Helen Pearson

Helen Pearson, born in 1900 in Lancaster, Wisconsin,  she earned her undergraduate education at the University of Madison–Wisconsin and her Master’s in Textiles and Clothing at Columbia University in New York. She taught Home Economics in two Wisconsin high schools and was a County Home Agent in South Dakota, Maryland and Wisconsin for a total of 18 years before coming to UW–Extension as a Clothing Specialist. Pearson was an engaged member of many organizations, including the National 4-H Clothing Development Program, Epsilon Sigma Phi, a national honorary home economics sorority, and the American and Wisconsin Home Economics Associations. She was also the first president of the State Home Agents Association. In 1959, Pearson was the recipient of an Extension Worker’s Association Award. Pearson’s grit and devotion to her work is illustrated not only through her lifetime of achievements, but also through the memories of those with whom she worked, who spoke of “her ability to develop leadership and to secure the cooperation of people with whom she worked, her high teaching standards, and her organizational skill,” among many other traits which made her outstanding. “Because of Helen Pearson’s outstanding, efficient, and unselfish service,” they said in the memorial resolution of the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty following her death, “thousands of families in Wisconsin are living richer lives today.”