It's been a Year

This week marks the anniversary of the passing of our longtime editor and publisher of The Nome Nugget, Nancy McGuire.
It’s been a turbulent year in national and international politics, a year of changes in the Alaska media landscape and a year of drama that still plays out in the Alaska state legislature over our fiscal future.
One thing has not changed: The need for vetted and well-researched information from professionals of press organizations to inform the public what’s going on. Nancy fought for the free flow of information during her 34-year tenure at the helm of The Nome Nugget.
She did so successfully.
In 2012, The Nome Nugget was voted to be Alaska’s best weekly paper and the same year Nancy received the prestigious Howard Rock First Amendment Award from the Alaska Press Club.  The walls inside the Nugget building are plastered with awards that go back to the 1970s.
During the grand reopening of the Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum in the Foster Building last Friday, it was quite an emotional experience to see the Nugget take its place inside the venerable halls that document Nome’s history. Nancy would have been immensely proud to see her newspaper featured in one of the new permanent exhibits at the museum. The Nome Nugget’s history is inextricably tied to the history of Nome. It has recorded what happened in this town and the region, week after week, consistently for 117 years now.
It would make Nancy even prouder to see the display of a timeline of all the newspapers that came and went in Nome. Only one is left standing: The Nome Nugget.  
The Nugget was Nancy’s life, her mission and her legacy. Let’s remember “Nancy Nugget” this week and cherish her life’s work that continues to give the gift of knowledge and valuable information to Nome and the region. —D.H.—