Member Profile
Lucille Hecht--from 1909 to 2005--from 1909 to 2005--A Cherished Treasure
by Marlene Cook, IWPA Historian

When Lucille Hecht recently saw a cartoon in the newspaper, she just had to clip it and send it to her friend. One asked, 'How did you get to be 96 years old?' The answer was, "Well, I was born in 1909."

Lucille was born in 1909 on April 22 in Rockford, IL and moved to Aurora at age seven. By the time she was sophomore at East Aurora High School, her family moved to the west side; she graduated from West Aurora High School. When she was young, her girlfriend said she wanted to be an artist. Lucille said she wanted to write.

"I could have, but I didn't want to go to college. My mother and my stepfather opened an upscale grocery and meat market and I did some work there. This first thing I ever wrote was a story about a local restaurant; I mailed it to a highway magazine and they bought it. That encouraged me to write more and I landed a job writing advertising for Western Wheel Scraper Co."

One day, Lucille, an only child whose mother had married three times, was listening to Radio Station WJJD broadcasting from the top of the Palmer House. Emcee Bob Hawk was promoting 'Penny a Day' insurance. (He later hosted the '$69,000 Question' and 'Life Begins at 80'.) "I called him and asked, 'Do you insure book reviewers?' He said, 'Sure.' I must have been divinely led, because I didn't review books, but he asked to meet me. I was 19 years old." That meeting led to Lucille being hired as a continuity writer for the radio station. Later, she became involved with experimental television in 1930 as an on camera talent.

"The Great Depression was upon [us] and I lost my job. My next job was for NBC where I wrote commercials for Evan's Fur Coats. Some supreme being decided the commercial readers would be more effective if they could view a live model. So, I was it. One time, while he was describing the coat's lining, I opened the coat, no lining! It was worth a good laugh."

Lucille made friends easily and many of them were influential people that ranged from authors to the Oscar Meyer family and Douglas Doolittle. She recalled Oscar Meyer explaining that her name, "Hecht," meant fish in German.

Her friendships led to jobs from public relations for the Century of Progress events to editing Real American Magazine to writing real estate ads. She even took a job in San Francisco for a few months during World War II where she promoted the grand christening of the new concrete barges.

"The Kaiser was there, Myrna Loy was there and I was there. I just seemed to land in the right places."
Back in Chicago, she took a room on Astor Street, not knowing she had an elite address. Her rent was $5 per week; her pay $10 per week as a manuscript editor.

"It was 1943 and I fell into it. I was accepted as editor of the Altrusa International Magazine. Ignorance is bliss. I didn't know anything about layout and suddenly I was in charge of print, layout, all of it. When the executive editor was let go, the new one had charge of everyone but me and I became autonomous. I retired after 36 years. They did give me an assistant, Connie Lewis, fresh out of high school. We became great friends and I am the godmother to her first child."

Helen Miller Mallock, who was a co-founder of NFPW in 1937, sponsored Lucille's IWPA membership 60 years ago. They met because their offices were in the same building. Lucille became very active and climbed the chairs from PenPoints editor, contest chairman and then president. IWPA honored her with the Woman of Achievement award in 1973.

Lucille says, "I don't remember who was introducing me, but she went on for so long and it was getting late. So when I was to acknowledge the award, I simply said, "I'm too pooped to speak." But, let it be known, Lucille is not too pooped to keep active. She continues to attend Northwestern University's Institute for Learning in Retirement (LLR) a peer-learning group with a no professors program. She says, "We are the professors and we are the pupils." She is currently involved in a study of the latest analysis of the French Revolution. IWPA has given Lucille a lifelong membership.

She quips, "I like to keep my brain busy. After retirement, I studied Spanish. Sometimes my legs get a little wobbly and I tell myself, 'Just get up and go!' A positive outlook is necessary."

Lucille co-authored a book on women getting jobs at any age, is speaker for State Farm sponsored charities, was put on the advisory council at NWU at age 82, served on the city's Old Town Triangle Association, and was a founder of the Old Town Art Fair. She is listed in the Chicago Senior Citizen Hall of Fame. Mayor Richard Daley has twice proclaimed "Lucille Hecht Day in Chicago".

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