To the Editor:

In the story about the last two paper machines shutting down on Wednesday, Carroll Story said the “mood was not great.”

I’d say closing the mill is like the death of a good friend. I remember that as a child and coming to Franklin, those smoke stacks were the first thing you could see. At that time it was Camp Manufacturing Co.

As the years went along, the mill grew and I went to work there in 1964. I worked there for 16 years, and Franklin will never be the same without it.

So many people’s income came from that mill and Franklin, Isle of Wight and Southampton thrived from it. It took a company like International Paper to end an era that can never be replaced.

I do not care how many other towns have had the same thing happen and got through it. This is our town and counties, and it is a part of our lives whether we worked there, had worked there or never worked there.

Mary K. Nichols

Franklin