Bonnie L Hufford

Bonnie L. Hufford, 66, passed away Friday, October 2, 2020, at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee after a long battle with cancer.

Bonnie was born in Sidney, Ohio, on February 5, 1954. She graduated from Sidney High School in 1972. During her high school years, she worked as a reporter for the Sidney Daily News and was an organist at First Christian Church.  She went on to receive her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.  Soon after receiving her degrees she taught at Normandy High in Parma, Ohio from 1976 to 1982. Bonnie joined the University of Tennessee  College of Communication’s faculty in 1985 and taught there for more than 30 years. She was named the college’s Outstanding Faculty member for 1986-1987 and 1994-1995. She received the College’s Favorite Professor Award (sponsored by the College of Education) in 1987 and over the years as a journalism instructor she became known as “Bonnie blue pen”.

Bonnie worked hard to get students interested in journalism even before they reached college. She served as the director of the Tennessee High School Press Association for 21 years, and received the association’s top honor for media advisers, which they named in her honor the “Bonnie L. Hufford Media Adviser of the Year Award”.

Bonnie was dedicated to community service not just through her work at the university but also in her volunteer work with the American Cancer Society. She received the St. George National Award from the American Cancer Society in 2013.  This award is the society’s most prestigious volunteer recognition for outstanding service to the community. She received the Mary Lasker Award from the American Cancer Society in 2014, with only five Hope Awards given to outstanding volunteers in Tennessee that year.

In addition, she received a YWCA Tribute to Women award in 2013 for outstanding public service in  journalism and through her volunteer work with the American Cancer Society. Also in 2013, the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists named her the Front Page Follies honoree for her contributions to the profession in East Tennessee.

She is survived by her brother, Herbert “Mack” Hufford of Tipp City, Ohio. She is preceded in death by her father, Herbert M. Hufford, who passed away in 1965; her mother, Pearl E. Hufford, who passed away in 2001; and her brother Walter C. (“Butch”) Stewart, who passed away in 2008.

Visitation will be at the Adams Funeral Home located at 1401 Fair Road, Sidney, Ohio on Saturday, October 17, 2020, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. followed by graveside services officiated by Pastor Terry Sharpe at Graceland Cemetery, Sidney, Ohio.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Bonnie’s memory to the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org to help fund cancer research or to the Front Page Foundation at P.O. Box 52433, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37950-2433 to help fund scholarships for journalism students at the University of Tennessee.

On line memories may be made at theadamsfuneralhome.com.

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