header 1
header 2
header 3

In Memory

Ora Spaid - Class Of 1939 VIEW PROFILE

Ora Spaid

c

ORA  A. SPAID

Dec. 12, 1921 - July 3, 2010
SOUTH BEND - Journalist, writer and community organizer Ora Alfred Spaid Jr., 88, died on the evening of July 3rd in the Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore, Ken-tucky, where he had been a resident for the past three and a half years. Born in the kitchen of his boyhood home in South Bend in 1921,

Ora Spaid got his start in journalism writing for the South Bend Tribune while still a student at Riley High School.

He was Editor of the McCook Daily Gazette in Nebraska in the early 1950's and then a reporter and religion editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal where he wrote the popu-lar "A Reporter Goes to Church" column and won numerous awards for journalism. Following his career as a journalist, he served in the "War on Poverty" as Executive Di-rector of the Community Action Program in Asheville, North Carolina, and then as a consultant for the Office for Economic Opportunity in Washington D.C. He was a management trainer, curriculum designer and consultant, video producer, an early innovator in educational television, and the author of many articles and books, including one collection of stories about his beloved dogs titled "Where the Grass Is Greener and Dogs Had Better Keep Off". Later in his life he moved to Madison, Indiana where he worked as a free-lance writer and taught writing courses at Hanover College and the local library.

In WWII he served as an Army Air Corps navigator flying missions over Germany until his B17 was shot down and he was held as a POW at Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany. He received the Purple Heart and other citations of valor. After the war he attended Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University on the G.I. Bill.

Ora Spaid is survived by three children and their families: Gregory Preston Spaid, (Susan Roettger Spaid) of Gambier, OH, Peggy Sue Eberhardt of Louisville, KY, and Judy Spaid Edwards (Mark Ed-wards) of Louisville, KY. There are five grandchildren: Erica Spaid, Simon Spaid, Katherine Ed-wards, Susan Edwards and Sara Eberhardt.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Thomson-Hood Veterans Center, 100 Veterans Drive, Wilmore, KY 40390 or the Madison-Jefferson Animal Shelter, 2727 Hannah Drive, Madison, IN 47250.

Published by South Bend Tribune from Jul. 9 to Jul. 10, 2010.

05/21/2023 EJS

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/southbendtribune/name/ora-spaid-obituary?id=14061748



Click here to see Ora's last Profile entry.