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About Old Mission Gazette

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Old Mission Sign | Jane Boursaw Photo, 2015

Old Mission Gazette is the only digital daily newspaper covering the Old Mission Peninsula, an 18-mile piece of land stretching into Lake Michigan north of Traverse City, Michigan.

In the Gazette, you’ll find Old Mission Peninsula news, thoughtful editorials, rich history (including six generations of the editor’s family), stunning photos, profiles of Peninsula people and businesses, recaps of meetings (library, township, school and more), vintage Peninsula recipes, culture news (movies, books, music, art, etc.) and lots more.

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Whether you grew up on the Old Mission Peninsula, spend summers here, or have just arrived, Old Mission Gazette is for everyone with a special place in their heart for this beautiful Peninsula.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR 

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Jane Boursaw, Editor, Old Mission Gazette

A lifelong resident of the Old Mission Peninsula, Gazette founder and editor Jane Johnson Boursaw is a veteran photojournalist who’s written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle, Ladies’ Home Journal, Times of London and more during her 40-year career.

Jane’s family goes back six generations on the Old Mission Peninsula. Her dad, Walter Johnson, helped to found the Purchase of Development Rights program on the Peninsula, and her mom, Mary Johnson, played the organ at OMP United Methodist Church for 50+ years. Jane’s brothers, Dean Johnson and Ward Johnson, continue to farm cherries, apples and other produce on the Peninsula, and her sister, Carolyn Lewis, lives with her husband Steve on the way to Mission Point Lighthouse.

The Johnson “home farm” is located about a mile north of Mapleton on Center Road. In 1960, the year Jane was born, her family moved from the farmhouse across from the barn to a new house on the shores of East Bay in Old Mission. (The old farmhouse burned down in 1964.)

In 1993, Jane married Tim Boursaw, also an OMP native whose family goes back six generations. Tim’s great-great-uncle, John Baptiste Boursaw, born in 1850, was the first mail-carrier between the Old Mission Peninsula and Mackinac, traveling much of the route by foot or canoe. Tim and Jane built a home on Bluff Road and have two kids, Will and Marissa (both alum of OMPS, Traverse City Central High School, and MSU).

Jane actually married “the boy next door,” because when she was born, Tim and his family lived just down the beach in Old Mission. He remembers going over to see that new Johnson baby with the red hair.

Tim and Jane live and work on the Old Mission Peninsula and are devoted to this piece of land they call home. Jane is a member of the Old Mission Women’s Club and Old Mission Peninsula Historical Society, and plays the violin every Sunday at her home church, Old Mission Peninsula United Methodist Church. She also works closely with the Old Mission Peninsula Education Foundation, Old Mission Peninsula School, Peninsula Community Library, Peter Dougherty Society and other OMP groups.

Check out Jane’s World, Jane’s Gazette column where she writes about growing up on a cherry farm on the Peninsula, raising two kids here, and persevering through all of life’s ups and downs.

Feel free to leave comments at the bottom of Gazette articles or email your own OMP stories to Jane at [email protected].

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Sister Sites:

Visit the Old Mission Peninsula Store to buy unique OMP t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, mugs, bumper stickers and other gear.

Visit Old Mission Photos to buy Jane’s photos in a variety of formats, including downloads, prints, metal, canvas and more.

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The Johnson Kids with Grandma Stella Johnson. Left to right, Dean, Jane, Ward, Stella and Carol | Mary Johnson Photo, circa 1961, Old Mission, Michigan