If you are a longtime Slidellian who has enjoyed the local paper for many years, then you might recognize a familiar name on page 11A.
Mari Darr-Welch is credited with a couple of photos on that page after she came back to Slidell to take pictures at the 100-year birthday celebration of Lawrence Stansbury Sr.
If you have lived here for over 30 years, and you used to enjoy reading the Slidell Sentry-News, then you might remember Mari’s name.
She was a photographer for the paper for several years when I was the Managing Editor, and we certainly have a lot of fun memories from those years together.
When I was the editor at the Sentry we went through many, many news people—both reporters and photographers. That’s because the Sentry was the classic “proving ground” for young journalists. The reporters almost exclusively were right out of college, and even though most of them had a Mass Comm Degree or a Journalism Degree, you didn’t get hired at the bigger papers unless you had at least three years of time working for a community paper.
That’s where the Sentry came in.
As much as I would have liked to pay these college graduates a few more dollars, it wasn’t in the budget I was given and I hired most reporters at very low pay. Consequently, we went through newsroom personnel so fast it made my head spin.
I had a sports background and was always into statistics, so I began keeping track of every reporter I ever had there over the 13 years I was Managing Editor. When I was promoted to Publisher in LaPlace, my little book had 75 reporters who stayed an average of four-and-a-half months each. True story.
As for the photographers, they didn’t get paid much more. I always remember Mari coming for the interview because she is, let me say this carefully, a petite woman. Not sure how tall, but Mari is pretty short, yea, really short! And maybe that’s part of the reason she had an edge about her from day one—nobody messed with her and if they did, she had plenty to say about it.
All I remember is that looking at her portfolio, I knew one thing for sure. This girl was an amazingly talented photographer and I would be lucky to have her work in our little newsroom. Fortunately, I did get lucky and Mari took the job.
So began our months of battles. Mari didn’t like to be told what to do in any way, shape or form when it came to doing her job. And quite honestly, I was a young editor who had a very short time being the boss of others. We butted heads, over and over.
The Sentry was a six-day a week publication, so she had to bring me something every day for the front page, not to mention working on weekly photo page packages. She knew my deadline to get the paper out, and you can be sure I would be sitting in my office as the deadline approached, walking to the old darkroom and gently tapping the door.
“Mari, are you getting close?” I would ask, which was quickly followed by the door snapping open and her letting me know that “you will get it when I have it ready.”
She was a perfectionist. But then that was part of what made her so good. Back then she had to process film and print her own pictures. And I wasn’t about to get one unless it was just right.
Over time, things settled. I learned how to deal with her, and she dealt with me just the same.
Then, Mari had a baby and that became a whole new matter. She was seen all over town taking pictures at any event with some kind of papoose thing over her shoulder, carrying little Alexis to everything she shot. People noticed and truthfully, I think they had more respect than ever for her, determined to not leave her little girl at home. But it did create a little more chaos in the newsroom as Mari came in each day with Alexis sleeping inside her carrier.
When I heard a month ago that Mari was coming to Slidell to take pictures I knew I had to be there. I snuck up behind her and gave her a bit of a shoulder hug and said, “hey, I heard you were the kind of photographer who didn’t want to ever be bothered while you were working.”
She turned around, gave me a big hug, and we later chatted it up about the old times.
I’ve got so many good memories from my years at the Sentry, and Mari rates up there with the best of them. In time, we became the best of friends as so many other newsroom personnel did.
She now lives in Fort Walton, FL, and has a thriving photography business, not to mention being a real estate agent. If you ever want to hire the best of the best photographers, you need to call this woman. Look at her stuff online and you will know:
DestinWeddingPhotographer.com
For me, it was a fun memory of old, which still has her among my favorite people at the former Sentry-News office, someone I consider among my “All Star reporters” during some very special years.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
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