Eminent Homemaker
County: Walworth
Joanne Bieber is a graduate of South Dakota State University with a degree in home economics. She is currently a very active partner with her husband, Willis, on their farm and ranch near Bowdle. She keeps all the books for the operation and the production testing records for their stock cow herd.
Bieber's contributions to the South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service and 4-H program are numerous. She was a 4-H leader for 21 years, during which time she was treasurer and vice president of the Walworth County 4-H Leaders Association. Bieber has also been an active member of the Walco Extension Homemakers Club for 39 years, holding all local offices one or more times. She was also Extension Homemakers area director and state treasurer and was chair in charge of legislative days in Pierre for 11 years. She served on the South Dakota Sate University Ag Advisory Committee for five years and the Walworth County Extension Board for eight years. She currently serves on the South Dakota State Extension Advisory Board.
Bieber has been described as a "people person," always putting others first. She has devoted much of her time to her community and was very instrumental in starting up and maintaining the Bowdle Library. Since it opened in 1971, she has served as chairman of the library board. Her duties have included ordering books, budgeting, writing reviews and management.
Her other community activities include fundraising drives for the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and Crippled Children's Hospital.
Her numerous awards include Bowdle Jaycee's Woman of the Year, KELO's Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service and the "Friend of Extension" Award given by Epsilon Sigma Phi.
Bieber is a member of the St. Paul American Lutheran Church in Bowdle, has been a Sunday school teacher and secretary/treasurer and has served on the church council and women's group.
In her free time, Bieber displays her creative talents in oil and watercolor painting and is an accomplished seamstress, designing and constructing many garments.
Joanne and her husband, Willis, have two sons.