Former Oakland Press journalist Sandra ‘Sam’ Combs dead at 69

Journalist Sandra “Sam” L. Combs, a former Oakland Press employees author, died Oct. 23 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She was 69. The Orlando, Florida, native earned a number of levels and taught at a number of universities earlier than retiring from Arkansas State College in April.

The National Association of Black Journalists introduced her passing on Oct. 24, calling her a devoted storyteller, educator and mentor who embodied the spirit of excellence, service and group. She was a NABJ Area III Achiever recipient.

She labored at The Oakland Press from 1978 to 1997 and was a former resident of Rochester Hills.

Former Oakland Press colleague Joe Grimm, whose profession included writing after which recruiting for the Detroit Free Press, recalled working along with her in Pontiac throughout their early journalism days. He now teaches journalism at Michigan State College.

“I admired her spirit, fierce in so many good methods,” he wrote after studying the Detroit SPJ’s Facebook post about her death. “She was humorous and got here to our home a number of instances. She cherished Christmas tree. One in every of her hardest moments at The OP was writing a couple of church capturing, sure, a very long time in the past, that occurred in her church whereas she was there.”

He known as her “certainly one of many affected person folks” who taught him the best way to be a newsroom recruiter, including, “I labored along with her for nearly the third time once I nonetheless had extra to be taught. Our tenures at Michigan State collided however didn’t overlap.”

Her writing additionally appeared in The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit Information from 1997 to 2008. She was previous president of the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Skilled Journalists.

Eileen Harned wrote on the Detroit SPJ Fb web page that she knew Combs via SPJ. The 2 girls stayed in contact after Combs left Michigan.

“I’ll actually miss her and be part of all those that do the identical. She was really a uncommon journalist!” Harned wrote.

She graduated from the College of Florida in 1976 and went on to write down for the Fort Myers Information-Press, Gainesville Solar and Unbiased Florida Alligator.

She obtained a grasp’s diploma in journalism from Michigan State College in 1996.

Her instructing profession included three years at Ohio State College’s 10-week Midwest Newspaper Workshop for Minorities. She was a journalism teacher at MSU from 2003 to 2008 and director of multicultural affairs for MSU’s Faculty of Communication Arts and Sciences from 2004 to 2006.

She taught greater than a dozen journalism programs at Wayne State College from 1997 to 2003 and served as director of WSU’s Journalism Institute for Minorities.

Combs joined ASU as an affiliate professor in 2008 and spent 10 years as a journalism professor and advisor to the scholar newspaper The Herald. She served as co-advisor for the Arkansas State Affiliation of Black Journalists chapter of the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists.

She was a religious Christian, however was fast to warn her fellow Christians to not go too far when somebody says “Glad Holidays” as an alternative of “Merry Christmas.” She stated “Glad Holidays” acknowledges the fourteen totally different non secular holidays that happen between Thanksgiving and the top of every 12 months. Her birthday was December 1, 1955.

Visitation will likely be held on Friday, October thirty first from 5:00 PM to six:00 PM at Woodard Funeral Companies, adopted by the funeral on Saturday, November 1st at 10:00 AM at First Baptist Church, each in Jonesboro.

Arkansas State College will darken the Dean B. Ellis Library tower Friday night in tribute to Combs for its contributions to the university and higher education.