How do I summarize WNY Family’s 40 years in just a few pages, especially when it’s been so intertwined with my personal life? If you’re a grandmother, you probably have some idea of WNY Family’s unique history because you enjoyed reading it every month while you raised your children — at least that’s what many women I meet at the Amherst Senior Center, where I’m now a member, tell me. Yes, I’m a senior citizen now, having started WNY Family on my dining room table when my daughter was 4 and my son was 18 months old — today they’re 44 and 41.
Those grandmothers, and many others, have told me they’ve made sure their daughters and daughters-in-law know about WNY Family, so I’m fond of saying that this magazine has “raised two generations” of WNY’s children!
I never planned to publish a magazine and had no education in journalism, other than working on my high school newspaper and yearbook, and being an A student in English. Graduating from UB with a degree in mathematics in 1973, I taught 7th and 8th grade math for six years in the Buffalo Public Schools before taking maternity leave upon the birth of my first child. Originally from Long Island, I had come to Buffalo for college, married my college sweetheart right after graduation, and settled down to a happy life in a city we had both come to love.
But once I left my job to stay at home with my newborn daughter — as the majority of mothers still did back in 1979 — I was restless. I needed something to occupy my mind. I also had no family within 500 miles. No mother, grandmother, aunt, or cousin to lean on for the kind of support a new mom needs. Back then, there was no Internet to Google for resources, nor were there as many activities available for children, especially the youngest ones. Even nursery schools and child care centers were few and far between.
I was thrilled to learn from my Lamaze childbirth educator that they offered a local support group and mother-infant exercise classes for new moms — I needed that connection. (Keep in mind, that in 1979, “natural” or Lamaze childbirth classes were not taught in hospitals; it was strictly a “grassroots” effort, with classes taught in the instructor’s basement or perhaps a church’s community room.)
Once my daughter was born, I eagerly signed up for the support group and after the 6-week session of my mother-infant exercise class, all of my classmates decided we would continue to get together as a playgroup — one which lasted for years, and which saved my sanity as a new mom with no family around.
The organization behind Lamaze childbirth was, at the time, called ASPO/Lamaze — ASPO standing for “American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics,” which was quite a mouthful! Today it is simply Lamaze International and can be found at Lamaze.org.
Eventually, I became involved in the local “parent’s division” of ASPO, helping with fundraising and the events they held for their membership of almost 500 families. I was amazed when 250 families with children ranging in age from newborn to preschool showed up for family field trips and holiday parties publicized in the group’s monthly newsletter. Also popular were the mother’s coffees and playgroups listed in those newsletters.
At some point, as a relatively new member, I was shocked to be approached and asked if I would like to serve as Co-President of the parent’s division. If I hadn’t accepted that position, WNY Family probably wouldn’t exist!
During my two-year stint as co-president, I learned a great deal about the needs of families with very young children in our area — and what was lacking. When my term ended, I asked myself, “Well, what do I do now to keep myself busy?”
By that time, my second child had arrived and I’d completed 6 consecutive years of maternity leave, which was the limit. I decided to formally resign. Although I had loved teaching, I felt that if I spent my days teaching rambunctious 7th and 8th graders, by the time I got home to my own children at the end of the day, I’d be drained of energy for them; again, keeping in mind we had no family in Buffalo and childcare centers were still scarce at the time. By now, my husband and I had lived on one salary — his — while I was on leave, so we figured it was doable. I have never regretted that decision.
No longer in charge of an organization, my ever-active mind began to ask, “Where do all the new parents who DON’T belong to the local parents’ division of ASPO/Lamaze get their information about places to go and fun things to do with their kids?”
The answer: There was no other single source in Buffalo for the average, frazzled mom to get support and LOCAL information to enrich her family’s life.
This is where my volunteer skills and my teaching experience combined gave me the idea for a newsletter called “Mother’s Lifeline.” Born as an 8-page newsletter, created on my little Smith-Corona portable electric typewriter from college, and printed on blue paper with rub-on transfer letters for headlines, the first edition of 1,500 copies was mailed in March of 1984 to a list of parents I’d graciously been given from ASPO and a friend who sold Discovery Toys.
“Mother’s Lifeline” was originally meant to be a monthly subscription newsletter with a price tag of $12 for one year. Within a week of the initial issue’s mailing, I received my first subscription check accompanied by a full-page, typewritten letter (which I still have!) telling me why Mother’s Lifeline was needed and all the ways it could serve the community. I had definitely struck a nerve — and step #1 for any business’ success was finding a need and filling it!
From there, the years flew by. One day, Donna Phillips, who became our longtime “Pick of The Literature” columnist, called and told me she had picked up a copy of the newsletter and loved what I was doing. She said that she knew someone at WKBW’s “AM Buffalo” and she was going to tell them about me. I had already sent a press kit to them and received no response, so I thanked her, but honestly didn’t believe anything would happen. I was so-o-ooo wrong.
I came home a few days later to find a message on my answering machine (you might be too young to remember this precursor to voicemail!) from John Di Sciullo, then producer of “AM Buffalo,” saying he had an opening spot for me in just a few days! As we say via text now, my reaction was, “OMG!!”
From then on, regular appearances on “AM Buffalo” demonstrating kids’ crafts, clever costumes to make for Halloween, or how to make your own playdough, brought “Mother’s Lifeline” the best free publicity we could have ever asked for. After each appearance, we’d get as many as 300 letters asking for the instructions or recipes, and our subscription base grew.
Knowing how rough the winter months were on families with young kids, “Mother’s Lifeline” created “Cabin Fever Workshops at the Buffalo Zoo.” Promoted with weekly appearances on “AM Buffalo,” we broke an attendance record, with families coming indoors to make a wide variety of take-home crafts at tables staffed by all the non-profit organizations we publicized regularly in the newsletter. Working with a shoestring budget, for months in advance we had everyone we knew collecting egg cartons so kids could make “caterpillars” and helping us dye pounds and pounds of ziti for macaroni necklaces! As a sponsor, Wegmans graciously donated paper plates, straws, cups, and anything else we requested that could be turned into craft projects.
By 1987, WNY Family’s office had moved from the dining room table to what used to be the baby’s room in my house. Around that time, I received a call from George Zenger, who owned Parkside Press, now known as the Zenger Group. The father of seven children, George had picked up a copy of the newsletter and was impressed. He told me that his wife was a nurse and that when she worked nights, he took care of the kids. He was the first businessman, and I stress MAN, in Buffalo who could relate to what “Mother’s Lifeline” was all about. George became an important mentor to me and helped me take “Mother’s Lifeline” to the next level.
George helped me buy a used typesetting terminal that I could use at home — again, personal computers were not widely in use yet — and allowed me to use Parkside Press’ office at night to do issue layout and pasteup with the help of one of his employees. Eventually, he vouched for my credit and introduced me to ColorGraphic, a web press company that would print “Mother’s Lifeline” on newsprint in a larger quantity for less money than on the blue paper.
I could tell you countless stories of how people seemed to show up at just the right time to help “Mother’s Lifeline” grow. Nancy Garbacz worked for Dy-Dee Wash Diaper Service and asked if they could put the newsletter in their diaper service deliveries because it was getting too expensive to produce their own and their customers missed it. She also took it to the classes she taught for expectant parents at local hospitals and talked it up to parents who visited the Dy-Dee Wash diaper changing/nursing space at many events like the Erie County Fair, or those held at the Buffalo Convention Center. Today, her son still does some of our distribution.
With the growth of “Mother’s Lifeline,” it was becoming clear that there was more work than my “one-woman show” could handle and that paid subscriptions would not be enough to continue growth. Including advertising in the newsletter became a must — and that pretty much began by accident.
One night (my home phone number was listed as the contact on the back of the newsletter), I answered the phone to find Oscar Vizcarra of Becker Farms on the line. He had been seeing many families show up at his farm with “this blue paper” on their dashboard. He finally asked them what that “blue paper” was. Unbeknownst to him, I had visited Becker Farms with my kids after seeing it advertised in the classifieds of The Buffalo News as a pick-your-own farm, and subsequently written about it. Families showed up in droves…. and Becker Farms became an advertiser, and remains one today.
Dentist Joel Levin of Levin & Houghtaling was another forward-thinking businessman who took the initiative to call and become one of our very first advertisers and longtime supporters.
If we were going to recruit more advertisers, I couldn’t continue to be a one-woman operation. George Zenger’s employee Lisa (Saia) August became my first official hire and at that point, my husband, who was an attorney, insisted that the business become a corporation for all the benefits and protections it offered to both me, as the owner, and to any employees. In May of 1987, we incorporated as Western New York Family, Inc. The choice of name came as a result of a letter I received from a subscriber. A divorced dad wrote that he loved the newsletter because of all the activities in the event calendar, but he was embarrassed to get “Mother’s Lifeline” in his mailbox…. couldn’t we change the name? And change the name we did. That smart reader gave us the inspiration we needed to address the entire family, not just moms, which further helped broaden our reach.
Marybelle Heimerle called one day to say she worked for Northstar Delivery & Distribution and would be able to get WNY Family into the places young families frequented most in WNY — pediatrician’s offices, libraries, and so much more. You can print plenty of magazines but if they don’t get into the hands of readers, advertisers aren’t going to get results, so distribution is key!
I can’t name everyone who has been part of our evolution in this limited space, but you all know who you are, and I treasure the memories I have of all of you. You have my sincerest gratitude, especially those who have written articles and columns to share their ideas and wisdom over the years. Quality content is one more way WNY Family differentiated itself from other publications that came along but had no staying power.
The only event that might have caused the demise of the magazine was the death of my husband John at the young age of 41 in 1993. He was diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia one week before Christmas at the age of 39. The 5-year survival rate for that type of leukemia at the time was only 20% and it is still the deadliest form today. Even with a bone marrow transplant (still experimental at the time) from his sister, who was a perfect match, complications resulted in his death.
Back then, I was still writing a column called “Family Matters” in the magazine each month and I chronicled our journey through his illness there. The column I had to write telling readers he had died was one of the most emotional things I’ve ever had to do, but the resulting outpouring of love and sympathy gave me the strength to go on for the sake of my children, who were then 10 and 13. Readers sent cards and perfect strangers dropped off meals for my family at the office, which at that point was a space across from the Buffalo Zoo, rented to us by George Zenger, whom I refer to as the “Patron Saint of WNY Family” for all the help and support he gave the magazine and me, personally. He was the first commercial printer to use Apple computers for typesetting and design — and when I saw what they could do, I knew I had to go that route — another step forward for WNY Family.
Shortly after my husband’s death, I had to make a decision whether to continue growing the magazine or returning to teaching. By chance, I noticed a small mention in The Buffalo News about a program at UB’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership for business owners who were experiencing challenges. I applied and was accepted, but little did I know that most of those in my class owned multimillion dollar companies! WNY Family was a “micro” business by comparison! I learned a great deal from my classmates and the mentors in that program; another opportunity that just seemed to drop in my lap and which inspired and re-energized me to continue to grow the magazine instead of making a return to teaching.
The magazine you hold in your hand today is the result of the combined efforts of so many people through the last 40 years — and a loyal readership, many of whom have told me that when they sold their house to a young couple with children, they’d leave their stack of back issues of WNY Family behind for them to read!
At the end of 2022, I transferred my ownership of WNY Family to Paul Kline, my longtime employee and trusted General Manager, staying on in 2023 as editor to aid in the transition. By the time you read this, I will be 99% retired, remaining only as WNY Family’s online event calendar editor. I trust Paul to carry on my legacy and continuing WNY Family’s mission of enriching family life in our region, hopefully for yet another generation. I hope you will support his efforts.
Although I won’t miss a life governed by magazine deadlines, it looks like once again, I will have to ask, “Well, what do I do now to keep myself busy?”
Michele Miller