Volunteer Leaders: Luanne Huckstadt

Board Member, Community Foundation of Jackson County

Tell us about yourself!

I am a retired teacher. Most of my 35 teaching years were in Maquoketa Middle and High Schools. I have taught students who needed support in math and reading. My last years were spent teaching technical math and geometry at the high school. I really enjoyed teaching skills that the students could apply in real life or in their jobs.

I have been married to my husband Kim for 47 years and we have one son, Tate. I served on the Ohnward Fine Arts Center Board for 12 years and originally got involved in that area because of Tate’s interests. He was not interested in sports but was very active in the arts, and I wanted to do my part to continue to make the Fine Arts Center available for those programs. I was never in a play but I enjoyed everything he and his classmates were involved in: plays, musicals, band concerts and choral performances, as well as speech and drama contests. We certainly need to support those activities for students. After all, without the arts it would be a much less interesting world.

When did you join the foundation board, and what inspires you to keep serving? 

I started serving on the board when asked by Kerry Schepers, a former board member. I am currently starting my 6th year on the board. I’ve continued serving because of all the great work the board does in our community.

There are so many great things that the foundation does. One thing I really like to see is when we contribute to projects where kids are involved. One that sticks out is the project in Baldwin where the kids presented the project and helped in completing it.