Fritzi Krause

Fritzi Krause in the title role
of Peter Pan, from On With
Show, Lake Charles Little
Theatre 75th Anniversary.

Lake Charles American Press, January 13, 1998, p. 2:

Veteran reporter Fritzi Wilson dies at 73

        Longtime Lake Charles American Press newswoman Fritzi Krause Wilson died Sunday, two weeks after concluding a journalism careen that began in 1943.
        She was 73.
        Wilson died at 8 p.m. Sunday in a local hospital. The body will be cremated and there will be no service the family said.
        She joined the American Press part-time as a teenager in summer of 1943. She became a full-time reporter on the staff in 1945 after earning a journalism degree.
        Wilson covered Lake Charles as a beat reporter for 14 years. Her byline appeared on such significant events as the arrival from Cameron of Hurricane Audrey victims at the Port of lake Charles in 1957.
        She resigned in 1959 to marry and raise a family – then returned to the American Press part-time in 1981 and remained on the newsroom staff until her retirement.
        A lifelong Lake Charles resident, she was a graduate of Central School and Lake Charles High School, attended John McNeese Junior College – now McNeese State University – and graduated from Louisiana State University in 1945.
        Throughout her life, the arts were a personal and professional passion.
        She was a performer in high school as captain of the Kilties – and then took to the local stage, where her stage credits included the title role in the Lake Charles Little Theatre's production of "Peter Pan," directed by Rosa Hart.
        For years, Wilson chronicled the emerging preservation movement in the area, coordinating annual coverage in the American Press as local homes and structures achieved landmark status.
        For a book on McNeese Theatre's 50th anniversary in 1989, Wilson contributed an essay on the school's longtime director of theatre, Margery Wilson – the mother of her late husband David.
        For the American Press' 100th anniversary edition in 1995, she wrote one of the four cover stories on life in the past century. Her story summarized the 1945-70 era in Southwest Louisiana.
        Wilson's final byline in the American Press was a full-page feature on the 40th anniversary of Art Associates of Lake Charles.
        She retired Dec. 29. The newspaper had been her first and only employer.
        Survivors are two sons, David K. Wilson of Davis, Calif., and Krause Wilson of Baton Rouge; and one grandchild.
        Memorial donations may be made to Episcopal Day School, the family said.

Lake Charles American Press, Wednesday, March 29, 2000, p. B1:

Women's History Month

Wilson created opportunities in newspaper business
Fritzi Krause Wilson
(1926-1998)

By Laura Heller

        Fritzi Krause Wilson's career as an American Press reporter spanned the more than half a century, beginning during World War II and ending in the middle of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal.
        That career ended just two weeks before her death. The newspaper was her first and only employer.
        Wilson began at the American Press in 1943, when she worked part time during the summer. She became a full-time staff reporter in 1945 after earning a journalism degree from LSU.
        Don Kingery, a retired American Press news editor and current editor of The Informer column for the paper, worked with Wilson during most of her career.
        Kingery said the newspaper business during the '40s was male-dominated. Women reporters were scarce and were left to cover garden club meetings, sewing circles and society events.
        But Wilson forced her way in, Kingery said.
        "She took the unusual route and took every offbeat assignment she could find to try to push her way out of that 'soft news' mold," he said.
        She did this by creating opportunities for herself.
       "Fritzi didn't talk about it. She just did it," he said.
        Wilson swung on the trapeze and rode horses around the ring when the circus came to town. She put on a wet suit and went scuba diving. She spent time on oil rigs and rode on fishing boats. She climbed a fire-truck ladder. All in the name of news.
        "It was the uniqueness of it all that drew attention to her. Women had never done such things before," Kingery said. "She took assignments that nobody else wanted."
        That led Wilson to bigger and better things. She covered politics and government, including the Lake Charles City Hall beat for 14 years. Her byline appeared on such significant events as the arrival at the Port of Lake Charles of Hurricane Audrey victims in 1957.
        Wilson resigned in 1959 to marry and raise her two children, but returned as a part-time employee in 1981.
        For years, Wilson chronicled the emerging preservation movement in the area, coordinating annual coverage in the American Press as local homes and structures achieved landmark status.
        For the American Press' 100th anniversary edition in 1995, she wrote one of the four cover stories on life in the past century. Her story summarized the 1945-70 era in Southwest Louisiana.
        News wasn't Wilson's only passion. She performed in local theatre productions, where her stage credits included the title role in the Lake Charles Little Theatre's production of "Peter Pan," directed by Rosa Hart.
        Kingery called Wilson a "small pioneer" – only a small sector of people could recognize her standards and accomplishments and appreciate them.
        "Her accomplishments didn't come with neon lights and bells and whistles," he said. "And she couldn't influence people who were unable to perceive what Fritzi was doing. But by doing things that women hadn't done before – simply doing them, without fanfare – she did influence a few people of stature who then effected change. And like Fritzi, they did it without noise. Women today cover every hard news beat there is because of the things Fritzi and a few others like her did more than 50 years ago."
        In a conversation Kingery had with Wilson right before she died, Wilson told him she found it frustrating that others didn't set similar standards for themselves.
        "She did the best with whatever she had," he said. "That was the standard. That's how I judge success. There's not a thing that Eleanor Roosevelt did that Fritzi didn't do better. The difference is one made noise and the other didn't.
        "She achieved a good bit during her career. She wasn't unique, but she did better than she knew. Her progress was not with big strides, but small steps," Kingery said.
        Wilson's final byline in the American Press was a full-page feature on the 40th anniversary of Art Associates of Lake Charles.
        In the last few months of her life, Wilson was in poor health, but she hung on to see the birth of her first grandchild, David Wiley Wilson.
        He was born three weeks before her death.

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