George and Katie Sayler have been Press subscribers for more than 50 years. 

Each morning, George likes to sit in the living room of their Coeur d’Alene home, enjoy a cup of coffee and read The Press. 

“It's a ritual that embedded in my life, I guess, I wouldn’t like to be without it,” he said. 

The retired government teacher and former legislator has long been involved in civic and public issues and strongly believes that each citizen is responsible for being informed. 

“I know how important that is to democracy,” Sayler said. “I think the newspaper, when everything is working as it should, is the best source of information we have.” 

Katie Sayler, whose maiden name was Frost, said her father homesteaded in Harrison in the 1880s. Her mother's family settled in Coeur d’Alene in the 1920s.   

Growing up, she said, The Press arrived daily in the afternoon.  

“They always got the paper. It was a big thing every day,” Katie said.  

When she was old enough to read, she and her sister would race to see who could get to the paper first.  

“I could read the funnies and she could read whatever it was she wanted to read,” Katie said.  

The Press always contained blurbs about Blue Birds and Camp Fire Girls, Job’s Daughters and other community-minded groups. School activities made page one. What kids did was sometimes big news. 

"Everything was in the paper. If somebody had a shower for someone, it was in, and what they served," Katie said. "When you got married, every detail of your wedding dress, that was in. It was a very, very different time."

If a local went on a trip, it often made the pages of The Press.

“I think it took the place of the internet today,” George Sayler said. “You read about people you cared about. The Press still serves that, but not to the same degree.” 

Katie Sayler said when she made The Press, she would get a note from her Sunday school teacher with a copy of the clipping. 

“That is community connection,” she said. 

Katie said she cares deeply about Coeur d’Alene and counts on her local paper to keep her informed about what's happening. If there’s a zoning change, a housing development or a water issue, she wants to be informed. 

She wants more facts and less opinion from her hometown paper. 

“People can be misled by what’s on the internet. I expect the journalist to give me the facts," Katie said. 

The Saylers began taking The Press when they moved back to Coeur d’Alene in 1972 after completing graduate school in Connecticut. 

George recognizes the economic challenges facing newspapers.

“I think that’s a real danger for our society,” he said. 

Newspaper, George Sayler said, is part of building a better society through information and education. He sees it as playing a vital role in helping people stay up to speed on local happenings, and, as a perk, he often gets to read about people he knows. 

“It's keeping me informed about what's going on, it’s keeping me involved in the community, it’s helping feel part of the community,” he said.