After 42 years of reporting, Limbacher has more to give

Barbara Bayer Limbacher has devoted 42 years of her life to reporting on local schools and community events. She also has written numerous features about senior citizens, children, cooking and more.

Limbacher will begin her 43rd year with a reduced workload that was not her choice but was brought about by recent budget cuts at the Times Reporter. Until recently, she was still covering 20 meetings a month, four of which she will continue to cover for the paper.

Limbacher’s work has been acknowledged many times throughout the years for its accuracy and objectivity. She has been selected to the Ohio School Boards Association Honor Roll twice in recognition of her “fair and balanced education reporting” for Tusky Valley and Strasburg-Franklin school systems.

Limbacher also has been honored for her work on behalf of abused children, receiving the Voice of All Children Award from Noah’s Hope for her dedication and commitment to reporting on the needs of children, and she was named one of three Distinguished Alumni by the Strasburg Tiger Foundation in 2018.

“I just know that I love people,” Limbacher said. “I love writing about senior citizens and children and animals. Give me a story like that, and I’ll go for it.”

The early days

Limbacher recalled how she landed her job as a correspondent on Jan. 1, 1980. “My friend Sandy Samsa worked at the Times Reporter, and she called me and told me they were looking for a correspondent for this area. I was interviewed by Virginia Addison, and I got the job.”

Limbacher said at that time the paper was printed for an afternoon delivery. “In the morning I would put my notes together and write it down. Then I would call Virginia Addison, and she typed my story on a typewriter.”

Limbacher said she had no plans to become a journalist. She thought of perhaps entering the medical field or attending business school. However, her parents divorced, and she was needed at home to care for her four younger brothers while her mother worked nights as a nurse at Massillon State Hospital.

Natural talent landed Limbacher the job as a correspondent. “When I was in school, history and English were my favorite subjects, and I could always put a story together,” she said. “I have friends that can cook. I have friends who can sew. I can write.”

Limbacher was in Sugarcreek when the Swiss Hat burned down on Nov. 21, 1992, and she ended up contributing to the coverage. She was there to cover the dedication of a monument to Sugarcreek native Gen. Donald Pruitt.

“This gentleman said, ‘Oh look, there’s a fire behind the Swiss Hat.’ Well, my car was parked right in front of it,” she said.

When Limbacher went to move her car, a fireman said she couldn’t drive over their hoses. “I said, ‘Well then lift them up because I’m not leaving my car here.’”

In the 1980s Limbacher reported on Club 3000 and community protests to the landfill being built just north of Bolivar. She also was on the scene when the landfill burned seven years ago.

A huge hole

Limbacher’s absence from many local meetings will leave a hole in local news coverage, and that concerns her. “Covering the meetings is important to these communities because there’s no accountability if no one’s there,” she said. “I just feel that I still have a lot to give, and for me to sit down is not cutting it here.”

“In many ways it’s the ending of an era,” said Tim Lang, mayor of Bolivar. “She is a stalwart of accurate reporting, and I really can’t thank her enough for her many years of service to the community.”

One former editor, Rex Huffman, said he treasures the more than 30 years he worked with Limbacher. “Barb was always there and ready to help when I needed someone to do a story. She never shied away from an assignment and always did her best. She has the natural gift of a nose for the news.”

Others shared similar memories including former Tusky Valley Superintendent Mark Murphy. “At every turn she reported facts with clarity and treated others with the utmost respect and dignity,” he said. “Underlying the years of notes, photos, meeting minutes and articles is a deep love of our local school districts and the greater community.”

Adam Hall, dean of students for Canton South High School and a former administrator for Strasburg-Franklin Schools, said, “I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with Barb and cherish the relationship we have. In today’s world we need more people like Barb who are champions for our kids, school districts and communities.”

Strasburg Mayor Steve Smith said, “She is a living history book on Village of Strasburg. Whenever there is a question regarding an occurrence in the village, she can, without hesitation, recite the historical aspect of the issue. She is 100% Tiger.”

A Strasburg native and a 1958 graduate of Strasburg High School, she married Ben Limbacher in 1959. Together, they raised three children and lost three who passed away — Craig at age 8 and twins Jamie and Jill at two days old.

Her living children are Heidi Limbacher Clower, Krista (Rob) Beyrer and Kurt (Michelle) Limbacher. She has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Ben Limbacher passed away in 2005. “That’s why I like to write because I keep busy,” she said. “I love this village, and I love this school and the fact that I live in this community. There’s just something about this village that keeps me here.

“I just want to thank all the communities that I worked in for allowing me to cover them all these years.”