McLaughlin, Marjorie

Marjorie McLaughlin never planned to be a journalist. The Wellington, Kan., high school valedictorian, debate champion, and star of the amateur theatrical stage was more interested in poetry and public speaking. And at the University of Kansas, she showed her academic bona fides studying English literature and displayed her leadership skills as president of Gamma Phi Beta sorority for two years.

But in college she fell in love with the son of a renowned Paola, Kan., editor, and with the Depression’s hand still heavy across the land, she married into the McLaughlin newspaper family upon their graduation in 1938. The times being what they were, most smart, talented women were expected to support their men’s careers.

And in the hard-scrabble life that was small-town newspaper ownership Marjorie did whatever work was necessary to help keep afloat the Miami Republican, founded in 1866 amid the post-Civil War chaos. The outlook improved in 1956 when her husband, Drew Jr., merged the family newspaper with its bitter Paola rival, The Western Spirit, into the new Miami County Publishing Co.

But before that turning point, war twice would pry Marjorie and her husband from their chosen vocation. In 1942, Drew was shipped off to the South Pacific in the Navy, and Marjorie went home to Wellington to work at her father’s bank. In 1950, Drew was conscripted to be the Navy newspaper editor at the Pentagon, and they were uprooted again, this time moving for two years to Washington, D.C. during the Korean war. The rebound, always, was back to the family newspaper.

When her aging in-laws, Drew Sr. and Florence, could no longer work at the family newspaper in the 1960s, Marjorie was drafted to go full-time as a utility outfielder, filling in wherever she was needed. At times that included bookkeeping, payroll, proofreading, delivering papers, collecting from deadbeat advertisers, writing, and editing. For many years she was the primary copy editor for the newspapers.

In 1982, her husband, the publisher for 30 years, died unexpectedly. With the help of her son, Phil, who had joined the newspaper as a reporter and editor, she was thrust into the management of the company. She served as publisher until her retirement in 1991.

During those nine years, ownership was consolidated through non-family stock buyouts, the newsroom was completely computerized, more reporters were added, profitability rose, and the twice-weekly family newspaper, now renamed The Miami County Republic, won many awards for editorial and marketing excellence.

At the age of 75, Marjorie retired to Overland Park, where, finally having time, she became a voracious reader, line dancer, published poet, and an avid world traveler.

Among her cherished memories were the years she spent as a trustee of the William Allen White Foundation.  Her in-laws had been personal friends with the White family for years, sharing newspaper shop talk, family recipes, and politics over Sunday meals.

Marjorie and Drew raised two children in Paola – Susan and Phil –  who both graduated with journalism degrees from KU.

Marjorie was born on May 7, 1916 in Wellington. She died at age 89 in Lawrence in 2005 on the Fourth of July, her favorite holiday.