A potent mixture of curiosity and fearlessness fueled Dorothy Collin’s profession as a journalist and her obsession for off-the-beaten-path journey.
Whereas working within the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Chicago Tribune within the Nineteen Eighties she had a knack for forming relationships with elected officers, akin to Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, and zeroing in on influential staffers who might inform her the actual story behind the story.
She started telephone conversations with a fast “What are you aware?” and was deft at tapping shoulders within the halls of the Capitol.
“She knew everybody,” stated her pal Lynn Martin, who served as secretary of labor underneath President George H.W. Bush. “And generally members (of Congress) are in a special world, and workers are the individuals who make all of it work. And if there was some form of political feud, Dorothy would discover out what it was actually about. She considered politics as each a philosophy and a sport and simply cherished it.”
Sprinkled all through her profession, and in her retirement, Ms. Collin took distinctive holidays.
She visited Vietnam lengthy earlier than it grew to become a daily vacationer vacation spot. She was in Tunisia throughout the Arab Spring. She visited Libya after the autumn of dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi.
On journeys to Paris she visited areas the place Arab migrants had been burning automobiles. One other time she went to the places of work of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical weekly journal that was the location of a 2015 terrorist assault.
“Regardless that I used to be terrified, no matter she wished to do was at all times much more attention-grabbing than no matter I wished to do, like buy groceries,” stated her pal Leslie Hindman.
Whereas on a solo journey to Afghanistan throughout a time in 2008 when American forces had been clashing with Taliban fighters, the Jeep she was driving in turned over in a ditch. A bit battered and bruised, Ms. Collin, who was in her late 60s, dusted herself off and completed her journey.
She didn’t thoughts touring alone however typically went together with her former Tribune colleague and present Solar-Occasions columnist, Mike Sneed.
“I’ve seen her via a number of stuff, every kind of nations, lots locations individuals simply didn’t go to, and we’d go together with a journalist’s mentality, though we weren’t essentially working for the paper on these journeys, we’d simply go and see issues and discuss to individuals,” Sneed stated.
Ms. Collin died Jan. 22 from pure causes. She was 85.
Former Tribune colleague Jim O’Shea, who later grew to become managing editor, discovered the ropes in Washington from Ms. Collin.
“She launched me to Sen. John McCain as soon as. She stated, ‘You guys would really like one another’ and simply walked away,” O’Shea recalled.
“She was a reporter’s reporter,” he stated. “She didn’t make an enormous deal about being a girl in a person’s world … and she or he labored a narrative arduous sufficient that she was thought-about an equal or superior in lots of circumstances.”
“She cherished hanging out with the boys after work in Washington, particularly at a spot referred to as the Class Reunion the place she went with different reporters from the Trib,” Sneed stated.
She additionally loved a glass of wine on the deck of Martin’s D.C. townhouse.
“We’d sit on the market underneath the Washington sky and discuss concerning the world, and she or he cherished her world, and her world began in Chicago, not Washington,” Martin stated.
Ms. Collin was born Oct. 10, 1939, and raised in Rogers Park and later north suburban Golf by her mom, Maybele Collin, and stepfather, Paul Collin, who owned an organization that manufactured elements for home windows and doorways.
She attended the now-shuttered Niles East Excessive College and the College of Iowa.
Throughout her decades-long tenure with the Tribune Firm, along with masking the Capitol, she wrote profiles of well-known and on a regular basis individuals, had her personal column, served on the Tribune’s editorial board and co-wrote the INC. gossip column.
She was a part of an off-the-cuff group of Chicago ladies with primarily political and journalism backgrounds who name themselves “The Excessive Hens.”
“She had a really Irish appeal and a really dry wit, which you would nearly miss in case you weren’t paying consideration … humorous, cantankerous and great,” Martin stated.
Ms. Collin was a resident of Lincoln Park for practically 20 years earlier than she died. She cherished stopping for ice cream. And for years, she drove somewhat pink convertible that she assigned a particular identify that her buddies couldn’t fairly bear in mind.
“She was our Brenda Starr,” stated her pal, Chris Dudley, who previously served as government director of the Illinois Republican Occasion.
“She simply had a manner of inviting individuals to speak about their lives and what they did, and most of the people are form of comfortable to speak about themselves,” stated former state Rep. Judy Erwin.
“She was good as hell and simply had a manner of telling a narrative. Individuals had been fascinated by her, and she or he made you a part of the story,” Sneed stated. “I used to be at all times in awe of her skill to do this.”
Ms. Collin’s nephew Philip Collin introduced her as his show-and-tell visitor to his highschool authorities class.
“She lectured the category. However she was terrified to face 30 children. I stated, ‘Simply be my Dorothy, and also you’re going to kick ass in there.’ And he or she did.”
A memorial service is being deliberate.
