WHEELING — Gladys Van Horne, a longtime society editor of the Wheeling News-Register and the Martins Ferry Times Leader, helped dramatically change the content of local newspapers. Her influence is still evident today.

She didn't start out to be a journalist, but World War II gave her the opportunity to work in a newsroom. Over the next five decades she quietly made remarkable changes to the area’s news coverage.

Van Horne spent most of her career writing and editing what was then called the Society Section. Most papers today call this section “Life” or sometimes “Style.” In the 1940s and ’50s, these pages consisted mostly of coverage of social events, charity balls, weddings, parties and club meetings.

Most of the women whose photos appeared in the Society pages were the wives and daughters of local business owners, doctors, attorneys and other prominent locals. “When I started at the paper the Society editor only wrote about wealthy people,” Van Horne said. And most women were identified by their husbands’ name, as in “Mrs. John Smith Hosts Tea for Hospital Twig.”

When Van Horne was assistant Society Editor in the ’70s and 80s, she and Society Editor Kitty Jefferson Doepken began expanding their coverage to include people from all walks of life. “Everybody has a story. It’s rewarding to talk with people and then get to share their stories in the newspaper,” Van Horne said.

Her career in newspapers began in the early 1940s. Van Horne was working at a Martins Ferry laundry when she got the chance to begin what would be her life’s work in the newspaper business.

“I heard about an opening at the Times Leader,” she said. “They hired me as a copywriter and assistant proofreader.” Van Horne said she was only given the opportunity because many of the men from the newsroom were away serving their country during World War II.

She said she learned to write by proofreading thousands of news stories.

She discovered a knack for the craft and eventually moved from the Times Leader to the News Register. At the News Register, she made a name for herself as a talented editor and a kind and helpful colleague, especially to the young reporters on her staff.

Over the years she interviewed area residents and many national and international figures as well. “The Woman’s Club of Wheeling always had prominent speakers and I got to interview many of them,” Van Horne said.

She recalled that the advice columnist Ann Landers was speaking to the Woman’s Club on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, when members got the word that President Kennedy had been assassinated. “Someone interrupted her speech to give us the news. Ann Landers asked us for our advice — should she continue speaking or stop? We were all so upset by the news that we asked her to stop,” she said.

Wheeling resident Nancy Ellen Rice O’Leary is a past president of the Woman’s Club of Wheeling. “The Woman’s Club had a wide variety of guests and speakers in years gone by,” she said. “We always had a headliner for the first meeting each year, which included people like Associated Press journalist Helen Thomas, who covered the White House for decades and writer, editor and sportsman George Plimpton.”

“Gladys was a member of our club and always covered our events,” O’Leary said. “She often did in-depth interviews with our guest speakers.”

When TV journalist Paul Duke, moderator of the PBS Series ‘Washington Week in Review,’ came to speak, O’Leary asked Van Horne to be his contact person. “She was delighted, and he was smitten with her,” O’Leary remembered. “They had a great time talking shop.”

Other Woman’s Club members that Van Horne interviewed include Academy Award-winning actress Celeste Holm; singers Anna Maria Alberghetti and Julius La Rosa; and author and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington. She says some of her favorite interviews included country music star Loretta Lynn and flutist Jean-Perre Rampal.

People in the Ohio Valley appreciated that Van Horne was always willing to help local organizations promote their events. “When I was a teacher and curriculum coordinator at Steenrod School she was a gem,” O’Leary said. “She was always so intelligent and professional and easy to work with. I think the world of her.”

Van Horne believes reading is the best training for anyone who aspires to a career in journalism. “Read, read, read. Check your spelling, check your geography and don’t be afraid to ask for information,” she said. “Remember the past, keep up with the present and look into the future. Have vision.”

She was married to the late Bill Van Horne, a famed sportswriter for the Martins Ferry and Wheeling newspapers who died in 1995. She has two sons and two grandchildren.

These days Van Horne lives at Good Shepherd Nursing Home. She still enjoys reading novels and the daily newspaper and participates in exercise classes every day. “I appreciate all the activities Good Shepherd offers, too,” she said. “We have entertainment, crafts, games and other things to do. I like to stay busy and I never have trouble finding something I like.”

Upon her retirement from the News-Register in 1996, Van Horne said to was time for a new chapter in her life. “Why not quote former New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra?” she wrote. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”