Billie O'Day
-
Billie O’Day Has Died
I learned yesterday that Billie O’Day has died. She was the longtime women’s page editor at the Miami News and won several Penney-Missouri Awards. The image above is from a hotel room in Missouri where she and the Miami Herald’s Marie Anderson came to speak at the workshops that were part of the Awards. She loved music and sports. Here is a link to a previous post about Billie’s music career. Here is a link to a post about her interest in football.
-
Day Four: Women’s Page History in 7 Objects
Wine glasses represent the women’s page for day four. While these journalists took on hard news topics like child abuse, pay inequity and discrimination, they also liked to have fun. In this oral history, longtime women’s page editor Marjorie Paxson spoke about parties at the home of the St. Pete Times’ food editor Ruth Gray. The image above is of Miami Herald women’s page editor Marie Anderson and Miami News women’s page editor Billie O’Day. They are in a Missouri hotel room during the Penney-Missouri Awards’ workshop. Note all the liquor bottles on the counter.
-
Anniversary of the Death of the Miami News
The last issue of the Miami News was published on December 31 in 1988. In the 1960s, it had one of the best women’s pages around – headed by the wonderful Billie O’Day, who was also an accomplished musician and conductor. I hope to write more about Billie in 2012.
-
Miami News’ Billie (Womack) O’Day Images
In going through my files I came across these great images of Billie O’Day, women’s page editor of the Miami News in the 1960s. (Her real last name was Womack but she used the pen name Billie O’Day in both her byline and her professional life at this time.) In the top photo, Billie is in the coat on the far left as she won a Penney-Missouri Award for top women’s page in her circulation size. The second photo is from a Columbia, Missouri hotel room. Billie is giving a thumbs-up and that is Miami Herald women’s page editor Marie Anderson nearest the camera. I love the smoke and the…
-
Great News About Billie Womack O’Day
I just got off the phone with the nephew of Miami women’s page editor Billie Womack. (Her radio and pen name was Billie O’Day.) She is alive and alert in a Miami nursing home. We plan to make a trip down to meet her. Her nephew also mentioned that she had kept her papers which should be a gold mine for historians. Billie’s career is truly amazing. She had an impressive musical career – including conducting a symphony in the evenings after her work at the newspaper. I learned about Billie because of her winning several Penney-Missouri Awards – the top honors for women’s pages. I am working on an…
-
More on the Music Career of Women Page Editor Billie O’Day
I have long been interested in the story of Billie O’Day. I first learned of her as a winner of two Penney-Missouri Awards (the top recognition for women’s pages) for her work in the women’s pages of the Miami News in the 1960s. I also knew that she had quite a career in music and radio. Yesterday, someone posted to this blog his memories of Billie’s work at Radio WIOD. This caused me to look back over Billie’s career. Billie Corinne Womack (O’Day was her radio name that she began using as her own name) was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1919. As a child she both played football…
