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Karen L. Adams

~ Inducted 2012

Karen L. Adams was born on the Fourth of July in the rural midwestern town of Nevada, Missouri. Upon graduating in 1975 from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, she went to work in radio but quickly moved into television news.

KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas was the first stop in her television career, where she was initially hired as a reporter but later advanced to anchor and news director. Karen then headed East, first as news director and anchor for WMDT-TV in Salisbury, Maryland, then as anchor and later news director for the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1989, Karen accepted the anchor position at WPRI-TV and remained there as the 5, 6 & 11 weekday anchor until her retirement in December 2010.

During her broadcasting years, Karen won many awards including an "Emmy" for Individual Achievement in Anchoring, numerous awards from the Associated Press, multiple "Emmy" nominations and received the "Gavel Award" from the Maryland Bar Association for her coverage of legal issues. She was inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Television Arts and Sciences, an honor recognizing her 25 years in the broadcast industry.

Her television career has taken her on assignment to several Superbowls, the Far East, Cape Verde, Portugal, and south of the border to Juarez, Mexico. She was on the anchor desk for twenty-two years in Rhode Island covering all the big stories including election nights, major sporting events, hurricanes, "Tall Ships," Bristol's Fourth of July Parade, the Station nightclub fire, and feature interviews with Rhode Island’s famous and not-so-famous.

Karen’s commitment to charity and community service over the years is extensive, and includes past service on the Board of Trustees of Trinity Repertory Company, the Providence Preservation Society, the Providence Animal Rescue League, and BankRI. She continues to serve on the Board of Trustees for Meeting Street School and the Community Preparatory School. She has hosted and emceed events for dozens of non-profit agencies throughout the years, including the Hall of Fame, and was one of three members of a capital campaign drive that raised over 15 million dollars for the new Meeting Street School.

Honors include the John Chafee Lifetime Achievement Award from the United Way, Unsung Hero of Meeting Street School, the Karen Adams Room at the Women's Center of Crossroads Rhode Island, the Philanthropic Citizen of the Decade from Aids Care Ocean State, Honorary Lifetime Big Sister from the Big Sisters Organization, a Special Olympics award, a Community Service award from the National Philanthropic Association, and honors from several other local schools and charities. Karen was also named Outstanding Woman of the Year by the Miss America/Miss Rhode Island organization, and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Rhode Island and the New England Institute of Technology.

Golf remains a passion for Karen; for many years she enjoyed playing in the CVS Charity Classic golf tournament. Now retired, Karen is married to retired Rhode Island businessman Ed Mauro and spends her time between their homes in Narragansett, Rhode Island and Pinehurst, North Carolina.

- Anthony P. Marandola & Steve Aveson

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Karen L. Adams

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