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11/8/2009 3:34 AM

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It will be a month tomorrow since Hope Hathaway of Carmichaels died.

And although she was 84, she had the spirit and zest for life of a person much younger. I know because she would call me at my Waynesburg office often, sometimes just to chat and other times to offer comments on national politics, happenings in her community, and on what she thought would make a good local story.

Her phone calls would always begin, "This is Hope, I know you are probably busy, but ..."

It was that "but" that made me stop what I was doing because I never knew what was coming next. She would ask if I had read a particular story in The New York Times, or tell me how she was coming along writing her series on Carmichaels' Old Town.

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Sometimes, though, she would point out a mistake or two she found in the newspaper, always more instructional than condemning, however.

I paid attention to what she had to say because she was not just the average reader. She had quite an extensive background in journalism and her criticisms had validity.

After she graduated from Cumberland Township High School, she moved to Washington, D.C., at the age of 17 to work for the FBI during World War II. After the war, she married and raised her family in Washington, D.C. She began her career in the newspaper business in the 1960s and became a member of the Washington, D.C., press corps during the Reagan administration.

Hope was featured in the spring edition of Greene County Living. Recalling her years working with Allied Press International, she said, "I got my congressional credentials before women started wearing flat shoes. I got shin splints running up and down those marble halls in heels."

At one press conference a correspondent for a major television network came up to her and said, "That's my chair." Hope responded, "I don't see your name on it."

That's Hope - direct and to the point but in a civil way.

My first introduction to Hope occurred shortly after I began working in this office. She called about an all-class reunion of Cumberland Township High School, later to become Carmichaels Area High School.

I had trouble figuring all this out, historically speaking, and I had to repeatedly call Hope for clarifications. She patiently answered my questions, but I could sense some exasperation in her voice.

I asked a colleague if he knew Hope Hathaway. "Or course," he said. "She used to be a stringer for us. One time she wrote like a 30-inch story and it was edited down to about 10 inches. She never wrote again for us."

Nonetheless, she was quite a wordsmith. Her memories of World War II remained sharp. Her poem, "1942," captured the ache of that time. "Our short pleated skirts swaying with practiced flicks ... the strains of Glenn Miller fading behind us, but the boys are gone and guns roar across two oceans ..."

Hope was no diamond in the rough; she was a polished gem.

I will miss her phone calls.

Jon Stevens is Greene

County bureau chief and can be reached at jstevens@

observer-reporter.com.

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1 comments

Hope Gone : 11/12/2009
John, As her son in law I concur with your article. She always had a point of view, which was always a great mirror. Life without Hope is less rounded. It is useful to have trusted consultants as we fly through these events without the fine tuning of such a fine woman.

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