Marilyn Duck Memorial Scholarship
Scholarship honors Memorial ’73 grad
The Marilyn Duck memorial scholarship is named after a 1973 graduate of Tulsa Memorial High School who had a distinguished, award-winning career in journalism.
On a personal level, three of her closest friends—Memorial classmates Chere Gibbs, Sue Padden, and Nancy Tiffany—describe Marilyn as a smart, talented, fun, loyal, wonderful friend with a quirky sense of humor who was always a romantic and always up for a new adventure.
While in high school, Marilyn was active in Pep Club, the National Honor Society, the yearbook staff, and Senior Board. She enrolled at the University of Oklahoma in the heat of the Watergate scandal, with an eye toward becoming a journalist. As a reporter for OU’s student newspaper, she rose to become the managing editor.
After graduating from OU, Marilyn began her professional career at the Oklahoma City Times’ Norman bureau. She was soon promoted to the Times' main office, where she was assigned to cover the Oklahoma City public schools. She rose to be an assistant city editor at the Times, directing a team of about 20 journalists. The Tulsa Tribune later convinced her to bring her talents back to Tulsa, where her assignments included covering the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and serving on the editorial board. Following her successful tenure at the Tribune, Marilyn's career took her to the West Coast, where she worked at the Santa Rosa (California) Press Democrat as an editorial writer for more than a decade. Marilyn’s last major professional position was as writer and editor of the Eastern Oklahoma Catholic Magazine.
During her career, Marilyn received numerous reporting and editing awards from state and national journalism organizations. Her colleagues knew her as a meticulous reporter and editor. She strove, above all else, to be fair and accurate while digging deep into stories, often challenging sources and those she interviewed in order to get to the truth for her readers. As a consummate professional, she made all who knew and worked with her believe in themselves with encouraging words, solid editing, and insight on how to report a good story.
