PEORIA —World War II provided Theo Jean Kenyon with an opportunity she likely wouldn’t have beenofferedin ordinary times.
Kenyon became the first female editor of theDaily Northwestern, her college newspaper,as her male classmates went off to war.Kenyon relateda wartime memory from her freshman yearto the NorthwesternUniversityalumni magazine in 2000.
"I got a message to call theDailyimmediately. They were calling everyone to go in to help put out a special(edition)because a Northwestern alumnus, Harold Christopher, had been killed,"Kenyon said.
It wasthestartof a lifelong career for Kenyon, whobegan working at herhometown Peoria Starin 1944.She worked as a reporterfor thatnewspaper, which became the Journal Star, for66 years.
Kenyon, 99, died Nov. 19.
'You wanted Theo on your side in a fight'
Unlike many female reporters of that era, Kenyon wasn’t relegated to producing copy for the women’s pages, even after the men returned from war.Shecovered news, writing about everything from park board meetings to presidential visits. Later in her career shewrote about the local arts community.
“When I started(at the Journal Star)there was Theo and BernadineMartin, two women who were in the newsroom covering hard news,”said former Journal Star reporter Pam Adams, whose byline first appeared in the Journal Star in 1976.
Kenyon was toughand had strong ideas about how things should be done, said Adams.
“You wanted Theo on your side in a fight. And I feel for anybody and everybody who was on the other side,because she could be tough and difficult," said Adams.
Peoria's history:Take a historic tour through Peoria: Here are 14 places to check out
That toughness was helpful when employees at the newspaper decided to unionize in the 1950s. Kenyon was instrumental in that fight, which led to a seven-week strike, said former Journal Star photographer Al Harkrader.
“It was wintertime. I remember it was cold and we were picketingaroundthe clock, 24 hours a day. If we weren’t there at night, they would bring in the people to do the work that we weren’t doing,” he said.
Kenyon served as president of the Peoria Newspaper Guildtwice over the years.
“When they went on strike,she said she wondered what her mother and father thought, when they spent all this money to send her to Northwestern andnowshe’s out on strike,” saidSam Johnson, a family friend who became Kenyon’s caregiver later in her life. “She didn’t grow up in a union family, but she learned how good the union was, helpful withtheir wages and stuff.Soshe was a big union woman.”
'Being a woman never stopped her from getting what she wanted'
Although she could be tough, Kenyon also had a soft side, said Adams.
“She was one of the most gracious and generous peopleI have ever known,”she said.
Kenyonwasquick to helpothers,bringing food or flowers as needed, andher annual wassail parties at Christmastime were legendary, said Adams.
Kenyon was bornSept. 5, 1922, in Peoria,the only child of Theo and Eugene Ahrends. Shegrew up in a house on Prospect Road near Glen OakAvenueandspent a lot of time in Downtown Peoria at the shop thefamily ownednext to the Madison Theater.
“It was a card shop. They sold all kinds of cards and cigars and newspapers,” saidJohnson.
Kenyon attended Peoria High School, where she was first introduced to journalism, said Johnson.
“She did the school newspaper thing, and she liked it,” he said. “She was originallygoing tobe an attorney, but I think back then they didn’t have that manywomenattorneys, so she decided to stick with journalism.”
Kenyon attended Peoria High at the same time as a number of well-knownPeorians, including Betty Friedan, who became anationalfeministleaderafter writing“The Feminine Mystique.” Although Kenyon was a strong woman, she didn’t care for Friedan’sideas, said Johnson.
“Theo said that being a woman never stopped her from getting what she wanted,” he said.
Theo and Leslie Kenyon, 'a Peoria power couple'
Another influentialPeorianattending Peoria High at that time wasLeslie Kenyon, whomarriedTheoin 1954. The pair didn’t get togetherin high school, however.
“Somebody had set them up on a datewhen they were in their 30s, and it just went from there," said Johnson.
Thefounder and president of Kenyon & Associates architectural firm, Les Kenyon worked tirelessly to preserve historicarchitecturein Peoria. Hewas the perfect partner for headstrong Theo, who bucked conventionand continuedto work after getting married.
Pride in Peoria:Here are Journal Star employees' 16 favorite things about Peoria
The marriage would last 53 years until Les Kenyon's death a decade ago.
“They were a Peoriapower couple, really,” said Johnson.
Theo Kenyon supported her husband in all his endeavors, andcarried onhislegacy after his deathby putting an elevator in the Grand Army of the Republic Greenhut Memorial Hall in Downtown Peoriain 2015.Les Kenyon was instrumental in saving the building, which was constructedin 1909 as a memorial to Civil War soldiers. By making the buildinghandicapped accessible,the elevator helpedensureitsusefulnessinto the future.
“Theo, I believe, almost 100%financed the installation of that elevator,” said AmyUlrich, a longtimeemployee ofKenyon & Associates whoserved as Theo Kenyon’s power of attorney.“And the original bids were like $80,000. Then when they actually put it in,it had to be redesigned, so the price tagwentfrom$80,000to$210,000,or something like that. But she pretty much paid for the bulk of that.”
Preserving Peoria's past:See inside this 156-year-old cottage in Peoria — a 'little house' with history
Theo Kenyon enjoyed relatively good healthwellinto her 90s.She drove until she was 96. Until shortly before her death, she lived at the East Peoria home Les Kenyon designed.
As her mobility began to decline,she stubbornly refused tomove into a retirement home.Instead,she relied on a vast network of friends, many of them former co-workers, who kept an eye on her in her final years, said Elaine Hopkins, a former Journal Star reporter.
“She hadmany, many friends because she kneweverybody in the whole town,” Hopkins said.
Leslie Renken can be reached at309-370-5087orlrenken@pjstar.com. Follow heron Facebook.com/leslie.renken.
