Retired Denver Post reporter Virginia “Ginny” McKibben was killed Monday morning when she was struck by a snow-laden branch that fell from an old cottonwood in the front yard of her southeast Denver home.
A 14-year veteran of the newspaper who retired during a battle with breast cancer, McKibben, 73, had been sweeping snow outside her home in the 3000 block of South Bellaire Street when the large branch fell about 40 feet.
“She obviously had many friends here, some of whom cried upon hearing of her death,” said Editor Gregory L. Moore. “She was a hard-nosed reporter. She wrote about our growing suburbs, political infighting and infamous court cases, … but she was equally comfortable touching people’s hearts.
“She will be missed by all who knew her, and we extend condolences to her family.”
Neighbors Trent and Lisa Speier were trying to start their car when they heard branches snapping on trees all over the neighborhood. They called over to McKibben to warn her to go inside, and when the big branch fell, Trent Speier remarked to his wife, “That one was big enough to kill somebody.”
They found McKibben under the branch in another neighbor’s driveway.
Neighbor Jan Frazier, a former paramedic, heard Lisa Speier screaming for help.
“She was holding Ginny and crying and screaming to me, ‘Jan, she’s gone, she’s gone!”‘ said Frazier, staring somberly at the fallen branches that littered the yards. “There was nothing we could do.”
The Post’s former editorial page editor, the late Sue O’Brien, fondly nicknamed McKibben “The Scribe of the Southern Suburbs.”
For most of her career at The Post, McKibben covered Arapahoe County. Among the most sensational stories she covered was that of Nathan Dunlap, convicted in 1996 of murdering four employees at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Englewood. She also covered the 1994 story of rowdy Drug Enforcement Administration agents who threatened to kill a Sedalia Grill manager after their drinks were cut off.
Local lawyers and law officials knew her as thorough and fair. Her years as a legal secretary schooled the questions McKibben asked and brought insight to her stories, said former Arapahoe County District Attorney Jim Peters.
“She was the kind of reporter who got access to information by fostering relationships with the people she worked with,” Peters said. “She let you know, in a nice way, that she had a deadline, rather than being confrontational or condescending.”
McKibben refined that gentility during her first career as a flight attendant, a job then filled almost exclusively by attractive young women. With her electric blue eyes, blond hair and sleek physique, she found the attention from passengers both gratifying and a bit off-putting.
She also was known to pull a fast one. While voting records and her application to The Post would have McKibben as a 69-year-old, her family insists she always lied about her age and gave an erroneous date of birth when filing paperwork.
“The nice thing about getting older,” she told many cub reporters, “is that you don’t have to pose anymore. You can just be who you are.”
McKibben established a reputation as a woman of humor and candor. She spoke openly about her affinity for Alcoholics Anonymous and took pride in the 33 years she stayed sober.
McKibben also was a breast- cancer survivor and was known as a “spitfire.”
“She was tough, and she was gorgeous,” Post reporter and longtime friend Mike McPhee said. “She was a wonderful, old- style woman who’d laugh with the best of ’em and cuss and just tell wonderful stories.”
In spring 2001, McKibben was hospitalized with cancer and had a stroke, McPhee said. McKibben told him she missed her garden, so newsroom colleagues took up a collection and spent a Saturday replanting her entire yard.
“She was just so loved here,” McPhee said.
When she and her husband, Frank McKibben, divorced, she remained close to him and her stepchildren.
Besides her former husband, survivors include stepson Chuck McKibben of Denver and stepdaughter Linda Montgomery of Aurora. Services are pending.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
