Kildow

FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS, THE FAMILY’S VISION AND LEADERSHIP MADE A TREMENDOUS IMPACT ON STUDENT JOURNALISM.

HE WAS THERE in the beginning — 1921 to be exact.

Fred Kildow, a 22-year-old undergraduate studying journalism at the University of Wisconsin, was among the students who assisted his professor, E. Marion Johnson, in launching Central Interscholastic Press Association — which would become National Scholastic Press Association and Associated Collegiate Press.

From his start as a student assistant, Kildow would eventually serve as manager, director, editor of Scholastic Editor magazine, emeritus director, board member and student press advocate. His influence on NSPA and ACP spanned nearly 50 years, and it remains evident today.

“Dad was in on the absolute beginning of NSPA at the University of Wisconsin,” Kathy (Kildow) Leabo, daughter of Fred and Lucille Kildow, said. Leabo, 93, now lives in Texas.

In 1927, Johnson was appointed to lead the University of Minnesota journalism department, and with the blessing of Wisconsin, moved the press association with him. In 1928, he hired Fred Kildow to join the Minnesota journalism faculty and manage NSPA.

Kildow immediately started sending out newsletters with suggestions and advice, organized competitions as a means for improvement, began planning national conventions and established a critique service.

His efforts made an immediate effect — especially in the field of yearbooks, which were relatively new on the scholastic level and experiencing a boom in popularity in the 1930s. That trend fostered the birth of companies producing yearbooks.

Kildow advanced through the academic ranks at the University of

Minnesota, from instructor to full professor, and he earned a master’s degree along the way. He established some of the first courses to train education majors seeking to become publications advisers and started the department’s first photojournalism courses.

He also served as student publications adviser for the Minnesota Daily student newspaper and the Gopher yearbook and as director of the Minnesota High School Press Association.

Journalism and NSPA were a family affair for the Kildows.

“They were just an absolute fabulous team,” Leabo said of her parents, Fred and Lucille. “Dad was teaching fulltime, and he was also adviser to student publications in addition to running NSPA.

“Mom ran the office. She had helpers who took over all of the secretarial work, but she was the one managing the office,” Leabo said.

Lucille worked at NSPA throughout her career in various positions, including acting director and assistant director. She also ran the critical service and was highly regarded as a yearbook expert, frequently writing about trends in Scholastic Editor magazine.

In 1960, Lucille suffered a stroke during surgery for tongue cancer. It resulted in partial paralysis, difficulty swallowing and severe speech impediment. But she was able to keep writing, judging yearbooks and attending conventions with “remarkable courage and lack of fuss,” according to Scholastic Editor.

Leabo said she fondly remembers spending time in the NSPA offices in

FRED AND LUCILLE

KILDOW share yearbook ideas with student editors. Fred was the director and Lucille was yearbook judging supervisor.

Pillsbury Hall in the mid-1930s with her brother, William, while her parents worked in the evenings after classes.

“I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. I can remember going up and down the halls in that wonderful old building while mom and dad were busy at work,” Leabo said.

She and her brother also worked at the office stuffing envelopes for the many mailings that were always going out.

Leabo reminisced about the conventions she attended over the years, starting as a high school student serving as newspaper editor at Washburn High School, Minneapolis. The family tradition of traveling to conventions extended to the next generation.

“When I had a family, I can remember taking my kids to the convention,” Leabo said.

“I think my daughter was probably the youngest convention-goer ever, because she was about 5 years old. The convention was over Thanksgiving weekend, so we hated to leave her at home and not be with her.

“To me, getting to know the journalism advisers was such a great experience. They were the brightest bunch,” Leabo said. Many decades later, she cites interacting with the advisers as one of the most rewarding aspects of her job at NSPA.

Leabo earned a journalism degree from Minnesota, where she also edited the Gopher yearbook. After graduation, she was home-decorations editor for the San Francisco Chronicle before serving as NSPA assistant director.

Both Kathy and her husband, C.J. “Skip” Leabo, worked for NSPA. Kathy served as editor of Scholastic Editor, and Skip became NSPA assistant director the year before Lucille suffered her stroke. Skip, who had also worked for the Associated Press, later became journliasm-department chair at Texas A&M University.

“I was always so glad that Skip was hired before mom’s surgical accident,” Leabo said. “He never felt he was doing it because of mom’s health — he was doing it because he wanted to.”

Through the decades, Kildow stressed the independence of NSPA from the University of Minnesota.

“While NSPA has the friendly sponsorship of the University of Minnesota, nevertheless NSPA has absolutely no connection, educational or commercial. Dues levied yearly are its means of support,” Kildow wrote in Scholastic Editor.

Those who worked closely with the Kildows described them as hard working and modest leaders who did not seek the limelight.

Wayne Brasler, an award-winning high school adviser at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School for 52 years, said he was adopted by the Kildows, who were his valued mentors and friends.

“It was the Kildows who on the national level successfully imparted the vision of high school newspapers and yearbooks as serious and important parts of the curriculum, not just fun activities, though fun and excitement were part of the venture,” Brasler said.

“The Kildows were upstanding straightarrow citizens — very family, very community-minded, very establishment and very serious,” he said. “Yet there was a degree of warmth, humor, wit, fun and even irreverence seldom evident in their public images. They were both wonderful people and gallant.”

Leabo said her father loved serving as director of NSPA/ACP and didn’t want to retire. This posed challenges for her husband, who was assistant director.

“One of the reasons Skip left NSPA and his job as assistant director was he was convinced dad was not going to give up the directorship,” Leabo said.

Kildow’s family convinced him to retire. “We said, for heaven sakes Daddy, you’re 68 years old. It’s time to get out of it,” Leabo said.

For the first time in 45 years, NSPA/ ACP welcomed a new director — Otto Quale. From 1946-50, Quale served as assistant director. He left NSPA to manage the Jostens yearbook division, and, in 1968, he returned to NSPA/ACP as director.

Kildow said he was delighted with the selection of Quale to succeed him as director. The two men were good friends. Quale was originally one of Kildow’s students.

Lucille died in 1985. Fred followed in 1986.

“No one was surprised when they passed away within a year of each other. They were utterly devoted to each other,” Brasler said.

“The Kildow legacy continues. Today’s scholastic newspapers and yearbooks are built on the journalistic approach advocated by the Kildows and NSPA/ACP.” n

Yesterday And Today

Fred Kildow, director

Lucille Kildow, assistant director, judging supervisor

Kathy (Kildow) Leabo, editor of Scholastic Editor

C.J. “Skip” Leabo, assistant director

(Kildow)