Hometown Hero - Marilyn Pedretti

This week’s Hometown Hero is Marilyn Pedretti of Holmen.

As Clerk of the Town of Holland, Wisconsin, Marilyn manages a wide range of tasks including clerking town forums and meetings, managing the finances of the town, handling elections and appointments, issuing licenses and permits, and her least favorite duty of all, taxes. She is a public servant in every sense of the word and has continually provided the Town with her exceptional service and skills.

Marilyn grew up in Holmen as the sixth of eight children. She graduated from Holmen High School before embarking on what she calls her “adventure years.” She moved away from Wisconsin for 20 years, living in Washington, D.C. among other places, where she worked for Wisconsin’s own US Representative Bob Kastenmeier as well as two other US senators. Quite an adventure, no?

In the end, Marilyn wanted to return to Holmen because she missed her family. She moved back, attended Viterbo, and started working for campus ministry at Viterbo and then applied for the part time clerk’s position. She thought it would be a fun job and describes it as “servant leadership.” She says her favorite part of the job is helping people understand how government, particularly local government, works.

In addition to her duties as Town Clerk, Marilyn also volunteers extensively. Once a week, she helps out at Habitat Resource as a cashier, cleaner or whatever they need that day. She also works at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Holmen in the food pantry and volunteers for the Sierra Club with her friends. Like our other Hometown Heroes, Marilyn somehow manages to give even more back to her community during her down time.

Marilyn hasn’t quite left her adventure years behind her. She lives in a straw bale house that she built herself after she spent time in Texas building houses for the poor. After seeing how the straw bale kept the heat out in Texas, she figured that it would be able to keep in the heat back in Wisconsin. Considering what this spring has been like, I’d say it was a pretty good idea. She also is active in community-supported agriculture and is an avid gardener.

People like Marilyn, who are devoted to serving their communities, help all of us remember that there is important work to be done at all levels of government. As someone who worked at the top in DC and at the foundation here in La Crosse County, Marilyn sets a great example for future generations of public servants looking to leave their mark.

Congratulations to you, Marilyn! Keep up the good work and continue to be a Hometown Hero.

Hometown Hero is a weekly feature put together by Rep. Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska). If you have any suggestions of a Hometown Hero, send a short description of why you think this person should be a Hometown Hero and contact information of both you and the nominee to rep.doyle@legis.wisconsin.gov.