| Honored by: | Betha Schlauderaff |
| Brick location: | G:24 map |
To be honest, my name, Betha Giffei Schlauderaff, appears on this brick because I want it to be here. I've come to believe in my very bones in the principles that guided Carrie Chapman Catt in her crusade--the sisterhood of women and their rights and abilities to be equal inheritors and stewards of this world in which we live.
You will find no resume of fortunes made or honors received in this account. After graduating in 1946 and marrying the next year, my veterinarian husband and I established a practice and home in Red Wing, Minnesota, raised four children in the "Leave it to Beaver” era of the '50s and '60s, and saw them through 29 collective years of post-secondary education before they were formally launched.
My training in textiles and art has brought me much personal satisfaction. Creating with needle and fabric has satisfied my soul and added dimension to my life since childhood, leading me to I.S.C. in the first place. Through the years, I've tried my hand at oil and watercolor painting, rosemaling, hardanger and needlepoint embroidery, the design and construction of clothing, liturgical paraments, stoles, banners, and a variety of quilts.
My post-graduate education, unorthodox by academic standards, began as the nest emptied and I began work in the business office of the local school district. By observing the working world outside the home and women's place in it, my views about power, government, business, and religion began to change. I evolved into a feminist, a Democrat, and a Liberal Left-wing Lutheran (of which there are not many)--a woman who has learned to dance, not run, with the wolves.
"Far out," you say. "You don't fit the image of a Wisconsin grandmother of ten." Perhaps not, but this country philosopher revels in her life on a bluff above the Mississippi, cherishes her husband, and encourages her children as they raise their families--ever a T and C major at heart, part of the warp and weft of family life, the basic fabric of society.
-Betha Giffei Schlauderaff, Home Ec '46
Submitted on 12/27/94