Mineral Wells Area News

Reporting By Amy Meyer / Mineral Wells Area News

The mystery typewriter has been revealed.

It belonged to Thelma “T.D.” Doss, one of Palo Pinto County’s most fearless and beloved reporters.

When I first shared a photo of the typewriter on social media, the guesses poured in. Some thought it might have belonged to James Alvis Lynch, the Index’s first editor and founder of Mineral Wells. Others guessed Bill Cameron, who hired Thelma in 1928, or Craig Holamon, the legendary sports writer whose fast fingers once pounded out stories on newsroom keys.

“If you ever saw Craig type a story up on that thing, it was a sight to behold,” one reader recalled.

But the answer turned out to be Thelma Doss — the woman whose name is still synonymous with community news in Mineral Wells. Her Once Around the County column was legendary.

Barely 4’9” but larger than life, Thelma spent nearly seven decades covering everything from courthouse happenings to local cafe conversations, guided by her famous line:

“When I’m not covering news, I’m making it.”

Those words couldn’t ring truer today. I’ve had my share of critics — and sometimes, being “the news lady” in a small town isn’t easy. But at 50, I finally feel like I’ve found my calling. Thelma’s words remind me that storytelling takes grit, heart, and a deep love for the place you call home.

Former Index publisher Gary Adkisson, who worked with Thelma from 1985 to 1999, shared that she gave him this typewriter when she could no longer make it to the office — around 1995. Nearly thirty years later, Gary passed it along to me, believing it belonged in the hands of someone still fighting for real, local journalism.

That gift couldn’t have come at a more meaningful time.

When the Mineral Wells Index, our community’s 150-year-old newspaper, closed its doors in 2020, I stepped up and created Mineral Wells Area News, a nonprofit digital newsroom built to carry on that legacy. We never printed on paper, but we’ve continued the work — covering city meetings, local government, community milestones, and stories that matter to the people who live here.

Next week, MWAN launches its annual NewsMatch crowdfunding campaign — the effort that sustains nonprofit newsrooms like ours across the country. Every dollar donated from Nov. 1 – Dec. 31 will be matched, doubling the impact of community support.

This campaign is more than fundraising; it’s about survival. For small, independent newsrooms like MWAN, NewsMatch is the difference between continuing our mission or fading into silence. It’s a fight for the future of real local journalism. The kind built by people who live here, care deeply, and tell the stories that shape our town.

We may be digital, but the spirit of community journalism lives on.

To hold this machine feels like holding history — a reminder that every story we tell matters.

Support Mineral Wells Area News during NewsMatch beginning Nov. 1. Donations are matched dollar-for-dollar through Dec. 31.

Editor’s Note: Mineral Wells Area News was founded in 2020 following the closure of the 150-year-old Mineral Wells Index. As Palo Pinto County’s primary LOCAL news source, MWAN continues the mission of keeping residents informed through multi-media, community-driven, nonprofit journalism. To support local reporting during the 2025 NewsMatch campaign, visit HERE and help double our donations in November and December.