Jerry Bower began his college education at the Marathon County Extension Center in 1956. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in history in 1960 at the Wisconsin State College in Stevens Point. Over the following seven years Bower earned a Master of Arts degree and completed the coursework for a Ph.D. in history at Michigan State University and taught for three years at Port Huron Junior College. He received his Ph.D. from MSU in 1971.

In the fall of 1967 Bower began teaching history at the Richland Campus, a branch campus of the Wisconsin State University at Platteville. He continues to teach at UW-Richland. He has participated in many of the events of the past thirty-five years that are described in this book. He has served as Richland’s senator for twenty years and twice chaired the UW Centers’ Senate, 1982-83 and 1992-94. In 1992 Bower received an Underkoefler Excellence in Teaching Award from the UW System.

Jerry and his wife, Donna, are the parents of four grown sons, all graduates of the University of Wisconsin, and the doting grandparents for six grandchildren.