Speaker: Patrick Phair
Patrick Phair is a retired educator with a master's degree in English and a minor in History. He is the author of three novels, several plays and many articles. His interest in the Aleutian Campaign was spurred on by his father, Lieutenant Commander Alfred Phair, who spent nearly twelve months in 1942-43 in the Aleutians. Few Americans understand the cost of victory over the Japanese Imperial Army in 1943 on Attu Island or know the debacle of the invasion by American troops on Kiska Island several months later. The battle of Attu Island was the first major victory by American ground troops in the Second World War, causing the Japanese to rethink and eventually call off a land invasion of Australia. This presentation will examine the good, the bad, and the ugly components of a military campaign fought on one of the most desolate and inhospitable locations on earth.

Jeanne Bootz & Linda Kassera sponsored this program.

Speaker: Larry Thomas Jr. 

Larry Thomas, regional manager of the Waupaca Regional Center of Fox Valley Technical College, will present an overview of significant events that contributed to the development of labor unions and organized labor in the United States.

Larry Thomas Jr. is a member of Chicago Painter's Union Local 830 District Council 14 and serves as a delegate for the national AFL-CIO. With ten years of experience as a member of the Industrial Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), Larry has been actively involved in labor union organization, legal protest coordination on behalf of unions, and assisting with arbitration hearings involving labor unions, Illinois-based companies, and the Illinois Department of Labor.

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Rich and Florence Dittle sponsored this program.

Speaker: Inga Witscher-Orth

Inga Witscher-Orth has been farming in Wisconsin for nearly two decades. She is a dairy farmer, award-winning cheesemaker, and the creator and host of PBS’s Around the Farm Table. After years of caregiving, overwork, and emotional strain, Inga hit a level of burnout that forced her to reimagine her life from the ground up.

This talk is an honest look at what happens when you hit burnout—and what it really takes to rebuild. Inga Witscher-Orth shares the breaking points that pushed her to finally set boundaries, untangle old family patterns, and create a life rooted in clarity and self-trust. With a mix of personal story, humor, and practical insights, she offers a grounded path forward for anyone ready to heal and come back to themselves.

Rex and Linda Pope sponsored this program.

Speaker: Katie Montag

Katie Montag is a Rehabilitation Specialist with OBVI since 2022. Prior to working with OBVI, she worked for a retinal surgeon at the Marshfield Clinic for 10 years. Katie is passionate about eye care and making sure that every person has access to adequate care in both a medical setting and home setting.

Katie will discuss services that are available to blind and visually impaired persons in the state of Wisconsin. The OBVI services are free of charge, done in the setting of your own home, and a one on one professional service. The goal of services is to help maintain or gain independence with the vision loss. This is achieved by the use of adaptive aids, daily living skills training, optical aids, and community resources. OBVI can help individuals gain access to equipment and other resources offered in the community and the state. OBVI can help individuals understand their vision loss and learn more about their vision and their eye disease, connect with others like persons by joining low vision support groups, and demo eye equipment that might be needed.

Katie will discuss OBVI and services, then discuss some different eye diseases and what people might experience, how to get around safely with vision loss, and other resources available to blind individuals.

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Speaker: Bill Volkert

Bill Volkert worked as the naturalist and wildlife educator for Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at Horicon Marsh for 27 years, where he conducted more than 3,700 education programs for over 220,000 people. Volkert has been watching and studying birds for 50 years and has sighted more than 4,450 species in his travels.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the lives of birds is their ability to migrate thousands of miles as they follow the changing seasons. This presentation will explore the annual migration of birds, their seasonal phenology, and recent studies that are revealing more information and instilling greater wonder over the phenomenon of bird migration. He will also provide insight into hwy birds migrate and the orderly succession of species in Wisconsin each spring.

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Joan Grace sponsored this program.

Speaker: Matthew Wallrath

Matthew Wallrath is Outreach Specialist at the Wisconsin First Detector Network, a community science program that empowers people to take action through invasive species monitoring, management, and outreach. Invasive species are considered to be the number two threat to biodiversity, second only to habitat loss. The effects of invasive species are increasingly evident on Wisconsin’s landscape. Despite efforts by governmental agencies, non-native species continue to establish and spread throughout our state, affecting our economy and environment. While some of these pests are here to stay, many others have not yet been found here, and still more are found at low enough levels that eradication may be possible. Efforts to prevent new introductions and to identify new infestations before they become established are the best way to ensure the survival of many of Wisconsin’s iconic plants, animals, and ecosystems.

 

Richard and Cathy Wagner sponsored this program. 

Speaker: Jordan Karsten, PhD

Jordan Karsten, PhD,  is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and is a consultant for the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories. Forensic anthropologists study the human skeleton in order to assist law enforcement personnel and medicolegal professionals in death investigations. By studying human bones, forensic anthropologists can help identify skeletonized remains, estimate how long an individual has been deceased, and interpret perimortem trauma. Anonymized case studies will be used to demonstrate how forensic anthropologists contribute to death investigations in Wisconsin.

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Dr. Bob Wubben sponsored this program. 

Speaker: Rachel Bouressa

Rachel Bouressa is a grazier, working her family farm in the Town of Royalton. She serves on the state's Natural Resources board and is the President of the local Wisconsin Farmers Union chapter. As an Ambassador for GrassWorks, her talk will discuss how rotational managed grazing systems work, and what sets them apart from other livestock agricultural practices. We’ll learn that managed grazing supports perennial landscapes, good environmental stewardship, wildlife habitat, animal welfare, and human nutrition. We’ll hear about Wisconsin’s grazing community’s values, the economics of grass-based farming, and how consumers play a vital role in advancing this resilient method.

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Speaker: Christy Clark-Pujara, PhD

Christy Pujara-Clark, PhD, is Chair and Professor in the Department of African at UW-Madison. Free and enslaved Black people lived, labored, and raised families on the Wisconsin frontier; they called the towns and cities of Prairie du Chien, Racine, Green Bay, Lancaster, Milwaukee, and Menominee home. Yet their stories remain largely untold. Black people resisted bondage and political marginalization, creating places and spaces where they could be free and thrive. Black Americans were a tiny minority in Wisconsin territory and later the state; nevertheless, the practice of race-based slavery and anxieties about Black migrants led white Wisconsinites to dispute abolition and the rights of Black residents.

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Bev and Tim Lewis sponsored this program.