Arizona Press Women to honor Goodbye, Walter Author RuthAnn Hogue

WP Syndicate

PHOENIX -- Arizona Press Women has announced that Goodbye, Walter author RuthAnn Hogue will receive an award May 20 in its annual Communications Contest banquet in Phoenix for the 2005 nonfiction release published by Mapletree Publishing Co. of Denver.

The judges' exact decisions have not yet been released, but Goodbye, Walter has placed first, second, third or will receive honorable mention, contest organizers said.All state entries which place first will automatically advance to national competition with the National Federation of Press Women's annual communication awards contest to be hosted in Denver.

Goodbye, Walter: The Inspiring Story of a Terminal Cancer Patient is an intimate portrait of how documenting the life and death Walter Schifter from Sun City West affected not only Walter, but a then-fledgling reporter, RuthAnn Hogue. The book is the offshoot of the award-winning newspaper series "The Journey Home: Diary of a Terminal Cancer Patient."The original series ran in early 1997 in the Daily News-Sun in Sun City, Ariz. It earned numerous state awards including the Arizona Newspapers Association's annual award for Journalistic Achievement and was instrumental in earning Hogue the Arizona Press Club's much coveted 1998 title of Community Journalist of the Year. It also placed first in state and national Press Women competitions.

"I know it sounds trite, but its rewarding to know that judges in the only competiton I've so far been able to enter my first book found it interesting or compelling enough to at least earn it "a seat at the table," so to speak, on awards banquet night." Hogue said. "Of course, I'll be thrilled if it goes on to compete in the national competition. Either way, though, I think Walter would be proud just being named among the local honorees."

The mother of five who teaches English at Ja Loya Community High School in Avondale, Ariz., will join the radio air waves with Rebecca and Kurt of Wakin' Up with Rebecca & Kurt at 8:10 a.m. April 26 for the show's weekly Bookin' It feature. The broadcast will be available online through the station's Web site for those who live outside of the AM820 Salt Lake City radio station's broadcast footprint. Listeners may call in toll free from anywhere - 1-888-362-1820. She also writes an occasional guest community column for The Arizona Republic's Southwest Community section.

In October, Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore hosted an event where Hogue signed books in-between the morning and afternoon sessions of the LDS World conference. In August, she participated in the LDS Booksellers annual convention in Sandy.

Hogue, a former Salt Lake City resident, attended Beacon Heights Elementary School and later lived for a short time in Orem while supporting her then-husband while he attended Brigham Young University. She is the daughter of Lenny Hesterman and niece of "Daddy-O" Bill Hesterman, popular Wasatch Front radio disc jockeys in the 1950s and 1960s on radio stations including KSL and KNAK.

Her ties to the Salt Lake area still run deep. Her cousin Bill, who was named for his father and named his son Bill accordingly, is the father of today's radio host Billy Hesterman who plays music during the daily afternoon drive-time slot on a local SLC station. Her cousin David Hesterman is the father of DJ and Emily, members of the award-winning band Finally Friday.

On her mother's side, Hogue has aunts who've long been involved in everything from the Olympic committee, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and playing the organ in the Salt Lake Temple. Velma, Virginia and Jeanette Terry and Genevieve Lougee have lived in Salt Lake for most of their lives. Their father, Victor L. Terry, Hogue's grandfather, grew up in the same neighborhood as Thomas S. Monson of the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Naomi "Terry" Hesterman, Hogue's mother, who has lived in Phoenix for more than 30 years, still keeps in touch with Pres. Monson by postal mail multiple times each month.

In addition, Hogue auditioned for and earned a small speaking role in Halestorm Entertainment's "The RM" as the mother of the groom. The audition and filming took place in southern Utah. She contributes to Meridian Magazine and wrote a story on LDS film in LDS Living's premeire issue. She's had one story published in The Salt Lake Tribune, which was written during an audition for a job which the paper later decided not to fill."I love Utah," Hogue said. "Although I call Arizona home now, a part of my heart will always be here where I learned to read and write. I have family here. So it will always be a great place to visit."

For information, visit Hogue's Web site at http://www.goodbye-walter.com or her Amazon blog at http://www.amazon.com.