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Clementine Paddleford

Class of 1917

Inducted in 2008

Paddleford1Clementine Paddleford graduated from Manhattan Senior High School at 10th and Poyntz in 1917 and became one of the most widely read food editors in the world. She worked throughout her high school years for a local paper, the Daily Chronicle, as a part-time reporter writing a personals column. At Kansas State Agricultural College, she played every sport available to girls and was on the debate team. She was Assistant Editor of the Collegian her junior year, then Editor Paddleford2her senior year. She also wrote articles for area magazines and newspapers and was editor of the Morning Chronicle. She was graduated from K-State in 1921 with a degree in Industrial Journalism and headed to New York City by bus. She took graduate courses, then got a job break in Chicago.

She soon returned to New York where her determination, network building, and work-oriented personality enabled her to build a strong following with millions of readers, despite serious throat cancer in 1931. She spoke through a tube the rest of her life which she covered with a black velvet choker. From the 1920s thru the 1960s, she rose to the top of her profession writing for such publications as Farm and Fireside, The New York Sun, The New York Herald Tribune, Gourmet, The New York Telegram, The New York Times, and This Week. In 1953, Time magazine called Paddleford the “best known food editor in the United States”. Of her several cookbooks,How America Eats, 1960, was the first look at regional cuisine within the United States. She died in 1967 and is buried in Riley, KS in the Stockdale cemetery.