Carol Williams is retiring after three decades on the anchor desk at WCPO. We are honoring her this week with videos and special tributes on air and online. You can see those throughout our 6 p.m. newscasts. Carol's farewell newscast is 6 p.m. Friday.
READ Carol's message to the Tri-State.
CINCINNATI – "I’m very very grateful that I've gotten to do this for so long,” Carol Williams says. “I'm very lucky, I think.”
Carol cemented her place in the Queen City - literally.
“I bought a Bicentennial brick because I thought it would be great to be part of Cincinnati history,” she says.
And she's been part of that history ever since.
A sampling of Carol's hairstyles through the years.
Over these past three decades she tackled the issues facing you everyday - from health concerns to poverty to politics.
She covered national political conventions, interviewed Barack Obama in the White House and Barbara Bush.
“I said the polls show that women prefer Bill Clinton to President Bush and she said, 'Well, we know about Mr. Clinton and women!'"
Carol with Piner couple after the tornado.
She was there after a 2012 tornado in Piner, Kentucky, ripped a community apart.
“It was a huge story. I think it's such a human story when you go and see the destruction and how devastating it is for people. And it touched me that people who had just lost everything would talk to us,” she says.
While her journey took her through many different fashion trends and a couple hairstyles, she was never afraid to have some fun.
“The All-Star Game was fun when we did that. That was a huge production,” Carol says.
"The Super Bowl. That was a big deal.”
WATCH: Carol made us look good, Popo says.
That was Bengals vs. 49ers in Miami in 1989. Carol worked with Sports Directors Dennis Janson and John Popovich.
“We were there for a week and that was really fun. Really, really fun. I was there with Denny and Popo," she says.
Carol interviews rocker Huey Lewis.
Carol also revealed a few secrets about herself along the way. Like the time she gushed through an interview with rocker Huey Lewis.
“You know it's hard to be cool and not to act like an eighth grader with a crush on a senior when I talked to him,” she said.
Through it all, she was Carol. A woman who never put on airs. A friend and colleague to those at 9 On Your Side. A friend to you at home and, she hopes, an inspiration to those who've followed her journey.
“If I've inspired somebody, or by being here if somebody thought, 'I can do that', that makes me feel great," Carol says.
WATCH: Carol made a difference in our community.
WATCH: Political leaders say farewell to Carol.
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