Bio

Rockingham County born and raised, the publisher Lisa Finney Griffith started Eden’s Own Journal on her own in 1998 and over the past 25 years the paper has grown to what it is today. Elizabeth’s marriage and the move caused me to hire a go-getter named Ashley Foley of Eden, now assistant publisher, is bringing the paper further into the 21st century with the Facebook and Webpage Upgrades.

Eden’s Own Journal is the first countywide paper in Rockingham County and lives by the slogan

“Investing in Rockingham County’s Quality of Life"

Where We Started

Hi, I’m Lisa Finney Griffith, owner, and publisher of “Eden’s Own Journal”. It’s been a long road to get to our 25th Anniversary.

When Eden’s Own Journal ran its first edition 25 years ago this month, it joined the ranks of three daily newpapers and two other monthly’s. Eden’s Own Journal is now the one and only countywide paper located in Rockingham County and lives by the slogan: “Investing in Rockingham County’s Quality of Life”

Eden’s Own Journal has grown from a small eight-page black and white paper in December of 1998 to a much larger full-color publication. All of this comes from the overwhelming support of local businesses and the community.

I grew up in the Happy Home community and moved to Eden in 1986. I began work at the “Eden Daily News” in May of 1986 when Richard and Beverly Robertson still owned the paper. Every once in a while J.S. Robertson, the founder of the paper, would come through to talk to eveyone and tell them how much he appreciated them. At this time he was somewhere in his 90’s and walking with a cane.

I started out working alongside the Production Manager, Charles Hopper, and Phillip Foley in prepress and the darkroom. This is where I got the “ink in my blood” experience of a lifetime.

Several years later, as technology advanced, I assisted everyone in the newsroom and design departments on the computer system, with my primary job in graphic design. By this time, the paper had been sold multiple times and had long been corporately owned. This change brought much non-local news into the paper and very little focus on Eden.

My dream by then was to create my own community paper focused only on local news, free to the public. To do this, I had to have the support of local businesses, who would run ads that would provide the funds for equipment, compilation, printing, delivery, and other business expenses.

Being an artist myself, I drew a sample paper, on notebook paper, of what I wanted my product to look like, explaining my vision to each business I contacted. I also began gathering news, schedules, editorials, and jokes. I wrote articles and sold ads to very enthusiastic business owners who hoped my vision would come to life. These brave and trusting businesses purchased ads on just my concept design.

So, within 45 days of leaving the Eden Daily News, I had my first “Eden’s Own Journal” issue printed and out to the public. Although small, only 8 pages, I had accomplished what I had set out to do: Provide a locally owned and focused paper. The first issue was distributed on December 1, 1998. As you can see, this is my passion, not just my job.

Lots of prayers, support from my family, and hard work brought “Eden’s Own Journal” into being. I pasted up copy for the first couple of years and physically carried the layout sheets to our printers. Later, we advanced to CDs taken directly to the printers. Thanks to technology, I now simply send the paper to press, with the presss of a button, over the internet.

Over the first 10 years, we added pages, full-color photos, graphics, and more. This meant having to find new printers with presses that could handle all the color. During this time I personally handled the sales, design, writing, layouts, and information gathering. I always had help from my family with the delivery.

“Eden’s Own Journal” was only Eden-oriented at that time. With growth comes change, much of which happened over the following 10 years.

We eventually branched out to the entire county and in 2008, began two separate issues per month. This meant I needed help. Thus, my family came to my rescue. My daughter Elizabeth started working with me full-time, along with additional salespersons. We moved to a large office across from the Hospital.

After a very trying two and a half years creating two issues monthly, my dream to be flexible and work my passion was fading. After much research and soul searching, the two-issue-per-month project ended, and we returned to a monthly publication. Whew, what a relief. I believe our advertisers were relieved, too.

We closed the office on Hwy 14 and returned to my newly designed home office, where Elizabeth and I took on all of the sales and production work ourselves. I created sections for each municipality and kept the name “Eden’s Own Journal” but adopted the name “Rockingham County Star” for our countywide news section which runs throughout the paper.

Now, back to one cohesive issue per month, we began concentrating on all the municipalities in the county and added

sections for the larger municipal areas, including Reidsville, and Wentworth, as well as all of Western Rockingham, which includes Madison, Mayodan, and Stoneville.

With time come’s change. My daughter married and moved away. I brought on Ashley Foley of Eden, who now works with the daily business contacts,

interviews, design, sales,

writing, and editing. Ashley also updates our presence on Facebook and our web page featuring the entire paper, which is handy when you don’t have the hard copy in hand.

My husband David thankfully took over Finance/billing and circulation giving me more time to focus on what I love.

Eden’s Own Journal has grown substantially with incoming news from all the various cities’ departments, chambers, senior centers, civic groups, and more, as well as the businesses sharing their news.

Eden’s Own Journal is still free on 130 stands throughout Rockingham County. Our advertisers fully support the paper who share in our mission: Investing in Rockingham County’s Quality of Life. Although I design the paper monthly, the advertisers are the ones who should be thanked for supporting the effort. Be sure to thank them! They make it possible to bring the paper to you free of charge.

We print good news, information, schedules, events, features, and columns, which can help you improve your place in life. There’s enough bad news on the daily radio, TV, internet, and social media barrage. We need the support of all the county in getting out the good news that we all need to hear.

I am so blessed to have come this far and earned the trust of the cities, towns, and business owners. We are delighted to be here for the people, the businesses, and the cities that make up our fine county, and we hope to be for many more years!

I want to thank all of our first issue advertisers for their trust in my vision. A few of these included Ramsey’s Barber Shop, Fair Funeral, Master Lube, and Chilton’s Body Shop.

What We've Achieved