I attended a wonderful lunch Sunday with about 20 great friends and former Dallas Morning News colleagues at Meso Maya in Dallas. We were there to fete Denise Beeber, who retired Sept. 1 after spending almost 30 years at the newspaper as a news editor instrumental in ensuring that the DMN published every day. Denise was one of my supervisors a big chunk of my 22 and a half years at The News, and my main boss during my last five before I left for UT Southwestern Medical Center almost a year to the day before she retired.
Of course, Beebs (hmm, first time I’ve ever called her that) knows how happy I am for her. I’ve told her several times. But if I may add … WHY DO ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE YOUNGER THAN ME (OR MY AGE) KEEP RETIRING BEFORE ME??!! 😅
Denise arrived at the DMN in March 1994 after spending a couple of years as a copy editor at the Los Angeles Times. Just before that, she’d been a copy editor at the Dallas Times Herald for over two years and was on the staff when the DTH shut down in December 1991, a victim of the city’s fierce newspaper war.
During her three decades at The News, Denise became a steady, stalwart leader, helping guide the news desk (think page designers for print) through the daily grind of large papers (back in the glory days, anyway), multiple sections and what seemed infinite deadlines. After a stormy reorganization a few years back, she became editor of what, at least internally, was called The Daily, overseeing the news/copy editors who produce the print edition.
But truthfully, Denise wore numerous hats, working tirelessly to handle and, if needed, troubleshoot every issue involving the print product. As the DMN‘s digital product became the main focus, she steered, mentored and worked with the multiplatform desk (print and digital news/copy editors), of which I was a member, to keep the whole dual operation running smoothly.
A lot of supervisors in you-name-it places of employment sit back and let their reports do most if not all of the heavy lifting. Not Denise. She spent years working in the trenches alongside her troops, sweating all the details that newspaper news/copy editors agonize over every day.
Denise’s days at the DMN were always long, but her patience was never in short supply, and she always had a listening ear for her staff. She managed to keep her wit sharp to add levity to the most harrowing of situations — and in the newspaper business, those can occur hourly. Keep calm, design clean pages, catch all the errors and missing story elements, make sure the copy flows, write great, accurate headlines — and make all those deadlines!
As I wrote in a blurb for her farewell Page 1 (see awesome image below, chock full of Denise-isms) — a treasured rite of passage that longtimers who leave the paper are gifted with — all who’ve worked closely with Denise on the copy/news/multiplatform desk are grateful for having had that opportunity. We respect her work ethic and willingness to put in untold hours to do whatever it takes to see the paper through to publication.
Denise knows, more than anything or anyone, what a team effort the desk operation is — and she’s been a remarkable, fearless leader of that squad at the DMN. When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020 and we retreated to our homes in an attempt to produce The News remotely, she led us in an impressive showing of how it could be done. Thanks in no small part to Denise’s leadership, we kept right on performing as a team, excelling at our jobs as if we were still sitting at our desks next to one another at 1954 Commerce St. downtown. And over three years later, the DMN‘s multiplatform desk continues to work remotely and get the job done superbly.
Now, Denise will be moving sometime early next spring from Dallas to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she went to college (Wooooo, Pig! Sooie!) and will get to live close to her mom, Cathy. From what I can tell, Denise is excited, although it’ll be tough to leave dear friends behind — but nothing will keep her from visiting every chance she gets.
Those of us who’ve worked side by side with Denise for so long are thankful for her unwavering dedication to her staff and will always cherish the colleague, friend and hero she’s been to us.
Enjoy retirement, Denise — you deserve this and we’re all ecstatic for you! 🙂
A Life of Words 