The Great Lakes District Council of The Newspaper Guild has sent $100 to the Dayton Newspaper Guild in memory of Valryn Warren, our at-large member for human rights, who died suddenly April 15.

In a letter dated April 30, GLDC Treasurer Yuvonne Bruce Webb wrote:

“Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is with a heavy heart and much love that we offer this $100 gift in memory of Valryn Warren to the Dayton Newspaper Guild mobilization fund from the Great Lakes District Council.

“Please accept our most heartfelt sympathies for the loss of such a great Guild member, a wonderful journalist and a friend.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”

Yuvonne, like many of the GLDC members, met Valryn when Dayton hosted the GLDC meeting in November 2006. In fact, Yuvonne and Val were smoke buddies that weekend. Yuvonne, who works at the Akron Beacon Journal, told me she would have attended Valryn’s memorial service, but she was at a Tri-council meeting in Minneapolis that weekend. (Amelia Robinson and I were supposed to be there, but we cancelled our trip after learning of Val’s death).

This has been a cruel season for us, but this donation shows that we have brothers and sisters across the country who care about us, and that Valryn touched many lives, probably more than she ever knew.

Lou Grieco
President
Dayton Newspaper Guild