Verne E. Joy was born at Carmi, Illinois, December 12, 1876. He was educated in the common schools, and after receiving a business education spent over three years in Germany, as United States Consular Agent at Selingen and Sonneberg. Mr. Joy became editor and publisher of the Centralia Evening and Weekly Sentinel on November 1, 1906, at the time of his father's retirement, who had spent a life-time in the business and had built up a splendid property in The Sentinels. Under the new management the papers assumed a new aspect, reflecting the former training of Mr. Joy on Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs papers in addition to his acquirement of the printing trade under his father. The Evening Sentinel was given a new style of make-up, wire service was added, illustrations secured and the paper has since appeared in eight page form instead of four. New machinery and equipment was installed and the paper has made a remarkable stride forward in circulation and advertising, until at present The Sentinel has the largest sworn afternoon circulation of any daily in Southern Illinois. This paper moved to its own new and well appointed building the last of October, 1908, where it has ample and commodious quarters and is now more than meeting the fondest expectations of its numerous patrons. It now occupies two floors, each one hundred and forty-seven feet long and has practically five thousand square feet of floor space. New machinery, new type and other modern appliances and accessories have been added throughout; a new linotype machine purchased, and it is now one of the most complete and up-to-date equipments for the publication of a newspaper in all Southern Illinois. The mechanical appearance of the paper is very attractive and in a small way equal to any metropolitan paper in the country, and in keeping with the paper's claim of being "Egypt's Greatest Daily." All kinds of job and other high class printing are done at The Sentinel office in a large and separate department.
Extracted 27 May 2019 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 580-581.