MEDFORD – Carol O’Leary, publisher of The (Medford) Star News and the (Cornell) Courier Sentinel, was honored Saturday with a lifetime achievement award from the Abby-Colby Crossings Chamber of Commerce, the Star News reports.
A Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame member and past president of the WNA, O’Leary is a co-owner of Central Wisconsin Publications, which also includes The Tribune-Phonograph in Abbotsford, The Record-Review in Edgar and the (Loyal) Tribune Record Gleaner. She has spent more than 50 years in the newspaper business and has been an active member of several newspaper association boards, including the Inland Press Association and the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.
O’Leary has been an active member of her community since moving to Wisconsin in 1971, when she and her late husband, J.A. O’Leary, purchased The Tribune-Phonograph and The Record-Review. She served as the first female president of the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce and also worked as the chamber’s secretary before it combined with the Colby chamber and hired an office director.
O’Leary has made significant financial contributions to the Abbotsford and Medford communities, including donating to new libraries and local hospitals. She is known in the community for her role as the unofficial seamstress of the annual Abbotsford Christmas Parade. Her support of which “has been critical in keeping it alive and well for many years,” according to Jim Schiferl, who nominate O’Leary for the award.
