A series of events conspired to delay Joyce Laterra’s anointing as “Employee of the Month” for April at the Hudson Reporter newspaper group.
Just a few days before Laterra was about to be surprised at work with the honor, she told her bosses she would have to retire. Her 101-year-old mother had fallen in her family’s Ridgefield, N.J. home, and Laterra, 66, had to spend more time taking care of her.
After 26 years as a typesetter at the Hudson Reporter newspaper chain, Laterra realized it was time to go. But her decision was not without sadness, as she expressed her appreciation for her co-workers over the years.
“I enjoyed working with everyone here, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world,” Laterra said last week when she was finally able to stop into the main office in Hoboken for a celebration and cake.
She is one of only a handful of employees who were around since the newspaper chain’s inception in 1983.
A little history
In 1983, Hoboken real estate developer Joseph Barry bought a chain of newspapers called the Pictorial from a family in Bergen County, and developed them into the Hudson Reporter newspaper chain. At the time, Joyce Laterra had already been working for the Pictorial chain in Fairview for five years as a typesetter.
The Reporter chain ultimately grew to nine newspapers, and Barry sold his share of it to minor partners Lucha Malato and Dave Unger in 1999.
Laterra has worked for the chain since 1983.
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“We’ve come a long way from when we started,” Laterra said last week.
To the readers, Laterra was the voice on the other end of the phone when she called to confirm their letters to the editor prior to publication. The task always took on special importance during election time, when letter writers often asked Joyce to make last-minute changes or demanded to know whether their letter was going to fit into that weekend’s edition. Laterra always stayed calm and gave the standard answer to the latter question: “We’ll try our best.”
The best
And Laterra has always done her best. In nominating her, her co-workers wrote glowing testimonials.
“She has a very upbeat attitude, always has a smile on her face, not an unkind word towards anyone,” wrote one colleague.
“You often see her chatting with people in every department, asking how they are or just ordinary chitchat,” wrote another. “The most noticeable thing is that everyone usually walks away from her with a smile on their face.”
“She was the first person to welcome me when I came into the office for my first interview,” wrote a third co-worker. “She seems to treat everyone with the same respect…I am thinking of this as being something of a lifetime achievement award. [She has put] blood, sweat, and tears into making and maintaining this company as the premier weekly newsgroup in the area.”
Union City girl
Laterra grew up in Union City and graduated from Emerson High School in 1960. In fact, her class is planning their fiftieth reunion for next year.
She knew her husband, John, in high school, and even attended the senior prom with him, but didn’t see him for a few years after that. Then they met up again and started dating. She has two sons: Glen, 42, and Scott, 39.
Now that Laterra lives in Ridgefield, she had to take two buses each evening to get from her job at the Reporter to her home. She also used to take two buses to get into work in the mornings, but after Sept. 11, 2001, her husband began driving her to the North Bergen stop so she could catch the Hoboken bus there.
Laterra said that Sept. 11 is one day she can’t get out of her mind.
“I was coming into work on the bus,” she recalled, “and the bus took a turn, and we saw an airplane sticking out of one of the buildings. The whole bus just screamed out. We didn’t know if it was an accident or what. It was such a normal day, and then the bus turned. People were screaming, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’ I will never forget that.”
But mostly, she remembers the good times. She says that she already misses the camaraderie among her co-workers.
“I’m still friends with a lot of people who have worked here,” she said. “Everyone works together and makes the paper what it is.”
Then, ruminating once more on her daily commute, she had something to add.
“What I won’t miss,” she said, “is the winter.”