Kona Obituary

Sandra Maye Tompkins

December 18, 1947 - July 4, 2024

Former Kona resident Sandi Tompkins died of kidney failure at her home in Hideaway, Texas, on July 4. Sandi and husband Scott moved to Hawaii in 1990 to serve at the University of the Nations campus. Sandi, a former Pulitzer Prize nominee, led a weekly writers group at UofN and helped in the publication of over 100 books.

She was born on December 18, 1947, to Carmine and Nancy Botti in the immigrant community of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1965 from Beaver Falls, PA, High School, and had dreams of becoming a doctor. She unexpectedly won the journalism award in her senior year, and she decided to become a newspaper reporter instead. Her first job was at The New London Day in Connecticut, and her first big assignment was interviewing actor Paul Newman, who lived nearby.

Sandi later moved west, taking a writing job at The Fresno Bee, It was there that she met Scott. The two had wandered from their Christian faith as teens, but on June 2, 1974, they both recommitted their lives to Christ at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Fresno. That decision led to dramatic changes in their lifestyle, new vision for their work, and on May 3, 1975, to their marriage.

Sandi’s writing soared to new heights during this time. She was honored by the Associated Press as the top feature writer in California for a piece she wrote about teen suicide. She was nominated for a Pulitzer for a series she wrote about the dangers of DPT vaccine. Her biggest story came in 1976, when three kidnappers seized a school bus full of kids in nearby Chowchilla, CA, then buried them in an old moving van. She and her co-worker Gail Miller Marshall interviewed the victims’ families, and after the kids escaped, they wrote a best-selling book titled Kidnapped at Chowchilla.

The Tompkins and their daughters Bonnie and Melody came to Kona to attend a YWAM Discipleship Training School, and they stayed on to start a Communications Department at the campus. Sandi became a regular teacher in the UofN School of Writing and Author’s Training School. They hosted hundreds of local and international visitors in their Kona home and were active members of Holualoa Chapel for 16 years.

After 21 years in Kona, the couple moved to Hideaway, Texas, to continue their work with YWAM. During her 30+ years in ministry, she taught and mentored more than 500 students in Hawaii, England, Montana, and Texas. During that same period, she led weekly writers groups, helping hundreds more to get edited and published. She never charged for her work with the writers groups. She saw it as a God-given opportunity to invest in the lives of new or unpublished writers.

She is survived by her husband Scott, daughter Bonnie Crawford and husband Preston, daughter Melody and husband Paul and their children Kaeden (17), Elijah (15), and Arianna (12) all now residents of Texas, plus her brother Bill and wife Jan from Phoenix.

Memorial Services were held at Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, TX on July 20, 2024. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to Hospice of East Texas.