Veda Ponikvar
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Veda Ponikvar | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 26, 1919 Chisholm, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | October 13, 2015 (aged 96) Chisholm, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Resting place | Chisholm Cemetery, Chisholm, Minnesota, U.s. |
| Known for | Ownership and operation of the Chisholm Free Press and Chisholm Tribune Press |
Veda Frances Ponikvar (May 26, 1919 – October 13, 2015) was an American publisher and businesswoman from Chisholm, Minnesota. The first female publisher in Minnesota, she was the owner and operator of the Free Press-Tribune for fifty years.
Ponikvar was born in Chisholm, Minnesota, in 1919, the oldest of the five children of John Ponikvar, a miner,[1] and Frances Globokar, Slovenian immigrants.[2] Her father died in March 1952, at home in Chisholm, while her brother, John, was killed in the Korean War later in the year.[3]
She was an honor graduate of Drake University's School of Journalism and Political Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa. In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, she enlisted in the WAVES,[4] with training taking place at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She was then assigned to naval intelligence in Washington, D.C., working at the World War I barracks on Constitution Avenue which were repurposed for naval offices. She was honorably discharged in 1946.[3]
