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By Fatima Ali
Throughout her five years at
Appleton North, school nurse
Mrs. Dougherty has had many
great memories, many which
deal with the ability to work
with students, to ensure that
they can maintain a normal
life at school, even when deal-
ing with a health problem.
“There were some silly
things as well, such as get-
ting lost with a wheelchair
on the second floor, and not
knowing what I’m doing,
since I don’t go up there very
often.” During her retirement,
Mrs. Dougherty is planning
to travel in the fall, help out
at her husband’s restaurant,
called Mark’s East Side, and
potentially find a part-time
nursing job around the com-
munity.
When asked if she has
any advice or parting words
for the students at Apple-
ton North, Mrs. Dougherty
said, “I think the most im-
portant thing for everyone
is, if you have your health,
you have everything and
when you don’t have your
health, everything else is
very difficult.” She suggests
taking preventive measures
by asking questions, taking
care of yourself, and keeping
life in balance. “Study hard,
play hard, and give yourself
some down time. Kids get
pushed to accomplish a lot,
so I would say my message
would be, take care of your-
self and balance your life out.
I see students coming in and
they’re all stressed out with
various activities, and that
leads to colds, the flu, or men-
tal illnesses. So somehow
you have to keep yourself
balanced and healthy.”
FEATURES
Appleton, Wisconsin June 2017 Volume XXII Issue VIII Page 8
was to do it for the school so
the people would know who
the Hmong are and what their
story is, and to feature art
drawn by Hmong students and
photographs of some of the
families from when they lived
in Laos. So that’s something I
did as an architect that I’m very
proud of.”
In her 23 years as School
Board president, Fenlon sup-
ported significant changes with-
in the Appleton Area School
District. She was responsible
for hiring each superintendent
within her time on the board
and oversaw the growth of the
charter schools, incorporating
them into the district. Fenlon
created committees within
the School Board, which are
the programs and services,
business, and personnel com-
mittees. Going even further,
Fenlon made it a point to attend
each committee meeting while
also being on the Education
Foundation Board. Appleton
Area School District Superin-
tendent Mr. Lee Allinger said
of Fenlon, “In the decision
making processes, she always
brought it back to ‘what does
this mean for the students and
the staff in the school district?’
And so as a superintendent,
you couldn’t ask for any more,
having that type of person to
work with. Always listening,
focused on the kids, and always
supportive of what’s happening
in our schools.”
There were difficulties in the
role, however. “It’s challenging
to try and communicate with
the Legislature, the funding
that we need and so forth,”
said Fenlon, referencing a time
when they had to freeze salaries
of teachers and superintendent
so not to cut funding for pro-
grams. “I think we have terrific
teachers and terrific administers
and they really understood that
and appreciated the fact that
no one was getting laid off
and no department was getting
axed, so that’s been wonderful.
We had to do that but people
understood. The district as a
whole I think is remarkable
because of the goals and beliefs
that everyone shares about the
importance of students.”
Road to Appleton
Before her years on the
School Board, Fenlon was a
French and English teacher in
a suburb in Minnesota. She
then decided she wanted to
teach overseas and entered a
program that allowed her to
teach in Izmir, Turkey. Fenlon
lived in Turkey for three years
and it was in Turkey that she
met her husband John. “I grew
up in South Dakota and he
grew up in Iowa and we met in
Turkey,” she said with a laugh.
“He had decided while he was
in Turkey to go into radiology
and so he had gone to Washing-
ton University in St. Louis for
his undergraduate in medical
school and he had decided that
they had, and still have, a great
radiology program, so we went
to St. Louis.” While she and
her husband were in St. Louis,
Fenlon got her Masters from
Washington University in St.
Louis in comparative literature
while working as a French
teacher and supervising practice
teachers for Wash U.
“Then we left [St. Louis],
then we were in San Francisco
for a couple of years, then we
came here because my hus-
band, growing up in Iowa, had
spent all his summers on Fence
Lake in Northern Wisconsin,”
Fenlon said. “So living in San
Francisco, we were too far from
Fence Lake, so we’ve been
here since the 70s.”
Recognition of service
As a recognition of her
30 years on AASD’s School
Board, Fenlon was recognized
by Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna
with a proclamation declar-
ing April 10, 2017, as “Sharon
Fenlon Day.” She also received
a Certificate of Commendation
from the Wisconsin Associa-
tion of School Boards (WASB)
along with a legislative citation
for her 30 years of service from
local legislators State Senator
Roger Roth, Wisconsin State
Representative Dave Murphy,
Representative Ron Tusler,
State Representative Mike
Rohrkaste and Representative
Amanda Stuck. Allinger also
recognizes Fenlon’s service to
the community: “to think about
being a community servant,
to serve a Board of Education
and the last twentysome years
as president. It’s the 6th largest
school district in the state, with
16,000 plus students, so to be
the president of that is true
volunteerism. Part of my job
and part of her job are to be
cheerleaders in a way, support-
ers. So many things happen at
North High School and every
other school Sharon has been
at. Has there ever been a school
event that she hasn’t shown up
for at some point? She’s an ex-
tremely good role model in my
perspective of what it means to
serve your community, in this
case serve the kids of the com-
munity.”
What’s next?
As Fenlon enters into retire-
ment, she doesn’t plan to stop
working. “I’m taking Tichi at
the Y, which is very challeng-
ing,” added Fenlon. “I read
a lot; I’m in a serious book
club. We read books and write
papers,” she said. Fenlon also
plans to continue her atten-
dance of various school events.
“I go to everything, I go to all
the plays and all the concerts,
and I’m told that I will get a
gold card,” she added with a
chuckle, “and I can continue to
go to all the events.”
Dougherty on her time at North
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(From left to right) Huntley, Edison, Horizons and Lincoln elementary schools show their
appreciation for Mrs. Fenlon’s service on the Board of Education.
Photos courtesy of AASD
Mrs. Dougherty reminisces in the office where she has spent
her last five years with AASD.
Photo by Henry Ptacek
The Fox Cities is a com-
munity that harbors creatives
of many kinds, from respect-
ed artists like Chad Brady to
event planners like Adrienne
Palm. Bazaar After Dark is
similar to a farmers market: it
has community vendors that
include artists, craftsmen and,
of course, food vendors. The
latest Bazaar After Dark took
place in downtown Kaukauna
on April 29th.
The event filled the streets of
Kaukauna, with many students
from the local area in atten-
dance. Event Production Sys-
tems was able to make such a
large event possible, supplying
power and lighting and setting
up the stage. Adrienne Palm,
the event planner, has used
EPS on multiple occasions, in-
cluding Future 15 of the Fox
Valley. Adrienne works for
the Fox Cities Chamber as the
director of the Pulse Young
Professionals Network. Com-
munity activist Lee Snodgrass
said, “Adrienne has a way of
harnessing the most creative
people, pulling them together
in unique settings that high-
light an overlooked portion of
the Fox Cities…”
Fox Cities market ‘Bazaar After Dark’
keeps the community involved
By Henry Ptacek
Murals created by
local artists, like the
one pictured left,
lined the streets of
downtown Kaukauna
during Bazaar After
Dark.
Photo by Lee
Snodgrass
Ptacek,
Lasting
legacy, from page 1