PHOENIX (AP) — Anne Walsh, who broke through gender barriers as a reporter covering the home front during World War II and later became a fixture in journalism in Phoenix, has died at the age of 93.

Walsh was a pioneering reporter and part of a family of journalists. Her husband, Mason, served as managing editor, general manager and publisher of the Phoenix Gazette and Arizona Republic, and two of her children, Kevin and Peggy, worked as bureau chiefs for The Associated Press.

Walsh was hired as a reporter at the Dallas Times Herald in 1940s at a time when very few women were working in journalism. She was initially given mundane tasks like weather reports, church notes and obituaries, but took on more coveted assignments as the U.S. was plunged into war, covering government agencies, housing issues and labor relations.