May 23

She was a Southern icon whose byline appeared in the Atlanta Constitution for 58 years.

Celestine Sibley was born in Florida in 1914. She got her first job at the Mobile Press Register before moving to Atlanta and going to work at the Constitution in 1941. The manpower shortage caused by World War II provided Sibley with the great opportunity of becoming one of the first female editors at the paper, working under mentor Ralph McGill.

Over the next half century, Sibley witnessed Georgia history first-hand and wrote about it all in her 10,000 columns and dozens of books: politics, Rich’s Department Store, mystery and children’s novels, the General Assembly, key lime pie, and her cabin in Roswell. The press gallery at the Georgia State Capitol is named in her honor. She was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame after her death from cancer at age 85.

One of the great Georgia journalists was born in Florida on May 23, 1914, Today in Georgia History.