A Dec. 18, 2025 column in the Kiel Tri-County News announced the retirement of sales representative Joe Mathes and office assistant Paula Gilsdorf from Delta Publications.
Joe’s father Earl Mathes started writing sports for the Kiel Record in 1940 and later purchased the newspaper. Joe and his brother, Mike, grew up in the business and joined it full-time in the 1980s.
Joe and Mike Mathes teamed up with Mark Sherry to form Delta Publications Inc. in the late 1980s and worked as business partners for more than two decades.
“Joe is a salesperson extraordinaire . . . I always said Joe could sell ice to an Eskimo,” Sherry wrote in the column. “His contributions to this information business were indispensable.”
Joe Mathes now resides in Colorado. “We wish him a very long, healthy and fulfilling retirement, and thank him for his decades of service, and, more importantly, his friendship,” Sherry wrote.
Gilsdorf retired effective Dec. 19.
“While her tenure has been quite a bit shorter than Joe’s,” Sherry wrote, “she nonetheless became an integral part of what we do for O’Rourke Media Group in Wisconsin.”
Sherry said Gilsdorf “was as conscientious and professional as they come and a real joy with whom to work.”
