Growing Up in Green County
I returned to my native Green County expecting to retire. And there are doubtlessly a few who would encourage me to do so. But many more have encouraged me to put my national and international experience combined with my rural/small town background and values to use through public service. With the encouragement of so many people, I propose to do just that—through candidacy for the 80th Assembly District seat of the Wisconsin State Legislature.

In a sense, I represent the tradition and the heart and soul of the 80th Assembly District, its roots in dairy farming and related industry. I am the grandson of four Swiss immigrants to Green County—immigrants seeking the opportunity to own land and, through industry and hard work, improve opportunity for themselves and their descendants. I was typical of many farm kids of that era, not only with farm work, but growing up playing the accordion. I was privileged to study under Rudy Burkhalter and Yvonne Metz. I only wish I would have studied harder—a familiar lament.

Growing up on that farm established by Grandpa Johann and Grandma Sabina Waelti, I learned the value of hard physical work. (For a picture and more detailed information about Johann and Sabina's family, click here.) Our 220 acres was a bit larger than the typical 160 acres of that era. Otherwise, it was the typical commercial farm with cows, the supplementary hog enterprise that utilized the whey from the cheese factory, and the usual flock of chickens. When our hired man was drafted during the Korean War, I was his “replacement.” It was then that I really found what hard work was like and came to appreciate the people who do it, whether they are farmers, assembly line workers, coffee shop waitresses, nursing assistants, retail clerks, or construction workers. It is people who do the hard, often glamorless, day-to-day work who make this country go. Our politicians and representatives in public office must never forget this. Regrettably, too many have!

I had planned to take over that dairy farm. Following high school graduation I attended the UW’s fifteen-week farm short course and stayed on the farm for a year. I found that first year to be a curious mixture of satisfaction, frustration, and boredom. I began wondering if I wanted to do that the rest of my life and mentally wrestled with myself over the dilemma. Do I want to farm or don’t I? Farm prices were low and falling. I had no social life to speak of. And no prospects for one. My mother asked me if I wanted to get off the hay wagon and go to college. I wasn’t a bad student in high school. But neither was I outstanding. And I had seen too many ostensibly good students go up to the big U and get washed out. If they couldn’t do it, neither could I. And I wasn’t up for it anyway.

Click on a chapter title to read more...
Growing Up in Green County
From Farm Boy to Marine
Education: Fulfillment of "The Epiphany"
Influences of the 1960s
My Career: University of Minnesota
My Career: New Mexico State University & Sultan Qaboos University in Oman
Bush's War in the Middle East
Return to Green County