Laurie Van Dyke, who worked more than 30 years at the Milwaukee Sentinel and served as Milwaukee Press Club president in the mid-1980s, died Tuesday, May 18, in Denton, Texas. She was 93.
Born in 1927, Van Dyke grew up in Iowa on the family farm and went on to attend Drake University. While in college, she served as an editor for the Drake Times-Delphic student newspaper.
Van Dyke began her career in Iowa with the Fort Dodge Messenger, where she started in the society news department and later took on the police, city hall and county beats. She went on to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, serving as a staff photographer and reporter.
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In 1960, Van Dyke joined the women’s news department of The Milwaukee Journal. She moved to the Milwaukee Sentinel two years later, after the Journal bought the Sentinel. Starting out as a reporter, she climbed the ranks within the newsroom, eventually becoming the newspaper’s first female assistant city editor. She later served as day city editor and assistant managing editor.
One of the first women to join the Milwaukee Press Club, Van Dyke served as its president in 1985-1986. In 1993, the same year she retired from the Sentinel, Van Dyke was awarded the Knight of the Golden Quill, the Press Club’s highest honor.
Memorial contributions in Van Dyke’s name may be made to Serve Denton, a human services nonprofit center in Denton County, Texas.
