Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504030040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When Atkin arrived in the Roanoke Valley in the late 1960s, she had more than 20 years' experience with newspapers in Louisiana, Indiana, and Wisconsin as a reporter, sports editor and television columnist. She gave the profession 15 more years, first with her free-lance column, "Horsing Around," and then as a full-time writer.
Her gravelly-voiced "Hello, Doll-y" greeting and reminders that "it's crik, not creek" endeared the Midwesterner to co-workers and those she encountered in her job, which initially was as education writer. She won awards from the Virginia Press Association in a variety of categories.
At the time of her retirement in December 1983, her beats included Botetourt County, where she lived on a horse farm, and horses.
For many years, Atkin edited an annual special section produced in conjunction with the Roanoke Valley Horse Show, and she also reported on the show. She continued to cover it the year after she retired, and one night as she was leaving the Salem Civic Center, she fell as she stepped off the curb.
She went to the newspaper office to write about the horse competitions, but mentioned to other writers that she was in pain and that she intended to see a doctor after deadline. It turned out she had broken her hip.
Along with her love of horses, Atkin, an Indiana University graduate, loved that school's sports. Roanoke Times & World-News sports editor Bill Bern said she could "talk games with the best of them."
Atkin's husband, Robert J. Atkin, died in 1987, and she and her daughter, Bonnie Atkin, relocated to Roanoke. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by two sons, Rojer Atkin of Snowshoe, W.Va., and Scott Atkin of Newport, R.I.; and two granddaughters.
The family will receive visitors today from 6 to 8 p.m. at Oakey's South Chapel. Funeral service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church.
by CNB