After almost 40 years of volunteering, Sally Garvens worked her last election Tuesday

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: April 6, 2017

After almost 40 years of volunteering, Sally Garvens worked her last election Tuesday

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

RICHFIELD — Sally Garvens wanted to serve the community she called home for several decades.

So, she decided to become a poll worker during elections.

That was in 1978.

On Tuesday, Garvens worked her last election, serving the Richfield community for nearly four decades. Since 1989, she’s been an election chief. This year, she oversaw District 2 of the village.

A brief celebration was done to recognize and thank her for her service.

“I’d say a lot of the poll workers that have been here a long time look up to her,” said Jim Healy, village administrator.

In an election, the election chief is arguably the most important person. They make sure the process goes as smoothly as possibly for the voters, making sure they know what they’re voting for or whom they are voting for, and for election officials, such as inspectors, and to count and certify ballots.

“Every election is different,” said Garvens, who was

a teacher in the Brown Deer School District before retiring in 1961. “They have different rules and laws for each election.”

Knowing all the ins and outs is crucial to a smooth operation in any election. Having Garvens’ consistency in Richfield was a valuable asset, according to Healy.

That was why her service was honored, even though she said she isn’t big on being showcased.

“Any time you have a career in public service, especially one as long as hers, it’s something that should be celebrated,” Healy said.

When Garvens started as a poll worker, Jimmy Carter was president. Since then, she’s helped people vote for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

She’s also helped Wisconsinites vote for six governors — Lee Dreyfus, Anthony Earl, Tommy Thompson, Scott McCallum, Jim Doyle and Scott Walker.

Mixed in there are several local elections of school board members, village boards and everything in between.

Also, when Garvens started working in local politics, Richfield had no districts.

“My mother worked in the elections,” Garvens said. “She was quite active in poll work.”

She added, “When my kids grew up to the point that I didn’t have to be home with them all the time, I thought it’d be nice to do service work.”

Almost from the beginning she’s loved working the polls, helping people cast their votes no matter what was being voted on.

So why stop what she loves doing? The short answer is it’s time.

The longer answer is technology has passed Garvens as well as the demands to do the job. The November presidential election was the tipping point.

“That was so demanding,” she said. “We had like three weeks of numbering absentee ballots beforehand. That was very demanding.”

In nearly 40 years, things have changed.

“Many, many changes,” Garvens said. “Oh my gosh.”

And, there have been hiccups in nearly 40 years of public service.

One year, there was no electricity at the polling venue.

“We had to use flashlights,” Garvens said.

And back in the day when ballots were counted by hand, Garvens once came home at 6 a.m. the next day.

“My husband said, ‘Where are you going this morning?’” Garvens recalled. “I said, ‘I just got home.’” She recalled one former election chief was strict with how the operation was set up and executed.

“I remember that I was afraid of her and thought that I shouldn’t do this,” Garvens said. “She just frightened me. She wanted so many things exact. We couldn’t read a book that had anything political in it and she’d look through it.”

The people kept bringing her back.

“I liked it,” Garvens said. “I like the people. It’s just great. I’m going to miss it.”

Adding, with a smile, “I can’t keep up with the younger generation.”

A historic exhibition

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: March 25, 2017

A historic exhibition

MOWA to dedicate record space for Milwaukee photographer

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

Tom Bamberger, 68, promises he’s still alive and is not sick.

Starting today, the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend will open the Milwaukee native’s first major retrospective, featuring more than 300 photographs of Bamberger’s three-decades career. The museum is dedicating three of four changing exhibition spaces for it, the most it has ever done.

When asked about it, Bamberger had a sense of humor about the exhibition.

“They usually give you retrospectives before you die,” he said. “I’m not sick or anything.”

“I’m excited for myself, but also as a citizen of the art community,” he said when asked about what the exhibition means to him in his career.

Laurie Winters, executive director and CEO of MOWA, is excited to bring the work to West Bend.

“It’s an amazing gift to have. An artist giving you close to 400 works is really unprecedented,” she said.

Bamberger echoed a similar appreciation.

“They’re doing an unbelievable job,” he said of the museum.

Some of Bamberger’s work will be in excess of 30 feet in scale. The exhibition will be called “Hyperphotographic.”

“I think Tom really believes in this institution,” Winters said.

The opening party and tour is 2-5 p.m. today at the museum. Then, from 2-4 p.m. April 8 and April 22, Bamberger will be at the museum to answer questions from gallery-goers.

“He’s a great photographer,” Winters said.

How he found photography came after a brush with the law.

Living in Boston and attending Boston University in the 1960s, Bamberger got into drug use and drug dealing, which ultimately got him arrested.

“It’s very vivid in my memory,” he said.

One thing he remembered was all he could think about was “what do I have to do to get out?” He didn’t think of all the other things that were going on in his life. That narrow focus of how to get out of jail changed his perspective, even though he was in jail for about 90 minutes.

“It’s a very strange thing,” he said.

Soon after, he returned to Milwaukee and was given a second chance.

“I got my stuff together and became a more serious and focused person,” Bamberger said.

Then his three younger brothers stepped in. They gave him a camera as a wedding present. Today, he still has that camera.

“I thought it was a nice thing and I started learning about it,” Bamberger said.

He was also slightly baffled by the gesture because he knew how much of a pain in the butt he was when they were growing up. Well, not those exact words.

But he was intrigued by the idea of taking pictures. He also took up philosophy after his brush with the law. Those two together opened up a different world for him.

“I think in retrospect, what I loved about photography, it was a language that made sense to me,” Bamberger said. “A photograph is always a question about what really exists or what do we really know. I was interested in the problems of knowledge and the problems of cognition. How do we make sense out of the world?”

He added, “Art is so hard. You have to be desperate to do it. I immersed myself. Art saved me from myself.”

Bamberger picked up on it quickly.

About a year after getting the camera, he had already taken a summer course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee about photography and read several books on the topic.

“I was kind of a nut,” Bamberger said. “It was the thing that I could do.”

He eventually wound up teaching some photography classes.

“I kept taking small steps,” he said. “I never used conventional film. I took pictures of pavement, then parts of bodies, then a head on the body.”

Just like his time in jail, the moment he got the camera changed everything.

“I still remember having it in my hand,” Bamberger said. “It was a magnetic thing. It was fascinating for me. A camera is a wonderful creation.” What’s been fun for Winters and her staff sort of goes along with the mantra that retrospectives, such as the one Bamberger is getting, is usually done for those who passed away.

Bamberger has been a part of the process, which has helped Winters and others at MOWA appreciate his talent, enhancing the experience of the staff, Bamberger and the soon-to-be visitors of the exhibition.

“It’s kind of a remarkable thing that he’s done,”

Winters said. “And that he would choose MOWA.”

Bamberger is glad to have survived his bad decisions.

“All my best work almost seemed like an accident,” he said. “You have to be somewhat lucky to be really great. I’m trying to surprise myself as an artist. You have to get outside of yourself to get the kind of art I liked.”

Hubertus’ Jaid Ruffing

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: April 1, 2017

Hubertus’ Jaid Ruffing

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

HUBERTUS — A World War II veteran, Dale Johnson struggled with alcohol after the war.

What he didn’t struggle with was music, specifically singing and writing songs.

“Music was his go-to,” said Matt Ruffing, Johnson’s grandson-in-law.

Ruffing’s daughter, Jaid, picked up on that.

“I remember that no matter what song he wrote, it was always came from his heart,” she said. “He always had something to get out there.”

There was also a collection of songs Johnson wrote and sang that Matt said were inappropriate or humorous.

But the songs that stood out in Jaid’s memory are the ones that had an important message attached to them.

“I feel like that’s what he needed to do to get the word out,” Jaid said. “I want to do the same thing.”

Jaid, 12, a sixth-grader at Kennedy Middle School in Germantown, is a finalist for the Wisconsin Area Music Industry’s Rising Star Award.

The 37th annual awards show is at 7 p.m. April 23 at Turner Hall Ballroom, 1040 N. Fourth St., Milwaukee. There is a nominees party at 7 p.m. Sunday at The Saloon on Calhoun, 17000 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield, which is free and open to the public.

“When I was nominated, honestly, I didn’t fully know what it was,” Jaid said. “I’m so lucky. There’s so many kids that love to sing in Wisconsin and love to do all this. To be nominated, I was super, super happy. I felt grateful to be nominated.”

Johnson’s music replicated the time period, the style and theme of Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, but with his twist to it.

One day, Johnson quit alcohol and didn’t have a sip of it for more than 50 years. When he quit, he turned to music. Some of his songs were about the struggles of alcoholism and the bad choices one can make if addicted to it.

“It always had a deep thought to it,” Matt said.

Jaid, who likes to play country and rock ‘n’ roll, believes it is her calling to carry on her great-grandfather’s legacy. Johnson died in 2012.

“He really inspired me,” she said.

Jaid was into music seemingly as soon as she could talk. She picked up her first guitar when she was 8 years old.

“He would like it a lot,” Matt said when asked what he thinks Great-Grandpa would think of Jaid’s talent. “He’d be real thrilled.”

When Johnson passed away, he left behind several piles of notebook full of stories and song lyrics. Jaid wants to perform them as soon she gets old enough.

“Whenever you play, you can grab someone’s attention and have them listen to you,” she said when asked what she likes about being a musician. “You can do so many things to get that one person to listen. You can tell such a big story and they can remember it from the melody.”

She appeared to be a natural right from the start.

“When she was 4 or 5, she’d just makeup her own songs and just sing them,” Matt said.

She then filled notebook after notebook with lyrics. Then, when she got a guitar, she put the two together and worked on it day after day.

She took guitar lessons with Keith Pulvermacher, who also helped her with song-writing.

“What I would do is I would come up with a song and then he would help me go over it and co-write it,” Jaid said. “Now I’m trying to write songs by myself, one every week.”

Her first original song was “Think Fast,” a song about her great-grandfather. Other songs she’s written include “Actions Speak,” which is about being confident in yourself, and “Broken Wings,” which is about overcoming adversity.

Just a year after picking up the guitar, Jaid recorded her first demo album.

Matt remembers when he and his wife realized Jaid had a rare gift. It was with the help of Jaid’s first guitar teacher.

“He was like seeing something really weird,” Matt said. “He said, ‘I’ve been teaching guitar for 35 years and something is weird here. This isn’t normal, in

a good way.’” Matt and his wife picked up on it when the teacher was chatty about Jaid.

“He doesn’t say much ever,” Matt said. “Real quiet, kind of comes across grumpy sometimes. But he was like, ‘This is crazy.’ He was enthused. He’d normally say two words when you talk to him.”

What captured the teacher’s attention?

“He’d tell her to learn something and the next week she’d come back and have it mastered,” Matt said. “He was just blown away.”

Her career is on the cusp of breaking through, with the help of the WAMI nomination and a chance meeting.

Jaid is booked for at least 40 shows this year, including Summerfest and the Wisconsin State Fair.

About two years ago, Jaid was playing at a venue, which was attended by country star Josh Thompson’s aunt and uncle. They told Thompson about Jaid and things haven’t slowed down as she is collaborating with Thompson on songs. She regularly goes to Nashville to work with Thompson, a Cedarburg native.

Another one of Jaid’s influences is country star Miranda Lambert.

“I love the songs she writes,” Jaid said. “Her motto is tough but independent. I think that is a very good example for girls. I can relate to her.”

A supermarket spree

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: March 24, 2017

A supermarket spree

Town of Eden woman sweeps through store after winning raffle

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043

CAMPBELLSPORT — Betty Welsh put her name on one ticket, not expecting to win a two-and-a-halfminute shopping spree through Klotz’s Piggly Wiggly, When she did, she felt a bit guilty.

“There’s a lot of people that have a lot harder times than our family,” Welsh said.

But a room full of people told her otherwise, applauding her for winning the prize.

On Feb. 25, Shepherd of the Hills Catholic Parish and School in Eden hosted a dinner auction gala, which also had a raffle drawing.

Welsh bought six tickets. She put her name on one. Then had a second thought.

“I don’t want to run up and down those aisles,” Welsh said. “I want to watch someone else.”

So, she put her children’s names on the them. Out of 360 tickets sold, hers was the one that was drawn.

“I guess I’m not used to winning things,” Welsh said.

She eventually came around and got excited about what she won. On Thursday afternoon, she decided to have some fun with it.

“Everybody kept saying it’ll be fun, it’ll be fun,” Welsh said.

Donning big goggles and a long red cape, Welsh wheeled a shopping cart up and down aisle after aisle, grabbing any item she could think of and tossing it in her basket.

Throughout the chase, she’d crack jokes or sang the Piggly Wiggly jingle, “Shop the Pig.”

About five minutes later, she had two carts full of food and other necessities, such as soap and toilet paper, totaling $400.57.

“I really thought I could get $200,” Welsh said, adding she was surprised at the final tally.

She also plans to donate several items she collected to local charities.

For those who don’t know Welsh, that is one of several reasons why a room full of people cheered when she won the prize. And that’s why several kids at the school were excited for her.

Welsh is the school librarian.

“She’s got a great sense of humor,” Andrea Abler said. “She does a lot for the school and the parish. A lot of people were excited to see that she was the one that won the raffle because she puts so much time in and donates so much money.”

The concept of this prize started last summer when the dinner auction committee at Shepherd of the Hills was discussing ideas for a theme.

Abler is one of the committee members. “We’ve always joked about using a game show theme,” she said. “Then we started talking about the old grocery dashes that we used to see on TV.”

The committee came up with a prize similar to the long-running television game show, “Supermarket Sweep,” The show debuted Dec. 20, 1965, and aired more than 1,100 episodes until 2003.

It was a quiz show where teams accumulated time based on their correct responses. Then, they’d compete in a timed race and collect as many items as they could. The team with the highest ring total won.

Store manager Kevin Harvey remembered the show well and was excited to be a part of it with Welsh.

“She’s a sweet lady,” Harvey said. “It couldn’t have happened to anyone better. She deserves it.”

A regular shopper at this Piggly Wiggly, Welsh already had an idea of what was where. But she also visited the store a couple extra times, outlining what aisles she was going to go down and what she was going to grab.

Harvey helped, too, finding out what she was interested in getting and made sure there were plenty of whatever items she wanted in stock.

He jokingly teased her each time Welsh came into the store, teasing her about scouting the store, asking if it was cheating.

When Welsh arrived shortly before 1:30 p.m., she had a shopping list in her hand.

“Kevin was always picking on me,” she said with a smile.

On Wednesday evening, she walked through the store twice, jotting down what aisles certain items were in and what side of the aisle they were on.

“I looked for things that I use a lot,” Welsh said.

Other items she got that were on her list include cereal, dishwashing soap, bologna, hot dogs, chicken and summer sausage.

One of the items she grabbed that wasn’t on

her typical shopping list was salmon.

“I know those were expensive and I know my husband likes salmon, we don’t have it that often so I thought, ‘go for it,’” Welsh said.

If given the opportunity again, she said she would do it.

“It was a lot more fun than I thought,” Welsh said.