Sue Bernard of Caribou has always kept the spirit of community with her, whether home among family and friends in Aroostook County or farther away.
From the time Bernard was a senior in high school, she knew she would be a journalist. At Curry College in Milton, Mass., she studied under Roger Allen Bump of WRKO. She later came home to be a reporter for WAGM-TV in Presque Isle.
Bernard attended the University of Maine at Presque Isle full time in that first brief stint at WAGM, leaving for a job offer in Massachusetts. She graduated from Curry College and worked at a radio station in Portland before accepting WAGM’s offer of the news director position in 1980.
Bernard remained as WAGM’s news director for more than 20 years. She saw the station go from four news employees when she first started to 15 when she left in the early 2000s. She always tried to instill in young journalists the values of fair reporting and an appreciation for Aroostook County communities.
“I encouraged all reporters to put their own signature on their stories, but to always treat their audience as if they were their own families and friends. I worked with so many wonderful people in the newsroom and I wanted them to care about the communities as much as I do,” Bernard said.
Working for a smaller station meant her duties often extended beyond writing and anchoring nightly newscasts. She also reported, produced and edited her own stories and always learned how to use any new equipment so she could better teach the reporters.
Her favorite local stories included following the Double Eagle II hot air balloon, which completed the first transatlantic balloon flight from Presque Isle to Europe in 1978, and setting up live footage while airmen from Loring Air Force Base returned home from Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The live segment proved challenging.
“It took a couple different tries to get the streaming footage back to the station, but worth it because of how special the story was,” Bernard said. “The story connected with our viewers because a lot of them knew the people who were coming back.”
Even though Bernard enjoyed her time at WAGM, she wanted to take on different challenges. In 2002, she became the bishop’s spokesperson at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. After only a week on the job, she was faced with speaking on behalf of the church amidst growing sexual abuse allegations.
“I think that my faith definitely had some highs and lows during that time, but my understanding is that if the church can withstand something so awful then maybe we could still move forward and help others,” Bernard said. “In the end my faith became stronger.”
Despite the heartache of victims’ stories, she met people in the church who were truly dedicated to helping others. She remembered how after her father passed away in Presque Isle, the bishop surprised her by driving from Portland to preside over the funeral.
“I came home and I learned later that the bishop was only several hours behind me. He cancelled everything that was on his schedule that day to do my father’s funeral and I’ll never forget that,” Bernard said. “Every time you see someone do something good for someone else, it reminds you that there are still good people left in the world.”
In 2012 Bernard returned to Aroostook County to accept the position of dean of development and college relations for Northern Maine Community College. Although she announced her retirement from that position in 2017, she has remained at NMCC part time to assist President Tim Crowley with special projects.
She credits her work ethic to lessons her family taught, whether she was in school or working for the potato harvest in the fall.
Her memories lead her back to Aroostook County.
“One day I was working in the potato fields and it had started to snow and a moose was crossing the field in the distance,” she said. “I remember thinking that somebody should take a picture of that, because where else could that happen but in Aroostook County?”
