In Memoriam: Jo Collinge

The former assistant director of University Communications had a storied journalistic career before coming to WWU and dedicated herself to community service after she retired

August 5, 2024

Jo Collinge, the former assistant director of the Office of University Communications from 1988 to 2003, passed away on June 15 at the age of 85 in Shoreline after a long bout with pulmonary disease.

Jo had a legendary journalism career before she came to Western, including being one of the first female reporters to cover the Vietnam War from Saigon, where her column, "Our Girl in Vietnam," was published each week by the Detroit News. In 1967 she married her husband Rob, who she met while he was working at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, and she left the paper shortly thereafter to travel the world with him as he took on new postings to such far-flung destinations as New Delhi and Johannesburg. Eventually she started her own career with the State Department in 1976, and after her husband's retirement, they moved to the Pacific Northwest, with Jo beginning her work at Western in 1988.

It isn't often you get to write an In Memoriam piece about someone who once had your job, let alone a figure as legendary within our office as Jo. I had the pleasure of meeting her a number of times, and it was her retirement that moved the puzzle pieces around in our office to eventually open up the job I have had for the last 17 years or so. But even having been retired for more than two decades, Jo continues to cast a long and formidable shadow in UComm and she set the bar high for all who would follow. She will be missed.

-- John Thompson

Find out more about Jo Collinge in her obituary, here.