“She was a happy woman who had a caring heart” is what the article said in our newspaper on Sunday June 20th, 2010.

That day was sad. That day was when most people knew that Kathy Woodside had died.

Katherine and Ron Woodside lived at 69509 220th St. a mile northwest of Armstrong. As many of you read in our newspaper, a tornado took their home and much, much more.

It took Kathy’s life and it injured her husband, Ron. He remains in serious condition at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester.

When I first met Ron and Kathy, they had just been hired to work in our press facility. I remember meeting them and we started talking about sports. I told them they probably wouldn’t like me because I was a Green Bay Packers fan, and they laughed. Over the next couple of years the conversations we had normally revolved around local basketball phenom Ben Woodside and how he was doing in his basketball career. If we had a story on Ben, they would just talk and shine on about what a good kid he was.

Ron and Kathy always worked side by side in the pressroom, where they worked on a crew that assembles sections of the newspaper and advertising fliers. They always took breaks together, and they just seemed like they belonged together. Last week was the first time I ever knew them to be apart.

It saddens me deeply to see a person who was so caring and so nice taken away from us way too soon. Kathy will be missed by many workers here at the Tribune.

Over the next week we will have our newspaper masthead symbolize our love for Kathy as the nameplate wears a black band with Kathy’s name as a small gesture of how much we will all miss her.

Please, everyone, keep Ron and Kathy in your thoughts and prayers.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Wednesday.