Gertrude Poe facts for kids

Gertrude Louise Poe (born September 21, 1915 – died July 13, 2017) was an amazing American woman who did many things! She was a journalist, a lawyer, a real estate agent, an insurance agent, and even a radio broadcaster.

Gertrude was best known as the editor of the Laurel Leader newspaper in Laurel, Maryland. She worked there from 1939 to 1980. People called her "Maryland's First Lady of Journalism" because she was so important in the world of news.

Gertrude Poe's Early Life and Career

Gertrude Poe was born in Granite, Maryland in 1915. She was the youngest of five daughters. Her family later moved to Laurel, Maryland, when she was a child.

She finished Laurel High School in 1931 when she was only fifteen years old. Soon after, a local lawyer named George McCeney hired her to be a secretary in his law office.

After working as a legal secretary for five years, Gertrude decided to go to law school. She went to the Washington College of Law and earned her law degree (called a J.D. degree) in 1939.

Becoming an Editor at The Leader

After finishing law school, Gertrude Poe planned to become a lawyer at McCeney's firm. But George McCeney's son, G. Bowie McCeney, had a different idea. He had bought a newspaper called The Leader the year before.

Instead of making her a lawyer, he made Gertrude the editor of The Leader! Gertrude was surprised because she loved law and didn't know much about writing for a newspaper. She later said she took on the new job "with considerable disinclination" (meaning she really didn't want to). Mr. McCeney wanted her to run the paper while she studied for her bar exam.

Growing the Newspaper

Under Gertrude's leadership, The Leader newspaper changed its focus. Instead of national news, it started to focus on local news that was important to the people of Laurel.

In 1946, the paper changed its name to The News Leader. This happened when it joined with other local papers that Mr. McCeney also owned. Gertrude had been the editor for those papers too.

By 1950, Gertrude Poe became a co-publisher and business partner of The News Leader. She continued to be its editor, making sure the paper came out every week.

A One-Woman Show

For the first twenty years, Gertrude did almost everything for the newspaper herself! She sold ads, designed them, wrote the articles, and even went to the printing plant. She proofread the paper and made sure it was printed correctly. Then, she would bring the papers home and mail them out.

She once said, "I guess from 1939 until about 1956 or 1957, it was a one-woman show." This shows how dedicated she was to her work.

In the late 1950s, the National Security Agency (NSA) moved nearby. Gertrude started writing more about military and base issues. She even received an award for her efforts called the Patriotic Civilian Service Award.

Gertrude also made sure to highlight positive news about Laurel. If other newspapers, like Washington Post, wrote negative stories about the city, she would write letters to them to share the good news.

Retirement and Legacy

After G. Bowie McCeney passed away in 1978, Gertrude started thinking about selling The Leader and retiring. In 1980, she sold the paper. Her last day at the Laurel Leader was June 26, 1980. She had overseen 2,132 issues of the newspaper as editor!

Even in retirement, Gertrude stayed active in many local charity and religious groups in Laurel. In 1988, she started a special fund called the Gertrude Poe Fund for Journalism Excellence. This fund helps students who want to study journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. It especially helps students interested in community journalism.

Her own story, called Lady Editor, was published in 2014.

Other Work and Final Years

Besides the newspaper, Gertrude Poe also ran an insurance agency called the Gertrude L. Poe Agency. In the late 1960s, she even gave a short, five-minute news report every day on WLMD, a local radio station in Laurel.

Gertrude never married or had children. She was very close with her three nieces and their families. In 2015, she was the special guest of honor at a luncheon in Maryland for people who were 100 years old or older.

She wrote in a Laurel Leader article for her 100th birthday that she had lived "a good life and a good livelihood." Gertrude Poe passed away at her home in Ashton on July 13, 2017, at the age of 101.

Awards and Honors

Gertrude Poe received many awards and honors for her amazing work:

• 1958: She was the first woman to be elected president of the Maryland Press Association.
• 1963: She received the Patriotic Civilian Service Award.
• 1967: She was given the Emma C. McKinney Award of Merit from the National Newspaper Association.
• 1976: She was named "Woman of the Year" by a sorority called Xi Alpha Zeta Chapter of Beta Sigma Pi International Sorority.
• 1987: She was the first living person and first woman to be put into the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. (MDDC) Press Association Hall of Fame.
• 2008: She was the honorary chairman for the MDDC Press Association's 100th-year celebration.
• 2011: She was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.
• 2015: She was the honorary chairwoman at the state of Maryland luncheon for residents who were 100 years old or older.