Keefe, Virginia Labar

Other Events:

• Biography: Biographies of Prominent People of the Fox Valley
• News Mention: 28 May 1967; Oshkosh Daily Northwestern
• News Mention: 10 Apr 1970; The Paper
• News Mention: 8 Nov 1972; Oshkosh Daily Northwestern
• News Mention: 2 Jan 1974; Oshkosh Daily Northwestern

Notes:

Biography:
VIRGINIA L. NOLAN
Virginia L. Nolan is the first woman elected to the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors. Since her first victory at the polls in 1952, she has represented in succession the city's two most populated wards, been a member of the Taxation and Judiciary Committee, and Chairman of the Institutions Committee and of the Admittance Board for County Institutions, Sunnyview TB Hospital, Park View Mental Hospital and Pleasant Acres Health Center.
Mrs. Nolan was also appointed Chairman of the Special Building Committee to erect skilled nursing home, was Secretary of the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee that compiled the first long range plan for Winnebago County. After retiring from the County Board after 22 years (11 terms), she was selected to serve on the Luthern Homes of Oshkosh Board.
Both training and instinct helped channel Mrs. Nolan's abilities into her current activities. The daughter of Atty. Frank B. Keefe, a member of Congress for 12 years, and Mildred Virginia Steele Keefe, Mrs. Nolan was born in Omro, Wis., on August 8, 1913 and moved to Oshkosh when she was six months old. She attended the University of Wisconsin Law School after attending WSU-O and Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., but left law school before graduation when she married Charles F. Nolan. Mrs. Nolan's activities in the community are legend. Among her more outstanding endeavors are co-founding of the Winnebago County Easter Seal Society and establishment of the Mercy Hospital Rehabilitation Center. She is also a Charter Member and Past President of the Curative Workshop and Past Volunteer Secretary of the Red Cross Chapter. Membership in the American Legion Auxiliary is due to her husband's position as Major in the U. S. Marine Corps during World War II. She has served the auxiliary as membership chairman, Americanism chairman, child welfare chairman and also was Vice-President of the Winnebago County Patriotic Council. Additionally, Mrs. Nolan was Vice President and President of the Citizens Advisory Council, Wisconsin State University-Oshkosh, and for four years was Membership chairman and on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers' Wives of Wisconsin. Well versed in United States and foreign travel, she has been twice to Europe, traveled through Canada and Mexico and all states in the United States with the exception of Alaska. She has organized panels for presentation of foreign student activities for Rotary International Service Committee. Mrs. Nolan was also a member of the council, Winnebagoland Council Camp Fire Girls; Daughters of the American Revolution; Vice Regent, Daughters of American Colonists in Oshkosh and Florida; has served as co-chairman of the Community Chest and United Fund Drives; and was a member of the valuation teams for all agencies and a member of the Community Council Committee on Education. She was Co-Chairman of the Steiger Addition Residential Drive of the Oshkosh Museum and was a member of the Kellett Commission for the Advancement of Higher Education in Wisconsin. Although not a member of the Wisconsin Catholic War Veterans, Mrs. Nolan was selected Wisconsin Woman of the Year in 1965 by that organization on the basis of her civic achievements. A life-long Republican, she is a Past President of the Winnebago County Federation of Republican Women and served as Sixth Congressional District Secretary. She has been a member of the Platform, Resolutions and Rules Committees at various Republican state conventions, has been a member of the Winnebago County Republican Executive Committee and is a former board member of the Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women. She is now a member of the Bradenton Country Club Republican Women and the Sara Bay Country Club Republican group. Mrs. Nolan was a member of Saint Mary's Church (Oshkosh) and has served as secretary of the Home and School Association. Mrs. Nolan has also been President of the Oshkosh Council of Catholic Women, and held most offices in the Wisconsin Council of Catholic Women. She was a director and vice president of Lake View Memorial Park for many years. Despite these notable positions and accolades, Mrs. Nolan is most proud of her three children, who are continuing the achievements of their parents into the next generation: Charles G. Nolan, the eldest son, is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy and received his master's degree from George Washington University. He taught at the U.S. Naval Academy for 3 years during which time he was sailing coach. Married with one son, he has served eight years Naval service and is with IBM at the Goddard Space Center. Michael Keefe Nolan, also married, is a graduate of Villanova University. He spent six years as a Naval aviator, is a senior at the University of Wisconsin Law School and heads Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. Virginia Clare Nolan is currently a University student who spends her summers as a camp counselor. Mrs. Nolan has recently been appointed to serve on Region V, Health Advisory Board by the Secretary of H. E. W. Robert Finch. Meetings will be held in Chicago and jurisdiction re: Federal funds and grants for Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. We can easily imagine how busy Mrs. Nolan will be the next two years and congratulate her for this honor.

News Mention:
OSHKOSH DAILY NORTHWESTERN, May 28, 1967 MADAME CHAIRMAN She's the Republican Women's New President OSHKOSH"I've been a member of the Federation of Republican Women here since the chapter was started," said Mrs. Charles F. Nolan who has just been elected president of the Winnebago County Chapter. "Of course, I've grown up in politics," Mrs. Nolan continued, "and I've been on the Winnebago County Board for 15 years." (Mrs. Nolan, the only woman ever elected to the Winnebago board, is the chairman of the board's institutions committee and heads the admissions board.) "And there comes a time, I think, when all of ones accumulated experience in various US areas over many years can be helpful to someone else," Mrs. Nolan said. A Marvelous Political Background And her experiences have been marvelous ones. Not many women have her political background. The daughter of Frank Keefe, Republican representative from Wisconsin's 6th District, Mrs. Nolan remembers, "politics were what we mostly talked about "while I was growing up." Her father, in addition to being a banker and a lawyer, was County District Attorney for many years before he was elected to Congress in 1938. He represented the 6th District for 12 years and during that time, Mrs. Nolan, with her mother's encouragement, accompanied her father on his political comings and goings. "As a matter of fact," Mrs. Nolan said, "when Charles and I were first married, we spent lots of time going back and forth to Washington and working with him and for him. My mother had a family of course, and she was kept busy running the house here and the place in Washington and going back and forth. So she was delighted that I take over the politically-oriented things." Mrs. Nolan, spends most of her at-home time in her big den-office where a great portion of her father's library lines the walls. On her desk, piled high with books, pamphlets, p a p e r s, magazines and such, is a conspicuously incongruous frisbee. 'It was my Mother's Day present from my daughter who's a freshman at the University of Madison." In addition to her county board activities, Mrs. Nolan is also a vice president of the Citizen's Advisory Council for WSU-O, a vice president of Lake View Memorial Park, a member of the Lawyer's Wives of Wisconsin (for whom she was instrumental in setting up "four or five" county chapters), a charter member of the Curative Workshop, a vice president of the State Council of Catholic Women (she was named Woman of the Year by the Catholic War Veterans & their Auxiliary in 1965), has been a member of the VNA and the Red Cross and a host of other organizations.
Married To A Marvelous Man
"Most of all this has to do with my being married to an absolutely marvelous man who is a great person and an important one in his field." She referred to her husband, a corporation and probate lawyer here who has just been named a Fellow of the American Association of Probate Lawyers.
"I always kid him that I got my law education the hard way" Mrs. Nolan said. "I'd gone to school here in Oshkosh for a while, then transferred to Carleton for my baccalaureate and then went to the University of Wisconsin Law School. But I stopped before I got my degree and married Charles."
Just back from the federation's national convention in Washington and on her way to the State Convention in Wisconsin Rapids, Mrs. Nolan, who has been the federation's first vice president and is finishing a two-year stint as program chairman, said that as president she'll have for her "sort-of-motto", Everett Dirksen's recent "U for Unity comes before V for Victory."
Everyone's Opinion Welcomed
"I'm a great respecter of everyone's opinions," Mrs. Nolan said. And so are the other women in the Winnebago County chapter. Although we know of definite cleavages some members have worked for a candidate at one time or another and have old loyalties we all want to hear each others' opinions.
"I've got unity on my mind just like Dirksen," she continued. "We'll discuss each candidate back and forth and upside down. But I'd like us to center on one. Some members with definite preferences have told me they would be willing to switch if a better candidate than the one they favor presents himself.
"While the Republican Party is big enough to embrace all areas of opinion, I, personally, am a big believer in majority rule.
A Nucleus of Informed Citizens
"And I believe in a nucleus of informed women. At election time there should be someplace people can go to have issues explained and clarified for them.
"To this intent we have recently opened a Republican Headquarters. It is permanently staffed by volunteers. And last year Mrs. Jarret, who was president then, initiated a campaign bus that traveled all over Winnebago County. It was staffed by volunteers who
answered questions and distributed literature and it was a great success. We plan to repeat it again this year.
"To raise money for these activities," Mrs. Nolan said, "we hold an annual silent auction. And this year there will be a tour of the newly refurbished governor's mansion in July."
'We work selling tickets for the annual Lincoln's Day Dinner," she continued, and we've a special events committee to plan activities through the year. I've a wonderful group of officers working with me and I'm really looking forward to my term.
And there's a wedding coming in July. Wondering how she was going to manage a wedding in addition to all of her various activities, Mrs. Nolan explained. " Oh, I'm the lucky one this time. It's one of my sons (she has two, plus her daughter), and that's considerably easier."

News Mention:
THE PAPER, April 10, 1970
Mrs. Nolan on Committee
OSHKOSH Mrs. Virginia Nolan, chairman of the Winnebago County Board's institutions committee for 10 years, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare's Health Advisory Committee for the Midwest region, Rep. William Steiger, R-Wis. announced Thursday. The committee reviews health problems and recommends actions for a five-state area. The states include Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The committee meets four times a year. Mrs. Nolan's first meeting will be April 16-17 in Chicago.
Mrs. Nolan said Thursday the appointment "sounds like a tremendous challenge. It's quite stimulating and something I can contribute to."
The appointment was effective Jan. 1, Mrs. Nolan said, but the announcement was withheld until her first meeting.
She has served 18 years on the Winnebago County Board and has been secretary of the coordinating committee, chairman of the subcommittee for long-range planning, and institutions committee chairman.

News Mention:
OSHKOSH DAILY NORTHWESTERN, November 8, 1972
Mrs. Charles Nolan honored by Rotary Anns at Luncheon
International Friendships person to person were termed one of the great benefits of full participation in the program of Rotary International when Mrs. Charles Nolan, Oshkosh, wife of the district governor, accompanied her husband on his official visit to the Oshkosh organization, the chapter which he has served in many capacities during a long period of active membership.
Mrs. Nolan, who was entertained at luncheon by Rotary Anns while her husband met with Rotarians, remarked that she was the first district governor's wife who has been invited to make visits with the area official. Although wives have been invited occasionally in the past, the new policy was credited lo a former district governor whose wife died shortly after he completed his term in office. He contacted all the clubs in the district and recommended that the governor's wife be included in the organization's invitation to their executive.
The district over which Mr. Nolan has jurisdiction includes 46 clubs, and the Nolans have visited 25 of those groups since last April.
An orientation period last spring at Lake Placid, N.Y., illustrated to the Nolans the phenomenon which Mrs. Nolan calls ''Rotary instant friendship" as the couple met incoming district governors and their wives from 49 countries. Imagination and sincere interest overcame language and culture barriers as lasting relationships grew out of small kindnesses, according to Mrs. Nolan. She told the women that 600 Oshkosh B'Gosh bandanas, provided by the local club, opened communication with innumerable participants among the 328 incoming governors and their wives at the Lake Placid conference, and she spiced her account with amusing incidents precipitated by the bandana offerings.
In a serious note Mrs. Nolan commented that urgent pleas for emergency assistance from various parts of the world were doubly meaningful when she and her husband recalled memories of pleasant moments shared with district governors from the Philippines, England. Japan or Central America.
"The conference was held at the time that Pakistan and India were in a period of very strained relations," she reported. "But there were no incidents at the meeting. Sometimes there were obvious coolness and reservebut no aggressive unfriendliness.
The constraint in difficult situations only illustrated again to the couple the overwhelming ability of individuals to place Rotary ideals above private considerations.

News Mention:
OSHKOSH DAILY NORTHWESTERN, January 2, 1974
District 30 supervisor
Mrs. Nolan will not seek post
Mrs. Virginia L. Nolan, 531 Hazel St., Winnebago County supervisor for District 30, announced today that she will not seek re-election.
Her husband, Charles, a prominent Oshkosh lawyer is currently a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association.
A member of the County Board since 1952, Mrs. Nolan was the first woman elected to serve in that capacity.
Mrs. Nolan said:
"Although the advent of the county executive has relieved many of the pressures and responsibilities of county supervisors, other commitments now make it inadvisable for me to continue. My busy husband's activities demand much time and travel.
"Also, I was recently elected president of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (UW-O) Advisory Board, which anticipates a vital mission in the future of our fine university. This, coupled with running a busy household, dictated my decision.
"I will complete my term of office, hoping to assist in several areas which need finishing.
"The friendships made during these 22 years will always be cherished, and the experiences gained will be available whenever needed. I am grateful to everyone who placed confidence in me and hope I have lived up to their expectations. "
Secretary of the taxation committee for three years, Mrs. Nolan was vice chairman of judiciary for four years. For 11 years Mrs. Nolan was on the institution committee, eight years as chairman. She was chairman of the special building committee for the new Pleasant Acres Skilled Nursing Home. She was chairman of the admissions board for the home for five years after construction was completed.
Mrs. Nolan was secretary for a number of years of two important County Board committees which set policy the former personnel and coordinating committees. Other committee assignments were: vice chairman of the health committee (at the same Mrs. Nolan was on the Regional Health Advisory Board, Chicago, which involved six states): labor relations committee; secretary the past two years of health and social services; Day Care board and executive committee of ADVOCAP, Inc., as County Board representative, and on the subcommittee that established nutrition centers for the elderly.

Virginia married Nolan, Charles Francis 23 Nov 1935, Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin, USA. Charles was born 9 Jul 1908, Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin, USA; died 29 Feb 1996, Bradenton, Manatee, Florida, USA; was buried , Lakeview Memorial Park, Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin, USA. [Group Sheet]

Charles married Smith, Eileen Mary [Group Sheet]

Michael married Rasmussen, Enid [Group Sheet]

Patrick married Gould, Marie Therese [Group Sheet]