The Kentucky Derby & Koky Dishon & Carol Sutton
My women’s page journalists have at least two connections to the Kentucky Derby.
The first relates to Jim Squires, pictured here, editor of the Chicago Tribune in the 1980s. He was Koky Dishon’s boss and gave her the freedom to redefine “soft news.” Jim retired from the newspaper to raise race horses and is a race horsing expert, including the Derby, for the Washington Post. Jim’s papers are at Vanderbilt University and include several letters between Jim and Koky.
My article about Koky comes out soon in a regional history journal.
The second connection is to Carol Sutton, women’s page editor and then managing editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. It was at the Derby that Carol met New York Times journalist Charlotte Curtis. Carol’s husband Charles Whaley later wrote about the two women meeting in a review of Charlotte’s book in the Louisville Courier-Journal.
My article about Carol is scheduled to be published by a national journalism history journal next year.
2 Comments
Kimberly Wilmot Voss
Great to hear from you. I have spoken to Charles and their daughters – great people! The article should be out this coming winter. I’ll post about it when it appears.
Anonymous
Hi, I grew up with Carol’s daughter’s, Kate and Carrie. This is very cool. Do you have any idea when will your article be published? Charles still lives in Louisville. I am sure he and his family would enjoy knowing about your article.
I remember when Carol was one of the Women of the Year. It was a very exciting time. I didn’t recognize it so much, being about 12 at the time, but I knew it was a huge honor.