Mary Kay Baum – 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award
Presented December 3, 2025 at the WNPJ Fall Assembly.
Mary Kay grew up on a family dairy farm just North of Appleton WI. Her first political act was a letter to the local paper about the way property taxes were taxing farms for their prospective commercial value for development, forcing farmers to sell their farm. She served on the Dane County Board while in college and Madison Metropolitan School Board while in law school. She practiced public interest law in prisons, and volunteered during the Menominee Reservation during the Takeover of the Alexian Brothers Abbey. She led what is now Just Dane, a nonprofit primarily with formerly incarcerated persons. She has organized showings/discussions of the documentary “Bad River”. Her own cognitive changes led her to retire early but continue to be active in environmental advocacy.
Why a heron? Great blue herons protect their community. May they be an inspiration for us!
This is just a short list of Mary Kay’s work for peace, justice and democracy!
Mary Kay was a founding member of Madison Arcatao Sister City Project. Pictured here delivering the official Madison-Arcatao sistering resolution to Maria Serrano in El Salvador in1986.
Joan Laurion joan.laurion@gmail.com – as part of the Madison Public Library oral history project – did an interview with Mary Kay about this SIster City work. You can listen here.
Mary Kay discusses her work with the Hope of Alzheimers Project in this video made 12 years ago….: https://youtu.be/CIN2q68_co8?si=Lc38SP-xYbBXIfHW
…and Mary Kay and her colleagues have worked to stop the Line 5 oil pipeline going through Native Nations lands. WNPJ Board member Shazhad Hussein moderated the Web zoom call in June with two guest speakers, Britnie Remer of 350 WI and Attorney Connie Sue Martin
Watch the video here –
……Here’s a family photo Mary Kay sent WNPJ…. Mary Kay is the 2nd oldest of the 9 Baum children.
Mary Kay wants us to know about her own roots – as she credits her achievements as part of her upbringing in NE Wisconsin.
A PARENT LEADS TOWARD PUBLIC SERVICE AND CIVIC LIFE – submitted by Mary Kay
Mary Kay Baum and her eight siblings grew up on a Grand Chute dairy farm along Richmond Street near Appleton. Her father, Vincent Baum, was actually born on that farm. And her mother, Buelah Rose Mancl, was living nearby.
Buelah was adventurous, valued education and wanted a profession. She broke new ground when she decided to become a nurse, training in faraway Milwaukee. Fortunately, a friend of the Baum family assisted her by providing housing. Vince started visiting her in Milwaukee regularly. Then World War II 1942-1945 intervened, and Vincent was in the U.S Army Air Corp. Buelah decided to volunteer to become an army nurse. They got ‘pinned’ before they started their training – and were sent overseas.
Vince became a communications Tech 4 Sergeant. He participated in battles in Algeria, French Morocco and was part of D-Day invasions in Italy, France and Sicily. On July 10th, 1943, Sgt. Vincent’s landing ship was hit by a German plane – and although injured, he swam to shore, waving off rescue boats so they could evacuate those critically injured. Vince did not tell his children this story – of getting to shore by himself- until late in life.
After the European Theatre ended in 1945, Vincent was able to reconnect with his high school sweetheart, Buelah, as she was serving as an Army Nurse in Europe. They married on June 15th, 1945, in Paris – then went back to Wisconsin together to care for Vincent’s parents and the family farm – and now the raising of a family.
Vince sought tech school training in agriculture; always interested in conservation as God’s call. . He banded together with local farmers to jointly purchase seed through a Young Farmers Club. In 1952 Vince was elected Fire Chief by the local Fox Valley fire fighters and he served with expertise and good judgement in that role for 40 years!
Vince cherished Buelah through 50 years of marriage, including 20 years of Alzheimer’s symptoms and 4 years of her being bedridden at home.
When invited to speak at a local classroom sharing WWII stories, Vince told of the high cost of war on veterans and their families and the need for making a lasting peace.
This father of 9 has brought to each one the greatest gift a parent can – the gift of modeling public service and civic engagement, showing pride for each son or daughter… including telling a story of hope in the midst of cognitive changes of loved ones.
AND…Mary Kay wants us to know about her daughter, Dawn…
“We cannot achieve healthy living without including Native nations and their wise traditional ways” Dawn Sturdevant Baum 1976 – 2023
Following graduation from UW-Madison Law School, Dawn Sturdevant Baum served as Law Clerk for the Supreme Court Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation. She then worked as the Legal Assistant to the Clerk of Supreme Court of Wisconsin. In 2005, Dawn earned the distinguished L.L.M. degree in American Indian and Indigenous Law from the University of Tulsa and moved to Washington, DC, where she worked for the renowned Native
American Rights Fund. She then worked within the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior with American Indian and Alaska Native colleges and elementary and secondary schools spread out over 64 reservations and 23 states. Next she was called to the Office of the Solicitor for the U.S. Department of the Interior which advises and represents the office in judicial, legislative, ethical and legal matters.
Dawn also took positions in the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Indian Gaming Commission and US Department of Justice’s Office of Tribal Justice. The latter office was to assure federal agencies uphold Indian sovereignty and consultation requirements. Dawn was elected president of the Native American Bar Association of DC and later was a member of the American Bar Association’s Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Education. A founding member of the American Bar Association’s Joint Task Force on Reversing the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Dawn helped developthe task force’s report on how to reform and improve education for disenfranchised youth.
In 2017 Dawn began work for the large Yurok Tribe in Northern California. She eventually became their General Counsel. She developed a mentorship program for young attorneys and paralegals and inspired several young tribal members to continue their education and develop advocacy skills. For six years Dawn was simultaneously Adjunct Professor of Indian Law at University of Tulsa College of Law.
An important part of her work with the Yurok was Dawn’s speaking up for indigenous peoples around the world at the international UN Climate Change COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland and COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt where she spoke about the importance of using indigenous knowledge with sovereignty in addressing the climate crisis. In April 2023 Dawn spoke publicly about the disconnect between what officials said they would do at the COP talks and what they did at home. Meanwhile the Yurok were a model for accomplishing much by cooperation and partnering with businesses and governments.
“It’s really wonderful for us to bring our territory, and what used to be our territory, back into our control, to be able to use our traditional knowledge … to prevent the massive wildfires by techniques like burning designated underbrush, keeping the forest healthy,” she said. “Clean, free-flowing river will once again support one of America's greatest fisheries available for indigenous people and their traditional ways. We’ve done that for millennia and the rest of the world is finally catching onto what we were doing“
Mary Kay married George Swamp in 1988. George was Director of Menominee Tribal Services as well as a Dane County and school Social Worker. Their son Jake excelled at Madison’s East High School academics and Cross Country. He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Applied Engineering and Physics. While he lived with his sister in California, he worked with several Native groups. He helped his sister Dawn move to Green Bay and cared for her until she died from breast cancer June, 2023. As her obituary says, “Dawn is sunshine, a bright light in the clouds.” Jake was significant for Dawn’s sunshine.
(photo: Dawn, Jake, Mary Kay and George)