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Published on 09/08/1997 All articles from this issue

Doris 'Tuck' Shepherd - a legend among editors

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More than anyone in its 50-year history, Doris "Tuck" Shepherd set the standard for the Los Altos Town Crier. Tuck, who ran the Town Crier ship from about 1970 to 1985, took the words "community newspaper" to heart, establishing a friendly, open-door policy that her predecessors have carried on.

Tuck struggled to meet deadlines with a small staff every week, yet always made herself available to anyone who wanted to chat, no matter how trivial the matter. She seemed to understand the need to answer to her bosses - the readers of the Town Crier.

Arguably, her main claim to fame was that she was here, and longer than any Town Crier editor, before or since. Though she ran the newspaper through some rapidly changing times - the "Valley of Hearts' Delight" gave way to Silicon Valley - readers took comfort in the fact that Tuck's column, "Flotsam (without jetsam)," would consistently grace the pages of the Crier. Its whimsical subject matter comforted readers like an old friend.

Even while apricot orchards were paved over to make room for high-tech firms, Tuck recalled editors from a bygone era, those who knew everyone in town and were sounding boards for all the latest juicy gossip.

"She gave 100 percent of herself to that paper," said her daughter, Edith Moore, after Tuck's death in 1993. "She just threw herself into that community and cared about it."

Tuck kept things light, as best evidenced by her clip-art covers - line drawings from late-19th century children's books ushering in a particular holiday. The Stanford fine arts graduate also understood her niche. "People didn't expect it to be the New York Times," said one former writer under Tuck. "They wanted the Los Altos Town Crier, and that's what they got."

A bench along Main Street, in front of the Town Crier building, will be dedicated to the paper's longest-lasting, and most beloved editor.

- Bruce Barton, editor,

1993 to present