Laura Rollins Hockaday, an irrepressible cheerleader for The Kansas City Star and a reporter who contributed mightily to expanding the paper’s reach into and standing with minority communities, died last night at St. Luke’s Hospital.
Laura, whom I got to know shortly after arriving at The Star in 1969, suffered from a variety of medical problems in recent weeks, including heart trouble.
A longtime friend of Laura’s, retired reporter John Dvorak, said this in an early-morning email:
“Over the weekend she was removed from various breathing and drug assistance as doctors worked to see if she could move forward on her own. She was doing better for a while and became more alert. But then she declined again and passed away.”
In a story on its website, The Star reported that Laura was 79. She worked at The Star from 1962 to 2000, when she retired. During that time, she held a number of positions, including travel editor, society editor and “people” editor.
Laura, speaking at a 2010 Kansas City Library event
…This is a sad day for Kansas City, which she loved unconditionally, and for her former Kansas City Star colleagues, whose friendship she nurtured and held dear to the end.
Her death is a personal loss to me. I have written this blog since March 2010, and Laura has been a strong supporter from the beginning. She has offered encouragement both when I have been on target and when I have embarrassed myself. And she has been one of the most frequent commenters on the blog, having weighed in more than 200 times during the last 7-plus years.
Her last comments were posted on Aug. 27. One of two comments she posted that day reflected her unfailing loyalty to longtime Star staff members. In that comment she chided Star editors for moving veteran reporter Lynn Horsley from the City Hall beat in favor of an outsider who was hired at least partly because his wife became a member of The Star’s editorial board early this year.
Laura wrote: “Taking Lynn Horsley away from City Hall, where she has worked her tail off for The Star for years, leaves a tragic void. She is a heroine and a real trooper for staying on and covering Johnson County politics.”
**
Laura made her biggest, most lasting mark on the paper as society editor. She assumed that post in the late ’70, I believe, after the paper was sold to a media conglomerate called Capital Cities Inc., which brought in a Texan named James H. Hale as publisher.
In a 2016 freelance article about “The Star’s glory days,” former reporter Charles Hammer of Shawnee recounted Laura’s mindset when she took that job.
“For the 80 years since The Star’s founding, it had appeared that Kansas City had no black society, people who attend elegant parties and throw lavish weddings for their daughters. With Laura steering the selection, beautiful black ladies in long dresses appeared again and again on our page as they cut tall wedding cakes. She integrated Kansas city society, at least in our newspaper.”
In a 2012 comment on this blog, Laura offered more insight into how she came to become society editor.
“When I was asked to take over as society editor and leave the travel editor post, I refused because I was not interested. The offer came up again and O.J. Nelson, my editor, suggested I better comply the second time. I asked Mr. Hale if I could cover the African-American and Hispanic communities on the society pages, where they deserved to be and virtually had not been previously. He agreed totally and I was allowed to proceed without any rules or direction from him. For 18 years, until retiring I tried to cover the entire community and in the process learned so much and made many friends which I have to this day. It was a blessing.”
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Laura was born a blue blood — great-granddaughter of a U.S. congressman named James S. Rollins, who helped found the University of Missouri — but she was the most everyday, humble person you could ever come across. Over the years, she sought out hundreds of newcomers to The Star and welcomed them with a handshake and big, warm smile. And once you were her friend, you were her friend as long as you wanted to be. There were very few people she couldn’t abide, and she seldom spoke harshly of anyone.
Not long after retiring, Laura began holding annual reunions — in mid-October at the Kansas City Country Club — for former Star editorial staff members and their spouses. About 100 select people would customarily attend. The main course was always the same — chicken tetrazzini — and Laura always made a short speech. She would single out particular guests who had, say, written a book or received an accolade, and she would always close by saying how much she cherished her years at The Star and how important the relationships she had made there were to her.
Earlier this month, the reunion went on without her. Standing in as hosts were former Star reporter Betsey Solberg and her husband, Rick, a former Star photographer. I didn’t attend this year’s reunion, but now I wish I had. I wish I would have heard what Betsey and Rick said about Laura, who, for once, was the one receiving the plaudits.
Laura never married, and her life revolved around The Star: first working there, later her memories of working there and finally tending to the enduring friendships she made during her remarkable, outstanding career.
Rest in peace, Laura. Those of us who were in your wide circle will miss you dearly.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
This news saddens me. I read many a story/article written by Laura and enjoyed same.
Sorry for the loss of a good friend, Jim. Just remember, it takes a good friend to have a good friend.
Lisa
Thanks, Lisa. I’m glad to have you as a friend. You have been a strong supporter of mine, too.
I never knew Laura during my time at The Star and I’m a lesser person for it. Her contributions to The Star and the community were very significant. And, based on her posts on this blog, she was a great supporter of journalism and people who used to practice it for a living. The last two years, we have lost some of those folks — Rick Alm, Kirk Weber, Finn Bullers, Terri Baumgardner and now Laura. So sad.
You were out in the bureaus, Mike, otherwise you would have gotten to know her.
For me, getting to know people like Laura was one of the best parts of working at a newspaper. Farewell, dear friend, we’re going to miss you.
I never knew Laura personally, I started at The Star after she left, but she called and emailed me occasionally with compliments and she always sounded like a wonderful person and class act. RIP.
Always supportive of anyone who ever picked up a reporter’s notebook, camera or red editing pen.
Oh my gosh, Jim, I’m shocked by this. Have been thinking for awhile that I haven’t seen her comments here. She always had something interesting to add, and was always so complimentary of your writings. She seemed like a gracious and pleasant lady.
Wrote the above and *then* read your piece. If she never married where did “Hockaday” come from?
Never mind — I just read The Star article. I was thinking Rollins was her last name, based on your mention of her grandfather.
Such a wonderful, caring, lovely friend.
Laura made her mark in the world, as delineated in The Star’s obituary, but your post is a treasure, too, filling in the little ways in which she touched the people she came into contact with. She was a warm, generous spirit. I shall miss her terribly.
My memories of Laura are many, particularly in the late 1980s and ’90s. She was truly a trailblazer for race relations in KC with her pen and the camera.
For me, one story that stands out. In 1988-89 I was Associate Director of a nonprofit called Share, which did many good works on social programs. I was fortunate to bring two men’s organizations that wanted to do a benefit for Share, by building a fun event for bridging race relations. The Gentlemen of Distinction (a group of young successful black men in their 30s) and the O.E. Ellis Society (ex-KU white guys in their 30s) who did — and still do — charitable events. The two came together to produce a gala at the KC Marriott. Councilman Emanuel Cleaver, who was about to become mayor, and Drue Jennings of KCP&L were the honorary co-chairs.
Laura, with the power of her pen on the Society Page (and photos), helped make this a signature event, which more than 800 people attended. She kept going back to those two organizations and wrote about them as an example of people attempting to break down the racial barriers that have existed so long in KC.
Laura Rollins Hockaday was a true trailblazer for so many diverse folks in KC. There will never be another Laura, but we hope there will be many that get inspired by her story!
Thanks, Gayle, G. Fred, Peg and Bob…Excellent tributes.
A-men, Amen. Proud and humbled to have shared time in our lives with her.
Laura was very kind. Prayers and condolences. ❤️🌹🙏🏽✝️
I will remember this warm gentle woman walking through the hallways at the Star always with a smile and a friendly hello to everyone.
Good to hear from you, Yoli. Welcome to the Comments Dept.
Truly saddened to learn of Laura’s death. She was always extremely kind and nice to me, which was surprising since I was the biggest asshole in the newsroom. Then someone told me “don’t get too excited, she’s nice to everyone.” That makes her a special person in today’s world. Heaven isn’t good enough for her; she needs a special place – maybe at the right hand of Zieman.
Not the biggest asshole, Bill, not nearly…but always the funniest.
Great tribute, Jim. Laura demanded to cover the Society beat her way, and no one from Jim Hale on down ever interfered. Gutsy lady.
Thanks, Mike.
I recall Laura giving a little talk in the Star’s Nelson Room cafeteria when we cut the sheet cake for her retirement, and the retirement of several other long-time staffers who left with her. Laura did not mention her many accomplishments, but confessed to a minor error (or perhaps near-error that she caught at the last minute) in a story of hers that week. What a humble, inspiring person she was!
Any of us who ever worked at The Star still lives with “error paranoia.” Why, I just woke up in a cold sweat a few nights ago, having dreamed I mixed up Crosby Kemper Jr. and Crosby III in a story. (Apocraphyl, but you know what I mean.)
Yes, Jim, I too have dreams like that. I feel so relieved when I wake up and realize that it was just a dream.
I will miss her, both for her Star contributions and her comments on this blog. She was the kind of newspaper person who made my Star experience a “star.” Thanks for your post and the additions of your commenters.
What a fine tribute, Jim. And Laura deserved every word of it. She was a lovely friend, a wonderful colleague, and an invaluable credit to the paper she loved.
Well stated, Joe and Bob. Thanks for commenting.
Al, Laura, Jim and Sammy… our living room was never so alive with friendship and conversation.
Let me try to decipher this comment from the son of the late James Scott, former KC Star editorial page editor:
“Al” is former editorial page writer Al Bohling. “Laura” is Laura Hockaday. Jim is Jim Scott. And Sammy? Help!
Sammy Scott, aka Mom.
Laura was the definition of a caring, compassionate person. She also had a zany side. Back in 1973 or thereabouts, The Star republished her holiday recipe for “Star Bourbon Balls.” We still have the yellowed clip. The recipe included three packages of vanilla wafers, various other ingredients . . . “and, now, 1 car, snow tires optional. Drive over wafers, protected by sacks.” There was ample bourbon. “They are good with morning coffee as a chaser,” she said.
Another example of Laura’s wonderful humor and zany side: As her editor for many years, I would kid her about the Star’s breathless and vastly overplayed (in my opinion) coverage of the city’s most glittering high-society party, the Jewel Ball, where the year’s debutantes were officially introduced. Once I asked her for a headline suggestion. She got the composing room to print a page proof of a fake front page with a banner headline: “Debutantes bow, Wow!”
Wonderful! What a creative, inventive mind! (What a loss …)
I missed this when it was posted, Fitz, but wanted to wish my condolences to her many friends. I always enjoyed reading her posts on the blog.