Associated Press - February 5, 2010 9:14 PM ET
TIFTON, Ga. (AP) - Former Gazette co-owner and managing editor Lutrelle Tift "Weetie" Rankin has died.
Rankin died Thursday at the age of 90. Rankin, with her husband, the late Homer Rankin, owned The Gazette for 29 years, from 1952 until its sale to Thomson Newspapers in 1981.
As managing editor, she won numerous awards from the Georgia Press Association for editorials and wrote columns for the Sunday Macon Telegraph and The Gazette.
Rankin received a journalism degree from the University of Georgia and edited her own weekly newspaper, The Star, in St. Simons, Sea Island and Brunswick while still in college. At age 14, she had an article on the Tifton Tobacco Market published nationwide by the Associated Press.
Rankin is survived by eight children, 18 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Information from: The Tifton Gazette, http://tiftongazette.com/
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