35 Years of Hope: Carol Marin

Walk into the doors of St. Martin de Porres House of Hope, and the first room you will come to has walls painted a vivid red. Sunlight streams through the windows. Comfortable chairs and couches, a piano, and bookcases adorn the room. To the side are desks full of computers.

This is the Marin Room, named for Carol Marin, award-winning journalist and friend to St. Martin de Porres House of Hope. It’s where the women visit, sing, read, reflect, and learn.

Carol Marin began her journalism career in 1972 at WBIR in Knoxville, Tennessee, working as a reporter, anchor, and assistant news director. In 1978, she moved to Chicago, where she worked for NBC’s WMAQ until 1997, co-anchoring the evening news with Ron Magers. She and her producer Don Moseley were then hired by CBS news, reporting for 60 Minutes and Evening News with Dan Rather. Marin and Moseley today head an independent documentary company, Marin Corp. Productions, located at DePaul University, and Carol serves as political columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and a contributor to WTTW’s Chicago Tonight.

Carol and Don found St. Martin de Porres while doing a story for NBC on homeless women and shelters. “One of the places we ended up going was Sr. Therese and Sr. Connie’s newly founded venture in that little drugstore. It was a small brick two-story building located on a gang dividing line, in a DMZ [demilitarized zone].

Carol was struck by the nuns’ commitment to their work and the women became close friends. Sr. Connie and Carol were especially close. At summer parties in the parking lot, Carol and Sr. Connie would dance to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.” Carol gave the eulogy at Sr. Connie’s funeral.

“Sr. Connie and Sr. Therese are powerful and wonderful women who have given their lives to something that is greater than themselves. They have done it with grace and dignity, with 24/7 work ethic. I continue to be inspired and amazed by them,” Carol says.