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Whitestown Town Council Vice President Tanya Sumner, who previously worked for a decade as an anchor and reporter for WRTV-TV Channel 6, has died at age 53.
Sumner was diagnosed in late 2022 with an aggressive form of colon cancer. She died May 24.
Whitestown Town Manager Katie Barr said the community “lost a dedicated leader who will leave a void in all our hearts.” Sumner joined the council in May 2023 after Gov. Eric Holcomb appointed former councilor Eric Miller director of the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Sumner won the District 3 primary election last year and ran unopposed in last November’s general election. Her fellow council members elected her vice president of the council in January.
“Vice President Sumner wasn’t just a dedicated councilwoman, she was ingrained in our community and cared deeply for her family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues,” Barr said in written remarks. “Her love for this community was infectious and will be sorely missed.”
Sumner, who was known as Tanya Spencer during her 20-year television news reporting career, came to WRTV in 2005 from WFIE-TV Channel 14 in Evansville. She left WRTV in 2015 to become Whitestown’s director of public relations.
Sumner is survived by her husband, Matt, and teenage son, Logan.
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