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Obituary:
Elizabeth Kline Heltzel / Beloved newspaper copy editor and writer
Wednesday,
June 18, 2003
By
Bob Batz Jr., Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Elizabeth
Kline Heltzel, a consummate copy editor and versatile writer for the
Food sections of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and previously for The
Pittsburgh Press, died Monday night after a determined fight with
ovarian cancer. She was 50.
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Elizabeth
Kline Heltzel with her husband Bill Heltzel in a 2001 photo.
(Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette)
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She
was greatly respected and much loved throughout the newsroom, where
yesterday morning many were in tears for a colleague whose work and
manner were as crisp and sweet as the butter cookies she baked and
brought in by the hundreds to share each Christmas.
Hugging
other friends near her desk, Arts and Entertainment Editor Allan
Walton spoke for many when he said, "I didn't expect this. She
was such a battler."
Betsy
Kline, as she wrote her byline even after she married reporter Bill
Heltzel in 1991, shared the intimate details of her battle with
readers in stories the couple wrote for the Post-Gazette in August
2001. That was about a year after she was "blind-sided" by
a diagnosis of stage IIIc ovarian cancer. As she noted, that's one
step away from the usually terminal stage IV, but after surgery and
chemotherapy, she'd come back -- to working, to living.
"Every
day reveals new blessings; nothing is taken for granted," she
wrote, moving readers including a doctor who, in a letter to the
editor, lauded her as "an inspiration to many other
patients."
She
inspired co-workers, too, by working without complaint when the
disease and treatment made her feel terrible.
Features
copy desk chief Dennis McDonald said, "I'm thinking, 'Man,
how's she getting through all this?' She kept plugging ahead."
Even after last year's holiday baking was interrupted when she fell
and broke her wrist, she came in and typed one-handed.
"She
was an extremely hard worker -- extremely conscientious," said
McDonald, who had worked with her since she started as a Press news
copy editor in 1974.
A
Shadyside native, she'd earned her bachelor's degree in journalism
at Duquesne University the year before. She became the first woman
copy editor to work nights because she didn't think the rule
exempting them for safety reasons was fair.
In
1979, she moved to the Kansas City Star, where she worked as its
book review editor, and was an American (now National) Book Awards
fiction judge in 1982. She also was a dance and music critic.
She
returned to the Press in 1985 as a features copy editor but kept
writing -- about dance, which she loved, and about restaurants, some
of which still display her reviews.
Food
Editor Suzanne Martinson said the quality of the Thursday Food
section depended on her.
"Lots
of people can take you to the moon, but Betsy could get you
home," Martinson said.
She
also was a voracious reader and was a regular presence on the books
pages. One caller told PG Managing Editor Madelyn Ross, "Her
reviews are always better-written than the books."
Many
remembered her as a kind and gentle friend. Reporter Ann Belser was
amazed when Mrs. Heltzel came to visit her newborn daughter,
Charlotte, in December 2000, bearing a gift of bibs she'd designed
and quilted -- between chemotherapy treatments.
Mrs.
Heltzel worked to help others with ovarian cancer, whether it was by
opening up to them at a relaxation group or participating in the
National Ovarian Cancer Coalition's Walk for the Whisper. Reporter
Eleanor Chute was one of five friends who showed up wearing shirts
with letters of her first name. When they lined up to surprise her,
Mrs. Heltzel pointed out the spelling error: Y-S-T-E-B.
"We
all had a good laugh," Chute said, "and we kidded her
about how she was always the copy editor."
She
loved cooking and gardening at her Point Breeze home, as well as
traveling and cats, especially her Sammer and Sneakers.
She
also was very dedicated to her family, particularly her nieces and
nephews, said her brother Donald of Pine.
"I've
got four that were spoiled by her," he said.
In
addition to him and her husband, Mrs. Heltzel is survived by her
mother, Mildred Kline of Oakland; sisters Mary Nell Wark of
Philadelphia, and Catherine Ribarchak of Hazelwood; and brothers
George of Toledo, Ohio, William of Stow, Ohio, and James, of
Beechview. Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
today and tomorrow at McCabe Brothers Funeral Home, 6214 Walnut St.,
Shadyside. The funeral service will be private.
The
family suggests contributions to the National Ovarian Cancer
Coalition, Pittsburgh Division, Box 101081, Pittsburgh 15237-3331.
Bob
Batz Jr. can be reached at bbatz@post-gazette.com
or 412-263-1930.
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