A Tribute to Fran (and the week in review)

I know it's been a while since I've posted and I made it home safe and sound, arriving at my house around 3:30a last Thursday. I had Thursday and Friday off of work and then my normal weekend to recover. But I have to say, I didn't really have any jet lag. Thursday, I pretty much laid around and did nothing but I didn't allow myself to take a nap so I could go to bed at the normal time. That was key because I got back to Eastern time really quickly, although my overall energy was pretty sapped for a day or so. Even on Monday and Tuesday, several colleagues were still dealing with the effects of jet lag but not me! It's a gift!

This week has been feast or famine as far as busy-ness goes. Yesterday was really busy with the economic stimulus plan being agreed to! (I'm already trying to figure out what to spend my check on!!) But I've only seen the Prez once this week. (A little while ago I saw him take off in his helicopter for his trip to WV. By the way, days like with the bitter cold and wind, mixed with the helicopter rotors show that this job is not always glamorous!) Anyway, he gave me the usual low-wave so I guess he hasn't forgotten what I look like since I hadn't seen him in person in 11 days! :)

But the biggest thing that happened this week was that the world of journalism, in particular my network and the White House press corps, lost a legend. My friend and colleague Fran Lewine passed away last Saturday, a day before her 87th birthday. Fran was a legend in every sense of the word. I had the honor of working with her for the past ten years as she was an assignment editor/field producer in my network's DC bureau. It's strange to think that when I met her, she had already been working in the business for forty some years! She started working for the Associated Press in 1956 and covered SIX presidencies. I don't know how she did it! She was the AP's first WH correspondent beginning in 1965. She truly paved the way for the way we all cover the WH these days. Not only that, but she was instrumental in women in general because she fought to get women allowed in the National Press Club and the Gridiron (both press clubs in DC) and was really the face for the movement of women journalists' rights in the 50s, 60s, 70s. And Fran had worked right up to the end! She never wanted to retire! She had been at my network since the day Reagan was shot and she had told me she was never going to retire because she had the most exciting job on the planet. I had the privilege of working with her on any weekend that I've ever worked. She took me out on my first stakeout and showed me the ropes. She also brought in bagels almost every Saturday morning and we'd shoot the breeze about everything and nothing in particular! I don't spend much time at the bureau any more, especially on the weekends, but I saw her a few weeks ago and she was concerned that she hadn't seen me in a while and wanted to know how I was doing. Fran and Helen Thomas have been competitors and best friends for many decades and most people have heard of Helen. Like Helen, Fran had just as many awesome stories and experience and was as equally instrumental but with a quieter continued fame. Fran was a truly remarkable woman and I definitely count it as an high privilege to say that I got to work with a woman whose life literally had an impact on the world as we know it!

FRANCES LEWINE 1921-2008 (this picture is from last summer when she had two winning tickets at the horse races! She had planned on spending her 87th birthday on Sunday by another trip to the horse races where a friend from work had a race named in her honor.)