TEMECULA —— Agnes Diggs —— who cheered, chided and charmed North County Times readers for the last four years as a columnist and a feature writer —— died Sunday at her Temecula home, authorities said.

Colleagues said Diggs, 56, was a remarkable life force whose loss will be felt throughout North County, including the newsroom.

"My first reaction was shock and disbelief," Dick High, publisher of the North County Times, said Sunday. "How can someone so full of life and intelligence and warmth be gone, and at such a young age? She has improved the world and touched our lives."

Fire department officials received a 911 call shortly after 4 p.m. from Diggs, who police said was complaining of chest pains. Rescue crews had to force open a window as the apartment was locked. She died at the scene.

"I think her calling was to touch people," staff writer Mark Walker said of Diggs, whose wide, warm smile, robust love for life and passion for talking earned her countless friends.

While working for the newspaper, Diggs spearheaded and wrote an award-winning series titled The Road to College, which offered step-by-step advice and encouragement to teens. The project was recognized by her colleagues and educators, both statewide and nationally.

And then there was her column, "My Two Cents' Worth." She wrote often of her childhood, her mother and growing up black in the projects of Boston. Diggs was born April 25, 1949.

Her last column, which appeared Sunday, told of sneaking around the house as a child looking for Christmas presents and finding only empty boxes. She went to bed on that Christmas Eve fearing the worst and woke up to find a pink Cinderella watch.

"I learned a few lessons that holiday season," Diggs wrote. "One was that mothers have many special powers. And another was that nosy people get what's coming to them, one way or the other."

Her desk at work is a reflection of who she was, of the things she loved and the people whose lives she touched. There is a coffee cup full of lollipops tucked under her computer monitor, a Bible verse taped to her computer and CDs of gospel music on her desk.

There are also dozens of sticky notes as reminders to call people, and a stack of books on how to get into college and to improve your SAT scores. And, of course, piles and piles of notebooks filled with interviews.

Wayne Halberg, editor of The Californian, a Temecula-based edition of the North County Times, said Sunday night that he will always remember Diggs as a woman of "boundless energy" and as a journalist who "wanted to tell stories about regular people."

"She didn't care about governments or bureaucracies or City Hall or any of that kind of stuff," he said of Diggs, whom he hired as a reporter in 2001 to cover the city of Temecula before creating a new beat specifically to take advantage of her people skills and her storytelling talents.

"Agnes wanted to write stories about people. And she did it really well. She went out into the community and met and talked to people so she could tell their stories … and she made a lot of friends along the way. People were the love of her life."

That was obvious to those she worked with and those she met along the way.

"Agnes was the only reporter I've ever known who elicited hugs from people she didn't even know," said staff photographer David Carlson. "On several occasions, I watched people meet Agnes for the first time, realize who she was, and then spontaneously hug her and tell her how her columns related directly to them."

Editor Kent Davy said Diggs' passing "will leave an enormous hole in this newsroom, one that can't be filled.

"For those who didn't know her so well, let me just say that Agnes would plow through a room leaving smiles in her wake," Davy said. "She cared deeply for others, young and old, and held tight to her faith."

Carlson said Diggs had an interesting life. "She grew up in Boston in the projects, worked as a nanny for a stripper, managed a KFC store in the South, dated Muhammad Ali once," he said. "The woman could recite a quote from just about any movie ever made."

"She was just a sweetheart," said Vikita Poindexter, a close friend who also managed the apartment complex where Diggs lived. "She just loved to talk. One thing we shared in common was the Bible."

Diggs spent hours with Poindexter's 15-year-old daughter, talking about writing and journalism.

"Agnes loved her job," she said, adding that her passion for journalism rubbed off on Poindexter's daughter.

"People like Agnes Diggs don't come along very often," said managing editor W. Russell Harris.

Before joining the North County Times, Diggs worked at the Orange County Register, Long Beach Press Telegram, Los Angeles Times and Stamford (Conn.) Advocate. She earned numerous awards and fellowships. She was a graduate of Chapman University and Middlesex Community College, and attended Long Beach City College. She was a social worker before becoming a journalist.

Neither police nor newspaper officials have been able to confirm next of kin.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Contact staff writer Teresa Hineline at (760) 739-6674 or thineline@nctimes.com.

Staff writer Bob Masingale contributed to this story.