Alice in Dairyland

Past Alices

The women who have been Alice in Dairyland are part of an exclusive sisterhood. They have come from across the state and have gone on to become some very influential people in corporate America as well as back home in rural Wisconsin.

Despite starting their careers as “beauty queens” the early Alices were professional women. Most of them came from farms, so they knew their way around agriculture. Many of them went on to careers outside the home in a time when most women's homes and families were their careers.

A sample of what past Alice's have gone on to do:
Margaret McGuire Blott, the very first Alice in Dairyland, earned a Master's Degree in elementary education and taught school for 23 years, while Virginia Peterson Bahe, 1950 Alice, also worked in the educational field as a university lecturer. Beverly Steffen Brunner, 1952, worked for General Mills in Minneapolis before moving to Los Angeles where she became a food stylist for print and television media while Mary Ellen Jenks, the 1953 Alice, was a vice president for Green Giant Company and Pillsbury Company.

Sylvia Lee Kafkas, 1962, is the administrator of St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, while Jo Ann Cupery Nordstrom, Alice in 1966, lives in Oregon and works in a pediatric clinic. Susan Masterson, the 1970 Alice, is an elementary school principal in Janesville, and Janice Findlay Aiken, 1976, is co-owner of Milwaukee Sign Company.

Dorothy Farrell, the 1982 Alice, is a director of innovation for Sargento Foods, while Lisa Hoesly Behnke, 1985, is the marketing manager for the World Dairy Expo. Becky Weiner, 1988, started her own e-consulting business in Arizona.

Here is the list of past Alices in Dairyland who have served as Wisconsin’s agricultural ambassador: