The Lucas County Republican Party shared a press release expressing condolences to the family of Donna Owens, 89, for her death June 16.
A local TV news station picked up the press release and published a lengthy obituary on Owens, Toledo’s first female mayor who served from 1983 to 1989.
But Donna Owens is still alive.
The Toledo Blade reported that the local GOP published the press release after the newspaper reached out about an unrelated obituary.
Owens told The Blade that she found out about the erroneous announcement when her daughter called crying – “and then the calls continued to come.”
The local TV station that published a full obituary, the CBS affiliate WTOL-11, updated the story to include a comment from Lucas County GOP Chairperson Barbara Orange saying that a team member sent out the press release in error and the situation is “being addressed.”
The station also apologized for the error and included an editor’s note that a previously published story said Donna Owens had passed away.
Owens and Orange did not immediately respond to The Dispatch’s requests for comment.
The local Democratic party also said that they were glad the news release was incorrect and wished her well with “whatever she is dealing with.”
Owens is doing well and looking forward to celebrating her 90th birthday in August, The Blade reported.
“I just want to keep volunteering and making Toledo better,” she said.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers regional/suburban trending news for The Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Toledo mayor still living despite condolences from local GOP
Reporting by Anna Lynn Winfrey, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Anna Lynn Winfrey, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
