Margaret Spang

A Few women pursued journalism careers when Margaret Ray Spang graduated from the University of Oregon in 1938. In memoirs spanning a 50-year career, Spang recalls how World War II opened up opportunities that led her to become the first female copy editor at The Oregonian in 1945.

While attending the U of O, Spang wrote a Lane County Courthouse column for the Cottage Grove Sentinel and worked as a copy editor at the Oregon Daily Emerald. Still, she had a hard time landing her first reporting job. "In our resumes most of the women offered to be secretaries since reporting jobs were seldom available," she writes in memoirs donated recently to the School of Journalism and Communication. She didn't get a job offer until her father put in a word with the Springfield News publisher.

She went on to work at The Register-Guard, where a high point was interviewing Eleanor Roosevelt. Early in 1942, Spang became news editor at the Astorian-Budget. There she joined the pressman, typesetters, and reporters taking a swig of Southern Comfort each day when the presses rolled. "Had it not been for the war it would have been doubtful if I could ever have climbed to such a responsible position, but like Rosie the Riveter, it gave women a chance to prove themselves," she writes.

She first joined The Oregonian as a general assignment reporter in 1945. She was a full-time copy editor at the paper for five years and later joined strikers publishing their own paper for three years after The Oregonian was sold in the late 1950s. She worked in public relations for the Portland County School District and then was an editor/education reporter at the Washington County News-Times for 11 years. Spang served on the Forest Grove City Council while working for the weekly News-Times. Her last job was with the Hillsboro Argus, where she worked until retiring in 1986.