Quie, Gretchen

Gretchen Quie, Minnesota's First Lady from 1979 through 1982, was born in Waverly, Iowa, on August 4, 1927, the daughter of Ella and Sam Hansen. Before moving to Minneapolis in 1937, the Hansens lived in Harmony and Benson, Minnesota, where Sam Hansen was a school superintendent. Gretchen graduated from Central High School in Minneapolis in 1945, where she was vice-president of the senior class and art editor of the school yearbook. Also during her high school years, Gretchen's art work won first prize in a statewide poster contest.

Gretchen attended St. Olaf College between 1945 and 1948, where she studied art, edited the yearbook and literary magazine, served as vice-president of the junior class, and became acquainted with Al Quie. Gretchen left St. Olaf a year short of graduation to marry Al Quie in June 1948 and became a farm wife. For ten years the Quies farmed the family farm in Rice County, near Dennison, Minnesota. Besides driving trucks and tractors, feeding animals, tending gardens, canning, and cooking, Gretchen was busy rearing the eldest four (Frederic, Jennifer, Daniel, and Joel) of her five children. During these years, Gretchen Quie was also involved in church and civic affairs as a Luther League advisor and president of the Dennison Study Club.

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