2026 In Memoriam

In Memoriam
Remembering NFPW current and past members who’ve died or whose deaths were reported since the September 2025 conference through July 30, 2026.

Delaware Press Association
Ray Firmani, 103, of Elsmere, Delaware, died July 20. Firmani, a decorated World War II bomber pilot who completed 25 B-17 missions, was an award-winning industrial photographer and videographer with DuPont for 46 years until his retirement in 1986. His experiences, including growing up in Wilmington as the eldest son of poor Italian immigrants and becoming a WWII aviator, were published in the 2019 NFPW award-winning book, “Against All Odds: The Ray Firmani Story,” written and edited by DPA members Mitch Topal and Katherine Ward, respectively.

Illinois Woman’s Press Association
Frances Altman, 88, died March 20. During her career, she wrote for Chicago newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times and the Arlington Herald, taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, and authored nine juvenile books and several biographies.

Francine Pappadis Friedman, 79, died Dec. 12. Friedman had a lengthy career in development and communications. For more than two decades, she was president of an eponymous, full-service fundraising and communications consulting firm, working primarily with nonprofit organizations such as hospitals, arts institutions, museums and social services, educational and religious agencies. A former English and journalism instructor, she wrote several nonfiction and fiction articles and authored two books: a well-received account of her midlife singlehood journey, “MatchDotBomb” (2007) and the novel “Beyond ‘The Green’” (2020).

Mary Faith Hilboldt, 67, died Aug. 16, 2024. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Marquette University and a mass media certificate from Stanford University. She had worked in public relations and advertising media sales, and as a freelance writer and an award-winning reporter for StreetWise magazine.

Nebraska Press Women
Barb Batie, 67, died in Lexington, Nebraska, on Dec. 25, her favorite holiday. An avid photographer and community journalist, Batie wrote award-winning articles and columns about rural Nebraska and its farmers for more than 40 years for several newspapers and magazines. After majoring in home economics and journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Batie spent six months on seven West Germany farms as part of an exchange program in 1980. When she returned to her home state, she got her first journalism job with the Tri-City Tribune and met her future husband, Don, while doing her first interview.

Pennsylvania Press Club
Suzanne Martinson, 83, died March 4 in Caro, Michigan. Martinson earned several journalism awards during her career, including two James Beard awards and the International Association of Culinary Professionals prestigious Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism while serving as the food editor with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 1999, while with the Post-Gazette, she earned NFPW’s Sweepstakes Award. Before moving to Pennsylvania, Martinson had been a features editor in Oregon, where in 1980, she helped cover the Mt. St. Helen eruption, work that contributed to the Longview Daily News’ Pulitzer Prize effort.

Virginia Professional Communicators
Bonnie Atwood, 79, a Richmond-based writer, lobbyist and human rights advocate, died July 8, from complications of leukemia. She was a former treasurer and president with VPC and the runner-up of the 2016 NFPW Communicator of Achievement. Besides having written for local newspapers and magazines, she wrote a novel based on her experiences as an Ice Capades dancer and a book about caring for her mother.

Hope Cartwright, a 23-year-old editor at Virginia Living Magazine, died Feb. 16, died after being hit by a vehicle while walking home from work in Richmond. Calling her “a gift” to the newsroom, Madeline Mayhood, the magazine’s editor-in-chief who hired Cartwright, said in news reports that Cartwright had ““blossomed into a real leader, ace project manager, visionary storyteller and ace editor — a real rockstar.” A native of Traverse City, Michigan, Cartwright earned a degree from Northwestern University’s Merrill School of Journalism. She was in her first year of membership with NFPW and VPW.

Ruth Doumlele, 102, of Richmond, died June 30. During her career, she was a business manager at WLEE Radio and WXEX-TV, the corporate business manager and assistant vice president for Neighborhood Communications Corp. and a contributor to several publications, including The Woman CPA, Virginia Woman and Richmond magazines.

At-large – Wyoming
Bess Lee Arnold, 93, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, died July 20. After working in various state, legal and financial offices, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming and was a reporter for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. In retirement, she was an enumerator for the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Services, a volunteer lobbyist for AARP and a volunteer for several community organizations and nonprofits.