Terri TaylorTerri Taylor, daughter of Glenda Taylor, was raised in Mankato, Minnesota. Her roots at Minnesota State University Mankato are deep having attended primary school at the former Wilson Campus School, a teaching school for MSU students. Her experience as a child included acting in theatre productions at the University's theater and participating in various teaching courses with University students. At the age of sixteen Terri became a mother and wife and after completing high school viewed college as an "impossible dream". She spent the next five years working in various fast food restaurants and retail stores.
Five years later, divorced and a single mother of two daughters, Terri was at a place in her life where she knew she needed something more. After "trying-out" a freshman level English course at MSU, Terri's dream of college no longer seemed so impossible and she enrolled as a full-time university student. Terri found she excelled in the area of sociology and made Social Work her major. She found that her own life struggles could be used as a foundation to empower and advocate for others. She became involved as a volunteer at the local battered women's shelter and realized her own marriage emulated the relationships of the woman who were staying in the shelter. As she continued her volunteer work she began to develop an understanding about the causes of domestic violence its prevalence in society and culture. Adopting a feminist analysis of the root causes of violence against women lead Terri to the University's Women Studies Department. Terri found the courses in Woman Studies to be invigorating and a challenge to everything she had been taught about the traditional roles of men and women. She more fully developed a belief system that had been dormant within her for many years. Terri graduated in 1985 from MSU with a major in Social Work and a minor in Women's Studies.
Since graduation Terri has dedicated her life journey towards the elimination of violence against women. She has worked in the areas of legal and system's advocacy, community education, group facilitation, management, training, research and development. Terri has served in the capacity of Executive Director for two battered women's shelters, as well as for the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women. She has been a constant force in the promotion of public policy that addresses the needs of woman and children in the areas of legal, medical and economic assistance. Currently she manages a technical assistance project for federally funded programs under the Violence Against Woman Act. The project is responsible for designing nationally recognized model practices for services to battered women and children involved in post-separation violence.
Terri currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is the proud mother of two strong beautiful daughters and two granddaughters. She credits both her mother Glenda and grandmother Lucille as being the positive influences in her life that made her the woman she is today.
Lucille LorenzenLucille Herrig Lorenzen was born December 28, 1919 to Charles and Bena Herrig on a farm in northern Iowa. She was the first-born child in a family of twelve children. Lucille spent her early years as a typical farm child in the early 1900's, helping her mother with house chores and raising her brother and sisters. She describes her childhood as happy and full of life. She enjoyed tending to the needs of her siblings and this love of children has been evident throughout her life. Church played a large part in her youth as well as large family gatherings with aunts, uncles and cousins who all lived near by. Her parents instilled strong German values in the family including emphasis on the traditional roles of male and female. As a girl, education was not deemed as a necessity, leading Lucille to leave school in the sixth grade. She saw her purpose in life to be the best wife and mother as possible.
Lucille was married at a young age to Floyd Lorenzen, a handsome man from a near-by town. Floyd and Lucille went on to raise six children. The family struggled financially and both Floyd and Lucille worked diligently to make ends meet. Living on small farms in Iowa and southern Minnesota, the family went without indoor plumbing and other modern conveniences until the 1960's. Lucille was a warm giving mother always making an effort for her children to have the best life possible. She used the family struggles as a teaching ground for her children to promote the values of perseverance, dignity and humility. She became an accomplished baker and gardener and spread her love through these talents.
After her children were grown, Lucille spent many years as an in-home day-care provider. Her love and enthusiasm for children left lasting memories for many of the children she cared for. This love for children is also evident in her relationships with her seventeen grandchildren. As Grandma, it was not uncommon to find Lucille on the floor playing "horsy" or being subjected to lengthy hours of Monopoly. She has drawn on her own life experiences as she has supported her grandchildren through their own life struggles. After the death of her husband in the 1980's, Lucille moved to a small home in Storm Lake, Iowa where she resides today. She has renewed her interest in dancing, (something she gave up in her teen years), attends church faithfully and continues to keep a garden. Her life serves as an example to her children and grandchildren of the influence a woman can have on the lives of the many she touches.
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Department of Women's Studies