this community for the older adult population,” said Thomasson. “She is truly an inspiration to us here at the newspaper,” she said. “Not only does she do a lot for the community,” Jamison continued, “she also sells all the advertising, does all the editing and the layout of her paper. She is a joy to work with.”

Her frequent searching for useful information, in the early years of her publication, brought her to the attention of the people at the AARP office. In 1990 she was appointed as AARP’s “Women’s Initiative Spokesperson for the State of Tennessee.” “I traveled both nationally and regionally attending meetings and gathering information which I brought back to share with women throughout the state,” said Stone. She served in this position until 1994.

Stone’s name may be familiar to many readers this newspaper. She has contributed articles and poetry to this newspaper over the past several years. She is familiar to many from her performances with Ruth Hoglan of their very successful one-act play “Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn.” Produced by the St. Joseph Theatre Guild. Finally, she has been an active member of the Diocesan Affirmative Aging Recourses Team.