MHS graduate becomes Commissioner on the Labor and Industry Review Commission
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Former Gleason native and Merrill High School (MHS) graduate (Class of 1967), Marilyn Townsend, has been appointed by Governor Tony Evers to be a Commissioner on the Labor and Industry Review Commission. (The Commission is composed of three Commissioners who decide appeals from the decisions of Administrative Law Judges in cases concerning Workers Compensation, Equal Rights, and Unemployment Compensation law.)
Townsend, who describes herself as “born and raised in Merrill and Gleason,” said her small town upbringing in Lincoln County paved the way for her success – along with a lot of hard work, of course. “I recall from little on that my parents emphasized to us kids honesty, hard work, and obeying the rules of society,” Townsend said. “The values my parents taught us were reinforced by the Merrill/Gleason community and all the wonderful teachers and neighbors who helped our family.”
Following graduation from MHS, Townsend attended UW Madison and became a lawyer. In 1976, she married Fred Wade at the Lincoln County Courthouse and they followed with a wedding dance in Gleason, Townsend recalls. “We will be married 45 years on September 17,” Townsend said.
“My parents also said it was important to give back, and as a child I thought that being a lawyer seemed like a good way to do so,” she said. “I have certainly found that to be true.”
Prior to her appointment to the Commission, she practiced law in Madison for 33 years, representing individuals and labor unions in the areas of employment and labor law.
Townsend and her husband raised three children in a small Village outside Madison. She served as a member of the Village Board for 12 years, and as the Municipal Judge of the community for 6 years.
A few career highlights prior to this appointment: In 2017, Townsend won a unanimous decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in an opinion authored by Chief Justice Roggensack, which reversed a decision of the Commission, and awarded unemployment compensation benefits to her client. Operton v. LIRC.
In 2018, the Dane County Bar Association honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award for pro bono service.
At age 72, Townsend said she remains grateful to her parents, the late Ernest and Bertha Townsend, the Merrill Area Public Schools, and the community in which she was raised for providing her with the solid foundation that has permitted her to progress and to serve.