CHERRY HILL – For nearly three decades, Rose Alice Hurst worked as a careful editor at the Courier-Post, shielding readers from typos and excruciating prose, errors and misspellings.
The veteran journalist, who died Jan. 17 at age 76, “was the matriarch of the Courier-Post copy service for many years, admired and feared by his colleagues,” recalled MJ Fine, former editor of the Cherry Hill newspaper.
In a Facebook post, she described Hurst as “a silent servant to our readers who may never have known her name but noticed when she was no longer around and the bugs crept in.”
Hurst, a Southampton resident, retired in 2008 after 29 years with the Courier-Post and more than 40 years in journalism.
The Temple University graduate previously held several positions at newspapers in North Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
“Rose Ellis was the quintessential copy editor you turned to when you weren’t sure about grammar or sentence structure,” said Laurie Stewart, a retired Courier-Post editor.
“But that was not her only strong point. You could talk to her about Broadway shows—musicals, mysteries, or any other genre.”
“And when it comes to talking about family, you’d better prepare to spend more time chatting with her. She was so proud of her nieces,” Stewart said.
Hurst was willing to share her vast knowledge with newcomers, noted Fine, now a writer and editor for Aramark in Philadelphia.
She described how Hurst “showed me by word and deed how to do the job night after night.”
“I’m so glad I got to spend some time with her,” Fine wrote in her post.
“All of us who had the honor of working alongside her, even briefly, are better for it,” said Bridget Smith Palmer, a former Courier-Post reporter who now works as Bancroft’s government relations manager in Cherry Hill.
Services for Hurst will be held Thursday at 3:00 PM at the Bradley & Stow Funeral Home, 127 Medford-Mount Holly Road, Medford, where friends may call after 2:00 PM.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
