Pat tested boundaries, shaped the Post
Patricia Anne Churchill, journalist: b Wellington, September 19, 1943; m Don Churchill, 2s; d Melbourne, August 1, 2015, aged 71.
ALMOST from the day she arrived in newspapers, Pat Churchill was testing boundaries and creating opportunities for women journalists, a one-person campaign to ensure they were taken seriously.
Pat joined the staff of The Evening Post in 1962, arriving from insurance company AMP. She was taken on by then business editor Ben O’Connor in his small department of grey-haired men because, she said, she could read a balance sheet.
She had thoughts of accountancy but, not untypically, felt the ink got in her veins and she abandoned the idea of pursuing the comparatively dull numbers job.
Her work was to pick up the morning call at the sharemarket, to report company results and write news stories, the latter usually with a sub-editor hovering over her, waiting to take the next page of copy from her typewriter.
Churchill was the oldest daughter of Bill and Stacey Barber and for years they moved between military bases because of her father’s work.
She attended St Mary’s College, Auckland, and St Dominic’s in Dunedin. Her inquisitive mind led her to debate the tenets of Catholicism with the good nuns at St Mary’s who did not much appreciate her questions about where Darwin and God’s creation fitted in.
Tragically, her father died suddenly at the age of 37, survived by Stacey, Pat and younger daughter Lynne who was also to become a journalist.
However, business news did not capture her heart for long. She was soon harassing the chief reporter, asking to join the newsroom as a general news reporter.
The editorial leaders were not exactly enthusiastic about more women invading the largely male preserve but eventually the chief reporter relented, and Pat had her wish.
Another new recruit to the newsroom was Don Churchill, who had graduated from the obligatory stint in the proofreaders’ room.
Fairly soon others noticed the two were frequently in each other’s company, especially in the old Britannia pub next door in Willis St, where journalists from The Post and The Dominion gathered.
But after a year or so, Pat decided that it was time to join other Kiwis in doing her OE. She had made a big enough impression for the chief reporter to decline her resignation, saying he would keep the job open for her.
In terms of travel, she didn’t get far, spending a year or so away before returning to Wellington. She missed home – and Don.
The chief reporter gave her the health round, one of the toughest on the beat, filled with political nuances, rival professional and union factions and, seemingly, a source of continuing drama. A couple of years on and she came under pressure to move to what was then called the Women’s Department.
Pat was told she could be in charge, as the editor of the section was retiring at the ripe old age of 60. She firmly refused, saying she was not interested in gossip columns, social notices, fashion titbits and the like.
The invitation was renewed several times before Pat agreed – but only on her terms.
Whether the editor was prepared for it or not, she turned those women’s pages into profiles, human-interest stories and information that was useful and important to women.
It was 1973 and, to the horror of some, there were stories about delicate subjects that previously had been bypassed. These included the feminist movement, taboo subjects such as sexually transmitted diseases, and stories on the choices available to people in the early 1970s – choices that just a few years before were unheard of.
In 1975 a new young editor, Mike Robson, arrived at the Post and brought an energy, drive and sharpness to the place that it sorely lacked.
Churchill saw an opportunity in the change. She persuaded him to abandon the women’s pages and turn the space into feature pages which would examine in-depth issues facing the city and the country.
She recalled last year that she went into the editor’s office, and the first thing she said to him was that he should dump the women’s pages – a bit like turkeys voting for an early Christmas.
She wanted the paper, through feature pages, to cover subjects of greater interest, to background the news, to do more investigative reporting, introduce comment and analysis and make the paper less parish-pump.
Robson took a few days to think about it and then said yes, a move not universally welcomed.
What Pat and Don Churchill shared in those early years was not only an enthusiasm and competitiveness for the news but also a determination to cultivate talent and spot future stars.
Under her watch the paper’s initiatives included the introduction of a TV editorial page and a weekly restaurant review. The latter sat well with Pat’s lifelong interest in cooking and food.
Fellow reporters would agree that Pat was also courting Don with her fine cooking skills.
Marriage seemed inevitable but much delayed until one Friday no-one noticed that both had an afternoon off and returned on the Monday to announce their news.
Marriage was followed by the birth of sons Ben and James and Pat took to parenting with the same skill as she did writing a feature.
Pat effectively parked her own ambitions to support Don, who became editor of the Saturday night sports edition, the Sports Post, then The Evening Post after Robson’s own promotion. He then moved into general management with a series of roles in New Zealand and Australia.
Churchill was a reluctant participant in the moves but every time she would get over the disruption of rebuilding a life in a new place, make new friends and secure a job. She could work in the same organisation where Don was the boss but she earned respect for the quality and speed of her work. She was no management spy.
Over the years she sub-edited copy and laid out pages for daily and community papers, she edited publisher INL’s in-house magazine, she produced company annual reports, she gave advice and direction to papers that struggled to make headway, especially in tough cost-cutting times.
Long before the journalism and media worlds went digital she was knee-deep making magic with an Apple Mac and a variety of software.
Pat found a publishing niche with her interest in food, writing blogs and columns for newspapers on both sides of the Tasman and becoming friends with leading chefs and restaurant owners.
She died suddenly after a short illness, a few months after attending the celebration marking 150 years since The Evening Post was founded.