Helen McDonald ExumHelen McDonald Exum, longtime vice president of The Chattanooga Free Press and driving force behind its lifestyle sections for decades, died Thursday night at her Lookout Mountain home. She was 89.
Mrs. Exum was the first of five children of Elizabeth and Roy McDonald, who founded the Free Press in 1936.
For many years while raising six children, Exum was food editor of the evening paper. In the 1970s, she became a full-time editor, presiding over sweeping coverage of travel, gardening, food, entertainment and related “living” news features.
Exum traveled extensively across the globe to bring first-person features to her readers’ homes.
She may be most remembered by many for her Chattanooga Cookbook. It was chock-full of not just recipes, but local history and the lore of many Chattanooga families. The book was so popular it went into several printings and had three sequels.