In the summer of 1992, the Los Angeles Times reporter Kathleen Hendrix (ICWA fellow in Mexico, Nicaragua, 1983-1984) wrote about a picnic organized by two elementary schools—one in the city’s racially mixed South Central district and the other a private school in Santa Monica—as the culmination of an innovative, year-long, cross-city pen-pal project.
“Well-intentioned flyers went home with the kids from both schools, urging families to come, to bring food for the family and ‘something to share,’” Kathy wrote, describing the hurdles of organizing the outing. “Few responded from 97th Street Elementary. Picnic planners gradually learned… that some families had no food to share. And no transportation.”
The pen-pal project spanned the horrific April-May 1992 rioting following the acquittal of four police officers accused of brutally beating Rodney King, and was credited by participants with helping the children to process the events.
Despite the obstacles in organizing the picnic—including the fact that many 97th Street parents couldn’t attend because Saturday was a working day for them—the gathering was a success. “It was, after all, a day for the kids,” Kathy noted. “Their enthusiasm and spontaneity… was contagious.”
By all accounts, the same could be said about Kathy herself, a passionate storyteller who dedicated her life to championing civil rights for women, LGBTQ+ people and others.
“She had an insatiable curiosity for people and the world, which was reflected in the excellence and decency of her reporting,” observed one tribute to her after she died on June 22, 2023 at the age of 82. During her 19 years at the Los Angeles Times, Kathy “wrote about women in the Middle East, life in a Mexican village, Vietnam veterans, and lengthy features about the diverse communities of Los Angeles.”
After nearly a decade at the paper, Kathy took a leave of absence to accept an ICWA fellowship, reporting from Mexico and Nicaragua about the kinds of communities that were her passion. Hers was one of several fellowships on “village reporting” funded by the journalist Richard Critchfield with part of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award he received in 1981.
In 1993, Kathy joined the Bill Clinton administration as deputy director of the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the White House. She played a vital role in the organization of the fourth United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, having covered the third conference in Nairobi, Kenya, a decade earlier as a journalist. After moving to the State Department, Kathy helped found the Vital Voices Global Partnership, which “has been investing in women leaders solving the world’s greatest challenges” for more than 25 years.
“Kathy was a born mentor—always reaching out and supporting young women,” Vital Voices wrote in a tribute after her death. “She played an instrumental role in many of our lives and career paths. She was always there on the other end of the line, ready to offer sage advice… [S]he always showed up for others.”
In her later years, she lived in upstate New York and was assiduously active in her community, serving on the boards of the Ewing forum discussion series, Sonnenberg Mansion and Historic Gardens, 1816 Quaker Meeting House and Ontario County Historic Society, another 2023 tribute wrote.
“Kathy was engaged, involved, and dedicated to uplifting her community, wherever she found herself,” said ICWA fellow Joel Millman (El Salvador, 1987-1989). “In California, Latin America, Washington, D.C. and in her rambling old home in Canandaguia, New York.”
In 1987, the women’s rights activist Patricia Kiechler praised her reporting in a letter to the Los Angeles Times. Kathy “captured the persistent uphill efforts women make to work and care for their families, as well as their frustration,” she wrote. “Thank you for helping others see what is really happening.”
Top photo: Nicaragua in 1984 (SLR Images, Wikimedia Commons)