J.F. Glidden Homestead & Historical Center
921 W. Lincoln Hwy., DeKalb, IL 60115
(815) 756-7904
 GliddenHomestead@juno.com 
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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.
[Click here to see a photo of board members taken at the Patent Day Dinner 2007]

 

Text Box:        OFFICERS PRESIDENT:  Kathy Vance Siebrasse, former newspaper publisher/editor, has lived in DeKalb 30 years. She has a BS in Journalism from Northern Illinois University. She is legislative aide to State Sen. J. Bradley Burzynski and marketing director for DeKalb Chamber of Commerce. She joined the board in 2002 years ago and is publicity committee and fund drive chair. VICE PRESIDENT:  Gayle Wuori is a Realtor with Century 21 Elsner in DeKalb and grew up here.  She and her husband, Jerry, left in 1968 and returned nearly 30 years later after living in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Rockford, IL, and Maine.  A member of the Glidden Board for five years, Gayle has been especially active in special events programming and refurbishing the house interior. 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.      Text Box:         OFFICERS TREASURER:  Kenda Jeske, is co-owner of Wolff & Jeske Accounting, in Sycamore. She joined the Glidden Homestead board in January, 2008. PAST-PRESIDENT:  Jim Morel has served nine years on the board, three as president. He serves on various committees, directs many restoration projects, and will assist the fund drive. He graduated from DeKalb High School and Northern Illinois University, and has been a businessman for over 30 years. Jim has served as an officer or director for local, state, and national organizations. He is active in DeKalb Kiwanis and is Public Relations Ambassador for the Illinois-Eastern Iowa district of Kiwanis International.    

 

 

  

 


 



 

 

Text Box: BOARD MEMBERS 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.   Text Box: BOARD MEMBERS 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. DENISE RODE, a member of the Glidden Homestead Board since 2005, is Director of First-Year Experience & Orientation at Northern Illinois University and teaches both at NIU and at DePaul University. She earned bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at NIU. A long-time DeKalb resident, she has served on the Glidden Homestead Nominating Committee and assists with special events. BARRY SCHRADER is a former editor of the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, who returned to DeKalb after living in California for more than 25 years. He joined the Glidden Homestead board in January, 2008.    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.