Joan Bey was born the year Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic Ocean. She grew up during the Great Depression and graduated from high school in May 1945, when World War II was near an end.
Today, Bey, 94, lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has been a member of Woman’s Press Club of Indiana and the National Federation of Press Women longer than some club members have been alive. She joined 70 years ago in January 1952, making her the most tenured member in the state and the nation.
From Boston to bachelor’s
Bey was born in Boston, Indiana, a small town a few miles south of Richmond, Nov. 30, 1927, one of two children. She and her parents, Lestra and Frank Schoemaker, and younger brother, Francis William, better known as “Fritz,” lived in a farmhouse with Bey’s great-grandparents. Frank Schoemaker died in his 50s of Parkinson’s disease, and Bey’s brother is also deceased. Her mother was 102 when she died in 2010.
“Mother married five times,” Bey said. “Dad was a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, and after he died, all the older members of the K of C would get in line to marry her. When one husband died, another one got in line. She survived them all.”
Bey was the only journalism student at St. Mary of the Woods College to have her work published off campus, which would lead to her first job at the Indiana Catholic & Record (now The Criterion). After earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism and graduating in 1949, Bey moved from the college campus just northwest of Terre Haute to Indianapolis, where she rented a room from a woman who, along with her family, became lifelong friends of Bey.
Joining WPCI/NFPW
Bey was working at the Indiana Catholic & Record when she heard that an employee was leaving her post at the Indianapolis Times. Bey decided she wanted that job.
“I went back every month and inquired about the opening until I got the job,” she said. “It was in the Scripps Howard chain and one of 19 newspapers in the U.S. at that time. I worked there up until 10 days before I had my first child.”
Bey heard about WPCI from a woman whom she sometimes met for lunch who was a member. Back in those days, Bey said, members were not just automatically accepted, they had to apply for membership.
“We had to submit clippings of our work and give references,” she said, “and we also had to have worked in daily media for at least a year.”
As soon as she had a year under her belt, she applied.
“I was so anxious to join WPCI,” Bey said. “I was finally accepted and submitted my dues check in late 1951. They held the check for several weeks so I wouldn’t have to pay the annual dues twice, so my start date was officially 1952.”
Job of a lifetime
The paper was using canned copy for the food section, which irked Bey. One day while reading over the articles being considered for publication, Bey remarked to her editor, “These are not the kinds of food that people cook or eat in the Midwest.”
The newspaper editor was not taken aback by Bey’s candor. Instead, he immediately made Bey the new food editor.
Bey loved the job and worked closely on copy, layout and design with J. Hugh O’Donnell, the in-house artist.
“I had a food page every week and a featured recipe on Sunday,” she said. “J. Hugh was a wonderful artist and would create the art to match the theme of what I was writing.”
Bey’s dedication and passion for her work paid off. In 1952, she was flown to New York City and put up at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel where her work was recognized nationally by the newspaper industry and the American Meat Institute. There, she was presented with a bronze sculpture of Vespa, virgin goddess of the hearth, home and family, for “Outstanding Excellence in the Presentation of Food in the Indianapolis Times.”
Joan meets Jack
While working at the Indianapolis Times, Bey was invited to dinner by a friend, who also invited a guest, John Joseph “Jack” Bey.
“Jack and I just hit it off,” Bey said.
They married May 8, 1954, and had three children: Anna Marie in 1955, Joseph in 1957 and John in 1959. John, who had been diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 5, died in September 2021 at 62.
Bey was no stranger to tragedy. Her husband, Jack, who was employed as a sales representative for BorgWarner, Inc., was 42 when he was killed in the summer of 1968 after a semi-tractor trailer crashed into his automobile.
“I was 40 when Jack died, and the kids were 9, 10 and 12,” Bey said. Stunned by Jack’s sudden death, Bey said she didn’t do anything or make any sudden decisions for herself after Jack died, choosing instead to comfort and care for her grieving children.
The experience of living through the Great Depression helped Bey live frugally and invest wisely. For that reason, she was able to stay home and care for her children instead of returning to work right away, she said.
Years later, when she did return to the workforce, Bey worked in public relations, first for Weight Watchers and then for the Environmental Protection Agency’s auto emission testing program.
Membership friends are the best
Recalling the many friendships she made though WPCI and NFPW, Bey mentioned Louise Eleanor Ross Kleinhenz, a 45-year-member of both organizations who served as WPCI president, historian and Bulletin editor before her death in 1977.
“She was kind, hard-working and dearly loved by all who knew her,” Bey said.
In the 1950s, WPCI members met at a hotel in downtown Indianapolis, Bey said, and their meals cost about $2.50. “We usually did not have enough money for dessert, and Louise would make cookies for us in the shape of Indiana. That’s just the kind of person she was.”
WPCI awards an annual Louise E. Kleinhenz Scholarship to adults wishing to upgrade their journalistic skills.
Two other lifelong friends Bey met through WPCI were Rae Ann Cannon, who lived in Elwood, Indiana, and Martha Parks, who was president of California’s press club.
“Rae Ann was so personable, you couldn’t help but like her,” Bey said. “And, Martha and I remained friends even after she moved from California back to her hometown in Memphis, Tennessee. We always kept in touch through phone calls and letters.”
Bey was at the NFPW conference in Richmond, Virginia, when fellow WPCI member and friend, Hortense Myers, died during the Friday night banquet.
“Hortense got up from the table and said she was going up to our room,” Bey said. “She walked up the first flight of stairs and collapsed on the landing. We had planned to give her a special award the following night, but ended up giving it to her son instead.”
Bey had the sad task of contacting Myers’ family and informing them of her death.
“Hortense wrote for UPI and covered the Indiana Statehouse,” Bey said. “She was truly beloved. She was not only kind, but unbiased and fair in everything she did.”
Myers also is memorialized with an annual WPCI scholarship for college juniors pursuing careers in journalism.
Dedication to WPCI
Bey served as president of WPCI from 1982 to 1984, and was the state’s Communicator of Achievement in 1991. At that time, Bey remembers WPCI having about 150 members.
Because she also filled in for other officers while they were out of state or the country for the summer or winter, she has served in every office in WPCI, including membership.
Bey’s longtime friends in WPCI are quick to sing their praises and show their appreciation for 70 years of active membership.
Marion Garmel credits Bey with holding the affiliate together with her dedication and work as the group’s historian. When Garmel joined WPCI 49 years ago, Bey was the historian.
“When I joined, the previous historian had died and Joan took over the position,” Garmel said. “She got all the files in order and kept meticulous notes. I could call and ask about anyone (nominated for an award) and get two pages about them and their accomplishments in no time.”
When Joan decided to retire as historian, no one wanted to take over the monumental task, Garmel said.
“Joan really loved WPCI, so she got all of the WPCI files and memorabilia together and delivered many boxes to the Indiana Historical Society,” where the records were restored and maintained, Garmel said.
In Bey’s honor, WPCI established an annual Joan Bey History Award in 2018, with Bey as the first recipient. The following year, the award went to the Indiana Historical Society staff for their professionalism and hours spent preserving the WPCI’s artifacts and records.
Another longtime member, Julie Slaymaker, praised Bey for her unfailing dedication and loyalty to WPCI, recalling when she and her late husband, Gene Slaymaker, first met Bey.
“Gene and I met Joan Bey at the NFPW Conference in Vail, Colorado, 36 years ago. Since we didn’t know anybody, we were so grateful to Joan for taking us under her wing. She’s been the ‘wind beneath my wings,’” Slaymaker said.
She added the Bey has been her mentor and adviser in journalism and life.
“When I’ve been on top of the mountain winning awards or in the depths of despair dealing with life’s losses, Joan has been there applauding and encouraging me, or convincing me that I am strong enough to survive,” Slaymaker said.
When Slaymaker’s mother was near death, Bey was there.
“I will never forget the day I was holding my mother’s hand as she was just hours away from death and I looked up to see Joan,” Slaymaker said. “That act of loyal and compassionate friendship symbolizes everything good about WPCI: our caring sisterhood of talented journalists.”
WPCI President Natalie Hoefer said Bey is “an absolute treasure.”
“She’s contributed so much to the organization during her seven decades,” Hoefer said. “And, having been a member for 65 percent of our 109 years in existence, Joan is a walking archive of organizational knowledge. It’s such a privilege to know her from that point of view, and even more so as a person.”
Membership benefits
Both Bey and her admirers sing the benefits of Woman’s Press Club of Indiana and WPCI. First, there are the conferences that offer venues for learning from experts as well as one another. At NFPW conferences, members from all over the country network and form friendships, as Bey and Slaymaker mentioned.
Bey has a bit of advice for anyone considering membership in WPCI/NFPW.
“It’s a great organization to join because members not only become lifelong friends, but they also give each other professional support and guidance along the way.”
