Janesville Blackhawk Golden Kiwanis

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
July 30^th, 2025

Roger Willeford presiding, called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
An Executive Board meeting occurred today.
31 members were in attendance today.

Ray Szczepaniak led with the singing of America, the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Invocation: Carl Cramer, mentioning good weather, and the children.

Raffle: John Janes oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $18 and the big (Joker) pot was $345.
Luci Cramer drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 841.  Congratulations to the winner, Luci Cramer.
The deck of cards has 26/53 cards remaining.  Luci drew the 3♣.

Roger Willeford thanks greeters Dave Caverley and Bob Knudson, invocator Carl Cramer, rafflemaster John Janes, and server Bob Knudson.

Happy Box: Luci Cramer announced she is happy because she won the raffle and will donate the winnings to the Aldo Leopold Buddy Bench, and because she and Carl and going to see their grandson in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
Steve Skelly announced he is happy because the Catholic diocese sent a request of an alleged miracle to Rome about Brother Joseph Dutton.

Jokes: Steve Skelly had a good joke about an anteater at a bar.  The bartender asks, “Do you want a drink?”  The anteater replies, “What do you have?”  The bartender, “Gin and tonic?”  Anteater, “Nooooooo.”  Bartender, “Old fashioned?”  Anteater, “Nooooooo.”  Bartender, “Martini?”  Anteater, “Nooooooo.”  The bartender then asks, “Why the long nos?”
Roger Willeford had another good joke.

Other Announcements: Tom Neumann spoke upon Aldo Leopold Buddy Benches, now with engravings, to continue.

Committee Reports: Tom Neumann announced the Farmer’s Market, the Saturday after next, will have a Kiwanis booth.

Ron Shuler introduced the day’s speaker, Jennifer Motzsko.  Jennifer has a Master’s degree in History and Library Sciences.  She is currently an Archivist at the University of Whitewater.  She will present upon Lavinia Goodell, the first female lawyer in Wisconsin.
Lavinia’s father was a reverend.  He ran a local newspaper, ‘The Principia,’ for which Lavinia assisted in her early adulthood.
The family lived in Greenpoint, New York, when Lavinia’s parents decided in 1870 to moved to Janesville, Wisconsin.  Lavinia followed in 1871 at age 32.
In Rock county, she assisted a lawyer.  By 1873, she regularly attended the Rock County Court in Janesville, the “small, gossipy town.”
By 1874, Lavinia decided she was ready, and against her parents’ urgings, took the Bar exam and passed.

On June 18^th, 1874, she was admitted to practice law in the state of Wisconsin by Judge Conger.
Lavinia worked for years on a one of the county’s then most recognized divorce trials, Elizabeth vs Ira Leavenworth, of La Prairie.  Her time invested included travelling around the country to locate and utilize witnesses.
The property rights of women were hotly debated at the time, and divorce was difficult without half a decade of estrangement.
Elizabeth temporarily dropped her suit for her husband’s terrible behavior when he made a great effort for apology, at which time he immediately caused her more discontent.  She returned to the court, and brought a second divorce suit.
Ira and in turn Elizabeth signed away much of their property to Ira’s family members via what is generally agreed to be coercion or trickery.
Ultimately, Lavinia lost the case, which was difficult for her to accept.
Around this time, a woman’s right to practice law was attacked and removed.  Lavinia fought against it, and lost.  She fought it again at a higher level, and won.  She had to petition for the Bar again, where she was again granted the ability to practice Wisconsin law.
In 1876, Lavinia had great pain, which was diagnosed as an ovarian tumor.  The tumor was operated on, twice, and removed.  She died, a month shy of age forty-one.
Lavinia’s photo has been on a mural at the Rock County courthouse for many decades.  Only in the last few years was it discovered to be the wrong individual.  After 60 years, it was recently resolved.

Ron Shuler thanked Jennifer Motzko for speaking and presented her with a Kiwanis Parker pen.

Roger Willeford adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:45AM.

Minutes by Ryan Lewis.
Credit: Dave Figi, and Ryan Lewis, photographs.

Note: Kiwanis and its members are not responsible for errors or omissions.  We are open to discussion if you would like to request an alteration.