Sharon Oie remembers Judy Reinert as a supporter of the arts in St. Charles, someone who "really had a sense of what we were trying to do."

Reinert, a former Kane County Chronicle columnist and a reporter who covered the arts and health, died Wednesday night at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford. She was 73 years old. She worked at the Chronicle from 1989 to 2001 and wrote a column called "Talk of the Towns."

Oie, a former director of the Norris Cultural Arts Center, said Reinert was always supportive of the St. Charles arts community. She said it was obvious that Reinert was interested in the arts and said "she had her finger on the pulse of the community."