Edith Hay Wyckoff
Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, New York
Marker Inscription
In memory of Edith Hay Wyckoff (Dec 28, 1916 – Feb 20, 2003). Editor and publisher of The Locust Valley Leader (1945 – 2001). Founder of the Locust Valley Boys Club (1946). Reporter of truth, scribe of history, and defender of community
Erected by Matinecock Neighborhood Association
The Story
For more than half a century, Edith Hay Wyckoff chronicled life on Long Island's Gold Coast from the newsroom of The Locust Valley Leader, the weekly paper she edited and published from the close of World War II until 2001. In an era when few women owned or ran newspapers, she made the Leader a record of her community's births, deaths, controversies, and small triumphs. In 1946 she also founded the Locust Valley Boys Club, extending her civic reach from the printed page to the lives of local youth.
Why it matters
Her long stewardship of a hometown newspaper reflects the vital role independent local journalism and women publishers played in binding twentieth-century American communities together.
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Related people
- · Edith Hay Wyckoff
Related events
- · Founding of The Locust Valley Leader
- · Founding of the Locust Valley Boys Club
Themes & tags
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