Paid for by Friends of Stephanie for Assembly
Stephanie grew up on a dairy farm in Humbird and attended school in the Alma Center-Humbird-Merrillan School District. Early involvement in 4-H, community activities, sports, music, drama, and public speaking helped shape Stephanie’s lifelong dedication to leadership and service.
In high school, Stephanie participated in sports, band, choir, drama, and forensics and was crowned the 1981 Alma Center Strawberry Queen.
Education & Early Public Service
After graduating from Lincoln High School, Stephanie attended UW–River Falls and majored in secondary education and social studies. While there, Stephanie met her future husband, Tim Bodeen, a former deep-sea diver with the United States Navy.
Following graduation, the couple joined the Peace Corps and traveled to Tanzania, East Africa, where Stephanie worked as a community development specialist while also assisting with aquaculture projects.
After returning to the United States, Stephanie taught junior and senior high social studies before becoming a stay-at-home mother to raise the family’s two daughters.
Life Across the Country
Because of Tim’s career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the family lived in six different states as well as on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific. During that time in the remote location, Stephanie home-schooled their daughters while continuing to stay engaged in education and community life.
These experiences helped shape Stephanie’s understanding of the challenges families face in communities both large and small.
Award-Winning Author & Educator
Stephanie’s writing career began in 1998 when her first children’s book was published and received more than a dozen national honors. Since then, Stephanie has written multiple award-winning picture books and novels.
For more than twenty years, Stephanie has traveled throughout the United States and internationally, speaking at schools, libraries, and conferences. After earning a Master of Fine Arts degree from Spalding University in 2003, Stephanie also began teaching writing workshops for adults.
Serving the Community at Home
In 2018, Stephanie and Tim moved to Black River Falls when Tim became the refuge manager at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.
During the pandemic, Stephanie worked as a contact tracer for Jackson County Public Health and later assisted with the county’s successful drive-through vaccination clinic.
Stephanie and Tim have been married for 37 years and have two daughters and one son-in-law.