Wendy Martin, editor and co-owner of The Mason County Democrat in Havana, has joined the Board of Directors of the Illinois Press Association.

    IPA President Kathy Farren, who made the appointment at the June Board meeting, said she was thrilled to have Martin join the board and noted that Martin’s appointment helps maintain balance on the Board.
    The Board strives for geographic balance as well as equality among daily and weekly representation. Martin also brings the number of women on the Board to four.
    Martin married Bob Martin in 1974 and has worked at the newspaper for 35 years, starting out at The Fulton Democrat in Lewistown. For the first nine years of their marriage, Wendy worked in Lewistown while Bob worked in Havana. Both newspapers are the oldest businesses in their respective counties; The Fulton Democrat has always been in the Martin family while the Havana newspaper has been “in and out” of the family.
    Both Wendy and Bob have strong family histories with newspapers. For more details about that, see the May 2009 edition of PressLines.
    The Martins have two children, Marjorie “Jorie” Roubitchek, 30, and Robert, 26. Incidentally, all of the Martins, including Bob and Wendy, were born in July. “We are experts at cake,” Wendy quipped.
    Martin was born in Cincinnati and graduated high school in Highland Park. She earned a B.A. degree from Western Illinois University. She belongs to the Society of Professional Journalists, numerous chambers of commerce and Hav-A-Vision (Havana Area Vision). She has won numerous writing and advertising awards in IPA contests.