Broadcaster Merri Dee To Speak in Dallas
At 76 years old, Merri Dee’s life reads a bit like a Hollywood screenplay: love, loss, intrigue. She was a local television star with 43 years in Chicago broadcasting, nearly all of them spent right at WGN TV. She has a challenging past but overcame adversity over and over again by continuing to tell herself one thing: When life gets you down, you pick yourself up. Don’t just take the hard knocks, fight back. She did it with grace and integrity.
Merri became an advocate for victim’s rights and children because of her own experiences as a victim of domestic violence and child abuse. She will be visiting the Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas January 9th at 10 a.m. to tell her story. The admission will be $15 for tickets, call the TBAAL box office at 214-743-2400, The Academy is at the corner of Canton and Akard Street. In 1971 Dee and a guest were kidnapped in the parking lot and taken to a wooded area, where each was shot in the head and left for dead. Her guest died but she managed to crawl to a highway and was rescued. She spent a year recovering before returning to work. Among her many honors, Dee was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame in 2011 along with the late Ed Bradley of 60 minutes and four other
She’s written a memoir that is part biography and part self-help. It’s called Merri Dee, Life Lessons on Faith, Forgiveness and Grace.
