Marj Heyduck was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1913. She was a 1931 graduate of Stivers High School. She also was a graduate from The Ohio State University with a degree in Journalism. Marj was a reporter, columnist and editor for The Dayton Journal Herald, Dayton Press, Dayton-Journal and Dayton Daily News from 1936 to 1969.
She hosted a daily radio show on WING from 1939 to 1941. She was also a motivational speaker. Marj’s column published under the title “Third and Main”, between the years 1943 to 1969 were “the most popular: of the papers morning columns and were collected in three books that she wrote. She was famous for her hats.
She was called the “Woman in the Hat”. She wore a different hat for every column. She totaled 2776 hats and photographs over the course of her career. The Dayton Daily News called her legendary.
She wrote a featured column on wrestling for Dayton Herald’s sports department in the 1940’s. She was friends with Gorgeous George (popular wrestler in those days), whom she took to her hairdresser to have his famous blonde locks restyled. His new flamboyant look became the pioneer of sports braggadocio, that era’s Muhammad Ali.
She was “one of the early advocates” for redevelopment of the Dayton Arcade, writing in a 1967 column “How can we get shoppers to the heart of Dayton every day? Restore the Arcade to its rightful elegance”. In 1980, the newly-refurbished Arcade named their new vendor pushcarts after her.
She won over 75 journalism awards over her career, earning a National reputation. Some of her awards were: The National Headliner’s Award (1946), The United Press International Best Column in Ohio (1963) and the Penney-Missouri Award for Excellence, Women’s Pages (1964). She regularly led discussions at seminars for women page editors, appearing at Columbia University’s Press Institute 23 times between 1952 and 1968, and at State Press Associations in California, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
Marj married Emerson Heyduck, an insurance agent, in 1934 and was widowed in 1953. They had no children. She died in 1969 at the age of 56. Her obituary was read into the Congressional Record by Representative Charles Whalen.