| Notes |
- Edwina Meitzen of Lafayette, longtime owner of the Dayton Tribune with her husband, George, who survives, died Wednesday at the Willamette Valley Medical Center in McMinnville.
She fell victim to cancer at the age of 77. At her request, no services are planned.
She was born on Dec. 19, 1931, in Dallas, Texas. She learned typesetting in her parents' printing shop, and earned certification as a journeyman linotype operator when she was just 18.
The Meitzens settled in Lafayette in 1962 and took jobs with The Oregonian. Two years later, they bought the Tribune and its affiliated printing shop.
The weekly newspaper was launched by local bankers in 1912. They saw it as a way to help the city prosper. Not being newspaper people themselves, the bankers hired a series of publishers to run the paper over the years before selling the enterprise to the Meitzens in 1964.
Meitzen, widely known as "Eddie," served as editor of the paper until June 2006, when she and her husband ceased publication. The following year, they shuttered the print shop as well and went into retirement.
In addition to having a long career in publishing and printing, she also had a long career in public service. She was appointed to the Lafayette Planning Commission in 1969, then joined the city council. She became Lafayette's first woman mayor in 1973, serving until 1976.
She renewed her government service in Lafayette in 1979 and served another stint on the city council in 2003-04. Most recently, she served on the city's budget committee from 2006 through 2008.
She was active in the Dayton Jayceettes and Dayton Chamber of Commerce. She was one of the founders of Lafayette Heritage Days and served as festival queen in 1999. And she was a SMART reading volunteer at Dayton Elementary School.
In addition to her husband of 49 years, she is survived by two sons, Charles and Edwin Kratzer of Lafayette; a daughter, Colleen Steckel of Ohio; a sister, Alicia Anderson of Chesterfield, Mo.; two brothers, Robert Fitzgerald of Irving, Texas, and Howard Fitzgerald of Garland, Texas; and five grandchildren.
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1931 - 2009 (77 years)
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