Kathy Orr McDonald was the kind of journalist with ink in her veins. And a real dame.

As managing editor and editor at the Northern Star in 1982-83, KO, as she was known to Star-types, was a familiar presence: cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth, gravel voice heard throughout Roy Campbell Hall, addressing you by your last name, with a clap – or thump – on your shoulder. And then later, she would clank mugs of beer with you at the Twin Taps or the Candelight for $1.90 pitchers on Mondays, and dance with you at one of the many infamous, raucous parties at the rambling, 8 bedroom house on College Avenue.

Kathy began her writing career early, as the second child in a family of nine in Chicago’s southside suburb Westlawn Park. She won her first award in seventh grade, and was editor of her high school newspaper. From the Northern Star, Kathy won a scholarship to Sangamon State University, followed by turns at the Gannett News Service in Springfield, The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., and the Rockford Register Star, before coming home to her southside Chicago roots at the Daily Southtown.

It was her tenure at the Southtown, from 1989 until her premature death in 1997, where Kathy’s professional grit, long-standing dedication to the common man and her genuine affection for her co-workers culminated in a legacy.

“Kathy was a tough, aggressive reporter who was well-respected by her peers and in the business community,” said John Obrecht, business editor of the Daily Southtown. “She was well regarded in the aviation, railroad, automotive and steel industries for her knowledge and the thoroughness of her reporting.”

Kathy continued to win writing awards and honors, as well as the enduring respect of her colleagues, peers and sources. Peter Fooie, executive director of the Calumet Area Industrial Commission, remembers: “It was always said that Kathy was a journalist who got all the facts right…because Kathy made the complex clear, because her writing showed that work’s dignity came from the worker and not the other way around and because she viewed industrial life with global vision, she succeeded in reporting the local truth.”

Chicago Southland Development instituted an award for journalistic excellence in Kathy’s honor. The Chicago City Council adopted a resolution in her memory, proposed and written by 13th Ward Alderman Frank J. Olivo. Today, a Northern Star scholarship bears her name.