The Salt Lake Tribune has had many public faces through the years — be they prominent reporters, columnists, editors or publishers constantly engaged with the community.
For nearly four decades, though, one of the cheeriest, friendliest and most vital newsroom personalities was not well-known outside the paper and held no fancy title.
Shirley Jones, who died Thursday at age 82 from multiple medical ailments, arguably was as important to The Tribune staff as any editor, publisher or award-winning writer.
She was the top aide to the editor for 37 years and, more importantly, was the listener of complaints, the soother of wounded egos, the conduit between reporters and editors and the guardian of the candy drawer, which she would promptly open when the children of staffers wandered into the office.
And she kept in touch with Tribune employees after they left the paper. She was a real-life “Facebook,” the glue that kept current and former staffers bound socially together.
She was affectionately dubbed The Tribune den mother and also carried the nickname, “Mother Jones” because of her nurturing nature.
“Most workplaces have that one person who brings people together. Shirley was that person at The Tribune,” said former outdoors editor and columnist Tom Wharton. “She organized the parties, kept the candy drawer for staffers’ children, and helped with insurance and pay. She was the most positive person I knew.”
“She was deeply loyal to the editor,” said former Tribune executive Mike Korologos. “But she was also trusted by the staff. It’s not always easy to accomplish both those things.”
Jones made sure she knew all the staffers’ families, particularly their children. For years, The Tribune would put together an elaborate Christmas party for employees’ kids under 12 that would involve hours of entertainment and a visit from Santa Claus.
Jones would buy Christmas presents for each youngster attending the party. But she took that assignment one step further.
She would shop for presents that were gender- and age-specific. Nice gifts. No cheapies.
Jones once was shocked when a staffer acknowledged her daughters never had a Barbie doll. So that year, at the yuletide fest, every girl between 8 and 12 got a Barbie.
“Shirley’s job was to take care of everybody,” said Mickey Gallivan, son of a longtime Tribune publisher, the late Jack Gallivan.
She constantly held parties at her home for Tribune employees and had dinners for those going through a divorce or other tough times.
“She was as caring as she was competent,” said former Editor Jay Shelledy. “She truly cared about the newsroom employees and shared their highlights as well as their lowlights.”
And it wasn’t just The Tribune family she did that for.
“Shirley insisted we all stay close,” said developer and former Utah gubernatorial candidate Kem Gardner, who served with Jones in the mission field in Germany for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“She kept track of all of us [missionaries] and made sure we all knew what the others were doing. She often had dinners at her home and is the reason so many of us stayed close.
During Christmastime, Jones would host a party for the somewhat rowdy group of Tribune staffers and, in the same week, a party for her Mormon congregation.
One time a ward member got the wrong invitation and showed up at The Tribune party. Everyone had a good laugh.
Jones often took new hires to lunch on their first day, fostering a family-type atmosphere at the paper.
Former staffer Robert Bryson remembers Jones taking him to lunch at the LDS Church-owned Lion House on his first day.
“Don’t order dessert,” she told him. “They don’t understand how to make desserts here.” After lunch, she took him to the employee lunchroom in the LDS Church Office Building, where they had their dessert.
“They understand desserts here,” she said.
Jones’ love of desserts was well-known and often the subject of good-natured jokes. During banquets where The Tribune would buy a table, patrons from other tables would often bring their desserts over to Jones to take home.
Funeral services will be Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Midvale East LDS Ward, 7250 S. 300 East, Midvale. A viewing will be Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary, 4760 S. State St., and at the church Tuesday from 9 to 9:45 a.m.
