Eva Reid: girl reporter.
One of Calgary's longest serving and best loved newspaper columnists discovered her talent for writing only through a lucky break. In the height of the Depression, Eva Reid could not find work as a stenographer so when a friend launching a small newspaper offered her a job, she jumped at the chance. She was hired as circulation manager but soon was pressed into service editing copy, conducting interviews, and writing articles. Her true calling revealed, she dedicated the rest of her long career to newspaper work, juggling jobs as diverse as provincial editor, court reporter, women's editor, and social columnist. When she finally retired after more than four decades of writing about Calgary social life from bottom to top, faithful readers quietly mourned and colleagues announced it as the end of an era.Eva Adeline Reid was born on June 12, 1906, in Orangeville, Ontario, third child to William John and Ann Elizabeth (White) Reid. In 1908, when Eva was still a toddler, John Reid moved west, purchasing two adjoining quarter sections of land in the Hazelmere district, five miles southeast of the little town of Macleod.
By the early 1920s, the Reid children had left the farm and moved to Calgary. There Eva attended high school and studied business at Mount Royal College. After her graduation in 1924 she quickly found work as a stenographer at Big Chief Oil Co., but by 1925 had moved on. Restless and eager for adventure, she followed friends to Detroit and soon was employed as a stenographer with the John E. Smith Cut Stone Co.
In 1928, her sister Lavina died and Eva returned to Calgary. It was during this time of spiritual need that she became an active Christian. When speaking about her conversion years later, she said that before her sister's death, "like Paul of old I took great delight in persecuting the Christians. I rarely went to church and when I did it was merely to scoff." But when she returned home to the "broken family circle," Lavina's dying message left her in a state of "bitter rebellion" which her father attempted to ease by taking her to hear local evangelist William Aberhart.
Aberhart, who was also principal of Crescent Heights High School, had been attracting local attention with his Sunday afternoon fundamentalist bible study lectures. broadcast weekly since 1925 over CFCN radio. With the financial support of a large and loyal following, in 1927 he had opened the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute as a home base for his Baptist church and a training facility for bible students. John Reid was impressed with the man's dynamic preaching style and prophetic messages, but Eva attended the church reluctantly at first. However, over the course of several months. she was touched by the kindness and spiritual comfort offered by the Aberharts. She started to take notice of sonic of his more striking statements and began looking up scripture on her own, actually taking fright at some passages. Her conversion finally occurred after hearing Aberhart preach a particularly powerful sermon: "Ye must be born again."
Drawn to Aberhart's religious message and to his wife's kindly mothering, Eva in 1929 accepted the couple's invitation to board in their home at 2505-5th Street West in Calgary. With their two daughters grown, the gregarious Aberharts had welcomed a series of young boarders into the lower level bedroom in their one-and-a-half story hillside home in the Mission area. Forty years later, Eva wrote a two-part article in which she fondly recalled her fourteen months' residence in the "house with the Algebra fence." Treated more like a family member than a paying boarder, she joined the Aberharts for meals and entered into their daily lives. Jessie Aberhart was a community-minded, social woman who welcomed her husband's associates and adherents, particularly young students from the Bible Institute. In addition to earnest debate, Eva recalled many good times with her hosts and their friends. "There was laughter, prayer. story telling, and jokes aplenty in the kitchen nook; we made music and played games in the elongated living room."
She remembered William Aberhart as a serious minded man who worked long hours in his study and was demanding of himself and others. "This man of letters was often demanding, short tempered, impatient, on occasion rude or sharp and sometimes, I thought, unreasonable, but he was never cruel physically nor mentally to his family or fellow man to my knowledge. On the contrary, he demonstrated a great love of family and I recall his glee when he could snatch an hour or two from a busy schedule to join them in music and song. He played the piano, sometimes for guests, but in the living room he never took himself too seriously and as jokes were exchanged, his infectious laugh could be heard through the eight-room house."
Because Jessie did not always share her husband's more extreme religious views, there was a certain amount of tension in the home, but according to intimate eye-witness Eva, "the chatelaine of the house ... emerged victorious from the majority of family squabbles." During her year with the family, Eva became very close to Jessie Aberhart and fond of her daughters, Khona and Ola, especially the latter, who was her age and lived in Calgary.
Eva never doubted the profound influence that Jessie exerted over her husband, nor his religious sincerity. She wrote, "whatever faults, failures, or besetting sins this man may have had, I stoutly maintain hypocricy [sic] was not among them. His God was very real to him and no one ever has or could convince me otherwise." This sincerity impressed Eva deeply and she attributed to Aberhart's example her decision to become a devoted Christian. (1)
When Eva moved in with the Aberharts, she was working as a typist at the General Motors Acceptance Corporation, but soon found herself unemployed when the company felt the effects of the worldwide economic downturn. And, like so many others at the time, she found it very difficult to get another job. With time on her hands and very little money, she was easily persuaded to fill her hours by attending free classes at the Prophetic Bible Institute. Her curiosity had been aroused by the lively dinner table discussions about religion conducted by Aberhart, and her conventional Anglican upbringing had proved no match for the fervor and religious commitment she witnessed in her new fundamentalist friends.
She started attending the newly formed Bible Institute Baptist Church, getting to know the teen-aged organist, Muriel Preston. Muriel, who was a student at Crescent Heights High School and a favourite of William Aberhart's, occasionally visited the Aberhart house, usually accompanied by her mother or other young people from the church. One of Eva's fondest memories from this period involved young Muriel and occurred one evening when the Aberharts were away from home. In temporary rebellion against the strict Baptist precepts that ruled the Aberhart household, Eva turned up the radio, rolled back the rug and taught a "not too unwilling" Muriel to dance. Guilt forced later confession to Aberhart of this and other forbidden indulgences such as drinking and card playing. Although he wittingly forgave her weaknesses, his usual technique was to make "sinners" condemn themselves, (2) and it is possible that this interview was painful for Eva. In any case, her realization that she must always chafe against the strictures of the household may have contributed to her decision to find other accommodation after little more than a year at the Aberharts'.
Eva worked wherever she could over the next few years. But whenever she found herself unemployed, she took classes at the Prophetic Bible Institute. Eventually, she managed to finish the sixteen courses required to complete the Senior Pass Course. Whereas the Junior Pass Course was designed "for those who desire to get the rudiments of Bible knowledge so that they may be of ordinary service in their church or Sunday School," the Senior Pass Course was more intense and intended for those interested in "greater service. (13) The courses ranged from Bible History and Geography to Apologetics, Homiletics and Systematic Theology. Although she thought they were interesting, particularly Mr. Aberhart's own course on Bible Exegesis, Eva found them challenging and the marking severe. Except for high marks in Personal Evangelism, her final exam reports in 1933 and 1934 were disappointing, with marks uniformly low.
It was in the summer of 1932, well after Eva had ceased to board in his home, that William Aberhart adopted and began to espouse Social Credit ideas in his weekly radio broadcasts, but she may well have witnessed the early evolution of his thinking during her year with the family. Certainly, she later recalled lively discussions about economic matters and Aberhart's great personal concern for farmers and the unemployed. whom he met through his job as a teacher and his evangelical work. Her own experience with unemployment, and the distress she witnessed among farmers during her weekend visits home, made Eva and many others like her receptive to Aberhart's persuasive argument that the government should support a system of social credit to deal with the Depression. As she later explained, the idealism of Social Credit "appealed to my young mind."
The first Social Credit groups began forming in Calgary in 1933, but the movement gained momentum quickly, and by 1934 local chapters of the Social Credit League had been organized throughout the province. Understanding that the new movement could benefit from a newspaper to coordinate its activities, give voice to its concerns and counteract negative publicity in the established media, veteran publisher Charles K. Underwood approached Aberhart and suggested that he could establish and publish just such an organ. Aberhart agreed, although he did not offer financial support, and the Social Credit Chronicle began weekly publication in July 1934. Luckily for Eva, Underwood was an old family friend from Macleod, where he had edited the local newspaper a dozen years before. She was delighted with his offer of employment and became the Chronicle's circulation manager at a salary of $8 per week.
As one of the few paid staff members at the Chronicle, Eva worked closely with Underwood and discovered an unsuspected interest in the newspaper business. Encouraged to fill many roles, soon she was writing up local League reports and then short pieces about the effects of the Depression on ordinary people. Glad of her help. Underwood also recognized her natural ability as a reporter, although her writing skills required more active mentoring. She later dismissed her first attempts as "a feeble effort in writing," but with experience she improved, and she proudly labelled at Social Credit publicity portrait, "Girl Reporter." Soon she was producing regular articles and profiles of Social Credit personalities, even contributing reports on the first Social Credit conventions held in Calgary and Edmonton in April 1935.
Around this time, Eva also began writing a chatty weekly column of miscellaneous notes and observations relating to social conditions and Social Credit called "Here and There with Eva." At the same time, as circulation manager, she played an active role in the paper's phenomenal growth. From an initial printing of 4,000 copies in July 1934. circulation mushroomed to 40,000 one year later, and, at its peak, 60,000 with a readership extending beyond the Alberta borders." Eva tracked the paper's rising popularity in a very concrete manner as it was one of her many duties to count and roll the coins sent in with new subscriptions (sixty five cents for three months, $1.25 for six and $2.25 for a full year).
Eva's close relationship with Underwood during the Chronicle years appears to have been personal as well as professional, and there is evidence that they may have had a brief love affair. Although she never alluded to this possibility publicly, she saved among her few treasured letters from family and friends two notes from "Seekay," as Underwood always signed his poetry. One of these begs forgiveness from "My Own Own Dearest" for a jealous drunken rage which apparently had prompted Eva to break with him and return "that little token of my wonderful regard." Seeking reinstatement, he had written "darling it suddenly dawned upon me ... what it would mean if you went out of my life. Of course I have no hold on you dearest only a love that is honest for the one little girl I've ever met in my life. You are the only real thing I have loved ... it just seems as if everything is black without you." The other is a sad little poem entitled "Without You" and dedicated "In memory of the only girl in the world that ever meant anything to a temperamental, bad-tempered cynic. Adeline." (7)
Her work at the Chronicle had drawn Eva more firmly into Social Credit circles, and by 1935 she was secretary-treasurer of the Central Council of the Alberta Social Credit League. During the summer of 1935, leading up to the August provincial election, she campaigned actively on behalf of local Social Credit candidates, once even standing in for a double-booked Edith Gostick during a radio broadcast featuring the views of Fred Anderson, J.W. Hugill, and the absent Miss Gostick. Like thousands of other eager Albertans, after Aberhart's landslide election Eva signed the Alberta Citizen's Registration Covenant, thereby promising to support his government in its determination to put social credit theories into practice. As President of the Original Young People's Social Credit Group, she sent a wedding present and letter of congratulation to Ernest C. Manning when the new Provincial Secretary married the Bible Institute's secretary and music director, Muriel Preston in June 1936. Fittingly, the couple married at the Prophetic Bible Institute and, as a friend to both, Eva was in attendance there and at the reception which followed at the Palliser Hotel.
The unqualified success of the Social Credit Chronicle attracted the notice of George Bell. publisher of the Calgary Albertan, which had been struggling with circulation problems as a result of the Depression. Bell's pressing financial need dovetailed nicely with Aberhart's determination to control a daily newspaper, a desire which had grown oat of his frustration with the blatantly anti-Social Credit editorial policy of powerful local dailies such as the Calgary Herald. In January 1936, The Albertan was sold to a syndicate of Social Creditors on the condition that they raise the purchase price of $600,000 through a public offering of stock. As well as enjoying the confidence of the government, The Albertan became the official organ of the Alberta Social Credit Party and, as such, agreed to publish the Social Credit Chronicle as a weekly insert.
This arrangement was acceptable to Underwood mainly because he realized that the Chronicle had served its original purpose by assisting in the victory sweep of Social Credit candidates in the August 1935 election, and was now in danger of becoming simply a local interest "news" paper? (8) He and Eva Reid joined the Albertan staff, although his independent nature soon caused him to move on. Weekly Chronicle inserts were included in The Albertan for two years, and for a period of time, staff received half their pay in Social Credit Prosperity Certificates, Aberhart's so-called "funny money." (9)
At first, Eva's move to The Albertan made little difference to her political involvement, since her primary focus remained the weekly publication of the Chronicle insert (although her little column, "Here and There with Eva." was discontinued after only two issues). But in 1937, she declined re-nomination as secretary-treasurer of the Calgary Constituency Association, citing work pressures as her excuse. When it became evident in 1938 that the Social Credit syndicate was unable to sell sufficient shares to cover the price of The Albertan, the option to purchase was allowed to expire, thereby releasing the paper from its commitment to the Social Credit party.
New owner Max Bell (his father, George Bell, had died in March 1936) and manager Peter Galbraith decided to discontinue the Chronicle and return the paper to its pre-purchase political stance, announcing through the masthead that The Albertan was once again "An Independent Newspaper." Invited to remain and train as a junior reporter, Eva was in no danger of unemployment, but the newspaper's avowed independence from the government forced her to curtail active political work on behalf of the Social Credit party. However, she always maintained a private interest in the party and was a firm Manning supporter for the rest of her life. After William Aberhart's death in 1943, she remained so close to his family that daughter Ola told a Herald reporter in 1965 that Eva was "like another daughter to mother."
Eva's experience as a junior reporter was typical of the times. Post-secondary courses in journalism were non-existent, so newspaper training was acquired on the job. What that meant at first was doing odd jobs for other newsroom staff while working on the proof desk and then the rewrite desk. Through this hands-on experience, Eva was meant to absorb the old fashioned ideals of journalism by observing the work of her peers: independence, sincerity, decency, impartiality, factual accuracy and "a passionate sense of responsibility to the public." Although she was allowed to do some writing during her training period, it was under the watchful eye of the managing editor, William T. Hall, and she was not allowed to leave the office to conduct her own research or interviews. This created difficulties. Her first newspaper piece, a story about a gold nugget found by a farmwife cleaning a turkey, required five rewrites--and was later proven a false alarm by an investigative reporter not restricted as Eva had been to hearsay and second hand reports (the "nugget" was discovered to be a tie pin accidentally dropped in the farmyard and consumed by the undiscriminating turkey).
Once Hall felt that she was ready to move beyond the newsroom. Eva was allowed to accompany senior reporters on their various beats around the city. But one of her first assignments made her seriously question her career choice. A senior reporter heading out to cover a car accident along the old Banff Coach Road was told to take Eva along to "see if she's got any guts." The body parts strewn about the gruesome scene shook Eva badly, and she later revealed that if jobs had been easier to get during the Depression she would have left The Albertan right then.
More pleasant memories involved accompanying women's editor Anne Grant to social functions and to the train station to gather international news from returning missionaries. This rather quaint tradition of news gathering continued only a few years after Eva joined The Albertan, but at the time she relished the fierce competition with Herald reporters looking for international scoops to supplement the few stories available over the wire service. She found that she enjoyed the rush and tumble of daily newspaper production, particularly at The Albertan where a shoestring budget often necessitated the active involvement of all staff at a moment's notice to meet a deadline or to get out a special edition. She later claimed, "Those in the profession who have never experienced a part in putting out an Extra haven't really lived."
Occasionally, Eva was allowed to accompany senior reporters to important events occurring outside of Calgary, and she enjoyed this new freedom very much. On one such trip to Jasper in August 1939, she entered into a lighthearted whirlwind romance with Jim Woodford, the assistant manager of the local Imperial Bank of Canada. In his capacity as Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, the engaging Welshman had been assigned to entertain the media, but duty quickly became pleasure once he met Eva. There followed several months of affectionate correspondence, but meetings were difficult to arrange and the affair was overshadowed by Jim's determination to join the war. Responding to Eva's concern, he stoutly explained, "I feel it is my duty as a single man and with my home in the old country to go and shall do so at the first opportunity." He finally enlisted in "E" Company in Edmonton in early November, and soon after that the relationship apparently cooled and ended.
It is possible that Eva's journalistic competence and editorial ability were evident to her managers, and that her career might have evolved much as it did without any additional help. But it definitely received a boost from an unexpected quarter with the declaration of war in September 1939. Suddenly, the newsroom emptied of male reporters anxious to enlist. With her training period scarcely complete. Eva was appointed provincial editor of The Albertan at a weekly salary of $14. She organized a string of ninety correspondents "from Barrhead to the border," trained them in basic news writing and paid fifteen cents a column inch for news from their respective districts. Relying on their co-operation to compete with the Herald's coverage of local events, she often worked tong hours and into the night to insure that a late arriving news item made it into the next morning's paper. She quickly developed a reputation as a tough task master, who did not hesitate to send a testy note chiding a correspondent who had let her down.
Quite possibly the first female provincial editor in Canada, Eva was one of the few women journalists of her time to "slip over the gender border." (10) At a time when most female reporters were relegated to the society page by male editors who refused to take them seriously. Eva was assigned a job traditionally reserved for her male counterparts. And she revelled in that job. But as the only female editor at The Albertan for more than two years, she often felt isolated, and soon after her appointment she sought out the support of other newspaperwomen by joining the Canadian Women's Press Club.
With the outbreak of World War II, and with Jim Woodford's encouragement, Eva toyed briefly with joining the armed forces, but decided to slay on with The Albertan when the newspaper industry was declared essential by the government. With this decision, she became part of a core team of hard-working women who kept The Albertan going, and going well, despite the dearth of men in the newsroom during the war years. However, the new focus, on international events had a significant impact on Eva's job its provincial editor. Except for a brief period during the exciting Alberta election campaign of 1940. provincial news was relegated to the back pages and no longer required a full time editor. As a result, Eva worked on a wide variety of stories, and often it was she who was assigned to talk with the families of soldiers reported missing or dead. "It was a very sobering business, believe me. It wasn't easy. Many a tear I shed with them." (11)
In 1940, Eva began covering the magistrate's courts in addition to her other duties. Because of its often sordid nature, crime reporting usually was seen by editors us a "male" job. Similarly, it was considered unusual and somewhat inappropriate for a woman to cover the police courts. Although the war disrupted preconceived notions. Eva never doubted that her assignment to this beat was a direct result of the wartime shortage of male reporters. But however it was accomplished, once again Eva had surmounted a barrier and had taken on a job traditionally reserved for men.
The police court beat was an eye-opener for Eva, exposing her to the seamier side of Calgary society, but her interest in people and their stories gave her a certain relish for the job and a sympathy for the victims which came through in her column. Contemporaries judged Eva's reports "tough but fair," and agreed that her conversational writing style attracted new readers to the column by making court proceedings seem interesting to the general public. (12) In fourteen years on the police court beat, Eva covered all manner of crime--petty fraud, robbery, domestic violence, murder--and her anecdotes from the courtroom were legion. Although she toughened up quickly, and eventually could sit through most cases with equanimity, she remembered feeling squeamish at her first inquest, held in a very small room where it was almost impossible to take notes without brushing up against the corpse! Often, she felt sorry for young women charged with sex or drug related offences, and occasionally she connected with them after their trials to offer emotional and financial support. She claimed that one of the most harrowing cases that she ever covered was the preliminary hearing of a "sex pervert" accused of murdering a child.
On the other hand, many cases were trivial, even farcical. One of her favourites was the trial of two German prisoners of war who had escaped internment. The biggest stir in the court occurred when the pair revealed just how much precious rationed sugar they had wasted in trying to brew their own beer! Eva was disturbed when she discovered that the interpreter, who was very charming to her throughout the long trial, had earned the Iron Cross before being taken prisoner for shooting down eighty Allied planes. By responding to his friendly advances, she worried that she might be accused of "fraternizing with the enemy."
As well as becoming very familiar with the Canadian Criminal Code, Eva became a well known figure around the courts. Former Chief Justice of Alberta, William McGillivray, was well acquainted with Eva when he was a novice lawyer in Calgary during the early 1940s, and later described her as "a very fair reporter ... who had the respect of the bench and the bar. (13) But for those up on charges, her presence in the courtroom could be distracting and intimidating. Her habit of tapping her scarlet fingernails impatiently during slow or tedious trials so unnerved one habitual offender that he nicknamed her "Bloody Mary." (14) And her familiar face led to some amusing, even embarrassing situations. Once at a party, a friend introduced her as "Eva Reid--she knows all the criminals in town." (15) Walking home arm-in-arm late one night with a male colleague, a local prostitute greeted Eva with "Hello there dearie--how are you doing tonight?" (6) Always willing to tell a joke on herself, one of her favourite stories was overheating a well known habitue of the police court, who obviously recognized her but could not remember why, say to his companion, "See that woman there, she's the worst little prostitute in the city." (17)
When Anne Grant left The Albertan in 1941, Eva took on a second job which contrasted sharply with court reporting: she became women's editor. Working with a single assistant, she was responsible for the entire women's department, a broad area which included virtually anything deemed "of interest to women." To build her page, Eva relied heavily on carefully nurtured contacts in the women's groups active in Calgary at the time, and she became a familiar figure at many of their functions. Although most of these groups were dominated by middle and upper class women, often their focus was much wider than simple socializing. By including their news and highlighting their endeavours, the women's page richly represented the social, cultural, business, professional and religious concerns of women and the arts community at the time.
Sometimes, a social function required her to bring an evening gown to the office for a quick change at the end of what then became a twelve or fourteen hour working day. Thirty years later, Georgia Henderson Souter, Eva's assistant in the women's department for her first ten years, reminisced: "many, many nights I recall Eva sitting at her typewriter well after midnight, in her floor-length dress, with flowers in her hair, banging out a story to beat the deadline. Those were the days before the 40-hour week. Eva's day would start at court around 10 a.m. and often not end until 1 a.m." (18) But she thrived on the challenge of hard work, and enjoyed the diversity of her job. In 1961, she confessed with a certain relish to a gathering of press conveners, "A [social] editor is a stenographer, a filing clerk, a telephone answering service, a walking Emily Post and Fanny Farmer, a whipping post and [an] old meanie."
With her appointment as women's editor, Eva finally had the money and confidence in her job stability to move out of boarding houses and rented rooms into an apartment of her own in the Williams Block at 1411 4th St. S.W. (over the R.H. Williams ladies' dress store). Since she did not drive, she likely chose this area because of its convenient proximity to The Albertan offices at 9th Ave and 2nd St. S.W. She lived there from 1941 to 1957, when she moved to the Jubilee Apartments, a few blocks further west at 721 15th Ave S.W. Her final move, in 1974, was another relocation within the Beltline area to an apartment in the newly developed Hull Estates.
In addition to club news, society notes and a homemaker's column in The Albertan, Eva also wrote or edited feature articles judged to be of interest to women. One of the most poignant stories of the post-war period was the arrival in Alberta of women who had married Canadian soldiers overseas. Eva went through train after train interviewing these "war brides," often feeling genuinely sorry for the ones who "had been led down the garden path," arriving totally unprepared for the reality of life in rural Canada. Inevitably, post war social changes affecting women were reflected in the women's pages, but as women's editor of a small city newspaper, sometimes Eva had to exercise considerable discretion in preparing national wire stories such as the 1953 Kinsey Report on female sexuality for local publication.
Eva was expected to interview important female visitors passing through Calgary, women such as Princess Margaret, the Duchess of Windsor, and Mme St. Laurent, the prime minister's wife. Typically, these articles consisted of little more than the personal minutiae female readers of the time expected: detailed descriptions of the woman's clothing and personal appearance and her opinions on household management and child rearing. But Eva often regaled her colleagues with stories never included in her articles. A favourite anecdote occurred during a wartime bond drive in Calgary. Eva had waited some time in the rain to interview visiting celebrities Anna Nagel and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. During the interview, she was disconcerted by Miss Nagel's fixed stare, but only discovered once she was back at the office that the rain had caused the black dye in her hat to run, forming a perfect swastika on her forehead! (19)
Occasionally, items from the women's page deemed of wider interest were scooped and included on the "news" pages. When this happened, usually without warning, Eva had to scramble to fill the resulting holes in her page, but she never dared to complain because, in the pecking order of the newsroom, the women's page ranked near the bottom. Although she often was exhausted, she prided herself on never complaining--not about the long days, nor the low pay which never took into account the number of hours necessary to cover two such demanding jobs. She observed the same stoicism in her male colleagues, and although she was aware of the pay inequity, she accepted conditions as they were.
Her strong work ethic and positive attitude quickly earned Eva the respect of Bill Hall's successor, Arthur MacDonald Raymond. Appointed managing editor of The Albertan in 1941, "Poppa" Raymond had a reputation for being difficult and uncompromising, but got along surprisingly well with Eva. She admired his high standards and stern motto, "Get it first but first get it right," and he, in turn, respected her loyalty and professionalism. These qualities impressed all of Eva's co-workers, but especially smoothed her way with male colleagues. Kind and generous, talkative and easy to talk to. Eva was known as a "man's woman," a woman who did not intimidate the men she encountered but instead earned their friendship and admiration. (20)
Herald columnist Catherine Ford, daughter of court reporter Robert E. Ford, remembered meeting Eva many times while visiting her father's office. Even as a young child, she realized that Eva enjoyed a unique status in the traditional world of the 1950s, a world where men dominated and most women adhered to proscribed roles. "She was the very first woman I ever met outside of my family who talked to men toe to toe. Who treated them as equals, not superiors, and who was, in turn, respected by them," said Catherine Ford. That a woman could still be accepted by men even though she worked in a non-traditional field and never married was a profound discovery for the little girl. (21)
Despite her ready acceptance by men in what was seen to be a man's field (or perhaps because of it), Eva struggled to maintain her femininity in the newsroom. The conventional dress code for women at the time dictated skirts or suits for the office, and Eva never deviated from that rule, even when pantsuits became acceptable attire for professional women. Striking and handsome, rather than conventionally pretty, Eva was careful with her appearance even as she aged, and younger colleagues remember her jet black hair (carefully dyed in later years), "fresh summer frocks," glittery evening gowns and love of costume jewelry. Always careful to don a hat and gloves when she headed out, Eva's hectic pace as a reporter sometimes resulted in a careless, slipshod appearance at odds with her intentions. Years later, an old (male) friend tellingly reminisced, "you great lady with hat of flowers oft askew, coat slung more than worn." (22)
At the office, Eva was subjected to a curious double standard. Whereas some words were considered unfit for her delicate female ears (words like "pregnant," "impotent," "cocktail party"), her male colleagues rarely considered her presence when they indulged in cursing and swearing. Eva let it be known that in this regard she did not wish to be treated as "one of the boys," and the men soon learned to watch their language in the "powder-puff department." In the manner of the times, her male co-workers applauded and respected her effort to remain "ladylike" in the "hard-boiled" atmosphere of the newsroom.
Eva Reid was women's editor at The Albertan for nearly twenty years and estimated that in that time she attended "thousands" of weddings and received notice of hundreds of births, deaths, and anniversaries. As society editor, she was expected to be an authority on social etiquette and often received calls asking for advice. She used to joke that during the dozen years when she wore two such different hats, the two main props of her job were the Criminal Code and Emily Post, and said that should she ever write an autobiography, it would be entitled "Dope Fiends and Debutantes." (23)
Occasionally, the distinction between her two jobs blurred, as for example the time she witnessed an individual pleading guilty at court in the morning and that same evening found him presiding over a social function. Although media culture at the time dictated a less intrusive approach towards the social elite, Eva's charitable handling of incidents like this gave rise to her reputation for kindness and discretion. But her deferential treatment also reveals the social snobbery encouraged by her dual role. Her dependence on the goodwill of the "movers and shakers" of Calgary society for social news meant that sometimes well-known families were spared the embarrassment of seeing their names in the police court column (but only when she considered their crimes to be minor). Similarly, as women's editor, she exercised great tact and what she chose to print, preferring good relations with the social elite to a sensational scoop. Once, she saved a well known society matron from certain public humiliation by painting over the shockingly bare knees exposed in a club photograph before submitting it to the printers. She was proud of her reputation for honesty and integrity, and once told an interviewer "Truth is very important to me. I would rather be scooped than break a trust ... You win in the long run." (24)
In spite of her Baptist religious affiliation, Eva loved hosting and attending parties, enjoyed a social drink, and even smoked for a time. Colleagues slyly referred to late night sessions at her apartment until 2 and 3 a.m. with a "gracious hostess, whose brandy alexanders started more than one of us along the road to perdition." (25) But they also remembered with gratitude, "no reporter away from home ever lacked for Christmas dinner, a stiff drink, or a plate of cookies." (26) She was a devoted friend and a strong role model for other single career women, often inviting them to attend social events for which she had received complimentary invitations, or to accompany her to the Calgary Press Club's Bar 30 after work on Friday night. (27)
Sadly, in spite of her popularity, Eva never found a life partner, although she later admitted to an interviewer that she "did love a boy once." (28) With this comment, she may have been referring to her brief romance with "Seekay," or other early boyfriends, but it is also possible that she had in mind a rather unhappy, abortive relationship with a mysterious (possibly married) man in the early 1950s. As the relationship was ending, Eva kept a diary and there are many entries referring to her troubled feelings about "Geohen," as she had nicknamed him. Even in her diary, however, her need for privacy prevailed and she camouflaged some of her particularly intense feelings by entering them in shorthand. Six months after the relationship seems to have ended, she confessed "Still in love with--In fact I am crazy mad about him. But he thinks he no longer cares for me. Sometimes, though I think he does????" A few weeks later, she wondered"--seems to love me too. Won't say so but looks would indicate such to be the case." (29)
Over a six month period in 1952, after the breakup, she often battled depression, and after a two week gap in the diary recorded "a very bad session--Depression period was terrible! Felt God had forsaken me! Gloom." Two weeks later, she was still "feeling miserable physically, mentally and spiritually. Bad night ... Wept copious tears," and after a particularly had session around Christmastime, she confided to her diary that she "went to the office and got out the women's page in tears."
In the spring of 1953, she recorded tentatively "heartache over heart interest might be improved a little--have sought solace in prayer." Geohen's occasional reappearances weakened her resolve, and she continued to record periodic spiritual struggles for nearly a year after the rupture. She was able to move on only with his apparent removal to Edmonton in the fall of 1953. There is no indication that Eva found a substitute for this lost love, and none but her closest friends ever realized her feelings of loss and regret regarding marriage and children.
At its biennial convention in 1949, the national executive of the Canadian Women's Press Club (CWPC) honoured Eva Reid as one of the first female provincial editors in Canada. At the same meeting, they encouraged her and other Calgary members to re-establish the local branch, lying dormant since the late 1930s. The Calgary press women responded, and by February 1950 the Calgary Branch had re-formed with Eva as first president. She served two terms as president, provided leadership for many committees and special projects over the years, and remained an active member until the branch again disbanded in 1974.
This experience sparked Eva's interest in the wider organization, and she served on the national executive of the CWPC a number of times: as Alberta Regional Director from 1954 to 1956, as national Vice-President and chair of the Memorial Awards Committee from 1956 to 1959, and as chair of the Beneficiary Fund from 1962 to 1971. In 1967, she helped to co-ordinate western submissions to the CWPC centennial project, a national biographical database of Canadian Women of Note which she then helped to computerize ten years later. Her reputation for lending enthusiastic support to press activities resulted in a signal honour: when the Calgary Press Club formed in 1959, Eva was the only woman invited to join an otherwise male hoard of directors.
Eva's active participation in the Calgary Branch el the CWPC led to a number of lifelong friendships with other local press women, notably Pearl Borgal, Dorothy Allen Gray, Georgia Souter and Kay Cuthbertson. One of her favourite activities was the annual Stampede luncheon hosted by the Calgary Branch, attended by local and visiting media and generously supported by the Stampede Board through its president, Jim Cross. Annual news writing awards sponsored by the Calgary Branch were announced each year at the Stampede luncheon, and Eva was an early regular participant, winning four awards in the 1950s. Interestingly, only one related to her work as women's editor (she won in 1958 for an article on "Calgary "s blue bloods" and the new Social Register). The others related to her experiences as at police court reporter, including one in 1954 for her reporting of a sensational local murder trial, and one in 1956 "for her graphic account of a harried parent's brush with juvenile delinquency in her own family." (30)
Peer recognition and her success as women's editor brought Eva a few enjoyable public relations jobs for The Albertan. In 1953, she helped to judge a beauty contest at a regatta in Kelowna; in 1957 she was asked to contribute local names for inclusion in the first Social Register of Canada: and from 1955 to 1962 she was oil a panel el judges chosen by Liberty Magazine to select the "Ten Best Dressed Younger Business Women of the Year" in Canada. This last appointment proved surprisingly stressful: she confided ruefully to her diary in 1958, "have taken my usual beating over Liberty fashion poll."
In 1960, new managing editor Ed Romaine talked her into becoming a columnist and her journalistic career headed in a new direction. Reorganization of the court system in the early 1950s had resulted in Eva losing the police court beat after fourteen years, and after that, her exclusive focus had been the women's page, as well as the hotel and service club beat. However, when she was given her own column in September 1960, she ceased to be women's editor. "Eavesdrop with Eva" started as a weekly column, quickly expanded to four days a week and eventually settled at thrice weekly, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Although it was positioned on the women's page, and was irreverently nicknamed "Eva's Droppings" by the printers at The Albertan, (31) from the beginning Eva took a much broader approach than simply writing a social column. Her strength was her interest in people and she excelled at telling their stories. Her contacts from years editing the women's page now provided her with endless leads for interesting interview subjects.
With the shift to columnist and feature writer, Eva's work schedule became more settled, something closer to a forty hour work week. Occasionally, she wrote her columns at home, but usually she took advantage of the relative quiet at The Albertan during the morning hours to compose them at her desk, which was in the middle of the busy newsroom. Although she occasionally headed out of the office to attend social functions or to conduct interviews, much of her column research was done over the telephone, to the extent that her next managing editor. Dave Humphreys, remembers rarely seeing her without telephone in hand, oblivious to the commotion surrounding her. (32)
It seemed that Calgarians loved reading about the active, interesting, important people in their community and the local causes that Eva helped to promote by highlighting the efforts of individuals. She enjoyed interviewing some of the big international stars who passed through the city--people like singers Marjory Lawrence and the McGuire Sisters, actors Walter Pidgeon and Cary Grant, "almost all the premiers, prime ministers and their wives," and visiting dignitaries such as Eleanor Roosevelt. But more important to her personally were friendly relations with prominent locals. As one of her press colleagues observed, Eva had the ability "to move easily at all levels of the social structure. Friendly and out-going, she was 'at home with people from all walks of life." (33)
In addition to profiling contemporary Calgarians, retrospective columns informed her readers about colourful characters from the city's past. When reporting on current social and cultural events, her favourite technique was to profile a well known or interesting individual as a means of capturing her readers' attention. Occasionally, she used her column to express her own views on a wide range of current topics including social conditions, public morality, capital punishment, alcohol and drug abuse, civic pride, crime, poverty and women's liberation. Sometimes she solicited readers' views on more controversial topics, such as draft dodgers or the negative media portrayal of housewives, in a section of "Eavesdrop" called "Column of Opinion."
Genuinely concerned about social conditions, she developed a reputation for giving column space to any group "making a worthwhile effort on behalf of their fellow man ... [or] a valuable contribution to the community. (34) Her many interviews with local pioneers eventually earned her an honorary life membership from the Southern Alberta Pioneers and Old Timers Association. And her personal travels over the years provided further opportunities to share observations and opinions with her readers: everything from witnessing sacred ceremonies on the local Blood Reserve, to descriptions of the New York World's Fair and Expo 67, to impressions gathered during visits to world hotspots such as East Berlin, the Soviet Union and the Middle East. With these columns, she may have partially fulfilled an old longing to become a foreign correspondent. Not surprisingly, when she retired, she termed the "Eavesdrop" years as the most interesting and fulfilling of her long career in journalism.
Her column quickly became a "must read" feature of The Albertan, and Eva's personal popularity soon rivalled two other longtime Albertan columnists, Tom Moore and Fred Kennedy. However, her lack of formal training and longtime identification with social news and the women's page devalued her worth in some eyes at The Albertan. But Eva was accustomed to the hierarchical world of the newsroom and accepted her undervaluation philosophically, never complaining when her column jumped from page to page for the sake of convenience, or was bumped altogether in favour of a more "important" item. Humble among her peers, she relied on loyal readers to confirm the popularity her column and its value to the newspaper.
Although the community billboard "Social Notes" still appeared daily on the women's page, occasionally snippets of society news of a more personal variety appeared in the "Eavesdrop" column for lack of a better placement. Consequently, in 1965, Romaine allowed Eva to introduce a second weekly column called "Socially Speaking." In addition to social items focussing on people rather than club activities, this column often included news from the outside world sent in by Calgarians travelling abroad--strangely reminiscent of Eva's early days of gathering international news from returning missionaries. Like "Eavesdrop," "Socially Speaking" evolved over time to accommodate longer articles about interesting local individuals, past and present. Eva began writing yet another weekly column, as well as articles, about religion when she became editor of the church page in 1967, and found one final outlet for her opinions in 1968 with the introduction of "Eva Reid's Television."
During this period, she continued to write occasional feature articles. In 1963, she produced a ten part series of articles on the controversial drug LSD; in 1968 she wrote a long tribute to retiring Alberta premier Ernest C. Manning" and in 1979 she examined the personal and professional lives of Calgary's business leaders in a long article entitled "The Ten Most Vaunted List."
Over the years, Eva played the role of elder statesman to generations of young "cubs" at The Albertan. During the 1960s, financial struggles and lower pay levels at the newspaper resulted in the employment of many younger or imported journalists who knew little of the city or its history. (35) Mentorship by longtime employees was crucial, and Eva's large social network and knowledge of old timers proved especially valuable. Newcomers, referred to her to gather background information, quickly learned the unofficial rule: "when in doubt ... Ask Eva." (36) In later years, her crowded corner office became a gathering place, "where tea was a daily ritual."
As she aged, and finally allowed her hair to go white, she began to look like "everyone's favourite grandmother," but colleagues who knew her well seldom were misled by her soft-spoken, easy-going manner. They knew that underneath "there was flint," that in spite of her old fashioned approach, her curiosity, flexibility and natural talent made her "a professional journalist through and through." (37) In tribute columns after her death, the value of her kind but firm early guidance and example was freely acknowledged by younger colleagues, even those who had moved on to rival newspapers.
A brush with bladder cancer in 1969 scared Eva and worried her colleagues. With her columns suspended for several months while she recovered from surgery, concerned readers learned of her illness from The Albertan women's editor, Linda Curtis, and many responded with cards and flowers. She was told then that she had three years to live, but an ileostomy and periodic minor surgeries allowed her to live another twenty. (38)
On May 15, 1971, more than one hundred colleagues ("almost a who's who" of the local media, claimed one report) attended "Eva Reid Night" at Dorothy Allen Gray's Calgary home. She was honoured with the title "Alberta's Dean of Press Women," and presented with life memberships in the Calgary Branch of the CWPC and the Calgary Press Club. The accompanying silver tray was inscribed "from the friends you have made along your reporting trail." Remarking on her widespread popularity, a columnist from the rival Herald wrote "there are no nicer people in this business than Eva," and went on to marvel, "I can't recall members of the media in Calgary ever showing so much respect and affection for their own." (39)
Over the next few years, other groups also showed their appreciation of Eva's long career. In 1969, and again in 1976, the Women's Canadian Club honoured her for her role in publicizing their causes and building their membership by making her first an honorary and then a life member of their group. In 1976, the Altrusa Club of Calgary honoured her as Woman of the Year and gave her a Distinguished Community Service award recognizing "her particular affinity for people who serve their community." In 1979, at the first Calgary Y.W.C.A. Women of the Year banquet, Eva's contribution was recognized with an award in the Business and Professional Women" category. It seemed that everyone agreed with one colleague's admiring comment: "To know Eva Reid is to have the deepest respect and affection for her. She is one of Calgary's outstanding women." (40)
When the Thomson newspaper chain bought The Albertan from Max Bell's FP Publications in January 1980, many observers predicted that the new owners would dump the Calgary paper, which had a long history of financial difficulty and unprofitability. But many Albertan staffers were surprised by the speed of the turnover, and some worried about the paper's new direction when they were informed in June 1980 of the impending purchase by the Toronto Sun Publishing Co. According to one report, Eva was in "emotional and physical shock" after the announcement and refused to talk to reporters or friends. (41) Although a general offer of continued employment accompanied the Sun takeover, Eva decided, at age 74, that it was time to retire.
Her retirement plans underway, Eva enjoyed her last weeks at The Albertan, hosting Sunday brunch at the Pinebrook Golf and Country Club for the editorial staff at the end of July, and participating in the staff "wake" at the Calgary Press Club after the final edition was put to bed on August 1, 1980.
That same day, she said a quiet and dignified goodbye to her readers in her last "Eavesdrop" column.
Aside from producing a profile of Calgary for the Billy Graham crusade in 1981 and writing a monthly column similar to "Eavesdrop" in the Seniors' Report for several years in the early 1980s, Eva's writing career really ended with retirement. But her interest in the news and the profession remained strong, and she willingly granted interviews to young journalism students eager to hear her memories of the early days and the changes which she had witnessed. In recognition of her enduring interest in and support for newcomers to the profession, a number of Eva's friends established a scholarship in her name at Mount Royal College. (42) Named the Eva Reid Memorial Scholarship, it is managed through the Calgary Foundation and continues to be awarded annually to an enthusiastic, hard working second year student studying journalism at the college.
Retirement also gave Eva more time for bible study and church activities. She was an active adherent of First Baptist Church for several decades, supporting their activities through monthly tithing and a bequest in her will.
With the passing of many of her old friends, Eva relied more and more heavily on the friendship of younger people whose parents she had known or whose careers she had supported in earlier days. Standing in for family, they helped her to live independently for some time, but eventually it was clear that Eva was no longer able to care for herself. In 1988, they helped to sort through her papers, which were donated to the Glenbow Archives, and assisted with her move into the Beverley Nursing Home. However, during an ill-conceived Christmas visit to see her brother in Edmonton in 1988 she suffered a stroke. Transferred to the Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary, she lingered for several months before succumbing to a final fatal stroke on March 8, 1989 at the age of 82.
When Eva died, there were many heartfelt tributes in the press, even including a tender obituary notice in the Calgary Herald: "Eva's warmth and hospitality will be missed by her many friends and colleagues." (43) But it was fitting that an old colleague from The Albertan, Jack Tennant, wrote the most eloquent eulogy. He advised Eva's many admirers: "we shouldn't have many regrets--she wouldn't have ... She enjoyed life. She enjoyed her vocation and she certainly enjoyed people ... It's the Eva Reids of the journalistic world that make this profession so rewarding. But we shouldn't mourn too deeply. She wouldn't want that. She'd be the first to tell us she lived life to the fullest and enjoyed it immensely. She wouldn't have it any other way. So we say -30- to Eva Reid, and thanks for the memories." (44)
NOTES
Unless otherwise noted, the information and quotations in this article were drawn from the business and personal papers contained in the Eva Reid fonds at the Glenbow Archives (M 7957).
(1) Braun, Sandy "Eva Reid: Profile," ca. 1980. (Glenbow Archives, M 7957/169)
(2) Manning, Muriel. Interview with author, September 10, 2003.
(3) Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute. Bulletin. ca. 1929 (Glenbow Archives. M 7957/172)
(4) Ramondt, Joanne "Newswoman shuns her own story," Calgary Herald, November 6, 1983.
(5) "Eavesdrop with Eva," The Albertan, February 19, 1975; Groves, Keith Franklin. "The Alberta Social Credit Chronicle." Unpublished essay. Department of political Science, University of Calgary, 1972, p.172, (Glenbow Archives, M 7957/176). Many observers assumed that the idea for a party newspaper originated with Aberhart, and that he appointed Underwood, Eva Reid and advertising manager Frank Hollingworth to carry through with the plan. (eg. Barr, John J. The Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of Social Credit in Alberta. McClelland and Stewart, 1974, p.68) However, Eva vigorously denied this assumption and insisted that the idea came from Underwood and that he alone was responsible for appointing Chronicle staff.
(6) Groves, op.cit., p.3.
(7) Eva's middle name was Adeline.
(8) Contrary to common belief and the evidence given in contemporary reports (eg. "Social Creditors Buy Albertan," Western Producer, January 16, 1936), Eva always maintained that it was George Bell who approached Alberhart and Underwood with an offer to purchase the Chronicle. Although she may have been mistaken in her understanding of this aspect of the transaction, her close association with Underwood lends credence to her view of his reaction to the proposed sale. (eg. "Eavesdrop with Eva," The Albertan, February 19, 1975).
(9) "The Albertan: 1902-1980," The Albertan, July 27, 1980.
(10) Ward, op.cit., p.2
(11) Detlifsen, Karen. Interview with Eva Reid, June 8, 1982. (Glenbow Archives, M 7957/RCT-945-9)
(12) Bredin, Ed and Nan. Interview with author, September 2, 2003.
(13) Ramondt, op. cit.
(14) Dabbs, Frank. Interview with author, August 26, 2003.
(15) Hart, Bill. "Eavesdropping on Eva Reid," Seniors' Report, ca. 1981. (M 7957/169)
(16) Souter, Georgia. Speech, "Eva Reid Night," May 15, 1971. (Glenbow Archives, M 7957/202)
(17) Ramondt, op.cit.
(18) Souter, op.cit.
(19) Drysdale, Ruth. "People of the West: Eva Reid." My Golden West, Vol. V, Spring 1970, p.29.
(20) Ford, Margaret. Interview with author, August 16, 2003.
(21) Ford, Catherine. "Chance meeting began a career," Calgary Herald, March 9, 1989.
(22) Gray, Walter. "A Short Ode to the Dean of Newspaperwomen in Alberta," ca. 1971, (Glenbow Archives. M 7957/202)
(23) Detlifsen, op.cit.
(24) Braun, op.cit.
(25) Gray, op.cit.; Ramondt, op.cit.
(26) Ford, op.cit.
(27) Mulloy, Paddy Interview with author, September 12, 2003.
(28) Braun. op.cit.
(29) Special thanks to Kathleen Conaty for her excellent "translations" of Eva's shorthand diary notations.
(30) "Women's Press Club Awards to Albertan Staff Members," The Albertan, July 1, 1956.
(31) Scott, Susan and Marilyn Wood. Interview with author, August 18, 2003.
(32) Humphreys, Dave. Interview with author, August 26, 2003.
(33) Evans, Art. "Eva Reid, "Edmonton Journal, ca. May 1971.
(34) "Altrusa awards dinner will honor journalist, "South Side Mirror, November 24, 1976.
(35) Humphreys, op.cit.
(36) Evans, op.cit
(37) Tennant, Jack. "Eva Reid wrote the book on style," The Calgary Sun, March 10, 1989.
(38) Scott, Wood and Bredin, op.cit.
(39) Hopkins, Johnny. "Baghdad on the Bow," Calgary Herald, May 19, 1971.
(40) Drysdale, op.cit.
(41) "A tale of two papers," Alberta Report, June 13, 1980.
(42) Scott, Wood and Bredin, op.cit. Aside from a few larger donations, including one from the Max Bell Foundation, the Eva Reid Memorial Scholarship fund has grown mainly from the proceeds of a garage sale of Eva's possessions after her death and from the countless small donations of individuals personally touched by her in her lifetime. As of 2003, the fund was valued at $10,000.
(43) Obituary, Calgary Herald, March 9, 1989.
(44) Tennant, op.cit. According to newspaper tradition, journalists indicate the end of their stories with the notation "-30-".
Jennifer Hamblin is reference librarian at the Glenbow Library in Calgary. She has made a particular study of Eva Reid based partly upon her papers at Glenbow.
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| Author: | Hamblin, Jennifer |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Alberta History |
| Geographic Code: | 1CALB |
| Date: | Sep 22, 2004 |
| Words: | 9908 |
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