Margaret Althoff-Olivas

Margaret Althoff-Olivas, 60, passed away on Thursday, January 14, 2016. The native El Pasoan was born February 3, 1955. She graduated from Loretto Academy in 1973 and obtained her degree in journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso four years later. She launched her career in broadcast journalism immediately upon graduating, taking a job as a weekend general assignments reporter at KVIA-TV. It is the station where she later became the city's first-ever female sportscaster. Five years later, she joined the staff at KDBC where she spent a decade covering the political arena. From City Hall to the County Courthouse, Margaret covered her beat through multiple administrations. She was awarded the key to the city by former Mayor Ray Salazar for her fairness in reporting municipal news. She also traveled to Austin during her tenure to report on the biennial sessions of the state legislature. Additionally, she had the opportunity to interview presidential candidates when they would come stumping for votes in far West Texas, and for many years she produced and anchored a Sunday morning political program akin to "Meet the Press" that was devoted to important, local issues. Given her love of politics, it wasn't surprising that Margaret later went to work for former County Judge Alicia Chacon, where she served as Executive Assistant, today's Chief of Staff. She joined the staff at Thomason Hospital (today's University Medical Center of El Paso, or UMC) in 1992, where she served as its Director of Public Affairs for nearly 22 years. From the day that she started there until the day that she died, Margaret loved her work, her team and the incredible cadre of staff who could easily have gone elsewhere, then and today, for better compensation. She took great pride in the fact that so much of the hospital's workforce chose to stay as she did because they believe in its mission of serving all comers. She retired in December 2014, reluctant to leave her UMC family, but eager to finally rest and relax. Margaret served on the city's Parks and Recreation Board, the Texas Agricultural Extension Board, the El Paso Times's Editorial Board and on the Dean's Founding Community Advisory Board of Texas Tech University's Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing. She was happy to have been asked to contribute in any way that she could to each organization's mission. She also served several terms as President of the now defunct El Paso Press Club, an organization that worked to advance the journalism profession by providing scholarships to aspiring journalists studying at UTEP. She helped to write and either headlined or had supporting roles in the group's annual Gridiron Show, a fundraiser at the Abraham Chavez Theater, where local politicians were lampooned by the press and then got the chance to lampoon them back. She took her fair share of jabs! Margaret was proud to have been named Alumna of the 1970's by Loretto Academy, where she once served as Editor of the school's student newspaper. At UTEP, she was named Editor of the university's student magazine, which received top honors her senior year for collegiate publications in Texas. The El Paso Press Club presented her with numerous awards for best news writing, best public affairs programming and best in-depth reporting. She enjoyed mentoring countless cub reporters when they joined her newsroom staff. During her professional life, Margaret was called upon to shepherd numerous major initiatives. During her tenure as a broadcast journalist, she was the lead reporter for more than a decade on her stations' live coverage of election night returns. She was tapped by Judge Chacon to spearhead the County's inauguration of its new downtown Courthouse. At Thomason/UMC, she was given responsibility for the Medical Center's name change undertaking as well as its biennial countywide survey of El Pasoans' perceptions of their community hospital. She and her team also planned and executed every groundbreaking ceremony, tree-topping event and ribbon cutting extravaganza during the height of UMC's expansion boom. And for more than two decades, she proudly embraced the role of keynote speaker during the hospital's annual Associate Awards Banquet, where she personally feted each of its longest serving Associates for their dedication to their patients and their life's achievements. Margaret is survived by the love of her life, Benjamin Lucas Olivas, a 2011 honors graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a parent's dream, his daddy, Art Olivas, countless other Olivas descendants who treated her like family from day one, and a cast of some of the best friends anyone could ever hope to have. She was preceded in death by her parents, John Michael Althoff and Catherine Lucille Althoff Burger. She'd appreciate a donation to the UMC Foundation in her memory. Her parting request is that El Pasoans take their civic responsibility more seriously. She asks that you please exercise your right to vote. Services will be private. Services entrusted to Sunset Funeral Home-West. Please visit our online guestbook at www.sunsetfuneralhomes.net