Florence R. Niles

Florence R. Niles, 73, of Worcester, Mass., died Sept. 16 in her home.

Niles was hired by the then-Evening Gazette of Worcester in 1965, where she was one of the first female reporters in the Gazette’s newsroom. She reported on education and urban renewal.

She was promoted to photo editor in 1973, to editor of the Hometown section in 1978, and to regional desk chief in 1978.

She was promoted to copy desk chief in 1982 and added the role of Sunday editor in 2010. She held those jobs until she left the Telegram & Gazette in 2014.

“If there is one word to describe Florence, it’s professional. For a half-century at the T&G, she was the consummate professional, working tenaciously every day to make the paper better, whether it be by editing a story, writing a headline or mentoring countless copy editors,” Harry T. Whitin, former editor of the Telegram & Gazette, said in Niles’ obituary in the Telegram & Gazette.

The obituaries were written, at least in part, from published reports by Bulletin correspondents Ashleane Alabre, Sophie Cannon, Jenna Ciccotelli, Nico Hall, Joshua Leaston, Georgeanne Oliver, Julia Preszler and Thomas Ward, undergraduate students at Northeastern University.