Arguably, our sense of outrage and unspeakable horror seems to blur in the face of endless repetition. Until, of course, the day that the horror is visited upon your family, your friend, your colleague or your school. And this time it was. On June 28, 2018, in yet another senseless mass shooting, a revenge-seeking gunman’s shotgun blew through the glass doors of the Annapolis newspaper, the Capital Gazette, slaughtering five, among them, our friend, our colleague, a member of our family – the editor and community reporter, Wendi Winters.

Firmly rooted in New York, with a burgeoning career in public relations, Wendi Winters joined Fashion Group in 1980 where, for ten years, she served as the volunteer editor of FGI’s monthly newsletter, then titled The Bulletin.

Then, relocating to Maryland two decades ago, Winters began freelancing, joined the Capital Gazette as a staff writer in 2013 and, in 2016, rose to editor of special publications. Much admired by all who knew her – colleagues, friends and avid readers of her articles and columns – remembered her as “…a prolific and dependable writer…” “she loved story telling…she loved working with people” “Beyond the newsroom, she identified herself as a ‘proud Navy mom, a church adviser, volunteer and a Girl Scout leader who could ‘make a mean s’more. “had a talent for connecting with the community and documenting people’s achievements and important local events… she loves the news business.” “No matter was too provincial, no event too pedestrian and no neighbor too ordinary for Winters to notice in her weekly dispatches. Winters made the mundane marvelous”

In her final tweet, Winters promoted a Capital Gazette video about a community mural project, writing “spreading beauty one artwork at a time.”

In thinking about the incalculable loss of those and all the fallen reporters, columnists and editors, and the meaning and value of journalism, it seems truer now than it was when it was written not so long ago, to wit: “without journalism, there is no history.”

Wendy D’Amico

The Fashion Group International