Our New Publishers

Sep 2, 2014

Katie Hunhoff (top left) and Heidi Marsh are the new publishers of South Dakota Magazine in Yankton. Bernie and Myrna Hunhoff (above) started the magazine nearly 30 years ago.

Forty years ago, I landed a writing job with the Watertown Public Opinion. Just in time, as it turned out, because our son Chris was born a few months later.

Well, I’ve been writing and poking about in South Dakota ever since — along with raising Chris and his sister Katie, some political tomfoolery and so on. Myrna has been a pretty and nice partner every step of the way.

After a few years of writing for the Watertown and Madison newspapers, we started a weekly newspaper. And then, 30 years ago, we started this magazine with the simple idea that South Dakota’s stories deserved telling.

I’m at that awkward time where I’m old enough to know that I probably can’t do this forever, and yet I’m good for a few more years.

I do believe that South Dakota Magazine needs a new generation of leadership and we have it in Katie Hunhoff and Heidi Marsh. Those young ladies became friends 25 years ago as horse-crazy kids in Yankton County’s 4-H program. They’ve been working together here at the magazine for several years (Katie for 12 and Heidi for 6). Now they’re creating a partnership to be your new publishers.

They’re smart and enthusiastic, and they understand something important that I learned through the years: South Dakota Magazine really belongs to you and the other 180,000 readers. Still, somebody needs to see that the postage is paid and the stories have good pictures, and Heidi and Katie are taking on that responsibility. I’m sure their family style of leadership will better serve our readers than the corporate alternatives that are swallowing up most of today’s media.

They are also blessed with a wonderful and talented staff of 10 here at the magazine that cares deeply about South Dakota. We’ve all come to learn that the magazine helps readers establish a sense of place, and to more greatly appreciate and enjoy life in South Dakota. That makes our hard work feel very worthwhile.

Katie and Heidi assure me that they’ll let me do some writing, which is all I wanted to do when I started working for the Watertown paper in 1974. So I’ll see you along a South Dakota road.

Meanwhile, if you have a complaint about a story or photo, call Katie or Heidi. Unless it’s something I wrote. Then please don’t tell the bosses. They seem nice enough, but at my age I don’t want to give them any reason to take away my keys.

— Bernie Hunhoff