Alice Terrill, Daily Herald's longtime 'Just Dogs' columnist, dies at 99

Alice Terrill of Buffalo Grove loved dogs, and people in the community remember her "Just Dogs" weekly column that ran for decades in the Daily Herald.

But that's not why the editorial staff at the Daily Herald affectionately nicknamed her "Bulldog." At the same time she wrote her column, Terrill also served as receptionist of the editorial department, and she was a tough gatekeeper.

Whether it was keeping an iron fist on supplies or turning away gifts and flowers to reporters, Terrill ran a tight ship. And staff members loved her for it.

Terrill died Monday. She was 99.

Daily Herald Publisher and CEO Douglas K. Ray remembers that Terrill was the first person he met on his first day in the newsroom as a new reporter. She gave him a tour and set him straight on how things ran around the office, he says.

"Alice in many ways was the lifeblood of Paddock Publications and the Daily Herald," Ray said Tuesday. "She was one of the few who spanned generations and who had a front-row seat to the growth of our newspaper company.

"As receptionist, she was a stabilizing force in the newsroom," he added, "and a mother of sorts. So many of us received her counsel."

Robert Y. Paddock Jr., vice chairman and executive vice president of the Daily Herald, agreed, adding that Terrill affectionately referred to him as "Bobby."

"Though her responsibilities varied, her personality seemed to be the same - passionate, focused, energized, intelligent and caring," Paddock said. "Alice was a good friend, a good employee and co-worker who loved the paper."

Terrill's connection to the paper began in 1946, when she and her husband, Dave Terrill, moved to Palatine. At that time, Alice Terrill began writing as a neighborhood columnist. Her husband followed her lead and one year later began his own column, "Just Dogs."

In doing so, he continued a column about pedigree dogs, training and competitions that he had begun writing in 1941 for a weekly paper in Evanston. Ultimately, when he became ill, his wife took over the column, first as a ghost writer and eventually under her own name.

Terrill eventually expanded the column to include information about therapy dogs and places to adopt pets, as well as about opportunities to volunteer. While she retired from her office job in 1988, she continued the column for another 20 years until she was 91. By that time, the column had run continuously in the paper for 61 years.

Services are pending.