Search Results

HIRST -- MARIE HIRST DIES AT HOME IN ALBUQUERQUE Albuquerque, NM -- Marie Hirst, 82, a driving force in New Mexico's business community for more than 30 years, died at her home in Albuquerque on Saturday, September 11, 2004. She was president and founder of the Hirst Company; now Hirst Cordova Public Relations. She started the company in New York in 1965, moving her headquarters to Albuquerque in 1971. No services are planned at this time. Born Marie Murphy in Brockton, Massachusetts February 13, 1922, she was a bride at 17, a mother at 19 and a widow at 23. Her first husband, Francis S. Roan, an Air Force gunner, was killed in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Turning tragedy into a triumph, she enrolled in the Williams School of Business in Brockton, MA and began work as a secretary at the Northeast School of Aeronautics, a school that trained pilots under the GI Bill. She kept up her studies and worked while caring for her sick mother, two sisters and her daughter, Paula. Displaying a knack for administration, she quickly became director of the flight school. She also learned to fly aircraft including 65-hoursepower training planes, a twin-engine Cessna and even helicopters. She tested and received her pilot's license in 1950. Her first foray into public relations came when she was tapped by the U.S. Air Force to promote jet aircraft and jet travel. She went through high altitude training at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts taking classroom instruction and in-flight training in February of 1957. She later flew with the Right Stuff's Chuck Yeager and went on to become one of the first women to fly a jet, a T-33, for which she became an honorary colonel. She officially joined the public relations profession in 1952 moving to Boston to work at Newsome & Company, one of the oldest and largest PR firms in New England. Newsome & Company is the predecessor in Boston of today's giant, Hill & Knowlton. Four years later she was named the company's first female vice president. She credited Newsome with one of the cornerstones of her business philosophy, "If you can't have a couple of good laughs a day, what's the sense of coming to work?" One of the first women invited to join the Advertising Club of Boston; she was a member of numerous committees and received the group's nomination as advertising executive of the year. She was an often sought after speaker for many groups and organizations in the Boston area. It was during this time she adopted another hobby, racecar driving. She was a long-time member of the Sports Car Club of America and even made minor repairs and tuned up her own racer. She was a founding member of the Sports Car Drivers Education Council, a group developed to promote driver education among teens. Asked why she pursued these hobbies, she replied, "It's where the boys were." She was married to John Stuart Cloud at the time, that marriage ending in divorce. In the early 1960s, Marie received what she considered, "another lucky break" when asked to organize a woman's executive program for the Sperry and Hutchinson Company. S&H was the company behind the highly successful and well-known green stamp premium program. It was here that she began work with her future husband and business partner, Lee Hirst, a senior executive at Sperry & Hutchinson. Five years later the two married, combining households and children. In that era, marrying the boss meant leaving the company, so she rejoined her former company, Newsome. Her major assignment was to help organize and operate the New England Pavilion at the New York World's Fair. In 1966, she started the Hirst Company with herself as president and her husband as chairman. Working out of her New York apartment, she wrote programs, news releases, brochures and speeches while slowly expanding the business. In 1971 the two moved to New Mexico where Marie studied music at the University of New Mexico. In 1973 and 1974 she took two years off to study classical music six hours a day, culminating in a concert at St. John's College in Santa Fe of Achille-Claude Debussey's work. It was during this time that she slowly built the business working for a number of national clients including Intel, Maloof Companies, Bueno Foods, Plains Electric, the Waste Isolation Pilot Project, Waste Management and a host of others. "Marie was the rudder of the Hirst Company," said John Cordova, president of Hirst Cordova Public Relations. "She was my quiet mentor and supporter. Her counsel will be missed deeply." It was partly through her company's efforts that Intel selected Rio Rancho as its New Mexico site in the early 1970s. Barbara Brazil, the former Public Affairs Manager for Intel said, "Marie challenged us all to see things through a more interesting prism and to never be dull if we could help it. And, if we couldn't help being dull, Marie was much too much a lady to ever let us know it. "She was special to many of us. She was spirited, fun, full of energy and not at all interested in the mundane," Brazil continued. "If you visited her home, she invited you to take one of her permanent ink marking pens and leave a message on the guest bathroom wall. At a dinner party years ago, I remarked on the collection of different patterns of silver and china used on the table. She said that she picked up the pieces here and there and thought they were much more interesting than a matched set." Marie Hirst was the best in the business," said Roy Bidwell was another long time client and friend. "She had wonderful clarity of thought, a truly gifted communicator. She had no wasted motion; she really cut to the core of the matter." He praised her knowledge and professionalism saying, "She understood what the client really needed, not just what the client wanted. She would go toe to toe with the most headstrong of person and convince them of the best course of action, using a minimum number of words." Bidwell added, "she was a tough person, she was demanding, but she always had her eye on quality," he said. "I don't think they make them like Marie anymore, I will miss her." V.B. Price, said, "Marie Hirst always listened more than she talked. To be her client, or her friend, was be paid attention to, to be taken seriously, and to be helped with clarity, wisdom, and respect. Deep down, you always knew Marie Hirst was as trustworthy a person as you could find." Marie was well known in business circles and even in an unlikely place - the New Mexico rugby circuit. She was a supporter of many groups and organizations and was generous with her time, counseling a generation of New Mexico's aspiring journalist and public relations professionals. State Senator Dede Feldman, said of her, "like so many other young women, I met Marie Hirst through the New Mexico Press Women. By the time I got there, Marie has already been there and done that. She'd already had her own PR practice in New York and was worlds apart from the Albuquerque scene. But she chose us. And she chose to mentor dozens of young working women in the ways of professional communication, media relations, the proper way to do special events, the differences between advertising and PR (a favorite theme) and basically, how to conduct a PR practice with integrity and flair." Feldman continue, "Whenever we had questions, we would ask and she would consult with us. 'How much should I charge? Isn't that a conflict of interest? ' She was often the source of information about job openings in the media and in various institutions. She was a true mentor, an elegant, resourceful, magnificent woman who gave so much to the community-- all behind the scenes, all without any thought of recognition. And it all counts. Marie loved her garden. And now look, how many pretty blooms she has produced all over town." The PR pioneer received a number of honors and accolades. In 1987, the long-time member of New Mexico Press Women was named the group's Woman of Achievement. She represented NMPW at the National Federation Of Press Women conference. The New Mexico Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America presented Marie and Lee with NMPA's first Vista Award for lifetime achievements in the field of Public Relations in 2001. The many friends and family of Marie Hirst, including her husband, Lee, are in celebration of her life. The family also includes Paula Alkon, of San Francisco, CA, Marie's daughter from her first marriage; Paula's daughter Stacey Freeland and Marie's great-grandaughter Eve Freeland, both of West Chester, PA; Lindy Hirst, a step daughter; Lindy's daughter Maralee Harrell, and Maralee's daughter Kiera Harrell-Danks both of Pittsburg, PS; Lindy's son Lee Irick who preceded her in death; step son William Hirst, and his two children, Taylor and Chelsey Hirst of Orleans, MA; and step son Peter Hirst and his three children William, Aaron and Anna Hirst also of Orleans, MA. An avid gardener and animal lover, Marie was known to grow a variety of herbs and flowers all the while shooing insects out the door and even stopping traffic to move dogs and cats out of harm's way. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Humane Society. French Mortuary is in charge of arrangements. Cremation will be private.
        Published on: Sun September 19, 2004