A Loss For Topeka Journalism

The River of Life

Art and Story By Michael Hooper

Topeka has lost several journalists in recent years, reminding me of my glory days in journalism working for newspapers in Kansas and Nebraska from 1988 to 2009.

Steve Fry, 71, Pat Kelly, 68, and Kelly Adams, 53, all worked at The Topeka Capital-Journal when I was there. Steve Fry, longtime cops and courts reporter, died Feb. 19, 2025; Pat Kelly died Oct. 20, 2026, he was assistant news editor and news editor at the Topeka Capital-Journal, where he worked 25 years; Kelly Adams died Sept. 4, 2026, she worked 19 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal.

Fry had a special kind of investigative style of journalism, he was exhaustive in his research and was probably most well known for working with Joe Taschler in an investigation of Fred Phelps and his family and the Westboro Baptist Church. Their articles are widely quoted in other publications about the Phelps family.

Fry was quiet and dedicated. He was often at his desk with a blue collared shirt and tie working at the computer, drinking coffee and eating bread. Yet he was approachable and didn’t seem bothered when I came over to ask a question. Always a gentleman he was happy to help out. He worked 49 years in journalism, finishing his career at WIBW-TV.

Pat Kelly had an old-school-journalist way about him. I think it started with his work at the United Press International. At UPI you had to write fast and accurate. If Kelly didn’t quite understand something, he would call the reporter up and ask for an explanation. He was known for rewriting on the spot and then he would read back the new version to the reporter. Just to make sure it was right. I sometimes called Pat at night with a correction, he would grumble about it but he would fix it, you just didn’t want to call too late. The page might have already been sent.

Kelly Adams was a page designer and copy editor. She had tremendous skill in creating great newspaper pages. When I took my budget to her for the business pages, she was always very thorough and asked questions to make sure she had everything under control. Indeed, she was so dedicated to the craft of page design that she started her own scrapbook and rubber stamping business called Close To My Heart. She really enjoyed helping people document their memories with art, photos and insightful stories. She made us look better. A group of former TCJ employees were at her funeral at the Maple Hill Cemetery on a beautiful day, overlooking a lush valley below. We lamented the loss of our friend.

I feel fortunate that I worked in the glory days of journalism with 10 years in Nebraska newspapers mostly at the Grand Island Independent and the Fremont Tribune. I was at TCJ for 10 years. I especially loved the late 1980s and 1990s when I was a roving reporter in Nebraska covering 14 counties in central Nebraska, including farms and small towns. I loved it. I would leave in the morning with a cup of coffee and drive out to see a farmer and interview him and then he’d suggest another story and I might chase that down. I would drive all the way to Broken Bow and meet the mayor of the town and a hotel owner and a local merchant while eating lunch at a local eatery in town and then write a story about the community. That’s what I miss about journalism: in-depth profiles of rural Americans fighting to preserve their way of life. 

Yes, journalism has changed. It’s more advocacy journalism now, where your "news" organization carries a certain point of view. And you’ve got to carry on that vision in your reporting and writing for that organization. You see this with the Republican biased Fox News, and the Democrat-biased MSNBC. 

Community newspapers are a fraction of what they used to be, and many are gone. Newspapers declined in size and reach due to the advent of social media. Now much of those advertising dollars are going to Google and Facebook.

Working with the best in the business, I learned to get the news out fast, fair and accurate. I also loved writing feature stories about great people and businesses over the years. I still believe in the power of the word. Carry on my journalism friends.