A Legacy of Service

As I reflect on my early years, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t serving others in some way.  Service has been part of my history and family culture dating back to the Revolutionary War when at least 14 of my direct ancestors fought as patriots for our Constitution and American independence.  (I’m a proud Daughter of the American Revolution!) My great-grandmother was a suffragette and my grandmother served soldiers and sailors during WWII at a canteen stop along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad line in Streator, IL.  Growing up on a grain farm in central Illinois, I was instilled with a do-or-die work ethic, a love of the land, and an intense sense of pride in being an American.

Residing in Franklin, WI for the past 25 years, I have tried to continue my family’s legacy of service and be an example for my own children.  In 2004 when the State of Wisconsin proposed a $3.6 million “halfway house” for child sex predators to be built in Franklin, I instantly went into action with several other residents to fight for the safety and sovereignty of our community.  When I choose to do something, I go all-in -- go big or go home.  Ultimately, these efforts resulted in the money allocated for the facility being removed from the state budget, the creation of Citizens for a Safe Wisconsin, Inc., and meaningful improvements being made to Wisconsin’s laws and policies governing the monitoring and management of violent child predators.  What we do in Franklin matters. It matters to our own community, our surrounding communities, and to the entire state.

I’ve seen many changes in Franklin over the past 25 years.  When my father-in-law built our home in 1964, Franklin was rural and largely agricultural.  Now we are part of a vibrant, diverse, highly-desirable suburban city and all of the challenges that come with that.  Tony Robbins said that “Change is INEVITABLE. Progress is OPTIONAL.”  Most of us take comfort in the safety and stability of our homes and our community. We don’t like things that rock our world or threaten that sense of security.  This can be especially true when change comes as a surprise and we feel we have no voice in the matter.   I want to be an advocate who helps to plan for and manage change and progress in a way that best fits our community, and I believe I have a track record that backs up my ability to do that.