LOYAL – Fifty years ago this summer, on June 19, 1969, the Tribune Record Gleaner printed its first issue. This month the newspaper celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special eight-page section.
The section details the history of the merger, historic headlines of the last 50 years and columns from current staff, including TRG editor and former publisher Dean Lesar and current TRG publisher Kris O’Leary.
About a week before the first issue was published, Robert Berglund received a call from Albert “Abbie” Neuenfeldt with a business proposition. Neuenfeldt offered to sell the Greenwood Gleaner to Berglund, who along with his wife, Florence, already owned The Loyal Tribune and The Spencer Record.
They came up with a plan to merge the three newspapers, with Neuenfeldt staying on as the Greenwood reporter for the newly merged publication. Their decision to merge the three newspapers kept them alive.
