As a local business owner, Eleanor believes she has the opportunity to give back to the general public by getting involved in various fundraising events to help out local, state, and national charities. This dedication to community stems from her Native American heritage and the way she was raised by her parents. Her father is her biggest influence. He was a surveying engineer in Nebraska who contributed a great deal to his community and gave wise information and advice to his children. Eleanor learned about serving people and contributing to the common good at an early age, and her father’s influences have impacted her goal setting and choices to get involved as a prosperous adult.

When she first moved to La Crosse she didn’t know anyone, so she began by getting involved at church. Eleanor was raised with a strong faith through her Native American culture. Faith adds joy and hope to her life, so it was natural for Eleanor to get connected with a church family. From there, Eleanor says she “just showed up” at organizations, volunteering activities, festivals, and the school’s PTO meetings. It didn’t take long before people knew Eleanor was committed to the La Crosse community. She learned that by inviting new people to take part in activities, they develop a sense of belonging and soon become connected to the community as well. “If you invite them, they will come.” She has an admirable reputation for drumming up lots of new volunteers, which enriches everyone’s quality of life. “Volunteer work gives you a lot of gratification and opens up skills that you thought you’d never have,” Eleanor reflects.

Eleanor is proud that throughout her diversified experiences she represents her Native American heritage as a member of the Eagles Clan and Ho-Chunk Nation. Her involvement compliments her faith and customs, and she has found her diverse experiences to be very rewarding. She is a member of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor’s committee council, the Viterbo University advisory council, a Diocese’s Council of Catholic Women member and president for two years, and an active participant in the Cathedral parish, as well as a board member of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. As a past committee member of La Crosse Public Schools non-discrimination statement, Eleanor helped the public schools be recognized with an award for the work they did during that term. Eleanor was a committee member for the Mayor’s sequential state celebration of Wisconsin’s 150th anniversary and assisted in the La Crosse police department’s Christmas crusade. For eleven years, Eleanor cooked soup every night during the Lent season. She enjoyed the whole process from preparing the homemade soup to serving to cleaning up in the kitchen.

Eleanor is a local business owner and started a local radio station, WQEG. Her station won the Crystal Award in honor of the business’s involvement in the community, specifically, the money they helped raise for WAFER, a community food pantry.

An especially proud honor Eleanor received was being named president of La Crosse’s 1999 Oktoberfest USA. This commitment involved monthly meetings, recruitment of sponsors, and endless other tasks. “It’s an honor as a woman and a Native American to be in charge of a German festival.” But as Eleanor explains, the origin of Oktoberfest is a wedding celebration with a reception that went on for weeks. It is told that delegates came from all different countries to partake in the wedding festivities, so the first Oktoberfest was a multi-cultural event, thus it was fitting for Eleanor to be a Native American participant at a German festival.

Always positive and uplifting, Eleanor looks optimistically to the future with this advice to the younger generations, “keep your goals and write down the steps to get to your goals - remember what you do now will enrich your future.