Reporter autumn2010 -a - Franklin Alumni Network - Franklin College

PHOTO BY RENEE KEAN ’06
Donor profile: Meet Kathleen Van Nuys
Kathleen Van Nuys is a loyal and generous friend of Franklin College.
Former journalist
reflects on
the best of times
By Amy (Kean) VerSteeg ’96
Editor
She no longer collects a paycheck for
telling stories, but interact with Kathleen
Van Nuys for a few minutes and you may
think she should. Ink still runs through the
veins of this former newspaper journalist
and engaging storyteller.
Van Nuys, the eldest of four children,
was raised in Tipton, Ind., where her
grandfather co-founded the daily
newspaper in 1896. As far back as Van
Nuys can recall, her parents and siblings
were involved in the family business; her
father eventually served as publisher.
By the time she reached junior high,
Van Nuys was writing and editing
notices — detailed accounts of the social
activities across the county. Later she
learned how to set type, sell ads and lay
out pages. When it was time for college,
choosing a major was black and white;
she chose two, journalism and history.
“Journalism was important because I
knew I’d go home to work on the paper
after college,” Van Nuys said. “And
history was just fascinating. It was the
explanation — the why. History was a look
at life beyond Tipton; it’s what got me
interested in writing about people.”
The Indiana University graduate’s knack
for writing shined at the family’s Tipton
Daily Tribune, where she was the only
female reporter for many years. Her most
memorable assignment was born from a
sorority sister’s invitation to take part in
a post-World War II European travel
seminar. Van Nuys’ father asked her to
document the two-month experience for
the newspaper, which she did by traveling
with a manual typewriter.
“My sister, Mary Jane, and I wrote 60
stories,” Van Nuys recalled.
From traveling overseas on the Queen
Elizabeth ocean liner and hearing Winston
Churchill give a public address at a rugby
field in England to seeing bodies exhumed
after the Battle of the Bulge and shaking
hands with Pope Pius XII, the entire trip is
reminiscent of an adventure novel.
“We had some remarkable experiences
during that trip, but the Statue of Liberty
looked pretty good after some rough seas
that caused us to arrive a day late; it was
bedlam.”
Things got better. After coming home,
Van Nuys’ long courtship with her sweetheart,
Charles, evolved into marriage.
She left the family business to reside with
Charles in the Johnson County farming
community known as Hopewell. At a time
when few women worked outside the
home, Van Nuys balanced motherhood
and career, opting to work after the birth
of her only child.
“I’ve always felt it isn’t how much time
you spend with your child, it’s the quality,”
Van Nuys said. She said she was fortunate
to have a loving mother-in-law and a friend
who helped provide her son’s care.
While her husband worked in downtown
Indianapolis as director of the Indiana
Retail Council and was active in the
legislature, Van Nuys kept her finger on
the pulse of the city as a journalist for
The Indianapolis Times. One of six journalists
in the Women’s Department, Van Nuys had
the distinction of lead writer. Her column
“So They Tell Me” provided a glimpse of
activities involving the city’s most influential
movers and shakers.
“I wrote about the work women’s groups
were doing to raise money to promote
projects city leaders thought would be
good for Indianapolis. I attended lunches,
galas and charitable events and sometimes
went to private homes to interview city
leaders.”
Among those leaders were the Hulmans,
owners of the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway since 1945, and the Clowes,
descendents of Dr. George H.A. Clowes,
director of research at Eli Lilly and Co. in
the early 1900s. After insulin was created,
he mobilized Lilly resources to mass produce
and market a treatment for diabetics.
Van Nuys said, “I felt really lucky to
have a column; I could have been
assigned to something mundane like
the police blotter!”
Van Nuys wrote for The Indianapolis
Times for nine years, ending her column in
1965, when the paper closed operations.
Eventually, the editor at a competing
publication, The Indianapolis News,
56 FRANKLIN REPORTER WWW.FRANKLINCOLLEGE.EDU