Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Alyce Bolke Retirement - 10/1/1980When she hopped up on a cat-
tle fence to see the site for her
new home, Alyce • Bolke didn't
know she was taking a step
toward a new career.
The kitchen of the Bolkes'
home in Eagan Township wasof-
ten a hub of activity; sometimes
for handling town business.
'More than two decades later,
the setting is more official. In
her modern city clerk's office at
Agan City Hall, a 15 -foot schef-
flera plant strains to touch the
high ceiling:
THE SPRAWLING giant
seems: symbolic of Mrs. Bolke's
deep roots in the city's history, of
her vitality and Eagan's growth.
Growth. It is the story of
Eagan.
Mrs. Bolke saw it all. She will
retire at the end of this year af-
row
South.:
wind
by Kay Harvey
h is part of clerk's roots
ter 19 years as Eagan city clerk
and 21 years as a city emplo 'ee.
Neighborliness got her. a sort.
John Jensen, then township': as-
sessor, lived nearby.
"He had said he would take the
`job if -. someone : would :dot his
books," Mrs. Bolke said.
SHE DECIDED to he the
cause, working part time in her
home.
The Town Board later. sought
her services as a part-time sec-
retary to City Clerk Lewis
Fisher. After a few months,
Fisher quit.
ars p averPayway
By SCOTT CARLSON
Staff Writer
A salary plan covering 176
non-union employees in Dakota
Dakota
County
A Town Board member made
a motion at the next meeting
that they appoint Mrs. Bolke as
city clerk. It passed.
"I went to the meeting as a
secretary," said Mrs. Bolke,
"and came home as town clerk.,
The appointment made her the
first woman in Eagan govern-
ment. It also, for a period of 10
years, meant she had become a
true politician.
"IN JULY of '62, I had to run
for office," Mrs. Bolke said.
She won the race, as she did
every two years until 1972, when
Eagan became a village and t
office was no longer an electi
one.
Two years later, in 197
Eagan became a statutory city.
Mrs. Bolke's memories
Eagan then and now paint a pi
Lure of contrasts, as do the old
and new city hall buildings bui
side by side on Pilot Knob Road.
he voting was done on paper bal-
ve lots. Three people, including
Mrs. Bolke, ran the elections.
4, "Now we use a punch card sys-
tem and it takes more than 100
of people to work on an election."
c- . When she took her job with the
It city, she was one of four city em-
ployees.
"I can remember when they'
stoke up the fire in a pot-bellied
stove for meetings in the old
town hall," she said.
•
IN THOSE DAYS, there wer
six city ordinances. Now they to-
tal 74.
d "THERE WERE two const-
ables, one maintenanc_ a man and
;myself, along with the Town
• Board members."
The City of- Eagan now em -
e ploys 68 people, in addition to 90
volunteer firer en.
In 1960, Mrs. Bolke said, there
were 3,300 residents of Eagan
That is about one-seventh of
Eagan's current population of
more than 22,000.
The city budget has increased
from $30,000 in the early 1960's
• to this year's $2,679,000.
Eagan's growth, of course,
was complete with growing
pains.
In 1965, Mrs. Bolke moved into
In her early days on the job,
for merit system
requires courage; courage to rec-
ognize effective performance
and courage to deal with perfor-
mance that is ineffective."
Asked Commissioner Jerry
- LL
think the employees would get
more out of that (collective bar-
gaining) than they would from
this (salary) plan," he speculat-
ed.
"I've had to grow with the
job." -- Alyce Bolke
an office intended strictly for
her use.
See Eagan, Page 25
t.
745"ei
VON
-Staff W .
SOff,tititg;
ixed wIth.jth,e1Aa.lit'
le tones :inlbc
3gop,';40W1111.
lye.
While these 4d011er
Ices 6harpywith
o'gruffi-MOrtiopostfitt:onea
taw*boardrnern
-
ra,-the)1 do blend.in.perfec
trajony of to1/4y0
thie volceYbelongs
attriCti*ei•J;
tote a BoUie,,43651:
aock,dr., e1ectedelerk, .,
gds
es in:itho • ,,os,O
-ing -unusua1 4n .town .1a1I
rcles
Theotheti'li6147belongito
rs. -Jamee.,.Kennedy,-:-.neW
:stice of the:Teso6,,who,-41;
lids to hold totittln the old
hail—never tried . before
-and suggests she wifl 'k
)Ie to ::.pronoiMca',-Sentences
30 days'in jail or $100 fillet',
necessary.,! Both.,:, Officials,
re graduates St! ':Cather
le's College.
.thet "until thetfiled:
Having woMenln town hall
a departure from the
ser :days ,wheiftliteebusky
-
irmers usuaU sat t the
)%vn hall table and. handieti
ie .business ',of • 1414lnitr�ad
inances
?O. Puncelt-!tbe
ionid;vun,
west Airlines Michel':
her five -Children tap
age from 5 to fl; MI
man (40dy). -14unda
Gloria, 20; 1(ethleett,
13 .and 'Cheryl,. 5. •
L
r she attended -St
* floes college for 04(
efore taking a Set/
Nts.-Ke nedy was
,Paul, ... attended ,
Ail and St, pawed!
ieke:H*beie--.-nhe
chemistty. She W0
Minneapolis 'and-:1)ul
(1-
tOlotr depaititeitai
vioity hotintais„
oth 'the and her I
,are active in •1
ta VFW OrganIsatk
who fullyapproveso
wlfe, IS in Charge oft
vlew sectionin the
-
IA0464 of the Vete
Although some teti
uence has seeped,1
government, it
wokld_. -- Eagan -.1
The three supervisor
03610
Arthur ": X44113
Trapp and Edviatd..!
Herb 1"olzin is the 11
Martin 1?esLat#iers-.1
Teticire,,-Ahe'•co
Luther- .Stalland Is 1
ney and Silas
the Other
While the scent of
presentir the ddot
6 Ok6,';:liattiht
shaving lotion W1pofl &r4:1
.
uttgivAlli
Yoz
'THIS WEEK
Your Community Newspaper
http://www.thisweek-online.c
Volume 19, No. 1 a June 29, 1997
First women elected to
township .offices share
memories and thoughts
By ERIN HEMME FROSLIE
The two women bend over
the yellowed newspaper clip-
pings, glancing at headlines
and exclaiming over the fading
photos.
"Who do you think this is,
Alyce?" asks Helen Kennedy.
"Why, is that Silas Palmer?
Yes... yes, it is," replies Alyce
Bolke, who says she's old
enough to have forgotten more
than she ever knew. She holds
the clipped photo a bit closer
to her wire -rimmed glasses.
A moment later Kennedy
picks up a clipped article with
a bold headline.
"This is absolutely hysteri-
cal," she says. "You and I had
no kind of attitude."
"This was before Gloria Ste-
inem," Bolke adds, shaking
her head covered with short,
blond hair.
"This" was an article written
by the St. Paul Dispatch in
April 1962, shortly after Ken-
nedy and Bolke became the
first women to be elected to
office in Eagan township. Even
35 years after they embarked
oft their Maiden voyage, the
two women don't consider
themselves pioneers. They
were just doing their jobs.
Sot, lilting, feminine voices
mix with the heavy Masculine
tones in the white frame Eagan
township hall these days...One
voice belongs to personable,
attfatctive Mrs. Theodore Bolke.
"I dcin't think there were too
(See Women, p.8A)
Women 4: y
(torithilifilf him 644
Many women "Wining fill' office
at the time," Bolke said.
"Coya Knutson VMS our" (U.S.)
representative and her husband
told her to go home." She
paused for a moment. "My
husband didn't Seem to mind
me being in office."
Bolke was elected as town-
ship clerk, after assisting the
clerk and township assessor
for a couple years. in 1961 she
was appointed to the cieik's
position. When She fah
"against a man" during that
'fall's election, she Won by g'
two -to -one margin.
"I always ran against Hien;"
Bolke said. "Of coutte mostof
tient told me `Don't worry. If 1
get elected, Alyce, I'll keep
you on as my secretary; kid
you can do the work.' ".
"You're kidding," k tint dy
said, jingling numerous silver
bracelets on her right wrist.
"Well, isn't that something?"
"It makes me angty when I
think about it now," admitted
t olke. "Of course, I always
won."
While some eyebrows were
raised when the two' women an-
nounced for office, both have
been well accepted. And, they
don't plan any changes, no cur-
tains on the windows of city
hall, no rugs on the floor or
flowers on the table.
"We didn't have any time to _
Art, y �i . cu Iain ,' Bolke
e*claimed t"We, were too
busy." ..
Indeed, both women were.
For $50 a month, Bolke took
minutes at township meetings,
posted legal notices, kept one
set of the treasurer's book, li-
censed dbgs, issued permits
and absentee ballots, answered
phones and flit *arded com-
plaints — alt from her kitchen.
As Eagan's justice of the
peace (P) ,? Wrri . 11062 until
1971, *bin (ire "stele f.egisla=
ture eluiii ated the position,
Kennedy held WtItt once every
two weekta, if addition to work-
ing full time ills a Medical
technoldgist. She heard cases
ranging from drunk driving to
horses ruining a neighbor's
kWh to conducting weddings.
"Weddings Were the fun
part," Kennedy laid, recollect-
ing stories about the groom
who asked het ti get the "show
on the road" So he could watch
Monday Night Football and the
couple who brought an entire
bus 'full of friends to observe
the ceremony.
Both women agree, that al-
though people were surprised
they ran for office, nobody was
ever unfriendly about the fact.
"Sometimes Helen would
stay back and talk to the patrol
officers before court," said
Kennedy's husband, Jim. "So
I'd take her briefcase and set
everything dp. Of course, eve-
ryone . w$uid, think 1 vva`s the
JP."
"Then I'd come in," said
Kennedy, laughing under her
breath. "1 waft we had a video-
tape then. I'm sure many of
them were so surprjsed."
l li1ke Shia site : id think bf
only one way, she was treated
differently tbatii `mate clerks.
"They (men) probably had to
clean tip &lir iiinguage around
me.
As result of Mrs. Kennedy
and Mrs. Bolke's work in the
town hail, women are becoming
interested in town government.
At coffee parties *Melt, rather
than talk about their children,
garden bridge, Vi(t., ask about
the meeting dig Wit be-
fore.
"At the time I didn't think
anythirig of it," Bolke said.
"Now we'd think it was sexist,
right?"
"We didn't think about run-
ning or being in office as odd,"
Kennedy said. "1 have a per -
conal tittltalle about it today,
Alyce: t bvdbldn't think twice
abut doing it Igaid.",
Not that it would raise as
many eyebrod s today. Before
she retired in 1980, Bolke gave
the oath' of office to Eagan's
first female police officer, its
first femaleefighter, and its
first female mayor signifi-
cant event's bf Which she's
quite .,proud. Y .
"1 think it's good," she said.
"Women can do any city job."