Death of Jo Werne
I was so sad to hear of the death of longtime Miami Herald reporter Jo Werne. She died earlier this week. Here is her obituary. (I always noticed her byline since my middle name is Jo.)
Jo often covered furnishing – one of the four Fs of the women’s pages. Yet, in 1972, she won a Penney-Missouri Award for fashion. Here is what I learned about her from the Penney-Missouri Papers at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri:
Werne combined her hobby with her work and it led to the 1972 Penney-Missouri Award for fashion writing. A reporter on numerous beats, she had been sewing for years. Raised on an Ohio farm, she joined the 4-H when she was 9 years old and given the choice of a project. Her options were to learn to sew or raise a hog. She chose the former. Her handmade bean bag won a blue ribbon and her interest was sparked. She described her hobby as “therapy, after pounding a typewriter all day long.”
Her award came after her search for inexpensive fabrics. In researching, she discovered a booming polyester knitting industry in Miami. The work resulted in the article: “Polyester: A New $70 Million Business.” In it, she described what polyester is and how it was made. She visited the fabric mills and interviewed the workers. A Penney-Missouri judge, a senior editor at Time, wrote of her “reporting colorfully on the sociology of the Cuban work forces. The result is a very human dimension.”
There sure were some amazing women journalists at the Miami Herald over the years. I plan to examine Jo’s furnishing reporting next Spring.
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3 Comments
Kimberly Wilmot Voss
Thanks for sharing these memories. I appreciate it.
Kanyakumari
I sat next to Jo Werne at the Herald for some years—she, a writer on the indoors, I, on the outdoors. She bought my mother's organ after her demise and I felt it was in good hands. I had always admired her musical orientation, while I was mainly Orient oriented. All those years she could be counted on to present a cheerful countenance in a sea of serious faces. Such a bright face, always appearing on the verge of enjoying something. I was not a cat person then, but I'm glad I became one much later, if only to appreciate that she passed on with a dear feline watching tv with her. What a perfectly cheerful way to go, typically her. (Always wondered what happened to the kitty.) I hadn't thought of Marie Anderson for a long time. Thanks for bring back her memory, Zulay, as she was the model women's page editor, with that memorable dignity that the classical editors had then. The Werne-Anderson days in the newsroom were rich with female newspaperness long gone. Glad to have been there for sure!
Felice Dickson
Former Farm and Garden Editor
The Miami Herald of Old
stonehillfoundation@gmail.com
Anonymous
Jo Werne was, for me, a special connection to my American Mom, Marie Anderson, who was a trailblazing editor at The Miami Herald. Jo reveled in telling me stories about Mom III (as I used to call Miss Anderson). One that I love in particular is that Mom, who had hired her, managed the Women's Section in a way that by today's standards would be considered unconventional.
Jo recalled fondly that Mom dedicated every Thursday to meet with the section's reporters and editors, allocating half an hour for each one. During that time, the two of them would chat about family matters, current events or whatever subject seemed relevant at the time — and then they would review the published work and plan the assignments for the following weeks.
Their grace, gumption and gloves opened up doors for those of us who years later would become journalists with fewer stumbling blocks.
Muchísimas gracias, Jo, for always sharing with me thoughtful stories about Mom. I can only imagine your work meeting this Thursday… and your coming story about the furnishings of Heaven! You go, girl!
Zulay Domínguez Chirinos
ZulayDominguez@aol.com