Wisconsin News Anchor Honored After Her Death in Touching Tribute from Sister: 'I Looked Up to Her'

Wisconsin news anchor Neena Pacholke’s family and colleagues are paying their respects.

Neena, a television news anchor for ABC television affiliate WAOW in Wausau, died of an apparent suicide on Saturday at the age of 27.

Kaitlynn Pacholke told Today that her sister, who had recently celebrated five years at the station and was engaged to be married in October, “could make anyone feel incredible.”

“If you knew her your whole life or if you knew her for five minutes, she made you feel special,” she shared with the outlet on Wednesday. “She was my younger sister, but I looked up to her.”

RELATED: Wisconsin Morning News Anchor Dead from Apparent Suicide at 27: ‘She Radiated Love and Positivity’

Kaitlynn, previously told the Tampa Bay Times that her sister “was by far the happiest person I thought I knew.”

She added, “Sometimes you just don’t know what people are going through, no matter how much you think you know someone.”

Neena Pacholke Facebook Neena Pacholke

In another tribute on social media, Kaitlynn said her sister’s death “doesn’t feel reel.”

“I just want to wake up from this living nightmare,” she wrote on Instagram Tuesday. “My heart is shattered into a million pieces and I know it will never be whole again. One day the words will come to me. But for now, I know she’s not in pain anymore and I am thankful for that.”

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Many of Neena’s colleagues at WAOW have also shared their own tributes.

“Being your co-anchor Neena was an honor. You were Batman and I was Robin,”co-anchor Brendan Mackey wrote on Facebook. “When I joined WAOW you made it clear we were going to work hard and compete with the best.”

“Let’s remember Neena Pacholke for the beautiful person she was. The brightest light in the room. The biggest smile and the funniest laugh,” he added.

Brendan Mackey Facebook Brendan Mackey and Neena Pacholke

During an on-air segment Tuesday, chief meteorologist Justin Leow shared some memories from her five years at the station.

“I know why I’m extra sad about Neena’s passing and I know why you, the viewers, are also extra sad. Because she came here and she wanted to stay here, you know,” Leow said. “She went to your veteran’s cafe in Wisconsin Rapids, and she went to your event, she went to your charity fundraiser, and that is something really special for someone to come here from outside and think that ‘oh, Central Wisconsin is so nice, I’m going to stay here and I’m going to work here’ and she had planned to be here on the morning show.”

“She was from Florida but she jumped in the icy water,” he added, displaying a photo of the WAOW staff at a Polar Plunge event. “She went to your Polar Plunge, you know, and had a great time… she came here and became a Packers fan, which was great.”

RELATED: Warning Signs to Look for If You Are Concerned Someone Is Suicidal

In another tribute, fellow anchor Kathryn Halverson said she was “struggling with the unexpected loss of the girl who quickly became my closest friend here in central Wisconsin.”

“Neena always left people better than she found them,” Halverson wrote on Instagram. “She checked in often and put everyone else’s needs above her own. We worked opposite shifts but always made time for each other.. and sadly there is never enough time.”

University of South Florida

Neena was a high school basketball star at Freedom High School in Tampa, Florida, and went on to play three years of college basketball as a guard at the University of South Florida, where she was a member of two teams that appeared in the NCAA Tournament, according to the Times. Her professional website shares that she joined WAOW as a multimedia reporter in 2017 and started working as an anchor in 2019.

In 2016, the USF Athletics department produced a video about Neena and her relationship with her high school boyfriend Jordan Harris, who of brain cancer in 2013 at the age of 18.

“She just radiated love and positivity, and she just cared so much about pouring into other people, and always put other people first,” her sister Kaitlynn told the Times on Monday. “I think she did that at the expense of not caring about herself.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

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