An Extraordinary Life: Joliet native was New York Times bestselling romance author

To the reading world, Sandy Kleinschmit was known as Samantha James, author of 37 romance novels for such publishers as Harlequin and HarperCollins.

To her family and friends in Joliet during her childhood years, she was Sandra Adam. To her husband, Ed Kleinschmit, Sandy was the love of his life whom he lost suddenly April 7 when she was 67.

Sandy was a wonderful human being, Ed said.

“She never had a cross word for anybody,” Ed said. “She was always happy and never put anybody down. She was always positive about everybody and everything.”

Ed said he and Sandy were a couple for nearly 50 years, ever since their first date in December 1971, when Sandy was 18. They met at the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant. It was Ed’s first job in the Army, and Sandy worked in the personnel office.

“Our eyes just met,” Ed said. “We kept looking at each other.”

A mutual friend arranged for them to attend the plant’s Christmas party together.

“And we’ve been together ever since,” Ed said.

When Ed was reassigned, he and Sandy wrote regularly to each other. During one of his leaves, Ed stopped in Chicago and stayed with Sandy and her family in Joliet for a couple of days.

“Then she came out with me to Oregon to meet my family,” Ed said. “My family just loved her so much. She was just loved by so many people.”

When Ed left the Army, Sandy and her mother moved to Oregon in late 1972 or early 1973, Ed said. He and Sandy were married in 1974. They had three daughters – Kelly, Sara, and Jami – and six grandchildren. When their children were young, Sandy was a stay-at-home mom who loved to read, Ed said.

“She read a lot of romance novels and said she could write those kinds of things,” Ed said. “So she started doing it, writing them out with paper and pen. When she finally got a typewriter, she used that to send some into agents and publishers. She got rejected and got some positive feedback from them. So she continued and finally sold one in 1984.”

Sandy would eventually publish 37 books before she retired from writing. Some of Sandy’s books appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and many were translated into other languages, Ed said.

“She just knew she could do it,” Ed said. “She was very passionate about it. She knew it was a job, but she looked at it as a loving adventure.”

Ed said a portion of the family room was turned into Sandy’s writing room. Eventually, the family was able to buy a larger house where Sandy had a dedicated office. And that was because of the money Sandy made with her writing, Ed said.

“She’d write when the girls were in school and then she’d pick them up from school,” Ed Said. “She wrote late in the evening when the girls went to bed.”

Family always came first, even if Sandy was writing on deadline, Ed said. She never missed her daughters’ activities and attended every volleyball and softball game, every dance class, every musical and play, he said.

Ed said Sandy mentored their daughters and taught them everything from how to drive to overcoming adversity. She taught them how to be “great caring human beings” by teaching them “love and empathy,” Ed said.

In advance of each book, Sandy’s publisher would send a copy of the cover to Sandy before the book was published. Ed said he framed the first one for Sandy and it became their tradition.

“Anytime a new book came out, I’d have the cover framed,” Ed said. “In her office, two walls were covered with her books that we had framed.”

Ed said Sandy also received 25 copies of each book, which they set aside for their daughters.

“So each girl will have brand new copies of them,” Ed said.

Ed said Sandy never bragged about her accomplishments or the fan mail she received, which praised her in-depth character development and the volume of research she put into her historical romances.

“People were just happy to read her books,” Ed said. “She could have bragged. She won all kinds of awards and everything. But she never made an issue of it. She was just a down-to-earth, beautiful woman.”

Ed said Sandy retired from writing six to eight years ago when writing wasn’t that adventure anymore, when it became a job.

“It just wasn’t much fun anymore,” Ed said. “So she said, ‘I’m going to retire.’ And she did.”

Ed recalled the best moment of the best vacation he ever took with Sandy. She had planned 17 days in Scotland in the late 1990s, and they saw castles and other “historical things.”

“We got a bottle of champagne and we went to this one castle,” Ed said. “It was on the North Sea, and we put [the champagne] in the ocean to cool it down. And we drank it by the North Sea, just like that.”

Sandy also liked chocolate martinis, traveling to Europe and taking cruises with Ed, the Chicago Cubs and Portland Trailblazers, and having “fun with friends,” Ed said.

“One thing we all remember: When the girls and I were ‘good,’ Sandy would make us apple pie and ice cream as our whole dinner,” Ed wrote in a text message. “She would make the pie while dancing around the kitchen, acting silly, listening to ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA. We all called it her ‘apple pie song.’ We loved it when she did that.”

Sandy’s baking skill actually dates back to her childhood. Her cousin Mike Burroughs of Elwood, who grew up near Sandy’s family and attended Joliet East High School with her, recalled hanging out at her house because Sandy and her mother were such terrific bakers and he wanted to learn from them.

“Sandy was the apple pie queen,” Mike said. “She was a very talented lady.”

Mike recalled how she used to play the piano, especially “Alley Cat,” which he loved. He never realized her gift for writing until their Joliet East days when she wrote for the school newspaper.

Sandy also was the person in whom Mike oftentimes would confide. And, yes, Mike read a couple of her romance novels. Mike agreed with Ed that Sandy’s level of research was noteworthy.

“She was a remarkable human being, and her story is worth sharing,” Mike said. “She was a shining light in Joliet and Joliet should know about it.”

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.