Memorial planned for local newsman John Adams

By Wave Staff Report

Story Created: Jan 28, 2009 at 7:09 PM PST

Story Updated: Jan 28, 2009 at 7:09 PM PST

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DOWNEY — Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday for John Q. Adams, 69, former editor and publisher of the Downey Patriot newspaper and a one-time reporter for Wave Newspapers, which publishes the Downey Herald American.

A longtime resident of Downey, Adams died Jan. 21 at the Southland Convalescent Home in Norwalk after suffering from Parkinson’s disease for many years.

Mayor Mario Guerra, a deacon at St. Raymond’s Catholic Church, will officiate services in the Harriet Paine Event Center of the Downey Adult School, 12340 Woodruff Ave.

It was in a room at the adult school where Adams started the Downey Patriot on May 3, 2002, after serving as editor for the Downey Eagle from 1993 to 2002.

He retired and sold the Patriot to its current owner, Jennifer DeKay Givens, in 2006.

Adams was a reporter for Wave Newspapers in 1988 when The Wave won the Los Angeles Press Club Award for the best weekly publication.

He was born in Reseda March 18, 1939, and was raised in Northern California. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from San Francisco State University in 1966.

He began his newspaper career in 1964 as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Adams moved to Downey and was the editor of two former local weekly publications, the News Tribune and the Mid-Cities Examiner, before he began his association with Eagle publisher Jerry Andrews in 1993.

He is survived by a daughter.

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