Ruth has lived in Holmen for more than 60+years. She has been a librarian for over 40 years working for the School District of Holmen and the Holmen Public Library. Ruth has been active with the Holmen Area Historical Society, the new Holmen Area Community Center, and DKG-Theta an organization of women educators. She is active in her church, Halfway Creek Lutheran and is currently President of the Friends of McGilvray Road, thanks to her former teacher Nancy Hill. The McGilvray area is a special treasure just north of Holmen which provides beauty and peace along the back waters of the Black River |
Herb grew up surrounded by nature in a semi-rural area on the Southeastern outskirts of Onalaska, Wisconsin during the 1940's and 1950's. Herb became familiar with the “Seven Bridges Road" while still a young boy. He would occasionally accompany his father on fishing excursions to the Black River at the end of McGilvray Road when the road was still open to vehicular travel. Herb received a BS in Biology and Chemistry from UW-La Crosse and earned the MS and PhD degrees in Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology at UW-Madison. Herb was with UW-Madison for more than 40 years. After Herb retired from UW-Madison in 2003 he was able to spend more time hunting and fishing and enjoying long walks down McGilvray Road into the Van Loon Wildlife area. Herb discovered FMR and joined the group in about 2010. He is also a member of many other wildlife-oriented organizations. |
Jackie grew up in Winona, returning to this area when after retired in 2016 after 33 years as a bank regulator for the Comptroller of the Currency. Jackie has one son and one granddaughter who live in Denver. |
Pat grew up near Superior, Wisconsin. He received an MS in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison. Most of his career was with the City of La Crosse, as a design engineer, wastewater superintendent, and director of public works. He is now retired, and a volunteer for several non-profit organizations. Pat became interested in FMR because of the combination of an interest in the historic bridges and trail maintenance issues (he considers himself a recovering public works guy) and his love of the beautiful Van Loon Wildlife Area. Pat has been responsible for the majority of the recent maintenance done by individuals on the trail and bridges |
Jay grew up in Arcadia. He graduated from UW Madison with a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture. He worked for three years at Owen Ayres and Associates, an architecture and engineering firm in Eau Claire. In 1975 he started Fernholz Landscaping in La Crosse and J. J. Fernholz and Associates, Landscape Architects in 1994. Jay and Diane have lived in Holmen since 1980, working together and employing many particularly talented professionals, and retiring in 2015. He is looking forward to the spring warbler migration when McGilvray Road comes alive. |
Nancy was a teacher in Holmen High for 33 Years. She has been interested in history for most of her life. Nancy became interested in the Seven Bridges initially because her husband, Ed, takes photos of historic places for the Area Research Center (ARC) at Murphy Library, UW-L in La Crosse. She is a founding member of FMR and has been very active in this group since its inception. Nancy served as President of FMR for a great majority of the years of its existence. |
Butch is a lifelong rural Holmen resident and a retired Rural Letter Carrier - US Postal Service. His Grandparent’s farm bordered the Van Loon Wildlife area, and the close proximity allowed him many happy hours of exploring, hunting, and fishing throughout his life. Butch helps with trail and bridge maintenance. |
Linda hales from Kenosha, WI and came to La Crosse to attend UW. She worked in the area of special education for 20 years and then moved on to computer maintenance and software program support. Linda has been retired now for about 15 years. She has been a member of the Friends for over 10 years. Besides serving on the Board, Linda supports FMR in the areas of media and publicity: working with the newsletter, Facebook, and our website. |
Mike and Barb Wuensch are both Holmen natives. They have four boys who have grown up hiking and fishing on the McGilvray Road, just as Mike did when he was a boy. When not keeping up with four boys, they enjoy traveling and antiquing. They became actively involved with the Friends of McGilvray Road last fall after discovering the bridges had been vandalized. They believe in the importance of preserving the area and its wildlife for future generations. |
Roger was born March 23, 1954, grew up in Fountain City and graduated from CFC High School in 1972. For about a year after high school he worked at a couple of different jobs and decided to join the Navy in March 1973. Roger was on an oiler, did 3 West Pacs and participated in the ending of the Vietnam War. After the service he met his wife, Jackie, and they married in 1983. The couple went from Fargo, ND to Albuquerque, NM where Roger worked in the R&D division for Sperry Corporation developing the heads up displays for fighter jets. His tenure there included spending 2 months in Israel helping train their Air Force on the equipment. The couple then moved to Naperville, IL. In 2016 the Ziegler’s built a house just down the road from the Seven Bridges Trail. In 2014 Roger and Lady, his yellow lab, drove to Alaska visiting 10 states and 5 Canadian provinces - traveling more than 10,000 miles over a 41⁄2 week period. It was quite an experience with absolutely beautiful hiking and fishing areas. Growing up, Roger learned to hunt, fish, trap, and love nature. That’s what motivated him to become a volunteer and then a Board member for the Seven Bridges Trail. Roger works in maintenance of the bridges and trail and is the primary mower for the trail. |
