Gretchen Skoloda

For the last 16 years the Mississippi Valley Conservancy has been a major part of Gretchen Skoloda’s life. A founding MVC board member, she served for eight years on the board as chair of the Development Committee. During the last three years before rejoining the board she has served as chair of the Advancement Committee. Now semi-retired, she writes a weekly food column for the Coulee News and the Onalaska-Holmen Courier Life – two papers that she used to own with her husband, David, also an MVC founding board member. Gretchen served for 12 years as the publisher of the papers and, for several years, the business magazine Commerce Now. In all, she has 23 years of experience as a small business owner.

Her other activities include founder and past president of the Holmen Area Historical Society, former board member and co-editor with Dave of the Coulee Region Audubon Society Newsletter. Other memberships include Myrick-Hixon Eco Park, Sierra Club and League of Women Voters. She also serves as an election worker for Town of Onalaska.

Gretchen has a BA from Luther College with a double major in sociology and history.  Married for 42 years, Gretchen and Dave have two adult children and three grandchildren. She enjoys primitive camping, gardening, cooking for family and friends (especially local, organic foods), canoeing, reading, hiking, knitting and bird watching.