Mary Jane Alford Failey (1922-2023)

Born in New York City and raised in Indianapolis, Mary Jane Alford Failey attended Tudor Hall School and Shortridge High School before graduating from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She later completed her studies at Pine Manor Junior College in Massachusetts and went on to enroll at Indiana University.

In 1945, she joined The Indianapolis News as one of the paper’s first women editors, covering subjects ranging from weddings to the Juvenile Center for delinquent children. In 1975, she launched Indianapolis Home and Garden magazine, which became Indianapolis Monthly in 1981.

Beyond her journalistic career, Failey played an active role in civic life, serving on the boards of several nonprofit organizations in Indianapolis.