Patricia H. (Harvey) Cooney (1988)

COONEY, HOYE

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 4/24/2012 at 07:12:44

Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa
January 21, 1988 Metro pg 7

Services for Patricia H. Cooney, 65, of 2727 49th St., who died of a liver ailment Tuesday at Mercy Hospital Medical Center, will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Burial will be at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery near Cumming.

Mrs. Cooney, a lifelong Des Moines resident, had been a feature writer and editor for the Des Moines Register and Tribune over a 40-year period before retiring in 1981.

Her articles often were spiced with humor, reflecting her own attitude toward life. Newsroom colleagues still chuckle recalling the time she showed up in the office on St. Patrick’s Day with her hair dyed green. She attempted unsuccessfully to remove the dye that evening. The hair stayed green for several days.

She once wrote a piece about the telephone calls working mothers get from their children at home. One example was how the children were surprising their mother by making dinner before she got home. They called to say they couldn’t find any red wine vinegar for the salad, so they told her they had substituted Scotch and asked if that was OK.

“She was a fantastic reporter and writer,” said James McGuire, who was Mrs. Cooney’s editor for many years. “She’d come up with ideas that didn’t sound too good to me, but after she started digging into them she’d come up with barn burner stuff. I got so I’d just let her go on her ideas.”

Four members of her family also have been involved in journalism. Husband James, now retired, was city editor on the Des Moines Tribune and later was executive editor of the Register and Tribune Syndicate. Daughters Mary Kate Cooney, of St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., and Kitty Hoye of St. Paul, Minn., both worked for the Register and Tribune, and Mary Kate now works for the Tampa, Fla. Tribune. A son, Kevin, of Des Moines, is an anchorman at KCCI-TV.

Also surviving are three other sons, Tim, Brian and Michael, all of Des Moines, and six grandchildren.

Friends may call after 4:30 p.m. today at Westover Funeral Home, where the family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. A wake service will be held there at 7:30 p.m. today.

She was a member of the Roman Catholic Church and Questers Club.

Gravestone Photo
 

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