JOSIE Stephenson, an exceptional journalist whose career spanned more than 50 years, including two decades with the Brentwood Gazette, has died aged 73, writes Anne Fitzgerald.
From the moment she broke into journalism, aged 17, on the Express and Independent in Leytonstone, through to the peak of her skills as features editor and award-winning columnist, Josie was in her element, only retiring with reluctance at 68.
She loved the Brentwood Gazette with a passion and relished working on her column, Stephenson's Rocket, which was incisive, sometimes funny, often explosive and, given her pro-European views, prompted plenty of controversy.
Features written by Josie shed light on every facet of life, from the tragic to quirky, but all had the benefit of her colourful and descriptive style.
Throughout her life she was driven by an insatiable curiosity and love of people. These attributes, coupled with a feisty and determined character, which she said came from a suffragette great-grandmother, made Josie a first-class reporter who covered regional, national and international news.
During her career she reported on subjects ranging from the Peter Rachman scandal involving exploitation of tenants in rented housing in London and the Christine Keeler case, which rocked the Macmillan government, through to topics from her travels in America, a Papal visit to England, the European parliament, the effect on families in the UK who lost loved ones in the Falklands war and how vital aid from Essex reached war-torn Yugoslavia.
Josie was a striking figure who travelled extensively throughout the world and, true to her earliest formative years during the Blitz in the East End of London, she overcame the difficulties in her way.
She built up trust with "copper-bottomed contacts", obtaining many scoops and she encountered the famous and notorious including Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin, Mamie Eisenhower, Sammy Davis Junior, Michael Jackson, Winston Churchill, sculptor Jacob Epstein and gangster Ronnie Kray.
Josie combined her career with marriage and motherhood, finding an equal and supportive partner in Kerry, her Australian husband, also a journalist.
Their family life was based in Brentwood and they had a daughter, Jane and son Michael. The family was later expanded, to Josie's delight and pride, by six grandchildren.
Born in Dagenham in 1939, Josie went to the local primary and secondary schools. She seemed destined, like many of her working-class contemporaries, to leave school at 15 and go into a factory job. But an innovative scheme run by the Essex education authority, came to her rescue.
She was one of a group of bright children picked out for two extra years of grammar school-style education and, under the tuition of an inspirational teacher, Miss Dorothy Inch, who became a life-long friend, Josie flourished.
On leaving school Josie was determined to become a journalist, unusual and challenging at the time for a young woman.
She began working in a typing pool, but kept her ambition alive and, on hearing about the chance of a job on a local paper, was on the phone to the editor when the vacancy was less than an hour old.
That was the start of what Josie described as "a fantastic life" in journalism, encompassing enough rich variety to fill a book, which Josie set about writing when she and Kerry retired.
They left their beloved Brentwood behind, but took to their new home, Sudbury in Suffolk, like ducks to water.
Their idyllic life there was cruelly interrupted in 2010 when what Josie thought was jetlag, following a flight to New Zealand to see son Michael, was diagnosed as advanced ovarian cancer.
Josie faced a dire prognosis and gruelling treatment with her usual fortitude. Her journalistic curiosity made her want to know everything about the disease. She also rallied family, friends and supporters to raise thousands of pounds for research into "the silent killer."
During her illness, Josie, who was an entertaining public speaker on topics including 50 years in journalism, continued giving her talks and added a new one about living with cancer.
Her sense of humour never deserted her, even when planning her own funeral which she promised, in her own inimitable style, would not be sombre but would contain colour, variety and smiles as well as some surprises, just like her own life.
Josie's funeral will take place at Three Counties Crematorium, in Halstead Road, High Garrett, Braintree at 3pm tomorrow (Thursday). It will be followed by a wake at West Street Vineyard, in West Street, Coggeshall, at 4.30pm.
More tributes to Josie – Letters, pages 18-20.
