DeeAnn Gibbs is retiring after nearly 25 years at the Free Press.
CHENEY – After nearly 25 years of employment with the Cheney Free Press, Advertising Manager DeeAnn Gibb is settling into retirement.
"When I first started, Bill Ifft (owner) was a friend of mine and needed an office girl to do whatever stuff needed to be done," Gibb said. "A few months into that, the sales person that was here was military and was being transferred and I took his job. That's how I got into sales."
Gibb said if Ifft had asked her to enter sales initially, she would've declined. But sales and advertising has become something Gibb is passionate about, especially in smaller communities like Cheney.
"A lot of my clients who've just opened up new businesses would see how much it helped that they advertised-it was just wonderful to be able to do that for them," Gibb said.
During her time at the Free Press, Gibb said the many relationships she's developed have substantially impacted her life and have created many meaningful memories.
"She [Judy Dunbar] owned a business called the Tape House in Medical Lake," Gibb said. "She's one of my best friends ever and it's just from meeting her there. I've developed a lot of really good friendships from this."
Gibb is a member of a couple of local service groups that she is looking forward to dedicating more time following her retirement.
"I belong to a women's group called PEO- Philanthropic Educational Organization," she said. "I also belong to Medical Lake Kiwanis, it's a service organization."
In the initial stages of her retirement, Gibb is traveling to Palm Springs with her husband, Bernie Dunwald, where she's planning to connect with the PEO and Kiwanis groups.
Gibb said she became passionate about community news during her time at the Free Press. She said people often do not understand local news's impact on its communities.
"I don't think there is anything more important than a community newspaper. It is what communities are all about and you cannot get the news about the communities from anything but a community newspaper," Gibb said. "I'm terribly passionate about the newspaper-I always have been, hence the reason I've been here 24 and a half years."
Michaela is a former newsroom intern at the Cheney Free Press. She covered stories on education, city government, cops/courts/fire departments and local businesses.
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