Journalist Walter H. Brovald was born in Necedah, Wisconsin on May 5, 1928. He grew up in Eau Claire and graduated from the local high school in 1945 and the University of Wisconsin in 1949.
Although Brovald's undergraduate major was English, he was a lifelong
journalism and printing enthusiast, and he began printing a newspaper at the age of ten. During high school he ran his own commercial print shop and was sports editor for his high school paper and a sports reporter for various local newspapers. While a student at the University he worked for the Daily Cardinal and as a copywriter for the Arthur Towell advertising agency. From 1949 to 1952 Brovald was editor, then managing editor of the Stanley Republican, Stanley, Wisconsin. At this time, he began writing a column about small town life, “Behind the Eight Ball,” which he continued after he left the Republican. In 1952-1953 he tried his hand in radio as the assistant news editor for WEAU in Eau Claire.
In 1954 Brovald fulfilled a lifelong dream of operating his own weekly
newspaper when he bought the Cadott Sentinel from publisher A. T. Nabbefeld. As publisher and editor of the Sentinel Printing and Publishing Co., Brovald put out the paper and operated a job printing business on the side. For this work he received 56 state and national awards for journalistic excellence. During the period 1960-1961 he served as president of the Wisconsin Press Association.
During his career in Cadott, Brovald was very active in the community's social, political, and religious life. He served as president of the local Lion's Club and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Wisconsin State University--Eau Claire area committee. From 1958 to 1961 he also served as a lay pastor to several Methodist churches in the area. Brovald was a founding member of the Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas, and in 1965 he traveled to Nicaragua as the Partner's public relations officer.
In 1966 Brovald left Cadott to study for an advanced degree in mass communications at the University of Minnesota, while his wife Lillian T. Brovald stayed behind to run the paper. After the paper was sold in 1967, Brovald settled in St. Paul and taught at the University.
