FOUNDATION WELCOME CONNIE WALKER

We are delighted to announce a new addition to our Foundation Board of Directors! Connie Walker, a retired U.S. Navy Captain will bring a wealth of experience and service to our board.

Since retiring from naval service in 2005, Connie focuses on building sustainable federal and state VA and non-VA partnerships to address cultural competency and access-to-care challenges facing seriously disabled veterans, their caregivers, and families. Her federal and state trainings have included VA transition patient advocates at the National Institute of Mental Health; faculty, administration, and counseling staff in the University of Maryland and University of Wisconsin Systems; crisis intervention training for Maryland and Wisconsin law enforcement and other first responders; and clergy leadership training in central and southcentral Wisconsin.

Her testimonies to the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Maryland General Assembly have contributed to the passage of multi-million dollar increases in federal and state funding to expand VA and non-VA mental health and substance abuse programs and rehabilitative services. She is the primary caregiver for her son, Michael, a seriously disabled army veteran of the Iraq War; and a legacy caregiver in the VA’s Caregiver Support Program. Eighteen years of caregiving, and mental health advocacy for her son, other veterans, and members of the community living with serious mental illness, inform Connie’s work on behalf of caregivers and families.

Connie also participated in the I Am Not Invisible traveling exhibit with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum and Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. The Museum also has her oral history, which you can listen to on the museum website.

Please join us in welcoming Connie!

Thirty years ago, in June of 1993, Governor Thompson authorized the movement of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum to its current location. The first Gulf War ended two years earlier. Since then, our nation has been involved in wars and conflicts continuously until our withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021. The governor and legislative leadership could not have anticipated the amount of service and sacrifice our state's citizens would have to endure during the 30 years since the museum moved to 30 West Mifflin from the State Capitol. The original space dedicated to the displays can now hold only 3% of the material in our collection. The artifacts now span the Wisconsin contribution to every conflict from the Civil War to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is an internationally recognized repository containing primary sources of our state and nation’s military history. Your donations and support protect the legacy of all those who served from the Civil War to Afghanistan. It is a great honor to be a part of this tradition and to have celebrated our 30th year at 30 West Mifflin on June 6 of this year. As we celebrate the 247th year since the signing of our Declaration of Independence, our Wisconsin Veterans Museum is a reminder of what it has cost to preserve that independence. This museum provides a touch point in vivid detail, not only for our children, but for our citizens and veterans as well, as to what service and sacrifice to a cause bigger than oneself means and entails.

We on the Board are grateful to our donors and supporters as we have begun the effort to build a new Wisconsin Veterans Museum capable of displaying the most important pieces of the collection and personal memoirs of our Wisconsin Veterans.

We look forward to working with the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, the legislative leaders, and you, our donors and patrons, to realize our vision for a new Wisconsin Veterans Museum at 30 West Mifflin capable of displaying our collection to honor the legacy of service and sacrifice Wisconsin citizens have offered in the past and continue to offer today.

In gratitude,

Daniel Checki Foundation Board President