Marilyn Bailey had a flair for words and loved being a newspaperwoman.
During a 36-year career at the Minneapolis Tribune, and later the Star Tribune, she played a leading role, editing some of the major news stories of the 20th century. She also wrote eloquent book reviews. Throughout her career she was a copy editor, an assistant news editor, a features editor and acting books editor. After she retired, she contributed numerous travel articles.
Bailey died in Folkestone senior living facility in Wayzata on April 28 at the age of 87.
"She was very proud to be on the staff of the Star Tribune," recalled Tom Novitzki, a friend and her attorney.
Bailey's husband, Arnold, died in 1980. They had no children. The couple met on the copy desk and were married in 1965. "She always boasted that she and Arnie were the only people who could share a typewriter at the Star Tribune," Novitzki said.
Bailey grew up in Mandan, N.D., and was interested in newspapers as a child.
"My dad would bring the typewriter home from the office so my mother could type up recipes, and I made a little neighborhood newspaper," she told Jon Collins in a 2011 interview as part of a historical project interviewing journalists.
Bailey graduated from Mandan High School and then Bismarck Junior College. "The best journalism departments at that time were Columbia [University] and the University of Minnesota, so that's why I came down here," she told Collins.