Kentucky New Era staff writer and columnist Mary D. Ferguson died Thursday, June 9 at the age of 82.
According to Kentucky New Era, Ferguson began working at the newspaper in 1962. She came to the New Era from the WHOP radio station, where she was one of the first women to cover news stories in western Kentucky. Ferguson was also the first female news reporter for New Era.
In recent years, she was the paper's obituary writer and had a popular human interest column on Saturdays. Even after cancer treatments made it difficult for her to type, she continued to contribute a weekly column that she dictated to another staff member.
New Era Opinion Editor, Jennifer P. Brown remembers Ferguson as an outgoing person with a ‘mischievous’ sense of humor.
“She was great to have in the newsroom because she had all this deep institutional knowledge about the paper but also about the community. She knew everybody,” Brown says.
The New Era writes, Ferguson witnessed and helped transition the newsroom through numerous industry and technological changes — from typewriters to computers to the internet.
Ferguson is survived by her husband, retired state trooper Russell Ferguson, and their daughter Lee Ellen Fish.
Funeral arrangements for Ferguson are pending.
