Journalist, Education Pioneer Dies at 86

June Adamson, 86, a former journalist for The Oak Ridger and the first woman full professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Tennessee's College of Communications, died April 24 at NHC.

Adamson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Perry and Annie Livingston Neilson. She came to Oak Ridge in 1944 with her husband, George.

Prior to her work at UT, she worked 10 years as lifestyle editor, church editor and general assignment reporter for The Oak Ridger. Her 17-part series on "Why I am a Member of ... Church," and another series on the Office of Economic Opportunity's effect on the surrounding Appalachian area won Tennessee Press Association's Public Service Awards in the 1960s.

In 1982, she wrote of her family's experiences for a special edition, "The Loss of a Child," that won several prizes. The Adamsons lost a son, Stanley, and his wife, Lucille, when they died in an avalanche while climbing Canada's Mount St. Elias in 1971. She also wrote about the difficulty of reporting such a death for an American Society of Newspaper Editor publication in 1983.

Late in life, her major research effort was a book manuscript, "The Lit Stick of Dynamite," an account of the 1950s' desegregation in Clinton. Several articles from this work were published in the Tennessee Historical Quarterly.

She also contributed chapters about early Oak Ridge to the book, "These Are Our Voices." She edited Oak Ridger Mira Kimmelman's book, "Echoes from the Holocaust." Several authors have cited her works on Oak Ridge and civil rights history.

Other works included chapters on early American journalists to the "Dictionary of Literary Biography," on successful women journalists to the "Biographical Dictionary of American Journalists," and on media to "The Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville."

Adamson also wrote for such diverse publications as The Christian Century, The Christian Science Monitor, Appalachian Women magazine, Journalism History, Editor & Publisher, The Active Handicapped and the Tennessee Alumnus. After retirement, she continued to contribute articles to The Oak Ridger, as well as the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

She held bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from UT, where she was named professor emerita upon her retirement in 1992. Adamson was a member of the UT chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society, Kappa Tau Alpha journalism honor society, and the national and East Tennessee chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists, and which she served two years as adviser to UT's student chapter.

She was an active member of the Association for Education in Journalism, chairing sessions and presenting papers at the regional and national level, including a paper on how two major religious magazines covered the Clinton desegregation. She was a member of the American Association of Journalism Historians. In 1994 she was presented with a Silver Bicentennial Award for having made the most research presentations during the UT College of Communications' 25-year history.

As an Oak Ridge pioneer, Adamson's primary interest outside of her family was the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra. She missed being a charter member by one concert, and played violin under the founding conductor, Waldo Cohn, and others, for 35 years.

She is survived by her son, Neil and his wife, Lisa; grandson, Eric; and three nieces and nephews.

A memorial service is planned for later this week, but final arrangements have not yet been made. Martin Oak Ridge Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.