COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ann B. Walker, the first female and African American journalist to cover Columbus City Hall and the state of Ohio, died Sunday, her church confirmed. She was 101.

Walker worked as a radio host, journalist, editor and columnist in Columbus for decades, according to the city. She was also the first woman in broadcast management in the city.

Rev. Dr. Edward Lewis Sr. of Bethany Presbyterian Church told 10TV that Walker was stoic, direct and that “she doesn’t mix words.”

“Through Ann’s work in the media, she humanized the Black community, provided good responses to our community that helped us have a voice,” Lewis said.

Walker was the first female broadcaster to report on the Ohio Legislature and the first Black woman from Franklin County to receive a White House appointment, the city said. She served as media director for the federal poverty program under former President Jimmy Carter.

Walker was also one of the first African Americans in the Columbus area to interview Martin Luther King Jr., who she had a close relationship with, according to Lewis.

“There isn’t going to be one word that I could use or even a paragraph that would speak to the volume of meaning that she has had to the Black community,” Lewis said. “Especially in terms of giving our community a voice at a time where our voices and our experiences was greatly suppressed.”

She was also indicted into the City of Columbus Hall of Fame, which honors “outstanding individuals who have gained national recognition for themselves and have brought credit to this city.”

“Columbus has lost an icon. Ann Walker, who recently passed away at 101, blazed a trail for generations of women. Throughout her remarkable career, she interviewed historic figures, served our city with distinction, and even represented Columbus on the national stage. May her legacy continue to inspire our community,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a social media post.

Walker moved to and grew up in King-Lincoln Bronzeville, a historically Black neighborhood in Columbus, where a building was erected with her name.

She started a luncheon program in Bronzeville nearly two decades ago that feeds as many as 100 people a week in the summer and 150 in the winter.

“What I found particularly important to me as a pastor of Bethany Presbyterian Church was that she lived out her theology,” Lewis said. “She lived out what she believed. She spoke what she believed, and she wasn’t afraid of the consequences, knowing that she was standing on what I see as love, justice, grace and mercy.”