I’m a sixth-generation Texan born in Fort Worth and was raised there and in Dallas by highly motivated gourmet-dining parents, both of whom are accomplished cooks. After graduating from Highland Park High School in 1975, I attended Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University and earned my degree in journalism from TCU in 1979.
I come from a newspaper family — my grandparents worked at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and both my father and brother are football coaches, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I started working at the S-T in 1984 as a stringer in the Sports Department, covering high school everything. I moved on to the metro and state desks before joining the travel section in 1986.
After becoming assistant travel editor in 1989, I stayed in Travel through 1994 with assignments taking me to hot spots around Texas like Muleshoe, Crystal City and Kingsville, as well as far-flung places from Glasgow to Bangkok. Over the past 20-plus years, my stories covering adventures throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, South America and Asia have appeared in the Star-Telegram.
In 1987, I began writing dining reviews and became primary dining critic in 1996 and food columnist in 2003. My food travel pieces have covered eating journeys around DFW and in places such as Thailand, Argentina, Northern Ireland and Wales, France and Portugal, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Santa Fe, New York and Kansas City.
I have served as a Regional Panelist for the James Beard Foundation Restaurant Awards and I’m a member of the elite group of women in the field of food, fine beverages and hospitality called Les Dames D’Escoffier. I’ve attended several writing workshops, including the Food Writers Symposium at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. Over the past 20 years, June has worked also as a public speaker, addressing groups throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas about cooking, dining and travel.
