My wife Joan and I have lived in Warner, NH since
1979. We raised our children, Morgan and Anna, here, and although they've
gone off to work in large cities, we know they carry with them a deep
appreciation and understanding of what it takes to make a healthy and
vibrant community.
Several years ago I made an historical documentary
movie called "This Morning Broke Clear: Warner, NH in the Wake
of the Civil War, 1860-1900". Research director Rebecca Courser,
a handful of tireless volunteers and I spent two years in the archives
of the Warner Historical Society gathering material. We gradually pieced
together the story of a community that, despite the cycles of boom and
bust in the regional and national economy, continued (and continues)
to try to build and improve itself.
I've watched Warner's local economy grow steadily
stronger for the 30 years I've lived here, but there have never been
many jobs in town that matched my set of skills. Like many of my neighbors,
I've had to commute to work over the years, from Hanover to Henniker
and Concord and Durham.
I didn't enjoy the daily commutes. But at least I
was lucky enough to find work that allowed me to build a strong portfolio
of experience in communications and media production—experience
that means my clients are hiring both a video producer and a communications
professional.
In 1980 I was a key player in putting New Hampshire
Public Radio on the air, writing grants for initial funding and
then, as program director, designing the original programming and hiring
the first on-air staff.
During the 1980s I moved from writing and editing
at the New Hampshire Times to working in public affairs at the College
for Lifelong Learning and then to New England College where I served
as director of public affairs and publications production.
I also began to do more and more freelance writing
and publications production in late 1980s for a range of clients from
BusinessNH Magazine to Osram-Sylvania and Colby Sawyer College.
From 1990 to 1995 I taught writing at the NH Technical
Institute and the University of NH, finished an MA in nonfiction
writing at UNH, and did the marketing for Joan Packard Design, my
wife's jewelry design business. In 1995 I went to work in Public Affairs
at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as Senior Writer and publications
producer.
In 2000 I decided to quit commuting, and my day job,
and set up shop as a video producer in Warner. It was a challenging
move, bailing out of a steady position to start my own independent video
production company, but it's been worth the effort. I love the work
and the variety of people I work with and for. I'm still commuting—if
you can call flying to Texas (as I did this spring) to do an info/documentary
on a wildlife refuge "commuting"—but most of my clients
are in the Kearsarge area, and I get up each morning with the good feeling
that at last I'm not only living in this community, but working here
as well.
—George Packard,
2009