Century marks

Christian Century, Sept 8, 1999

ARRIVING AT the CENTURY offices one summer day in 1944 to find the place abnormally understaffed--the ranks depleted by sudden illness as well as vacations and assignments--Paul Hutchinson, then managing editor, phoned Margaret Frakes, who had done some writing for the magazine, entreating her to come to his aid temporarily. She did--and stayed on for 25 years.

Versatile and indefatigable, Margaret was adept at virtually any editorial task. As news editor (and later as associate editor), she cultivated and kept in touch with a slew of CENTURY correspondents, both domestic and foreign. Notable among Margaret's own writings for the magazine were a six-part series on outstanding church-women (1952) and an eight-part series on the church and older people (1955). She also contributed to the 1950 "Great American Churches" series. Her 1960 book Bridges to Understanding was an account of the lay center movement in Europe and North America. With Century editor Harold Fey, she coedited The Christian Century Reader, an anthology published in 1962.

During most of her tenure at the CENTURY, Margaret would go to the hot-type printshop on press day to make final proof corrections. During a prolonged typographers' strike in 1948, she traveled by train from Chicago to Toronto every week for five months to get the magazine out. In retirement she remarked that she missed going to the various printing plants the CENTURY used over the years--"dirty and messy though most of them were"--and that she had no regrets about missing out on the era of computers and desktop publishing. A mark of Margaret's unusual dedication was that one year she refused to accept a raise in salary, fearing that the Century could ill afford it.

Margaret retired in 1969, but she kept in touch with us from Oregon--until this past year when her customary Christmas greeting did not come. We heard that her health was failing. A few weeks ago we learned of her death on August 20 at age 94.

Margaret was one of several women who made an indelible mark on this magazine, working largely behind the scenes (in that era, female editors often didn't even get to see their names on the masthead). Margaret Frakes's skill and dedication are the stuff of legend around this office. She raised our standard of writing and editing, and in that respect she continues to shape us.