Former News publisher Sandra Hurley passes away at 65

Apr 1, 2025

JOHN PETERS
Mount Airy News

Sandra Hurley, longtime Mount Airy (North Carolina) News publisher and life-long community journalist, has died. She was 65 and serving as director of APG Integrated Services/Graphic Design Center in Mount Airy at the time of her death.

While she had dealt with health issues in recent years, her death was a shock to her co-workers, family and others in the community. Many of her colleagues, both present and past, reached out to the Mount Airy News to share their condolences and to reflect upon their work with Hurley.

“Sandy was dedicated to her family, her friends and her work. She will be sorely missed by all of us at Adams Publishing Group,” said Mark Adams, CEO/president of Adams Publishing Group, which owns The Mount Airy News. “I had the privilege of working with Sandy over the past 10 years at several companies. Her dedication, smile and work ethic were unmatched,” said Nick Monico, COO of Adams Publishing Group.

“Sandy was a very special person,” said Serena Bowman, general manager of Mount Airy Media Group. “Professionally, she was the hardest working person I had ever met and the best supervisor anyone could ask for. She was a mentor, encourager and always made herself available to talk about any issue that arose, even if she was busy. Personally, she was a beloved sister-in-Christ, and I am very proud to call her my dearest friend. She will be missed in and outside of this office tremendously.”

“Sandy and I have worked together for years on the board of the North Carolina Press Association,” said Gene Fowler, publisher of the Mount Airy and Mountain Times publications. “Then we became coworkers. Sandy was one of the kindest, thoughtful and informed persons I ever worked with. And make no mistake, I’ve never known anyone that worked as hard as she did. The void I feel with her passing is simply heartbreaking. The world is a little less bright now.”

Gary Lawrence, former publisher of the Mount Airy News and chief operating officer of the paper’s then-owner, Heartland Publications, recalled fondly his work with Hurley.

“I’m deeply saddened to learn of Sandy’s passing. I first met Sandy when she was publisher of the Heartland Publications owned newspaper in Williamson, West Virginia. She quickly informed me she was happy in that capacity but yearned to return closer to home in North Carolina. When an opening for publisher in Clinton occurred, she was the first person I contacted to fill that position. She performed admirably in that role for several years, yet still missed her West Jefferson roots.

“As the company grew and roles expanded, I convinced her to come to Mount Airy as general manager as my duties required me to travel more and her skills were needed to maintain productivity. From the first time I met her until the last time I saw her, she was consistent with her positive outlook, raw determination and radiant smile. She was an attentive leader and had a way with people that made them feel they were equally important. I know I’m among many who were blessed by her presence and for having known her along her life journey.”

“In all that Sandy did, she had a heart for her family and her community,” said Wendy Wood. Wood is manager of communications and community relations at Surry-Yadkin EMC and is the outgoing Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce chairperson. Previously, she worked with Hurley when Wood served as assistant editor at The Mount Airy News and later as editor of the Elkin Tribune and Yadkin Ripple.

“She cared for those she worked with, both at the newspaper and in the business community as a whole. This could be seen in her involvement in Rotary and the chamber of commerce, and in her unwavering support for the teams that her husband coached and her son played on. Sandy was a wonderful mentor to me and someone I looked up to and learned a lot from during my time at the newspaper. I will miss her dearly,” Wood said.

Hurley grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina and often told the story of how a fateful visit to the local paper there, the Jefferson Post in West Jefferson, set her course for a lifetime of community journalism. Hurley said she grew up in a family of regular newspaper readers, and as a college student, she slipped into the Jefferson Post office to buy her dad a gift subscription to the paper. She noticed a job opening posted in the newspaper office.

“I applied so I’d have a job I enjoyed while going to college,” she said in a Publisher Auxiliary personality feature published in April 2022. At the time, Hurley was studying to be a teacher. “I haven’t left this industry since then. It was wonderful because it was a small newspaper where everyone did everything, and I learned so much by starting at a small paper.”

Whether working at a small paper, larger dailies or inside a corporate environment, Hurley thrived in the industry. Prior to her first move to Mount Airy in 2010, she served as publisher and sales manager of The Sampson Independent in Clinton for four years, as publisher and sales manager of the Williamson Daily News in Williamson, West Virginia, for 10 years, and as publisher of her old hometown paper, The Jefferson Post, for four years.

In 2010, she was named general manager and regional sales director for The Mount Airy News and other papers in the region, including the Elkin Tribune, Yadkin Ripple, Stokes News and the Carroll News in Hillsville, Virginia. She and her husband, Will, along with their sons,Wes and Holden, settled in Dobson.

While the role then was focused primarily on advertising and marketing, she worked alongside others in graphics and editorial, forging a team-oriented atmosphere among different departments that was a hallmark of her time in the industry.

In October 2013, she was promoted to the position of director of revenue for the News’ parent company at the time, Civitas Media. She spent most of her work time in the firm’s corporate office in Davidson, although she and her husband maintained their residence in Surry County.
Less than two years later, in July 2015, she was promoted again to the post of senior vice president of sales and marketing for Civitas, continuing to work in the corporate offices.

Two years after that, in June 2017, Civitas sold its North Carolina papers — and eventually all its newspaper holdings nationwide — and Hurley returned to Mount Airy, this time as publisher for The Mount Airy News and as group publisher for the associated weeklies in the area. She came into the new role already knowing the community and was determined to continually find ways to improve the reach of the various publications in their respective communities.

“The Mount Airy News and our other area newspapers have dedicated ourselves to being more involved in the communities we serve, increasing our news coverage, identifying marketing strategies for our customers, and listening to our readers and viewers,” Hurley said. “I look forward to working with the team in Mount Airy to provide the newspaper and website this fine area deserves.”

While Hurley was known as someone who led by example — often first in the building every morning, last to leave at night, along with plenty of weekend hours devoted to the job — she was a familiar face in the community apart from her job.

For much of her time in Mount Airy, she was active in Rotary, the United Fund, the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce (serving as a board member for several years), and she was often sighted at area soccer matches. Her husband, Will, was a long-time soccer coach of both the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams at Mount Airy High School, and in more recent years has served in the same function at Elkin High School.

She relished family time, both with her husband and boys, and with her extended family, many of whom still live in western North Carolina, and she often worked with Will in a family antique store they own in Pilot Mountain.

Hurley was likewise known and respected throughout the newspaper industry. She was active with the North Carolina Press, helping the organization judge press association contests from other states, lobbying North Carolina General Assembly members on issues important to the newspaper industry, and actively serving in leadership posts for the association. She was named the North Carolina Press Association president in 2021, a post she held for a year. Prior to that, she had severed several years on the organization’s board of directors and remained an active member and advisor after her term as president expired.

More recently, she had transitioned from group publisher to director, APG Integrated Services/Graphic Design Center. With the widespread consolidation of many functions throughout the newspaper industry, Hurley worked to ensure the Mount Airy graphics center not only remained in Mount Airy but expanded to be one of the key graphic locations for APG Publishing. Hurley and her team were responsible for growing what was the Mount Airy News graphics department into a company-wide operation that does graphics work, ad design and multimedia campaigns for newspapers across the nation.

In March 2023, Hurley shared with her staff in Mount Airy she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. She dove into treatment, rarely missing any work time despite a rigorous and often-exhausting treatment regimen. She even served as emcee of the annual Mountie Awards luncheon two weeks after her first chemotherapy treatment without any outward signs she was undergoing treatment.

She continued working through her year-long treatment regimen and was declared cancer-free in April 2024. However, additional health problems followed. She had been hospitalized for several days prior to her passing, which occurred after a procedure early Wednesday morning at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem.

In addition to her husband and sons, Hurley is survived by her brothers, Rex Goss and his wife, Teressa, of West Jefferson; Ron Goss and his wife, Penny, of Bristol, Tennessee, and Mike Goss and his wife, Becky, of Jefferson; her father-in-law, Billy Lee Hurley; her brother-in-law, Christopher Hurley; nephew, Ryan Goss; and niece, Hannah Goss.

Funeral services were held Sunday, Jan. 26, at Ashelawn Memorial Chapel, 3470 U.S. Hwy 221 N, Jefferson. They received friends from 1 to 2 p.m. at the chapel. Burial followed in the Ashley Cemetery on Campbell Road in Warrensville.