Peggy, as she was known to family and friends, died peacefully in her home, surrounded by loved ones, on Saturday, May 31, at 3:40pm.
Born Margaret Ann Dunne August 13, 1922, in Weehawken NJ, Peggy was one of seven daughters and two sons born to Jane and Patrick Dunne. She attended Weehawken High School, where she was voted most popular, best looking, and best dancer. She graduated in 1940, attended John Robert Powers Modeling School, and worked for a couple of years as a fashion model in New York City's garment district. She later worked as an executive secretary in the New York office of the Erie Railroad.
In December 1941, Peggy and a couple of classmates were walking home after a high school reunion dance in Weehawken when a car pulled alongside. It was a frigid night, and the driver of the car asked if anyone wanted a ride. Peggy and her girlfriend said yes.
That brief encounter was the beginning of Peggy's lifelong love affair with the car's driver, Fred Stickel. They were engaged in May 1943 and married in December of that year. Three weeks later, Fred shipped out with the Marines to the Pacific Theater, and Peggy lived at home with her family in Weehawken.
After the war, the young couple settled in Hoboken NJ. Fred Jr. was born in 1946, followed by Patrick in 1950 and Daisy in 1952. The family moved to Wood-Ridge NJ in 1954, where Geoffrey was born in 1957, James in 1958, and Bridget in 1960. That year, the family moved to West Orange NJ. Seven years later, Fred was transferred to Portland, where he subsequently became publisher of The Oregonian.
Peggy devoted her every minute to her children and husband. She became very active at St. Cecilia Parish and kept physicaly fit through exercise at the Multnomah Athletic Club. She was a member of Waverley Country Club and a past member of the Town Club.
She is survived by her husband Fred; daughters Daisy Medici and Bridget Otto; sons Fred Jr., Patrick, Geoffrey, and James; sister Rosemay McGinty; brother Donald Dunne; ten grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass was held Wednesday, June 4, in St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Beaverton. Remembrances may be sent to the St. Cecilia Catholic Church Campaign Fund.
Philip N. Bladine
Philip N. "Phil" Bladine, a lifelong Oregon newspaperman, died peacefully April 16, 2008, at Hillside Retirement Communities in McMinnville. He was 89.
Phil was born Nov. 19, 1918, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the younger of two sons of Lars and Inez Waterman Bladine. In 1928, Lars purchased the Telephone-Register in McMinnville, and his elder son Jack went there to begin family operation of the paper. Lars moved the rest of the family to McMinnville in 1932.
Phil graduated from McMinnville High School in 1936 and, after a year at Linfield College, attended the University of Oregon School of Journalism, earning a bachelor's degree in 1940. He joined the Navy immediately, but resigned and returned home to help with the family newspaper after Lars died in 1941. He re-enlisted following the Pearl Harbor attack and, except for his 1943 marriage to Margaret "Meg" Greene of San Angelo TX, remained on active duty throughout World War II, serving as the executive officer on a "landing ship tank" (LST) that carried beach landing craft.
In 1945, Phil returned to McMinnville and became editor of the Telephone-Register. In 1948, he and Jack built radio station KMCM (now KLYC), and in 1953 they purchased the News-Reporter and merged it with the Telephone-Register to form the News-Register. After Jack died in 1957, Phil became News-Register publisher and co-owner with Jack's widow, the late Gayle Hunter Bladine, and later with their children.
During the 1950s, Phil briefly owned the Headlight-Herald in Tillamook and the North Lincoln News Guard (now the News Guard) in Lincoln City, and during the late 1960s and early 1970s he owned the Milwaukie Review (now the Clackamas Review) and the Sellwood Bee. In 1960, he joined with the Hillsboro Argus and Times Publications of Forest Grove to build Tualatin-Yamhill Press, one of the earliest web printing plants.
Phil served as editor of the News-Register until 1974, president until 1983, and publisher until 1991, turning each title over to his son Jeb as he stepped back. While he was editor and publisher, as well as in the years since, Phil's newspapers won a great many state and national awards. And together, father and son turned the company's print division, Oregon Lithoprint, into a regional provider of high-quality web printing.
Phil served the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association for decades, including 20-plus years as its legislative chair. He was ONPA president in 1959-60, and he received the ONPA President's Award for service to journalism in 1971 and 1973 and the Roger Williams Freedom of Information Award in 1987. In 1974 he received ONPA's highest honor, the Amos E. Voorhies Award, and in 2001 was inducted into the Oregon Newspaper Hall of Fame.
Betty Van Leer
Betty Van Leer, for 41 years owner and co-publisher of the Curry County Reporter in Gold Beach, died of pulmonary disease January 23, 2008, at Providence Hospital in Medford.
Betty was born in Louisville KY in 1930 and lived her early life in Cecilia KY. After graduating from Stephens College (a two-year women's college in Columbia MO), she attended the University of Missouri, where she earned her BA in journalism and met Bob Van Leer. She and Bob were married in 1952, the year Betty graduated.
Betty worked as an editor at The Daily Gazette in Sterling IL for a short time before she and Bob moved to Eureka CA. In 1956, the couple purchased the Curry County Reporter in Gold Beach and moved there from Eureka. Betty and her husband worked as a team publishing the paper.
In 1997, after 41 years publishing the Curry County Reporter, Betty and Bob handed the newspaper over to their daughter Molly and son-in-law Jim Walker. The Walkers published the paper for 10 years before selling it to Joel Summer in 2007.
Besides the newspaper business, Betty was a state and national expert on button collecting and had an extensive collection. She was a member and judge of the Oregon State Button Society and the National Button Society and attended and judged at the annual meetings of both.
A. Curtis Lamb
A. Curtis "Curt" Lamb, known as "Mr. Dallas" for his active role in promoting his hometown, died December 1, 2007, in Dallas.
Lamb was born in Portland, but at age 13 his parents moved to a farm outside of Dallas, and he fell in love with the land and farming. During his adult life, no matter what other job he had, Lamb was doing some kind of farming on the side. But his favorite job by far was that of manager of the Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce, which he held from 1964 until his retirement in 1980.
For 40 years, Lamb wrote the "'Round Town" column in the Polk County Itemizer-Observer. It was a homey, conversational column, reminding readers of events and opportunities, encouraging them to take part in activities, and giving his take on various community issues. Lamb's daughter, Nancy Adams, is now publisher of the Polk County Itemizer-Observer.
Betty Anderson
Betty Anderson, a co-owner of the Drain Enterprise since 1950 and its publisher since 1992, died November 19, 2007, at the age of 80.
She was born Betty Gregg in Lincoln NB on November 6, 1927. Her parents moved to Salem OR when Betty was a child. After graduating from Salem High School in 1946, Betty went to work for the Oregon Statesman, where she met Lowell Anderson. When Betty and Lowell were married in May 1950, Lowell and his father bought the Drain Enterprise. The whole family moved to Drain, and the newspaper became the family business.
Lowell Anderson served as editor and publisher of the paper until his death in 1992, when Betty took over as publisher. Her daughter, Sue Anderson, took on the editorial tasks, and the two shared advertising duties.
Sue Anderson is now owner and publisher of the Drain Enterprise. Betty is survived by three children: Sue and Mark of Drain, and Jo of Dallas OR.
J. Wesley Sullivan
J. Wesley "Wes" Sullivan, who spent 56 years at the Statesman Journal and its predecessor, the Oregon Statesman, died in mid-November 2007 at age 86.
Born and raised in Portland, Sullivan graduated from the University of Oregon School of Journalism. In 1945, he began working as a news editor for the Oregon Statesman in Salem, where former Oregon governor Charles Sprague was owner, editor, and publisher.
Sullivan was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in 1957-58, after which he began writing editorials with Sprague. When Sprague died in 1969, Sullivan became associate editor in charge of the editorial page. He succeeded Wendell Webb as the Statesman's editor in 1975 and remained in that position until his retirement in 1986.
In 1989, Sullivan became the third Salem editor to be inducted in to the ONPA Hall of Fame.
Print Page
Bookmark
Page