Val Imm and the Dallas Times-Herald
While researching the career of Dallas Times-Herald women’s page editor Vivian Castleberry, I came across the name of reporter Val Imm. Here is a 2007 article about her.
In most media accounts she is described as the society reporter. While she did cover society, she also did some wonderful reporting that was far from society.
Consider this lead that Val wrote: “The house at 3002 Knight St. is haunted. Haunted by the sounds of children who have no one to love them. Haunted by the sobs of children who wake up in terror from nightmares. Haunted by a community that has only begun to hear the cries. Such children – and there are hundreds of them in Dallas County – occupy the ramshackle, rundown, pitifully inadequate structure that serves as the Dallas County Emergency Shelter for abandoned, deserted and abused children.”
The reaction was swift. According to Vivian, “Those members of the Dallas County Commissioners Court had never stepped foot inside that home before, but they raced down there the very next day after our story.”
I am writing a book about Vivian.
One Comment
Gary
Val was the society editor for the Herald. At the time (early 1960's) John Mazziotta, Chief of Photography, would assigned either Andy Hanson or me to accompany Val the Dallas' events. Many of the articles and photos appeared in the Sunday Magazine of the Times Herald.