Peggy Roberson Dies; Visitation Oct. 1

Peggy Roberson, a longtime Washington reporter for newspapers in Texas and Alabama, died Sept. 22 at age 80 after a long illness.

Ms. Roberson was an active member of the National Press Club, formerly serving on the Freedom of the Press and Speaekrs committees.

A native of Cheyenne, Okla., she attended Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, before starting a journalism career on the Elk City Daily News (Oklahoma). She also worked for the Portales News-Tribune (New Mexico) and the Amarillo Daily News (Texas). She became an award-winning reporter at the Birmingham News, where she began in 1966, at a time when there few women in the newsroom.

"Her get-up-and-go on breaking news was a model, but so was her versatility," said former News managing editor Carol Nunnelley.

She was the first woman president of the Alabama Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She later served as Washington correspondent for the Montgomery Advertiser and the Alabama Journal, from 1978 to 1982. Ms. Roberson joined the Hearst bureau in 1984 when Hearst purchased three Jefferson-Pilot newspapers for which she had been writing. She retired from Hearst Newspapers in 1995 and was working on a biography of former Rep. Jack Brooks of Beamount, a colorful character who served in Congress for 40 years, at the time of her death.

Ms. Roberson is survived by three children: LeeAnn Guynn, Carol Cowley and William Roberson. Visitation is from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 1, at Money and King Funeral Home in Vienna, Va., with a memorial service at the funeral home at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2.

-- Rick Dunham, [email protected]