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Lenita Powers may not have become a mainstay of Northern Nevada journalism for more than four decades were it not for the inspiration of a high-school counselor who told her she wasn’t “college material” despite a straight-A average. That ticked her off, so when she graduated from Sparks High School in 1967 she immediately enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Nevada, Reno. She worked her way through school in four years and graduated with a degree from the Reynolds School of Journalism.
Powers served two internships during her undergraduate years, one at Advertising Age in New York and the other at the Reno Evening Gazette. Ad Age offered her a permanent position, which she declined. After graduating in 1972, she accepted a position at the Evening Gazette and began her 43-year career with the paper at what was then called the “Women’s Page”.
Eager to become a hard-news reporter — at the time, there were only two other women doing it at the Evening Gazette — she often helped cover any breaking news events, which eventually led her to the city desk. Over the course of her career she covered federal and state courts, the legislature, K-12 and higher education. She also wrote heart-tugging people features.
She worked as assistant city editor, mentored numerous Reynolds School journalism students, and wrote a popular column throughout the 1990s, tackling everything from politics to her own family. One of her columns led directly to the rescue of Fleischmann Atmospherium Planetarium — they were planning to turn it into a parking lot — and its placement on the National Register of Historic Buildings. She also won awards for a column about an uninsured Reno child who needed a heart transplant. Her column led to the establishment of a local fund to finance the procedure.
After retiring from the Gazette Journal in 2015, Powers joined the May Arboretum and Botanical Garden as a volunteer. She served on the board until 2019, promoting the arboretum and helping to write and distribute press releases and event information for the society’s fund-raising events.
In her spare time she raised two sons, numerous cats, cutting horses and cattle, and competed regionally as a team roper. She still lives in the Reno area.
