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About MaryEllen
MaryEllen Locher was a truly inspiring and greatly loved community leader, news personality, wife, mother, and friend. A graduate of Penn State University, she began her journalism career in Pennsylvania. In 1985, she began work at WTVC in Chattanooga, Tennessee as the area's first health reporter. MaryEllen later became co-anchor of the top-rated station's evening news broadcasts. While working as a health reporter, she was diagnosed with cancer and began a battle that would last nearly 20 years and include three bouts with the disease. MaryEllen passed away in 2005 from breast cancer at the age of 45.
Dedicated to both her profession and to community service, MaryEllen received numerous awards for her work in journalism. She was a founding member of the Chattanooga Make-A-Wish Foundation. She started a program called Hats from the Heart, providing comfortable and stylish hats for those who lost their hair while battling cancer. This program is now in hospitals across America. MaryEllen also helped establish the MaryEllen Locher Breast Center at CHI Memorial which bears her name. The MaryEllen Locher Breast Center opened in 2006 and has been nationally recognized for the comprehensive medical care provided in the center.
MaryEllen and her husband, David, were married in 1988 and welcomed their son Alex in 1989. A committed Christian, MaryEllen made no apologies for her faith in Christ and encouraged those around her to put their trust in Him and accept His gift of eternal life.