Florence Myrick Ahl of Centerville is being recognized as the first female editor of the Indiana Daily Student, a task she took on in 1897. Ahl graduated from IU in 1899 with a bachelor's degree in English.

Born June 17, 1874, in Richmond to Benjamin and Sarah Reid Myrick, she went on to marry Thomas I. Ahl in 1903.

She was a charter member of the Collegiate Club, a member of the Scibblers Club, a member of the YWCA board, and a president of the Centerville Woman's Club.

Ahl also was the founder and longtime president of the Centerville Public Library board.

For years, she was the chairman of the Wayne County Flower Show. The garden at her home, the former residence of Indiana Gov and U.S. Sen. Oliver P. Morton, was known as one of the showplaces of Centerville, according to her obituary published in May 1946. She died at age 72 and was survived by five children, five grandchildren and a sister, Clara Myrick King of Richmond.

Her husband, who also attended Indiana University, served as chairman of the Wayne County Republican Party and was Wayne County Treasurer from 1921 to 1925. Thomas Ahl was an abstractor. He died in 1944.

Ahl becomes a memboer of the IU School of Journalism's Distinguished Alumni.

Source: "Palladium-Item" ⁶⁵²⁵