Yvonne (Gulligan) Pedersen, who with her husband was a co-owner of the Juneau County Star-Times in Mauston, died Wednesday, April 28, in Madison. She was 96.

In 1962, Yvonne and her former husband, Kenneth “Kenny” Bogert, moved to Mauston, where the couple, along with Larry Arnold, purchased the Mauston Star and Juneau County Chronicle. The newspapers were later merged with Arnold’s New Lisbon Times-Argus to form the Juneau County Star-Times.

Susan Sorenson, who worked many years for Community Newspapers, Inc., died Monday, May 10, in Waukesha. She was 75.

Sorenson served as a reporter and editor for Community Newspapers, which at one time published nearly two dozen weekly newspapers in the suburban Milwaukee area. The group of papers, many of which have since merged, is currently known as the Now News Group.

Virginia Lane Ryan, who wrote a local history series for the (Grantsburg) Burnett County Sentinel, died Wednesday, May 5, in Grantsburg. She was 89.

Ryan, who enrolled at UW-Superior at age 55 and went on to earn her bachelor's degree in biology, served as a historical speaker at local schools and wrote the “Soderbeck Ferry Tales” local history series, for the Sentinel. In both, Ryan shared her knowledge of family and local history.

Joan Kathleen Hansen, who served as a columnist for The Clintonville Chronicle and Clintonville Tribune-Gazette, died Wednesday, April 28, at her Shawano County home. She was 76.

Tricia Rose, publisher of the Chronicle, shared her memories of Hansen in a column Tuesday. Rose noted that when starting the newspaper in 2009, she was encouraged by several people to hire Hansen, also known as “Red.”