Last week I had the opportunity to interview Joan Bresson Custer in person at a coffee shop in Menomonie.
As usual, my first question was about her years at MHS. Joan and her family arrived in Menomonie in November of 1969 when her father Nick, a former teacher, became the manager of the Sears Catalog Store in Menomonie. She was a junior in high school. Coming from Brandon, Minnesota, a small school with 30 students in her class, Joan had to learn to “find her place” in a much larger school. Moving into a school where there were around 230 in her class was a huge change, but she settled in quickly.
A major highlight of her adjustment was when she earned a spot on the cheerleading squad. In those days, a single group of girls cheered at every sport. This helped her meet new people, feel connected, and jump right into life at MHS for the year-and-a-half that she spent there. Joan also played volleyball and participated in a summer softball league. In addition, during her senior year of high school and her first year of college (UW-Stout) she worked as a cashier at Lammers.
While Joan couldn’t remember the names of her teachers, she noted that it was her father who taught her algebra as well as the concepts of discovery and understanding.
After graduation, Joan attended UW-Stout for one year then finished her final three years at UW-LaCrosse. It was there that she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in K-12 Education and then went on to earn her master’s degree in Reading at the same university.
After earning her teaching degrees, Joan emigrated to Montreal, Canada. Since Montreal’s citizens mainly spoke French, she worked under the leadership of a French school board at a small high school outside of the city. Joan notes that she began teaching ninth grade communications for the “exorbitant” starting salary of $13,000 for the year!
After three years at the school, she radically changed her career course—becoming a flight attendant for a small airline in the Virgin Islands and then moving on to become a travel agent and American Airlines reservation agent in Los Angeles. This position launched a long career with American Airlines taking her from Los Angeles to Hawaii, to Texas, and eventually becoming Operations Manager overseeing SABRE installations in international regions like the Caribbean and South America.
Later, she joined a start-up company Omnicell in the San Francisco Bay area, working in its Operations department and eventually in the Human Resources department for Employee Development. Teaching and training remained the thread running through every role—proof that an education degree can take you far beyond a classroom.
After retirement, Joan moved back to Menomonie in 2018 to be closer to her family. (Two of her sisters—Karen Flug and Pat Evenson—live in the Menomonie area). Using Menomonie as her home base, Joan had envisioned spending time traveling.
It was in 2019 that she began exploring her ancestry. That exploration grew during COVID when everyone was basically confined to their homes. As Joan dug deeper into her heritage, she traced her grandfather’s line back to Haute-Saone in eastern France where her second and third great-grandparents originated settling in Lee County, Illinois. She also traced her grandmother’s line back to Luxembourg and her maternal grandparents to the Schleswig-Holstein area of Germany (north of Hamburg).
When COVID restrictions were lifted, her love of travel blended with her research, leading to trips with her cousin Mary to U.S. arrival stations in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois.
In recent years, Joan has traveled with Mary to France and Luxembourg several times to visit newly-discovered relatives. One of her favorite moments was when she explored Plateau des Mille Étangs in France—”the 1,000 ponds”—similar to the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota where fishing is an important part of life for those living around bodies of water. As Joan said, “Well, no wonder my ancestors felt at home here.”
Travel has always been a part of Joan’s story. She has lived and worked in Canada, the Virgin Islands and various parts of the U.S. (Hawaii, and the Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth, and San Francisco areas). Each place added a new chapter and “a few good stories” to her life.
Today Joan continues to travel—sailing on cruise ships and taking land tours through Asia, Iceland and many other European countries, South America, and most recently crossing the Atlantic Ocean (experiencing her ancestors’ routes—but much more comfortably). Her U.S. adventures include road trips to visit family members, stopping at National Parks, and occasional trips to cemeteries to track down family graves. In fact, Joan has a plaque that reads “Genealogist Joan—I Hunt Dead People.” She notes the plaque is funny because it’s true!
But Joan always returns to Menomonie because “it’s the right size—large enough to get you the things you need and small enough to be a strong community.” She also enjoys living by the water. Joan has become active in the League of Women Voters of the Chippewa Valley and has held a number of positions in the organization.
World traveler, heritage hunter, community member—Joan Bresson Custer has found her home base back in Menomonie, and we’re so glad she did!
Judy Foust is a retired longtime 7th Grade Reading Specialist at Menomonie Middle School. To submit info to her or to request an interview she may be contacted at [email protected]
