D.J. (Dorothy) Cline is a freelance writer. Formerly an associate professor of journalism at South Dakota State University, she retired as professor emerita in 1985. She and her late husband, Francis, came to Brookings in 1971 from Pierre, where she served as the first female director of tourism for South Dakota. Since retiring from teaching, she has operated a communications and publishing business in Brookings. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and a master’s degree from South Dakota State University.

Her career has brought recognition from the National Federation of Press Women with Freedom of the Press and Communicator of Achievement awards. She has also received the Distinguished Service Award from the South Dakota Newspaper Association, the Distinguished Alumna Award from South Dakota State University Alumni Association, the Distinguished Service Award from the South Dakota High School Activities Association, the Founder’s Award from the South Dakota High School Press Association, and the state’s Spirit of Dakota award.

She served as president of the National Federation of Press Women and president of South Dakota Press Women. She was also on the national board of the First Amendment Congress. Cline is author of By the People, For the People, a history of Brookings’ publicly owned utilities, which won an NFPW first-place award in history books in 1993.

Her friendship with Vera Way Marghab began in the 1980s when Vera was seeking a collaborator in writing the story of her life. Vera contracted with Cline for the writing project and also for further services in business-related activities. Out of this association, a close and strong friendship grew. The book Vera hoped to write with the author was not, however, completed before Vera’s death. The trustees of her estate commissioned Cline to write the story following Vera’s death in 1995. Cline will also assist in preparing Marghab files for preservation in the archives at the Hilton M. Briggs Library after the book is published.