They were two young women of a different era, a time when ambitious, talented women faced a decision that pitted careers against family life.
Born two years apart and passing away within 48 hours of one another over the New Year holiday, one became an acclaimed pioneer in journalism, breaking the glass ceiling for women journalists, in the process forfeiting traditional family life. The other was likewise a pioneering journalist working in that male-dominated field before abruptly leaving the profession and settling in Columbus to become a wife and mother.
The world noted the passing of the first woman, Barbara Walters, who died on Dec. 30 at age 93.
Less acclaimed, but remarkable in her own right, was Margaret Henry, who passed away on Jan. 1 in Columbus at age 95.
Henry’s departure from journalism at age 27 might be incorrectly viewed as a sacrifice.
It was really a love story.
Parallel paths
Margaret Brewer was born in Miami but grew up in Atlanta, which she always considered her true hometown. As it was with so many who grew up during the Depression, Margaret was drawn to movies, decades later vividly recalling the parade down Peachtree Street in Atlanta for the debut of “Gone With the Wind.” But it was another film that year that became her lifelong favorite: “The Wizard of Oz.”
“When the movie came out, she won a contest, a Dorothy look-alike contest,” said Henry’s only daughter, Margaret Mary Henry. “ l have a picture of her in her costume with three other kids who won prizes. She loved the movie and ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ was her favorite song.”
It was the song Margaret Mary’s mother and father danced to at their wedding, in fact.
Upon graduating with a degree in journalism from Emory University in 1949, Margaret began looking for work in a field where opportunities for women were rare and limited.
A friend suggested she talk to John Henry, the Southeast bureau chief of the International News Service in Atlanta.
Although neither Margaret nor John knew it at the time, a love story and career began that day on parallel paths.
John Henry, a Columbus native, was 12 years older than Margaret and already a veteran journalist, having served as war correspondent during WWII and later becoming the INS bureau chief, first in Atlanta and later in Dallas.
When John told her she didn’t have the experience to be hired at INS, Margaret accepted a job at a small newspaper just outside Atlanta, where she was able to report on news stories that women at the time rarely had the opportunity to cover.
In an oral history years later, Margaret described the job, perhaps telling more than she realized:
“I wrote stories about the state legislature and other crimes,” she said.
Six months later, determined to advance her career, she returned to meet with John Henry, who hired her for a position in Atlanta, ultimately sending her to Washington D.C., during the Eisenhower Administration.
She later returned to Atlanta to take care of her ailing mother and in 1954 accepted a job as Women’s Editor for a short-lived start-up newspaper in Jackson.
Through it all, John and Margaret kept it touch, both professionally and romantically.
“She was devoted to her profession, but she was more devoted to my father,” Margaret Mary said. “They courted for a long time, and when he finally proposed, she didn’t look back. He was the love of her life.”
In late 1954, John was approached by the directors of Merchant and Farmers Bank in Columbus for the role of bank president.
He left journalism for the job, and Margaret did, too.
A new life in Columbus
John and Margaret were married in May 1955 and moved into the house John’s grandfather had built on Second Avenue North in Columbus in 1902. They dubbed the home “The Fourth Estate” as a nod to their journalism careers. John ran the bank and Margaret took on the role of wife and mother of seven, three of whom died in infancy.
She still kept her hand in journalism, writing freelance columns for newspapers and magazines. When her youngest child entered school, she began a 13-year career in public relations at Mississippi University for Women.
Of the four children — John Jr., Taylor, Margaret Mary and Bryan — three followed in their parents’ journalism footsteps. John Jr., the eldest, became an attorney, spending his career in the Mississippi Attorney General’s office in Jackson. Taylor, meanwhile, had a successful broadcast career at CNN (winning a DuPont Award, the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) before becoming a lawyer who now works with the Catholic Church.
Margaret Mary worked as a reporter for The Sun Herald newspaper in Biloxi, The Moscow Times and The Christian Science Monitor before returning to Columbus, where she now teaches Russian at the Mississippi School for Math and Science.
Bryan, the youngest child, is now in his 37th year as a broadcast reporter, currently with Birmingham’s WBRC working out of the station’s Tuscaloosa bureau.
That three of the couple’s children would follow their path into journalism was never by design, John Jr. said.
“All the time, my mother and my father would tell us stories about the stories they wrote, but it was never a thing like ‘I’m going to do what she did,’ It was more like, ‘Isn’t this interesting?’”
Margaret Mary said the home environment set the stage for her career in journalism.
“It was a house where we read newspapers. My parents were always curious. My mother was always full of questions. She wanted to know where the fire truck went, what was going on with the city council. We grew up in that.”
Margaret’s influence on the journalism careers of her children is most profoundly evident in Bryan’s case, although neither she nor Bryan recognized it at the time.
A childhood illness when Bryan was a toddler destroyed his hearing in his left ear.
“My parents didn’t notice anything until a couple of years later,” Bryan said. “My middle brother, Taylor, was the first to notice it. At that age, your speech is impacted when you have hearing loss. My mom, through the grace of God, had the wisdom and foresight to tackle it immediately. I remember clearly her sitting down with me and working on letter sounds, syllables, consonant and vowel sounds, making sure I was pronouncing each word correctly and not over-enunciating. She did that for hours and hours. It’s one of the many reasons I loved her and still love her.”
Later years
John Henry died in 1978 and soon the children left home to pursue their own careers, representing a new stage of life for Margaret.
“It was always keep going with my mom,’’ Margaret Mary said. “She was vivid, vigorous, just a unique and spirited soul.”
From her arrival in Columbus in 1955, she embraced Columbus and was an active participant in a wide variety of community organizations, including becoming a charter member of Main Street Columbus.
“She absolutely loved downtown,” Margaret Mary said. “In her later years, she was a familiar figure downtown on her walks with her little Westie Terrier. She was alert and active almost to the very end.
Taylor said his mom’s personality allowed her to cope with the loss of her beloved husband. Although they were much alike in many ways, they were their own people.
“She was a fiercely independent woman who did not easily fall under the influence of popular culture,” Taylor said.
“She made friends easily and quickly,” John Jr. said. “She had a very pleasant way of dealing with people. She was approachable. My father tended to be quieter, more reserved.”
Throughout her life, Margaret was strengthened and sustained by her faith. A devoted Catholic, she attended mass at Annunciation Catholic Church each Sunday and prayed daily (with a special fondness of praying the rosary). It is a faith shared by all four of her children.
“One of the things I’m so grateful for is that my mother wouldn’t let me quit piano lessons,” Margaret Mary said. “It’s thanks to her that I became a cantor and accompanist for the Catholic Church. She gave me the gift of music, one of the great joys of my life.”
Bryan was at his mother’s hospital bedside in her final moments.
“I knelt at her bed, got up close to her face and said the Lord’s Prayer, followed by a Hail Mary,” Bryan said. “ Then I told her how much I loved her and kissed her forehead countless times. After my last kiss, I would say about 60 seconds, she passed. I consider that to be a holy moment. I hope she was able to hear me.
“I believe, by God’s grace, she did.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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