Before Facebook, we had "The Raymond News"

After checking my Facebook news feed every day for many years now, I've noticed that most of the posts can, for the most part, be lumped into a few general categories: social events and birthdays; concern/prayers for community members; photos of people's children; posts about politics/current events; inspirational posts; information about diet/exercise; and posts about travel experiences. As I was looking through my collection of clippings from the front page of The Raymond News from the 60's and 70's, it occurred to me that I can identify the same themes back then. Here are a few examples:

Social Events/Birthdays

December, 1962

September 17, 1970

Concerns/Prayers for community members

April 30, 1970

Photos of children

June 11, 1964

Political posts/current events

April 28, 1966

Inspirational posts

January 22, 1970

Diet/Exercise

April 23, 1970

Travel experiences

January, 1978

Back in those days it seems that the The Raymond News was sort of like an old fashioned version of Facebook, only then, the "likes" and the “comments" happened in person over coffee at the White Cottage or Spring Air, after church on Sunday morning, on meeting night at one of the many community organizations, or on the party lines out in the country. Now in 2020, the "likes" and "comments" are made online, and are still discussed around town and all across the country, even in New Jersey. It seems that the old cliche, "the more things change, the more they stay the same," applies here. Regardless of the platform, we’ll always find a way to share (and over share) the information that's important to us.