Dates

• Existence: 1920-

Biography

Rowene Byers was born in Shenandoah, Iowa on December 25, 1920. Byers began her career by filling a volunteer position for the Evening Sentinel in Shenandoah in 1937. Upon moving to Des Moines, Iowa in 1939 to enroll in the American Institute of Business, she was hired at the Iowa Daily Press Association and quit school.

From 1941 to 1945, Byers held several short-term positions for various employers. She went back to the Evening Sentinel to replace a reporter who was serving in World War II. Then, the United Press assigned her to cover the Women's Army Corps, where she had the opportunity to interview Eleanor Roosevelt. She was hired on at the International News Service (also in Des Moines) as its first woman bureau chief. Shortly after, the Associated Press hired her to cover the Iowa statehouse and legislature.

Following her marriage to Raymond Danbom in October of 1945, she and her husband moved to Colorado, leaving the news business behind. Between the years of 1946 and 1958 Danbom's career was put on hold to raise her two sons. She then served the Colorado Department of Highways and the Department of Health. She also taught at Colorado State University from 1978 to 1981 where a scholarship was later created in her name. Among Danbom's many accomplishments are the Rocky Mountain Center on Environment award (1971) and the distinguished service award given by the International Association of Business Communicators (1982).

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