Barbara Funkhouser, El Paso Times
Barbara Funkhouser

Barbara Funkhouser, El Paso Times

El Paso Times Editor - first woman editor of The El Paso Times. Barbara Funkhouser is the only female editor in the newspaper's 133-year history. She was editor from 1980 to 1986. Funkhouser began her career in 1958 as a freelancer for a year, then worked for a Las Cruces paper for a year before being hired at the El Paso Times. Funkhouser also wrote the coffee-table book, "The Caregivers: El Paso's Medical History, 1898-1998." Funkhouser was born March 1, 1930, at Hotel Dieu hospital and was raised on a farm in Fairacres, near Las Cruces, that her parents had owned since 1924. Her father died when she was 6, and her mother ran the farm with the help of hired labor, according to an oral history she did in 1996 with the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. She graduated from Las Cruces Union High School and from New Mexico State University in 1952. She spent six months in Europe on a 4-H Club exchange program and then worked for five years for the 4-H organization in Washington, D. C., and Chicago, before returning to New Mexico and beginning her career as a journalist, according to the oral history. During her 30-year career at the El Paso Times, Funkhouser interviewed singer-artist Vikki Carr in 1973 and 21-year-old Kurt Russell when he joined the El Paso Sun Kings baseball team. Funkhouser also covered the El Paso premiere of the 1968 film "Firecreek", and interviewed James Stewart, Barbara Luna, director Vincent McEveety and screenwriter Calvin Clements. Funkhouser retired from the El Paso Times on June 1, 1990. She taught at New Mexico State University and was a part-time editorial writer for the Las Cruces Sun-News for several years. (Source: Alex Hinojosa, Robert Moore, El Paso Times article written August 18, 2014) March is Women's History Month

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso County Historical Society

Reference ID: 013-1984-050

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Cleopatra Perfumes

Cleopatra Perfumes on 801 S Stanton Street in downtown El Paso.

Mata's Fruit Store

Seventh and Stanton

Bridge to Juarez Mexico

Cars driving over the bridge into Juarez, Mexico.

Mata's Fruit Store

Seventh and Stanton

Pay phone

Seventh and Stanton

Shops and Businesses

Shops and Businesses on 900 S Stanton Street in downtown El ...

Parked Bicycle with Shops in Background.

A parked bicycle with shops and businesses in the background on ...

Shops and Businesses Downtown

Shops and businesses in the background on 900 S Stanton Street ...

O' Reilly Auto Parts and other businesses

O' Reilly Auto Parts and other shops and businesses on 711 S ...

Clothing Shop

Clothing Shop on the corner of 700 S Stanton and E Father Rahm ...

Pay telephone

Pay telephone on building in downtown El Paso.

Alley in downtown

Alley in downtown El Paso with dumpsters and vehicles.

Chihuahua Sound

Chihuahua Sound on 316 E Father Rahm Avenue in downtown El Paso.

Commuter bus station

Commuter bus station in downtown El Paso that provides ...

Sagrado Corazon mural (Courtesy Alonzo Gaytán)

Sagrado Corazon mural painted by Francisco Delgado, the mural is ...

Sacred Heart Church

The Rev. Carlos M. Pinto, S.J., a native Italian, arrived in El ...

Street scene

A street scene in Downtown El Paso. The picture was taken in ...

El Paso Street Downtown

South El Paso Street, a center of commerce for residents of El ...

Street scene

A street scene in Downtown El Paso, close to the border. The ...

Downtown neighborhood

Downtown El Paso neighborhood.

Street scene

A street scene in Downtown El Paso. The picture was taken in ...

Street scene

A street scene in Downtown El Paso. The picture was taken in ...

home.search_collection