Weeks' optimism bubbled over in career, life
By AMY RABIDEAU SILVERS
Journal Sentinel

As a young girl in New York, Lynise Weeks dreamed of becoming a television news reporter.

Her passion and determination made that happen, then served Milwaukee viewers as Weeks became consumer reporter at WTMJ-TV (Channel 4).

"People saw she was a regular person," said anchorman and friend Mike Jacobs. "She loved Milwaukee. And Milwaukee loved her."

Lynise Jean Weeks died Thursday of kidney problems, nearly a week after discontinuing dialysis. She was 41.

Since 1999, she experienced one health problem after another, including diabetes, lupus and kidney disease. A double kidney transplant in 2003 brought new hope but ultimately failed, as WTMJ viewers learned in special reports. The transplanted kidneys had to be removed.

Anne Catalane, former traffic reporter at WISN-TV (Channel 12), asked to be tested and was initially thought to be a match as a kidney donor for a second transplant. Doctors, however, said that other factors precluded that attempt.

"When we found out that we couldn't have our surgery, I think I took it harder than she did," Catalane said. "It was the present and the future for her. Never the past, and never 'woe is me.' "

It was that positive spirit that won her friends for life.

Knowing how much Weeks loved champagne, Jacobs brought a bottle to the hospital Tuesday, with the doctor's blessing.

"I popped the bottle of champagne and her eyes popped open," he said.

Friends dabbed her lips and tongue with a taste of the bubbly beverage.

"And that was Lynise," Jacobs said. "Loving life and living it large."

An early passion for news

Weeks was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens. She later spoke candidly about her childhood, including her father who did not do enough to support the family. She became fascinated with Chi Chi Williams, a reporter for Channel 7 in New York.

Her idol was female and black and on the television news. Young Lynise began to see a different future for herself.

A little autograph book, signed by friends as they left junior high school, tells just how young she was, said sister Antoinette A. Nelson.

"We know we'll see you on the TV someday," her friends wrote.

"She always knew what she wanted to do," Nelson said.

Weeks earned a communications degree at the New York Institute of Technology. Despite early rejections, she was finally accepted at the University of Missouri's prestigious graduate program for journalism.

Weeks, always tall and no longer thin, acknowledged that she was not the classic look for a woman on television news.

"I could outwork anyone," she said in a recent Milwaukee Magazine profile. "I may not be Miss America, but I can outwork Miss America."

Weeks was working in Kalamazoo, Mich., when then-managing editor Jeff Kiernan hired her at WTMJ-TV in 1993. She began as a general assignment reporter. Six months later, she became the station's first consumer reporter.

"We looked in the building and we looked outside the building and decided we couldn't find a better person than Lynise to be fighting for the people of Milwaukee," said Jim Prather, who was then news director. "It was amazing what she did. She put in extra hours to put in extra stories so we could put consumer stories seven nights a week."

That effort was promoted as "Seven Nights of Weeks."

Weeks made the job her own, winning the respect and affection of viewers and colleagues, as well as awards. Her reports included everything from contaminated iced tea in restaurants to high lead levels in mini-blinds. One report exposed the dirty secret of old mattresses being sold as new. Another time, Weeks staked out a Salvation Army drop site and caught people walking away with the donated goods.

"She was always looking out for the little guy," Jacobs said.

Didn't stop working

Despite her health problems, Weeks kept coming back to work as long as she could.

"I was very appreciative of the fact that Channel 4 let me work," she told the Journal Sentinel after the transplant. "I didn't want to stay home. Dialysis was already ruining my life. I didn't want to sit at home and dwell on that.

"I was able to act like a normal person for a while." Weeks lived her life with a deep religious faith, also believing in friends and fun.

"I believe and accept on faith that there is a reason for everything, and I think I know the answer," Weeks said in the Milwaukee Magazine article. "I will have an interesting chat with God as soon as I get there, and that will be one of the first questions I'll ask - if we are allowed to interview God."

Survivors include mother Barbara Weeks; sisters Lynette W. Weeks and Antoinette A. Nelson; brother Anthony R. Weeks; nieces, nephews and other relatives.

Visitation will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday at Northwest Funeral Chapel, 6630 W. Hampton Ave. The funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Christ the King Church, 7750 N. 60th St.