The Waupaca County Republican Party presented its annual Public Service Award to William Kinsman at the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Crystal Falls Banquet Hall.
Kinsman has been an active member of the Republican Party for more than 40 years.
He said he was motivated by his desire to make a difference.
“You can sit there and shake your fist at the television and grind your teeth when you read the newspaper or you can get off your butt and do something,” Kinsman said.
He served as chairman of the county GOP from 1972 to 1976 and chairman of the Wisconsin 8th Congressional District Republican Party in 1978.
During Ronald Reagan’s candidacy for president in 1980, Kinsman was regional chairman of the Reagan for President Committee. He was also a voting delegate at the 1980 Republican National Convention.
In 1980, when Reagan came to Waupaca and spoke from the bandstand in front of City Hall, Kinsman was master of ceremonies of the event.
Gov. Tommy Thompson appointed Kinsman to the Business Round Table in 1986.
Kinsman has hosted several GOP candidate forums at the Central County Airport, where he is also president of the airport association.