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Meet the Glidden Homestead Board
The Joseph F. Glidden
Homestead & Historical Center is run by a 15-member
volunteer board who bring diverse backgrounds and expertise to the
not-for-profit [501(c)3] organization.
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT: Kathy Vance Siebrasse, former newspaper publisher/editor, has lived in DeKalb since 1972. She has a BS in Journalism from Northern Illinois University. She is legislative aide to State Sen. J. Bradley Burzynski, and Publisher/Editor of DeKalb County InVironments magazine. She joined the board in 2002, and also is publicity committee and fund drive chair.
VICE PRESIDENT: Svetlana Henrikson, a DeKalb resident since 1994, is a Certified Financial Divorce Analyst. She believes the history of barbed wire's start in DeKalb is important and deserves to be preserved. She feels priviliged working with such dedicated board of directors and volunteers. Svetlana also serves on the board of Kishwaukee Kiwanis.
TREASURER: Kenda Jeske, is co-owner of Wolff & Jeske Accounting, in Sycamore. She joined the Glidden Homestead board in January, 2008.
SECRETARY: Sarah Glidden DeMink has served on the board since it began in the 1990s. Joseph F. Glidden was her great-great uncle. She grew up at the Glidden Homestead. As a retired school social worker, grandmother and historian she is especially interested in developing educational programs about our barbed wire heritage.
PAST-PRESIDENT: Jim Morel has served more than 10 years on the board, three as president. He serves on various committees, directs many restoration projects, and assists the fund drive. He graduated from DeKalb High School and Northern Illinois University, and has been a businessman for over 30 years. Jim is active in DeKalb Kiwanis and the Illinois-Eastern Iowa district of Kiwanis International.
BOARD MEMBERS
BRIDGET CARLSON has been the Marketing Communications Manager for Castle Bank since 2003. She graduated from DeKalb High School and Indiana University with a degree in Communications and Culture. She is an active member of the community and also serves on the DeKalb Education Foundation Board and the United Way marketing committee.
RICHARD GLIDDEN, a retired chemist, was born in DeKalb and lived his youth in the Homestead, graduating from DeKalb High School and NIU with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. As a teen, he worked beside his Aunt Jessie and father, Carter, at Glidden Campus Florist, which was started by his grandmother, Mabel Carter Glidden. He is a family representative on the board, one of the original volunteers supporting the restoration and preservation of the property.
STEVE JOHNSON is an insurance investigator for Indiana Insurance Company and one of the owners of New Traditions gift store in downtown DeKalb. He has been a resident of DeKalb since 1966 and has been on the board of the Glidden Homestead for seven years, serving on the Building and Grounds Committee.
JEFF J. MARSHALL is president/CEO of JJ Marshall Landscape Creations, Inc., a local design/build landscape firm. He received his BS in Landscape Design from SIU. His family has lived in DeKalb since about the 1840s, making him the seventh generation to call DeKalb home. As a 3rd Great Nephew of Jacob Haish, barbed wire is a part of his family's heritage. He is in his second term on the board and serves as the Gift Shop Committee chair.
MARK PIETROWSKI JR. is an external programming coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and an instructor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University. He joined the Glidden Homestead board in January, 2009. He has called Sycamore home since he was five years old and currently serves on the Kishwaukee Community College Board of Trustees. He is an active board member of the DeKalb Kiwanis and member of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, Sycamore Historical Society, and DeKalb Public Library "Big Read" steering committee.
AMY POLZIN works in Northern Illinois University's Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences. She joined the Glidden Homestead board in January, 2008. She came to DeKalb in 1976 to attend NIU and fell in love with the look and the feel of the town. She served as an City Council alderman for eight years and has served on a variety of boards and commissions throughout the years. She also is very active in the Kishwaukee Kiwanis Club.
LINDA SCHWARZ has lived in DeKalb more than 40 years. She retired from NIU in 2006, in the Office of Sponsored Projects, where she was director for almost 20 years. She was president of the Homestead in 2004. She chaired the City of DeKalb Sesquicentennial in 2006, and is active in Friends of the NIU Libraries. She holds a bachelor's degree from Barnard College and two master's degrees, from Columbia University and NIU.
MARYLOU SMITH is the owner/manager of Pierce Harley-Davidson Sales in DeKalb. She grew up in DeKalb, and graduated from DeKalb High School. She holds a bachelor's degree from NIU and received a master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley. She became a professional librarian in 1979, and has spent many years working in local history research and genealogy.
