In 1965, Kay Woodruff Field, 38, a newly divorced former debutante once described as the "Grace Kelly of Chicago," loaded her three children into a Buick station wagon and headed north to start a fres
In 1965, Kay Woodruff Field, 38, a newly divorced former debutante once described as the "Grace Kelly of Chicago," loaded her three children into a Buick station wagon and headed north to start a fresh life in Alaska. Little did she know that she would became the most influential woman in Alaska. Fanning took a job at the Anchorage Daily News, a struggling morning newspaper that she and her new husband, Larry Fanning, later bought. After Larry’s death, Kay became editor and publisher. She pressed for settlement of Alaska’s Native land claims, alienated advertisers by covering environmental issues deemed to threaten development, and in 1976 won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of corruption in Alaska’s powerful Teamsters Union. Kay Fanning died in 2000, her memoir unfinished. Katherine Field Stephen, herself a reporter, was determined to finish her mother’s book. And she did, by inviting eighteen of Kay’s friends and colleagues to contribute personal stories about Kay Fanning.
Kay Fanning loved journalism. She served as editor and publisher of the Anchorage Daily News, editor of the Christian Science Monitor, and first woman president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Katherine Field Stephen, herself a reporter, was determined to finish her mother’s book. And she did, by inviting eighteen of Kay’s friends and colleagues to contribute personal stories about Kay Fanning.
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