Ronald is Working Woman of the Year

She’s the working woman of the year.

Louise Ronald, president of The Graphic Printing Company, was named Working Woman of the Year on Oct. 23 at the Winchester chapter of Business and Professional Women’s 100th anniversary celebration.

Ronald took over as president of the company after her brother and former president Jack Ronald died a year and a half ago.

She admitted this past year has been one of the busiest times of her life, recalling her words that drew a laugh from the crowd when she accepted the award Oct. 23.

“If there’s any year in my life where I deserved this title, this is the year,” she said.

Bonnie Mayfield, treasurer for the Winchester chapter of Business and Professional Women and 1994 winner of the Working Woman of the Year award, explained that the accolade is given annually to a woman who has grown in the field.

“We try to give the award each year to a woman that has grown as a business and professional woman, somebody that has strength of character, confidence and determination,” said Mayfield. “We always try to honor somebody that we feel has went beyond the scope of whatever their job is, and it’s just a good example of what a working woman should be.”

Louise Ronald started her first job at 14 years old with her family’s Portland newspaper, The Commercial Review. She served in a few different roles, including as a file clerk, and put together a daily column, “Looking Backward,” which summarized events from the past in a few sentences.

Throughout her life, Ronald pursued a variety of different career paths. She received a history degree with a specialty in East Asia from Earlham College in Richmond and a master’s degree in ancient civilizations from the University of Iowa.

Among other roles, Ronald worked at the Consulate-General of Japan in Chicago for about three years and spent about 15 years overall in Tokyo, serving about eight years as an English teacher at Friends Girls School. She also worked for the Whitney Center of Richmond for about three years.

“I didn’t really think I would go into the newspaper business,” admitted Ronald.

But starting in 2000, she joined the staff at the Palladium-Item in Richmond. Ronald started as a part-time writer for “news services,” rewriting submitted material to the newspaper. She later switched to a full-time role as an obituary writer and, when the role opened, a night-time copy editor. She enjoyed designing and proofing pages daily.

She later took a reporting job, working as a business reporter for two and a half years and an education reporter for another two and a half years before she retired in 2015.

In her retirement, she started freelancing for Wayne County websites and accepted a part-time position at Richmond Art Museum.

Ronald has been working on a novel for years, and she hoped to dive into it after leaving the Palladium-Item.

Then her brother was diagnosed with cancer. Jack Ronald asked Louise Ronald shortly before his death if she would take over his role as president of the company.

“Jack got sick and said, ‘Would you be willing to take over the family leadership role on the board?’ And it made sense for me to do it because of my background in the business,” she said. 

She’s been more directly involved with The Graphic Printing Company since then, serving on the board and writing stories when possible. With the company’s purchase of The News-Gazette and The News Times (Hartford City), she added, she’s picked up more than she had initially anticipated.

“I've been doing a little bit more reporting than I had envisioned, but, you know, the more you do it, the easier it is to do,” she said. “Basically, I’m not retired anymore. Well, I’m still semi-retired. I don’t work five days a week, but I’m pretty busy four days a week.”

She added that she didn’t want to give up any of her former commitments, such as her work at the Richmond Art Museum or her involvement with Richmond’s senior Girl Scouts troop.

Mayfield complimented Ronald’s determination in the last year.

“She seems to be the kind of person that, she likes a challenge,” said Mayfield. “Whatever needs to be done, big task, little task, she’s not afraid to take stuff on and seems to always have a smile on her face, from what I’ve seen.”

Ronald recalled her time at the Consulate-General when she had been struggling to figure out her path in life. A colleague told her to take life as it came.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry about it. You’re trying to forge a career and make these steps for yourself, and life doesn’t work that way. A career is something you recognize after you’ve done it,’” she said.

She likened this advice to other working women in the community.

“No matter how much you plan, you can’t control everything,” said Ronald. “Be open to opportunities and new ideas.”