SHNS Managing Editor Karen Timmons dies at 58

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Karen Timmons, a skilled reporter who wrote well and made hundreds of other writers better during a distinguished career as an editor, died Friday. She was 58.Timmons had been battling ovarian cancer for a year and died of complications, said her husband, William T. Clipper.The managing editor of Scripps Howard News Service, Timmons was a fine and careful writer who developed into a firm but gentle editor, combining a love of the language and fidelity to proper grammar with an empathetic touch for prickly writers reluctant to change even a comma.Timmons always got her way with a story, and most writers felt she had done them a great service."Every story Karen touched was improved, and every person she met came away feeling better about themselves," said Peter Copeland, editor and general manager of Scripps Howard News Service. "We knew her in life as smart, loving and fun. In the end we saw her grit and determination, still editing stories from her 'couch bureau' when she was too weak to stand."Timmons had a natural elegance about her, a flair evident in her home and office, as well as her writing. She also had a quick wit and a bottomless capacity for belly laughs, often at her own expense, and even during the darkest days of chemotherapy.Besides newspapers, her other great love was her family. She was most proud of her son, Michael, and talked often about his success as a chef and entrepreneur. Timmons married recently, and with her husband was restoring several properties near their home in Burkittsville, Md.Born in Ohio, Timmons graduated from the School of Journalism at Ohio State University.She worked for the Japan Times in Okinawa before taking a job as a general assignment reporter at the Metro Virginia News in Leesburg, Va. From there she joined United Press International, then owned by Scripps Howard.Timmons left UPI to start her own news service in Richmond, Va., supplying state government coverage to small papers, and she edited newsletters and directories on alternative fuels and wrote for various magazines.She returned to UPI in 1985 as the national lifestyle editor in Washington, also serving as the arts and entertainment editor. She later covered Congress and federal agencies.In 1992, Timmons joined The Washington Times as assistant features editor and then assistant national editor.Timmons was hired in 1995 by Scripps Howard News Service to manage a new product called the Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, a wire targeted to and for newspapers in the West.Her strong editing, good judgment and steady hand made her the obvious choice for a series of leadership positions that led to the title of managing editor of Scripps Howard News Service. She led national and international news coverage, coordinated news gathering with hundreds of newspapers around the world, developed new magazines for the cable networks HGTV and Food Network, and launched special sections for newspapers, several Web sites and other news products.Recent responsibilities included leading the Scripps Howard investigative reporting team, uncovering major stories on sudden infant death, missing children and other topics.Her special skill, though, was helping others become better professionally and personally, which she did with her own brand of tough love. She expected colleagues to work hard, but happily rewarded them with praise, treats, prizes and parties. Her signature event was the annual office chair race: a screaming, wall-banging dash down carpeted corridors astride a wheeled desk chair.She insisted on being the one to hand out the prize ribbons. Every racer got one.Timmons is survived by her father, John M. Timmons, her son, Michael Rypka, sisters Jan Mercer and Becky Tobey; a brother, John M. Timmons, and her husband, William T. Clipper, and two stepsons, William and Robert.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)