On The Job for 70 Years,   

Reporter's Still A WhizWedged between an antique press and a row of computerized cubicles, Frances Reid's desk at the weekly Loudoun [County] Times-Mirror in Virginia links her long career at the newspaper with the fast-paced world that's engulfed it.

This past summer, she began her seventh decade at the paper. At 91, her fingers still pound furiously on her manual typewriter as she edits church, wedding and neighborhood news from 23 area communities. The beat is a blessing, she says, because it doesn't require her to "run here and there all day and night."

Hired in 1921 as a secretary, Reid worked in the paper's business department for two decades before becoming a reporter in the 1940s. She took over the social beat in 1965. "You learn so much at a job like this," she says. "It's been wonderful."

Reid deflects praise for her long career – she turned down an invitation last year to appear on "The Tonight Show" – but readily shares her opinions on everything from state politics to the women's movement.

For Editor Tim Farmer and the paper's reporters, Reid is a constant source of story ideas and "a walking history book." Four years ago, at age 87, she completed a history and memoir of Loudoun County.

Farmer, born when Reid was in her late 50s, says he's grateful his senior reporter has no plans to retire. "Reporters and editors come and go, but Miss Reid is an institution."