By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

On Wednesday morning last week, Ruth Anne Maddox was supposed to write the news, not make the headlines.

A cheerful and personal reporter who loved to joke around, Ruth Anne treated the people she interviewed like instant friends. Those who met her, even once, likely knew she was from Indiana, owned two pit bulls — her “babies” — and had a teenage daughter.

No matter her personal struggles, when Ruth Anne got out of bed in the morning, the world became a brighter place for those around her. After she was found murdered in her Prior Lake home early Wednesday, a dark cloud was cast over those who knew her, both as a friend and respected journalist in the community.

In keeping with her sense of humor, Ruth Anne Maddox wore her “princess” tiara to the Shakopee
Derby Days parade this summer.
She helped pass out candy along the parade route. (Photo by Shakopee Fire Marshal Tom Pitschneider )

When the news broke at Shakopee Public Schools, staff members broke down crying.

“She was loved. She was really loved by us,” said district Communications Coordinator Cristina Oxtra, who talked with Ruth Anne nearly every day by phone or e-mail and got to know her on a personal basis as well.

Ruth Anne’s last assignment for the Valley News was the Shakopee School Board meeting on Monday night last week.

Her wit, love of words, grammar and ability to tell a story was unparalleled, colleagues said.
One friend, a former reporter for the Valley News, remembers a conversation with Ruth Anne about the crazy hours reporters work.

Mary (Sasa) Hilde recalls Ruth Anne saying: “I often work 10-plus-hour days and just keep going; I like to consider it loyalty, but it’s probably just stupidity.”

That’s the type of witty humor and honesty anyone who came in contact with Ruth Anne came to know.

GREAT WRITER
Pat Minelli, editor of the Valley News, where Ruth Anne worked for the last year, said before she came to the Valley News, he always admired her writing, in particular her columns while she was writing for the Savage Pacer.

“After she left the Pacer, I was thrilled with the opportunity to entice her to the Valley News,” Minelli said.

Ruth Anne had the respect of everyone she came in contact with, whether it was while covering school board meetings or interviewing sources for feature stories, Minelli said. Even when she wrote news that wasn’t so pleasant for her sources, people still respected her, he said.

“Whenever I was on the street, people would come up to me, gushing with compliments for her,” Minelli said. “It was unbelievable how well she was liked. I have never had a reporter that so many people would go out of their way to say how much they enjoyed her.”

The compliments have piled up on the Valley News Web site since her death, including from people who only met Ruth Anne once.

Minelli received an e-mail from a Girl Scout troop leader Ruth Anne recently wrote a story about. The leader noted how thrilled the girls were to meet Ruth Anne, an ex-Girl Scout herself.

“She took an extraordinary time to talk with the girls and look at their badges,” Minelli said. “That is the way she did her job, and that is why everyone liked her.”

Ruth Anne laughs with her good
friend, Sabrina Norrbohm, during a
preview event at the Minnesota
Renaissance Festival this summer.
Shakopee Valley News Editor Pat
Minelli is in the background.
(Photo by Shannon Fiecke)

There were two things to know about Ruth Anne, co-workers said: 1) If you’re writing a text message or e-mail, make sure your grammar was correct, and 2) never, ever call her Ruth.

“Ruth Anne always wrote very clean copy,” Minelli said. “She is one of the better writers I have ever had in that way. She had an eagle eye. It was very rare that she even had a typo.”

Sarah Koehn, assistant to the superintendent of Shakopee Public Schools, generally sat next to Ruth Anne during School Board meetings and got to know her well, both professionally and personally.

The two often shared laughs about the colorful characters on the School Board, and were especially humored by Todd Anderson, who recently resigned from the board.

“He really cracked her up,” Koehn remembers.

Ruth Anne usually mentioned her 19-year-old daughter, and did so while covering the meeting the night before she disappeared. She told Koehn she was looking forward to strengthening their relationship when she moved back to her home state of Indiana at the end of the year. Ruth Anne had recently told the Valley News she would be resigning.

The pair went on to discuss random topics, such as Ruth Anne’s weight-loss efforts and her beloved Naked Juice, which she told Koehn cost “$3 a bottle,” but was worth it.

As Oxtra recorded the board meeting from behind the women, she watched them chatter away and giggle.

INDIANA NATIVE
When Ruth Anne was able to get away from her job, she was sure to be found with two dog leashes for her dogs, Quincy and Roxxi, in her hands and a pocket full of treats for any other dogs she came across at the Cleary Lake Dog Park.

That’s who Ruth Anne was, her friends say: A caring friend, a confidant, a loving mother, a dedicated employee, a beloved sister, an animal lover, a daughter and a person always willing to take responsibility, forgive and move on.

Ruth Anne was born Aug. 20, 1963, in Chicago Heights, Ill., to Paul and Lois (Whitehead) Lipka, who currently live in Lake Placid, Fla. She was previously married to Mark Long. Family members and several close friends were too distraught to comment on Ruth Anne’s death, but her mother posted a comment on the newspaper Web site describing Ruth Anne as a “daddy’s girl”:

“As her mother we had a lot in common and got along very well, but first and foremost she was her Dad's daughter. When her sisters and brother wanted something special, they always said, ‘Ruth Anne, you ask him 'cuz he never says ‘no’ to you.’

“And Ruth Anne adored her Dad. She was never embarrassed by him like most kids are when they are growing up. She listened to him and observed what he did and said. What she learned from him showed up in her writing. I recently read one of her blogs and it was all about his funny ‘adages.’ I’ve heard them for over 50 years and they drive me crazy, but not her. She could have written an entire book about her Dad and his funny sayings. Ruth Anne always [had] a beautiful smile and [was] an enjoyable clown.”

TRUSTED REPORTER
As a reporter who covered the Savage Police Department and the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District for the Pacer from 2004 through 2007, Ruth Anne interviewed many people on a regular basis, said Capt. Dave Muelken.

“She approached her work in a friendly manner – and with dedication to get the story and get it right,” he said. “Her work was a benefit not only to newspaper readers but to the city of Savage in providing fair and accurate coverage of the matters affecting our citizens. We are saddened by her death and extend our deepest condolences to her co-workers, her family and her friends.”

Pacer editor Nancy Huddleston hired Ruth Anne when she first moved to the Twin Cities area from Indiana. She jumped into the job feet first and never looked back, Huddleston remembers.

“Her primary dedication to the newspaper was to its readers, to make sure she got their story,” she said. “So many people were touched by her thoughtfulness not only as a reporter but as a great person. If you met Ruth Anne once, you always remembered her for her laughter, wonderful smile and caring personality. Her contributions to the Pacer cannot be put into words, as there were so many.”

Muelken remembered Ruth Anne as a person who always had a smile on her face, was friendly and giggly. She was also thorough and always did her job well, he said.

Although police and reporters don’t always see eye-to-eye on what should be public information, Muelken said Ruth Anne was always diplomatic, had the interest of the citizens in mind, and was responsible, fair and factual in her writing.

“She never wrote a story from one direction,” he said.

From the minute Oxtra met her, she also knew Ruth Anne had no hidden agenda. Oxtra bragged to school officials about what a good working relationship the Shakopee School District shared with Ruth Anne. She was trusted to roam school halls and with whatever information she requested.

Most police officers don’t want to talk to members of the media because they don’t trust them, Muelken said. That wasn’t the case with Ruth Anne.

“If you looked up the definition of a police reporter in the dictionary, you wouldn’t find her picture,” Muelken said of a relationship that developed over years of sitting across a desk discussing the police calls for the week. “She just wasn’t your typical police reporter.”

As a reader of the paper, Muelken added, her feature stories are what made her unique.

“She was kind of a character,” he said.

Besides covering police, Ruth Anne was always willing to share a piece of herself with her readers through blogs, personal columns and quirky details that became part of the story, Muelken said.

“I never saw her down,” he said. “She always found the light in a dark situation.”
That light also showed through in Ruth Anne’s numerous comments across Southwest Newspapers’ Web sites and blogs that were written so well.

SUNNY DISPOSITION
Ruth Anne captivated Shakopee readers with her blogs that were constantly among the most read and can be read at www.shakopeevalleynews.com.

In one of Ruth Anne’s blog posts, largely focused on exercise and eating healthy, she highlighted the ups and downs of hard work and dedication to improve her life, along with the strife of dieting in an entertaining way that kept readers on the edge of their seat waiting for her next post.

Ruth Anne also wrote passionately about her two dogs, a pit bull-Rottweiler mix, Quincy, and a pit bull named Roxxi. Her blog was titled “A pitty-ful dog,” and she advocated for the breed, posted humorous pictures of her two “babies” and titled entries with comical headlines like, “If I had to live in a van down by the river, my dogs would be happy as clams,” where she wrote of her companions’ swimming experience in the dog park.
Lori Carlson, editor of the Prior Lake American, recalls how easily Ruth Anne fit in when she joined the staff of the Pacer, which shares an office with the American.

“She instantly became an office favorite,” Carlson said. “Ruth Anne always had a story to tell. I spent a lot of time exchanging pet stories with her, and we would arrange to meet up at the dog park. She was just a bright, smiling person. When I had meetings to attend in our Shakopee office, I’d always make sure to stop and talk to her.”

“Ruth Anne’s blogs on our Web site were amazing,” Minelli said. “It was always a hoot to read. She was tremendously gifted. People would get a kick out of things like what she did last night, and not everyone can do that.”

The entertaining style of writing and her ability to capture readers came naturally to Ruth Anne, because it was a part of her personality, Minelli said. Her life wasn’t totally happy — those close to her knew she was having a tough time in her marriage — but the average person would never know it. She was laughing constantly, whether it was on the phone or just chatting, Minelli said.

The entertaining style of writing and her ability to capture
readers came naturally to Ruth Anne, because it was a part of her personality,
Minelli said. Her life wasn’t totally happy — those close to
her knew she was having a tough time in her marriage — but
the average person would never know it. She was laughing constantly, whether it
was on the phone or just chatting, Minelli said.

“I am amazed she could be so happy, witty and comical, when you
know everything wasn’t perfect,” Minelli added. “She would talk about things
that weren’t so good in her life, but she always put it away, closed that
drawer and then lightened the mood and made everyone else feel good.”

Although blogs are generally about personal experiences, Ruth
Anne always had a knack for asking the right questions and picking the
interesting detail to tell her stories.

She was always able to bring out the best in her sources. Just
when the source thought there was nothing more that could be printed, she found
the question that made the story a keepsake. Ruth Anne always found the time to
stick around after an event to get to know people on a level deeper than the surface,
and this always shined through in her work.

Her ability to organize and keep in constant contact with
sources was the reason she never got “scooped” on a story.

On the weekends, Ruth Anne also worked part-time at Kohl’s in
St. Louis Park.

A LEGACY

Before moving to Prior Lake, Ruth Anne was a general-assignment
reporter covering police and courts as well as a lifestyles editor for the Times-Union in Warsaw,
Ind., where she worked from 1987 to 2003. During her tenure, she reported under
the bylines of Ruth Anne Lipka and Ruth Anne Long.

Times-Union
General Manager Gary Gerard, who worked with Ruth Anne for 14 years, said he
was “lucky enough to inherit her as a reporter” when he began his career with
the newspaper in 1988.

As a reporter, Ruth Anne was hardworking, enterprising and
always able to come up with unique and interesting story ideas, Gerard said.
“There was never a slow news day with Ruth Anne on our staff,” he said.

Her great sense of humor, wit and ability to make others laugh were
all traits Gerard remembers vividly.

“She would come through
the door and look at us and say something like, ‘I’m just delightful. Everyone
just loves me,’” Gerard said. “She was always bubbly. That was the way she was
when I met her.”

Ruth Anne’s ability to root out a story was incredible in a
coverage area where she was responsible for four judges, four courts and a
county of 75,000 people, he said. It was a big job, and she had a system for
tracking things through the courts and keeping up with everything.

The Times-Union
went online in 1996, and Gerard said to this day when a new police and courts
reporter starts with the newspaper, he goes back to when Ruth Anne covered
police and courts, pulls up a month’s worth of her work and tells reporters
that’s what he expects from them.

“She is still the benchmark, the standard for reporters at this
paper,” he said.

Upon hearing the news of Ruth Anne’s death, Gerard said the
initial reaction was shock.

“I was stunned,” he said. “I couldn’t believe someone could do
this to her, or want to do such a thing to her. My solemn hope is that justice
in this case is swift and severe.”

Colleen Hatami, a friend of Ruth Anne’s since the two were in
middle-school orchestra together, said she is choosing to focus on the laughter
and love her friend offered, not the way she died.

“Today I choose not to be full of hate, anger, guilt, ugliness
and resentment towards her death. I woke up and chose to fill my heart full of
all the love I have for Ruth Anne,” Hatami said.

A longtime friend and former co-worker at the Times-Union, Vicki Taylor, said,
“Ruth Anne was an instant friend. That is just who she was. You couldn’t help
but love her. She was the funniest person I ever met and the one person you
would want to cross paths with if you were in a bad mood.

“I always told her she was a younger version of Erma Bombeck.”

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com. Shannon
Fiecke and Lori Carlson contributed to this report.