In Memory

Vincent VanCleve - Class Of 1931

Vincent VanCleve

VINCENT VANCLEVE, 60, FORMER EDITOR, MEMBER OF CITY COUNCIL, DIES:

C. Vincent "Vinny" VanCleve, 60, of Wichita, Kansas, passed away in Wichita on Sunday (August 1973), following a lengthy illness. Services in Wichita, Kansas.

Vinny was a native of Olney, a former Olney newspaperman, member of the City Council and an active citizen of this community.

He was born in Olney in April of 1913, a son of the late Charles M. and Ruth Schaeffer VanCleve. A 1931 graduate of the Olney Township High School, he was a member of the Olney basketball team that placed third in the state tournament. After high school, Vinny went to work as a reporter for the Olney Daily Mail and later was appointed editor.

He covered a number of significant news events for the Daily Mail, and in the late 1940's he wrote perhaps the best account that was published anywhere on the tragic fatal hospital fire at the old St. Anthony Hospital building in Effingham. He also started the "Daily Dribble" sports column in the Daily Mail in the early 1940's and covered area sports events for a number of years along with his regular news duties.

Before leaving Olney, Mr. VanCleve was also editor of the Olney Advocate, a weekly newspaper here, for several years and was news director of Radio Station WVLN for a short time.

He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II and was a member of the Olney City Council from 1953 until 1956.

He worked for the Wichita Eagle for a number of years and at the time of his death was wire editor of that newspaper. One of his assignments at the Eagle was to accompany President Dwight D. Eisenhower on one of his tours and in doing this he became well acquainted with the late president.

In 1933 he was married to Grace Chaplin of Olney, a former school teacher in Olney and Richland County.

Survivors in addition to his wife, Grace, include a son, Steve of Frederick, Maryland; a daughter, Mrs. Cynthia Weber of Wichita, Kansas; several grandchildren; a brother, Gilbert T. VanCleve of Olney; and two sisters, Mrs. Paul (Marjorie) Abegglen of Olney and Mrs. Kent (Elizabeth) Scott of Vincennes, Ind.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL)