Journalist Jane Wolfe grew up in Bexley as part of a family that owned The Dispatch for many years. After graduating from Denison College in Granville in 1981, he moved to Dallas, where he took a job as a news reporter and later as a social editor.
The Morning News’ editor at the time was Burl Osborne, who had just joined the company in 1980. He worked for the AP for many years, from 1972 to 1974 he worked in Columbus as the AP’s Ohio Bureau Chief. He became the editor and publisher of His Morning News before retiring in 2001.
Osborne is famous not only as a journalist but also as one of the first recipients of a kidney transplant.
Wolfe’s latest book, “Burl: Journalism Giant and Medical Trailblazer,” was released Tuesday and chronicles Osborne’s life and medical journey.
Wolf, 65, is the author of two Texas-based non-fiction titles, The Murchisons: The Rise and Fall of Texas Kingdoms and Brad Rich: When Oil Billions, High Fashion, and Royal Intimacy Isn’t Enough .
After decades in Dallas, Wolf returned to Bexley in 2019.
Q: How did you become interested in Baal as a biographical subject?
Wolf: I had written two other books about Texans. A few years after he died (2012), his widow, Betty, called me and said, “Are you interested in writing a book about Baal?” I thought about it for 3 seconds and said yes.
At that time, terms such as “fake news” and “alternative facts” were flying around, and the media was called the enemy of the people. I thought how wonderful it would be if people could read a book about a man who was so virtuous and insisted that his reporters were always fair and accurate.
Then again, Barr gave me my first job. I grew up with dispatch. My family owned paper. During the summers, from about the age of 13, I worked in The Dispatch’s morgue (library) and then City Hall. But after college, I didn’t want to work at Dispatch. … When I got to Dallas, the newspaper wars between the Times-Herald and the Morning News had just begun. It was a really exciting time. And I knew it would make a good story.
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Q: Do you think Barr’s health problems shaped his personality?
Wolf: yes. At the age of 12, he learned that he had acute kidney disease. His illness was getting worse and he was helpless. The doctor he consulted said that you would likely go blind at any time and that you wouldn’t be able to live beyond your teenage years. And decided to take the risk. He then became interested in newspapers, and his drive continued. He knew it could be his last at any moment. What was really fun for him was going to write articles and reporting articles.
Q: How do you think his career in journalism reflects changes in journalism during his time there?
Wolf: He always looked to the future. I think he thought newspapers would die sooner or later. When he was first shown what he could do on the internet, he was pretty silly about it. But then when he found out that he could post articles at any time of the day or night and that he wouldn’t have to wait until the next edition, he was very excited. He understood that the online version was getting bigger and the print version was getting smaller.
(Photo: Dallas Morning News)
Q: How do you think growing up in a newspaper family helped you tell Burr’s story?
Wolf: I loved growing up in a newspaper family. My father (William C. Wolfe, when he died in 1973 Dispatch He was Vice President of the Printing Company) sometimes dispatched me on Saturday or Sunday if I needed to get something. took me to I could hear the loud press and smell the newspaper. At the time, reporters were still running around the newsroom. i loved it. I think Barr felt the same way.
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Q: What’s next for you as a writing project?
Wolf: I have a book I’m working on. Growing up here, I had never heard of Jerry Mock. (Ohioan Mock was the first woman to circumnavigate the world solo.) I saw her statue at the airport and started asking about her. There are children’s books written about her, and she wrote her own around 1970. It was a kind of flight logbook. I decided it was my next book, a biography of Jerry Mock.
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at a glance
Jane Wolfe will appear in an interview with journalist and author Andrew Welsh-Huggins at Gramercy Books, Bexley E. Main St. 2424, Tuesday at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $5 for her, waived for those who purchase a copy of “Burl” ($37). The event will include Q&A time and a book signing. (614-867-5515, www.gramercybooksbexley.com)
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