Nancy “Nan” C. Branen, who with her family owned the Burlington Standard Press and Southern Lakes Media for many years, died Friday, Sept. 10, at her home in Burlington. She was 91.

A Milwaukee native, she married William E. “Bill” Branen on June 18, 1949, and five years later Bill bought the Standard Democrat, starting the family's 50-year run of newspaper ownership. Following her husband's death, Nan served as board chair for Southern Lakes Media, the parent company of the Standard Press and the family’s other weekly newspapers. She also handled accounting, ad layout and proofreading for the newsgroup and served as publisher of the Poynette Press and Evansville Leader.

Barbara Hipp Fiore, who worked many years in newspaper production for The Edgerton Reporter, died Monday, Aug. 30. She was 81.

After marrying her ex-husband, James, Fiore moved to Madison — where she started her newspaper career with The Edgerton Reporter. She worked in pre-press for the newspaper and held a strong belief in the role local newspapers held in their communities. Her work at The Reporter led her to purchase a screenprinting business, Silk Screen Creations. She continued in both roles until retiring in 2011.

Donna Delight Hansen, who started her longtime career in newspapers at the Waushara Argus in Wautoma, died Monday, Aug. 30, in Olathe, Kan. She was 84.

A Michigan native, she moved to Wisconsin with her family as a youth and earned a degree in music education in 1958 from Wisconsin State College-Stevens Point. A few years later, she met her future husband, Ramon Hansen, publisher of the local newspaper, the Waushara Argus. He hired Donna as the paper's office manager in 1961, and kept in touch after selling the newspaper three years later. The couple was married on March 13, 1965, in Nebraska, and went on to own several newspapers together, including publications in Kansas, Arkansas and New York.