Robert “Bob” Heffner, who worked more than three decades for The (Rice Lake) Chronotype died Saturday, Jan. 23, in Rice Lake. He was 89.

A Barron County native, Heffner began his career in newspapers while in high school, working as a printer’s devil and later a printer and pressman at the Barron News-Shield, where he remained until 1951, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After returning to the News-Shield for a few years, he took a reporting job with The Chronotype in 1960 and remained with the newspaper until his retirement in 1993. During his 33 years there, he held a number of roles, including sports editor, news editor and editor. 

Michele Mathews Leber, who started her career at The Post-Crescent in Appleton, died Friday, Jan. 1, at her home in Arlington, Va. She was 82.

An Appleton native, Leber attended Northwestern University, where she served as feature editor of The Daily Northwestern student newspaper. After college, she began her professional journalism career in Appleton. She later earned her master's degree in library science and worked as branch manager for several libraries in Fairfax County, Va.

Merlyn "Bud" Lea, who for more than 55 years covered the Green Bay Packers for the Milwaukee Sentinel and Packer Plus, died Wednesday, Jan. 20. He was 92.

Lea attended UW-Madison, where he worked as sports editor for The Daily Cardinal student newspaper, before going on to work at the Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn., and, in 1953, the Milwaukee Sentinel, where he met his wife, Filomena Volpintesta. After serving as the Packers beat writer for nearly two decades, he was named the newspaper's sports editor in 1972. He went on to write Packers columns more than a decade after retiring from his full-time role in 1995.