Eva Samo, a News-Record “Woman of the Year” and Maple Leaf Award winner who helped create after school care and summer programs that are still in place today, has died. She was 103.
The South Orange-Maplewood Adult School, where Samo was on staff for 51 years, put out a statement on her passing that noted she was the longest serving
staff member and had left an indelible mark in the school’s history and in the lives of the many staff, students and trustees that she mentored and supervised.
“Eva loved our community and in her feisty but loving way, made it a better place for all of us,” said Trustee Rich Cohen.
Samo rose from registrar to executive secretary to assistant director and then associate director at the Adult School.
“Eva mentored countless trustees on the Adult School board by the way she ‘showed up’ with her brilliance, fierce good sense, and an uncanny instinct for creating new initiatives for the community’s evolving needs,” the statement said.
“Eva was so much more than a member of the staff: she was an idea engine,” said long-time Adult School Trustee Rose Gilbert. “The main brain and strong hand that guided the Adult School as it evolved into the vital organization immortalized by the United States Library of Congress’ Bicentennial Local Legacy Program.”
Trustee Emily Zacharias elaborated upon Gilbert’s statement, noting that “Eva was the guiding soul and spirit of The Adult School.”
Eva was particularly influential in establishing a number of seminal Adult School and community activities of lasting importance:
• In 1974, after parents bemoaned the lack of summer programs for their children, Samo called a meeting of representatives from the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education, local recreation departments, and local libraries to serve as an advisory committee to create a community Children’s Summer Program. For six years the Children’s Summer Program was a joint effort before it became the full time responsibility of SOMAS.
• In 1983, the summer advisory committee that Eva had established in association with the local YMCA, developed a much-needed After School Program. The After School Program was later assumed by the YMCA.
• Samo was also the catalyst for the South Orange-Maplewood First Night Program – a family friendly New Year’s Eve program which was held for many years.
• In 1975, Samo was designated “Woman of the Year” by The News-Record of Maplewood and South Orange. She and her husband, Harvey Samo who predeceased her, were both recipients of the Maple Leaf Award, a community service award, in 1993.
• In 1996, in appreciation of the enormous time and love that Samo invested in establishing high quality lectures for the Adult School, the Board of Trustees renamed its number one course as “The Eva Samo Lecture Series.”
Over the years, Eva and Harvey Samo provided generous funding to support the series, which continues to attract astounding speakers each year.
“Eva Samo remained involved with the Adult School as a volunteer consultant and generous donor for her remaining years,” Dahn shared. “Eva was a beacon of light in our community – her dedication and personal commitment to the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School has left an indelible mark and is a lasting legacy not only to our organization, but also to the greater community. We will be forever grateful to her. We offer our heartfelt condolences to Eva’s sons and daughters-in-law Daniel and Jeanette Samo, Toby Samo and Genie Landon, to their immediate and extended family, and to all who knew Eva.”
The Adult School will publicly recognize Eva’s legacy on March 24, at its biennial event, “Likely Stories,” held at the Woodland in Maplewood.
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