Volunteer Spotlight: Mary Ellen Ruesch

Mary Ellen and her husband Stan with their trusty mini-van “Amazing Grace” doing the good work of Democrats during a turbulent time in Wisconsin’s history.

I’ve been a Democrat all my life, but the first time I tried to vote (in the 1968 Humphrey-Nixon Presidential election) I was turned away because I wasn’t registered to vote!

My first time volunteering for Democrats I wasn’t even aware there was a Democratic Party of Columbia County. In 1992 while working in Madison, I did phone banking for Tammy Baldwin as she ran for the state assembly.

My husband Stan and I were drafted by Rev. George Robson in 2004 to do lit drops in Lodi in bitterly cold weather for Mark Miller’s first run for the state senate. (His mom, Midge Miller and friend were another team.)

I don’t remember exactly when, but I did GOTV phone banking in an empty storefront on the corner of Cook and DeWitt St. in Portage as a CoCoDem volunteer. In 2011 I did phone banking with Pam and Tom Robson in a storefront near the Irish tavern working (unsuccessfully) to recall State Senator Luther Olsen.

In the winter of 2012, Stan and I turned our trusty Plymouth mini-van “Amazing Grace” into a mini office by removing a middle seat, so voters could get out of the cold to sign Scott Walker recall papers at the 4-corners in Lodi and across from the post office in Portage. We were awarded Columbia County Volunteer(s) of the Year in 2012 for those efforts.

I have since done phone banking, knocked on doors with Kris Young in Portage and with a series of drivers including Janet Hays in Lodi, Harmony Grove and Poynette over the years. I was office manager for Lodi campaign offices for elections including Obama’s reelection and Gov. Evers’ first election (until the rent became too exorbitant). (I gave up door knocking when I had a mini-stroke in 2022.)

On the executive Committee, I currently am Chair of the Membership Committee, with a great crew of Kris Young (Portage & Wis Dells), JoEllen Pauls (Columbus), JoAnn Hoel (Poynette and points East), plus I contact Lodi and other outliers. (Kudus to Mary Lou Sharpee for many years’ service.) I gather nomination paper signatures and distribute (and retrieve) yard signs, and coordinate post card writing for candidates.

Many people are familiar with me because I bake mint brownies for meetings, plus make lemon meringue pies and pot holders for silent auction fundraising at the annual CoCo Dems dinner.

I would encourage fellow Democrats to volunteer in whatever capacity you are able and comfortable, and encourage you to extend yourself by engaging with voters, listening to their concerns, asking questions to provoke further consideration on their part. By all means, get out the vote!

Fun fact: When I returned to Lyon County IA (where I’d lived my first 11 years) for my Grandpa Andrew Kippley’s funeral, I read in his obituary that he was born in Lodi! I’d come full circle (via MN, 4 yrs college in Chicago, & UW grad school)! My great grandfather Fred had loaded up his family, including babe-in-arms Andrew and trundled across western Wisconsin, the Mississippi River, and all of northern Iowa to homestead in Lyon County, in the corner, bordered by MN and SD. (The homestead contract was written in German!) Evidence I had come full circle: Kippley Road is on the eastern edge of Roxbury.