Distinguished Acheivement Hall of Fame

In early indications of the superlative career Ann Nelson (BHS 1962) would have with US West Telephone, she participated in Future Teachers of America and was the business manager of the BHS student newspaper. Similarly, but later, with her Bemidji State history major.

For decades after her US West retirement, Ann has been a key researcher and writer regarding the now over 150 years of Brainerd history, principally volunteering for the Crow Wing County Historical Society, Brainerd Public Schools Archives, the Evergreen Cemetery Association and the widely used online service Find-aGrave.

Ann’s working life began as a classroom teacher. Although she was a K-12 teacher 60 years ago, Ann recently received the highest of honors to be bestowed on a teacher: A student from Ann’s past recently sought out Ann to visit her.

responsible for training and workshops regarding racism, sexism and gender awareness for all US West employees, covering most of the mid-western and western states, from Canada to Mexico.

She promptly then became US West’s District Accounting Manager, with 500 employees in her office, responsible for payroll, accounts payable and billing in US West’s Omaha, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver and Salt Lake City offices. Shortly after that, she became the director of accounting, with all accounting duties plus development and implementation of an accounts payable system for all of US West.

Ann Nelson | BHS, 1962

Ann always has been a “pioneer,” her “can do” approach to life helping her break corporate glass ceilings in US West. She began as what was once known as an “operator” in the Brainerd office of the then Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, then immediately and steadily rose to managerial positions in Operator Services covering increasingly expanded geographic areas, including Duluth, Minneapolis and Omaha.

Her teaching and efficiency skills were noted, causing her promotion to district manager for organizational effectiveness and human resources for all Northwestern Bell departments only after 10 years from her operator start in Brainerd. When the Bell system was broken up and US West created, Ann was made

Ann’s proudest moments from her US West career were when three of her subordinates became chief financial officer of Des Moines Public Schools, chief financial officer of the largest newspaper in Nebraska and initial designer — manager of Hennepin County’s first 911 office.

Ann’s “labor of love,” however, has been building free and accessible computer access to an enormous Brainerd and Crow Wing County historical database, thousands of pages of text and images, requiring several years of Ann’s life to complete.

Her history work has included writing articles appearing on the CWCHS website, narratives for select periods in Brainerd history and use in Brainerd History Weeks, short biographies for select individuals buried at Evergreen and a lead article for The Mainstreeter, the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association’s magazine.

Ann Nelson: Exemplary educator, historic business leader and leading edge historian.