Russell Kent Akey, former owner and publisher of the Randolph Advance, was born April 3, 1929.
He grew up in the small village of Wyocena and graduated from Portage High School in 1947. Two years later, married Janet Crowley in Rio.
Akey began his newspaper career as a printer’s apprentice at the Pardeeville Times and spent the next 39 years as a printer. He and his wife later purchased the Randolph Advance, which they published until retiring in 1990.
Akey died on June 30, 1996, in Eau Claire. He was 67.
