Biography of Ozarks journalist, her great aunt, was 'labor of love' for Springfield author
Susan Croce Kelly doesn't remember life without some sort of writing in it. She got started in seventh grade as the editor of her school newspaper and grew up as her mother worked at getting a fiction novel published. But perhaps the most notable influence, or at least relevant to her latest work, are the conversations she had with her great aunt, a beloved newspaperwoman in the Ozarks during the 20th century.
Earlier this year, Kelly celebrated the release of her new book, "Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks: The Life and Times of Lucile Morris Upton." The 250-plus page book is not only a biographical ode to Upton, Kelly's great aunt, but also a chronicle of the region's newspaper industry and women's contributions to journalism during the mid-1900s.
Raised in the Ozarks, Upton wrote for several regional and national publications before settling in Springfield, where she worked for the Springfield News-Leader, then just the Leader, from the 1930s to 1980s, despite officially retiring in 1963. She wrote hard news stories, local features and popularly-read columns. Upton also regularly worked alongside well-known photojournalist Betty Love, who worked at the News-Leader from 1941 to 1975.
Work on "Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks" began almost 30 years ago, before Kelly even realized she was interested in writing a book about Upton. In 1995, just three years after Upton's death, Kelly visited Springfield to interview those who were close to her great aunt. Interviewees included Upton's former colleagues and closest friends John Hulston, Ann Fair Dodson, Elizabeth McCain and Gordon McCann.
About a decade later, Kelly and her husband moved to the Ozarks and she began to conduct more interviews. Many of these interviewees, including Mike O'Brien, Bob Linder and Dale Freeman, were former colleagues of Kelly's, who also worked at the News-Leader in the 1970s. Kelly began putting the pieces together for the book right before the pandemic; she described it as her "COVID project."
In addition to interviewing those who knew Upton, Kelly worked with The State Historical Society of Missouri, home of the Lucile Morris Upton Papers. This collection features newspaper clipping, correspondence, research notes, manuscripts and photographs Upton donated to the historical society in 1980, before her death. After scanning the materials to microfilm, the historical society returned all the materials to Upton's family. Up until Kelly's research, these materials were scattered throughout different family member's homes, Kelly said.
"Over the course of doing my research, people would say, 'Oh, I've got something from the papers in my basement. Let me go get them,'" Kelly said with a laugh.
Upon collecting these materials, Kelly donated them, with her family's permission, to the Springfield-Greene County Library District. Library staff are working to digitize the materials that will then be made accessible on the library's website.
While recounting the nearly three decades she's worked on "Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks," Kelly said she hopes it lives up to the expectations of those who knew and loved Upton most.
"It started as a project and then ended up as a labor of love," Kelly said.
"Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks" was published as part of The University of Arkansas Press' Ozarks Studies Series, a collection of non-fiction works that explores different facets of Ozarks' history and culture. Other books in the series include "Men of No Reputation" (about confidence man Robert Boatright), "Hipbillies" (about counterculture in the region during the 1960s and 1970s) and "Down on Mahans Creek" (about the Mahans Creek neighborhood in the 19th and 20th centuries).
Kelly is also the author of "Father of Route 66: The Story of Cy Avery" and "Route 66: The Highway and Its People."
Who was Lucile Morris Upton?
Born in 1898, Upton was raised in Dadeville, Missouri, about 35 miles northwest of Springfield. Before kickstarting her career in journalism, Upton was a primary school teacher. She taught at her hometown's school and later in Everton, Missouri and Roswell, New Mexico.
Upton was introduced to newspapers by her husband Homer Garland, who worked in the industry himself and unfortunately died not long after their marriage. Upton never remarried.
Upton's first newspaper job was at the Denver Express in Colorado in 1923. At the time, Upton was on her way back to Missouri from New Mexico for a teaching job in Kansas City, but during a stop in Denver she decided to check out the journalism options. Despite no journalism experience or a formal degree, Upton was hired on the spot at the Denver Express.
But she didn't stay long. Toward the end of her time at the Denver Express, Upton was writing under an alias, which she didn't enjoy, and the paper was managing a vendetta with a local Klu Klux Klan chapter, which she also found unsettling. She packed her bags and move to El Paso, Texas, where she got a job as a city desk reporter at the El Paso Times.
Upton worked at the Times until 1925, when she applied and received a job with the International News Service in London, per a recommendation from a colleague. Before leaving the country, Upton visited her family in the Ozarks. What was supposed to be a quick stop led to the rest of her career.
Despite her ticket to a reporting job overseas, Upton stayed in the Ozarks. At this time, folks from all over the country were relocating to the Ozarks to live and write, which fascinated her. She began digging for stories and selling articles to larger publications like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Times. With plans to stay put, Upton applied for a job at the News-Leader, where she was brought on as a city desk reporter in 1926.
Throughout her 50-plus year career with the News-Leader, Upton wrote about the Bald Knobbers, Nathan Boone's homestead in Ash Grove (her stories even helped the homestead become a state park), Wilson's Creek National Battlefield (again, her stories helped the site become a national park) and the Young Brothers Massacre.
Perhaps some of her most beloved work involved her two columns, "Over the Ozarks" and "The Good Old Days." The former was a first-person column that ran years before Upton joined the News-Leader. In fact, the hands of Springfield journalist May Kennedy McCord were on the column for many years, bearing the name "Hillbilly Heartbeats."
"The Good Old Days" was solely Upton's doing, however. Similar to the News-Leader's present-day "From the Darkroom" series, Upton dug through newspaper archives to share old stories relevant to topics happening at the time. She wrote this column until 1982, 17 years after she retired in 1965.
More: 'Queen of the Hillbillies' highlights writing collection of folklorist May Kennedy McCord
During retirement, Upton kept busy. She was actively involved in Democratic politics, taught a writing course at Drury University, then Drury College, served on Springfield City Council and continued her work to preserve Ozarks historical sites like Wilson's Creek National Battlefield and Nathan Boone's homestead.
In retirement, Upton was also recognized for her career's achievements. In 1967, she was named Springfield Woman of Achievement by the Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce. In 1978 the History Museum on the Square, then the Museum of the Ozarks, bestowed its Heritage Award to Upton for her "outstanding contributions to the study of Ozarks history," according to "Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks." And in 1980 the School of the Ozarks named her into its Ozarks Hall of Fame.
Upton died in 1992 and is buried in the Dadeville Masonic Cemetery.
Where can you buy 'Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks'?
The University of Arkansas Press for $20.96
Amazon for $27.95 (paperback) and $26.55 (Kindle)
Barnes & Noble for $27.95 (paperback) and $20.99 (eBook)
Kelly is hosting a book signing of "Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks" at Barnes & Noble on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: 'Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks' recounts legacy of Lucile Morris Upton
