Shy at first, woman now outspoken
A 79-year-old woman from Eau Claire knows how to use a chain saw, once lived six years without electric service, and spent three years in France before coming back to America and divorcing her first of three husbands.
Now Miriam McCaslin resides in her country home, writing letters to the editor of the Butler Eagle on a Smith-Corona manual typewriter, even though she now has electricity.
She knows that the newspaper limits writers typically to one submission per month, so she sends them, at that pace, rarely missing an opportunity to voice her opinion since she first began writing to the Eagle about 10 years ago.
Anyone who's read one of McCaslin's letters knows that she won't hold back her thoughts just to avoid hurting someone's feelings.
McCaslin is even less inhibited in person. She described herself as the “girl who'd walk into the bar alone,” without a man to escort her.
Once one of her two children asked if she and her husband were “having a fight.” McCaslin responded, “No, we're having a political discussion.”
Her life experiences shaped her into the bold woman she is, but in high school, McCaslin said she was likely the “shiest girl in 10th grade.” She attended three different high schools before graduating from Darlington High School. The moving around contributed to her quietness.
However, she rarely held back her opinions with her parents, often quarreling with them.
When her father suggested that she enter one of only two career paths open to women back then — becoming a nurse or a teacher — McCaslin instead ran away to marry her first husband, leaving behind plans to attend Allegheny College in Meadville.
She and her husband moved several times, even spending a few years in France. But he loved his job as a lifeguard, and he lacked ambition to pursue something else, leaving McCaslin looking for a new husband.
She was later married and divorced two more times, spending time in Erie, Cleveland and other places.
“If I stayed in Butler all my life, I probably wouldn't be (so opinionated),” McCaslin said.
Originally from Philadelphia, McCaslin moved to Butler with her family when she was 12. She permanently moved to Eau Claire in 2000. She came to visit a friend and didn't leave.
At that time, it was too expensive to have electricity installed in her new home. The house was built in an isolated, wooded area.
This is partly why she uses a manual typewriter. But even after the house was wired, she continued using the manual because she didn't like the electric one she tried. The keys were too sensitive.
Her handwriting has always been sloppy, she said, and she's never been interested in using a computer, so she's relied on her manual typewriter. Besides being used for the letters she writes to her daughter, the typewriter is mostly reserved for her Eagle submissions.If the typewriter doesn't outlast McCaslin, she has two other manual typewriters stored in her attic. Friends found them in their own attics and gifted them to her.Her letters cover a variety of topics, but she frequently shares her political views. In recent letters, she criticizes presidential candidate Donald Trump for how he treats women. But initially, she began writing to the Eagle with criticism about then President George W. Bush.She keeps updated through a variety of media including television, radio and magazines in addition to the Eagle, she said.She used to read “TIME” but has since unsubscribed, though they continue to send copies.“It's not like it used to be,” McCaslin said. “It has a lot of entertainment. And who cares?”A friend once asked why she bothers to write letters to the editor. McCaslin answered, “What if everybody felt that way?”She hopes by sharing her opinion that she will impact at least someone.
