Our Donors

The Mendham family’s connection to Nicolet College dates back to the very beginning, more than 50 years ago, when Nicolet College was first opening. Dick remembers, “One day I got a call from President Richard Brown and Dr. Steger, and they asked if they could interview me, and they said they were looking for someone to work in the hospitality program. We didn’t have a college out here at that point.” Dick’s education and experience running Sunrise Lodge with his wife Elsie in Land O’ Lakes made him a perfect fit to start what is now the Culinary Arts program.

Dick worked at Nicolet College for ten years and has been a Foundation donor since the 1970s. “It’s a great way to support the College and the future students and the future people getting into that field.” The Mendhams have made their philanthropic decisions together, and Elsie says, “It’s worth helping other people. It’s a good thing to do.” Vicki, one of Dick and Elsie’s daughters, has always had a passion for cooking, but she didn’t always see herself using that passion in the classroom. Her dad talked her into teaching one class. Vicki remembers going into this thinking, “One class can’t hurt me! I’ll try it out and see how I like it, and that was 28 years ago.”

As a full-time Culinary Arts instructor, Vicki takes her role in helping to train current and future employees seriously. “Right now restaurants need employees, they need trained employees, and that’s always going to be part of the Northwoods. We try to change with the times and add new classes,” Vicki says.

As an employee and donor, Vicki also serves as chairperson of the Nicolet College Foundation Employee Giving Campaign, saying, “I can see in the classroom how that helps our students succeed. Sometimes just a little scholarship is the difference between them continuing on and not continuing on.”

Nicolet College will always be a big part of the Mendham family. “My dad started here a long time ago and we took classes here. My daughter’s taken classes here. My sister taught here, my mom taught some classes here. It’s part of the family. From as far back as I can remember, we’ve been at Nicolet.”

Their ties to Nicolet College will continue long into the future. Vicki’s daughter Kayla is already a donor, saying, “My mom has actually always encouraged me to donate to the Foundation. Just knowing that we can help people to really live their dreams and get the most out of the experience that they can. I’m just really proud of my grandpa, grandma, and my mom for giving some hope to people.”

– Vicki Mendham, Nicolet College Culinary Arts Instructor and Foundation Donor

After graduating from Nicolet College, Lynn Hudson earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a PhD in genetics and cell biology at the University of Minnesota, and completed her post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Hudson spent 30 years doing research at the National Institutes of Health as the head of the Laboratory of Developmental Genetics and later taking the helm at the Office of Science Policy Analysis.

Her father, Dr. Steger, helped create Nicolet College. “Even when my dad started in 1969, he really believed in lifelong learning. That was a time when that was such a novel concept,” Dr. Hudson recalls. Dr. Hudson never forgot the important role Nicolet College played in her life, saying, “It really prepared me. I look back at my educational life, and I’d say in all that time, about a half dozen people really influenced me with their passion for the subject and their drive, and half of those were here.”

Dr. Hudson established the Dr. Robert Steger Award in her father’s memory for students graduating from Nicolet College and transferring to a four-year college or university, and she makes a contribution to this award every year. After more than 50 years, the Steger family is still making a difference in the Northwoods community. Theirs is a lasting legacy made possible by a lifetime of philanthropy carried on from one generation to the next.