Myra Nye
{{short description|Writer, journalist, and clubwoman}}
Myra Sturtevant Nye (May 12, 1875 – January 28, 1955) was a writer, journalist, and clubwoman based in Southern California. She was the women's club editor and Hollywood columnist at the Los Angeles Times from 1919 to 1934.
Early life
Myra Bell Sturtevant was born in 1875, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents were William Sturtevant and Mary Davis Sturtevant. Myra Sturtevant graduated from Oberlin College in 1896.John W. Leonard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PMQ-AQAAMAAJ&dq=Myra+Sturtevant+Nye&pg=PA605 Woman's Who's Who of America] (American Commonwealth Publishing 1914): 605.
Career
Myra Sturtevant first moved to California in 1896 with her father, and returned with husband and her first two children in 1901. She helped to organize the Glendora Women's Club, and was the group's first vice president."Talented Pioneer Woman Has Rich Memories of San Gabriel Valley" Covina Argus (June 18, 1953): 18. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
From 1919 to 1934, she was the women's club editor at the Los Angeles Times.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8163659/myra_nye_resigns_from_la_times_1934/ "Club Editor Resigns from 'Times' Post"] Covina Argus (September 28, 1934): 1. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She also wrote the column "Society of Cinemaland".Leo Braudy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=U2dW4UnvEr0C&dq=Myra+Nye&pg=RA1-PA1915-IA5 The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Reality of an American Icon] (Yale University Press 2011): 59. {{ISBN|9780300158786}} She covered other events as well, including a lecture on quantum theory by Charles Darwin's grandson at the Ebell Club, of which she wrote, "When Charles Darwin, long ago, advanced his evolution theory he could have created no greater bewilderment than did his grandson yesterday."Robert P. Crease and Alfred Scharff Goldhaber, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gxN0AwAAQBAJ&dq=Myra+Nye&pg=PT71 The Quantum Moment: How Planck, Bohr, Einstein, and Heisenberg Taught us to Love Uncertainty] (W. W. Norton & Company 2014). {{ISBN|9780393245998}} She served a term as president of the Southern California Women's Press Club.Faye Ferguson, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8179213/meeting_of_copy_cats_southern/ "Alma Whitaker is Honoree as Mrs. Myra Nye Entertains 'Copy Cats'"] Covina Argus (October 20, 1933): 5. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Myra Nye wrote a historical novel, Heart of Gold (1912), and forty short stories, most of them with California historical settings. She taught evening writing classes in Covina after she retired from newspaper work.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8179500/myra_nye_teaching_writing_in_covina/ "Myra Nye to Give Writers Instructions"] Covina Argus (January 8, 1937): 9. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Personal life
Myra Sturtevant married William Putnam Nye, a druggist, in Oberlin, Ohio in 1898. They had four children. Their son Carroll Nye had a notable career in Hollywood. Another son, Wilbur S. Nye, was a writer.Wilbur Sturtevant Nye, Bad Medicine and Good (University of Oklahoma Press 1962). {{ISBN|9780806129655}} She was also active with the Covina chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution,[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8175705/myra_nye_regent_of_covina_dar_1930/ "Mrs. Myra Nye New Regent for D. A. R. Chapter"] Covina Argus (May 9, 1930): 4. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} and in local theatrical productions.Henry L. Marshall, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8178934/myra_nye_scriptographer_1937/ "Little Theater Group Passion Play Worthy of Annual Presentation"] Covina Argus (March 26, 1937): 3. via Newspapers.com{{open access}} She and her son Ralph Nye also made and marketed several flavors of marmalade as "Myra Nye Marmalade", in the 1940s.[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8179289/myra_nye_marmalade_1947/ "Nyes to Resume Making Marmalade"] Covina Argus (April 4, 1947): 1. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}
Myra Nye was widowed in 1947, and died in Glendora, California in 1955, aged 79 years.[https://www.proquest.com/docview/166736898/D8A012C357CB4F50PQ/9 "Myra Nye, Former Times Woman's Editor, Dies"] Los Angeles Times (January 30, 1955): 4.
References
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External links
- Myra Nye, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vi1NAQAAMAAJ&dq=Myra+Nye&pg=PA42 "Spirit of California"], a poem published in the 1922 edition of Who's Who Among the Women of California
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Category:20th-century American women journalists
Category:Writers from Cleveland
Category:Journalists from Cleveland
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:Journalists from California
Category:Los Angeles Times people
Category:People from Covina, California
Category:Oberlin College alumni
Category:American women short story writers
Category:20th-century American short story writers