BRAINERD — Five more Brainerd graduates joined the ranks of 45 of their female peers as inductees to the Legendary Women Hall of Fame.
Brainerd Public Schools established the organization in 2018 to honor female graduates who demonstrated exceptional achievement, leadership and service since attending school in Brainerd.
Laura Brutsman Busch, Mildred O’Brien Chalberg, Sheila McKinney DeChantal, Becky McDonough Epidendio and Susan M. Koering are the 2023 inductees, celebrated with a ceremony Thursday, March 2, at the Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts.
“Your journeys remind us we all have a story to share,” said Lisa Salo, chair of the Legendary Women Hall of Fame Committee. “And in the smallest, what may seem to be insignificant moments, we might be the ones who inspire a set of curious eyes, the ones who provide the words, actions and sometimes just the silence and a smile to encourage a young woman or little girl to take the next step so she will dream big, value her skills and value her voice.”
Laura Brutsman Busch (1979)
Laura Brutsman Busch has been a performance artist for 50 years. She went on to attend and graduate from The Juilliard School in New York City and became a member of The Acting Company of John Houseman and Margot Harley, performing all over the country. Her performance repertoire includes an off-Broadway production of “Without Apologies” and an extra part in the movie “Big.” Busch credits her Brainerd Public Schools education for her success at Juilliard and beyond.
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She’s also grateful to the school system for taking care of her four children, three of whom have autism, and feels honored to be recognized by a district that has done so much for her and her family.
“This district had the foresight to do ABA, which is a method of teaching autistic kids,” Busch said after Thursday’s ceremony. “They were open to anything — new methods, new things. And I just feel lucky that my kids grew up in the school district.”
After shifting her career to take care of and advocate for her children, Busch returned to the stage to tour with St. Cloud’s Pioneer Place production of “Fishing Widows” and played a supporting role in “Tilt” a dramatic thriller set in Brainerd with Silent Shout Productions.
She now performs on the stage at Central Lakes College.
Mildred O’Brien Chalberg (1919)
Honored posthumously Thursday was 1919 graduate Mildren O’Brien Chalberg, who attended the College of Saint Teresa and Columbia University.
She taught at Brainerd High School for several years before marrying Jack Chalberg and starting her family. She returned to teaching for one year, as a Latin teacher at Franklin Junior High.
While her teaching career was short-lived, Chalberg’s community engagement was strong throughout her 97-year life. She served as secretary/treasurer of O’Brien Mercantile, was a member of the League of Women Voters and was an alternate delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention. She also sat on the National Council of Catholic Women and the St. Francis School Parent Teacher Association.
Former student John Erickson likens Chalberg to a character from an Agatha Christie novel, saying her “diminutive appearance shrouded a formidable intellectual rigor and vigor within.”
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Accepting the award on Chalberg’s behalf Thursday was her granddaughter, Sarah McGlone.
“It’s been just a great opportunity to reflect back on her life because she’s been gone for quite a while now,” McGlone said. “And I have two daughters of my own, so to be able to look back on a legacy of empowered women has been really rewarding.”
Sheila McKinney DeChantal (1985)
Despite unspeakable personal losses, Sheila McKinney DeChantal has continued to live life fully and give all that she can to the Brainerd lakes community.
Her professional history includes customer service, grant work with businesses and nonprofits, children’s ministry and now marketing director/promotions for 3 Cheers Hospitality.
Her volunteer work extends even further. As president of the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library, DeChantal created the annual Wine and Words Event, which was recognized in 2014 by the Minnesota Library Association as the Best New Friends Event in Minnesota. She has partnered with organizations like the Crossing Arts Alliance, Camp Benedict and the Brainerd Historic Water Tower Preservation, putting together events to raise money for various causes.
In 2020, she created Quarantingo, a Facebook live game bringing together local businesses and those quarantined at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brainerd Community Action named DeChantal the 2020 Outstanding Citizen Of the Year, and the Nisswa Lions Club gave her the Helen Keller Award for Community Building the same year.
DeChantal writes for Her Voice Magazine and the Lake Country Journal.
“I’m just humbled and honored,” DeChantal said after Thursday’s ceremony. “I think we have a really cool community that does some amazing things like this.”
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Becky McDonough Epidendio (2005)
After taking automotive and welding classes at Brainerd High School, Becky McDonough Epidendio went on to study high performance engines and chassis fabrication. Most of her professional education, however, has been earned on the job, working with monster trucks.
Epidendio has been a crew chief, driver and mechanical and body repair technician during her career. She shattered the glass ceiling in the monster truck world, becoming the first female crew chief at Monster Jam, the first female to win a race in a Monster Jam World Finals and boasts eight consecutive World Finals appearances and her own clothing line.
She won the 2016 Minneapolis Freestyle event by executing consecutive backflips with her 10,000 pound truck and was named Overall Event Champion in Minneapolis in 2018 and Atlanta in 2019.
Her monster truck passions have taken her to all 50 states and 27 different countries.
Epidendio could not be at Thursday’s ceremony, so her mom, Marilyn DeRosier, accepted the award on behalf of her daughter.
“It’s amazing,” DeRosier said. “It’s truly inspirational.”
Susan M. Koering (1969)
After graduating from Brainerd, Susan Koering went on to earn a health information management degree from the College of St. Scholastica and a master’s degree in education from the University of Minnesota. In addition to her long professional career in specialized forms of medical information management in large Minnesota hospitals, Koering has a long history of volunteering in her community.
She was on the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society Hennepin County Unit and served as president and education foundation chair of the National Cancer Registrars Association, becoming a leader for more than 5,000 cancer registrars in the country.
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Koering currently sits on the Evergreen Cemetery Association of Brainerd and is the president and newsletter editor of the Pelican Lakes Association. Under her leadership, the lake association was one of the first recipients of the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center’s Research Partnership Award. She supported the research center’s copper control study by providing her family beach as a study site. Koering collaborated with the lake association on the recently released book, “Like on the Lakes: A History of the Pelican Lakes in Crow Wing County.”
“This has been an opportunity and a privilege as I look back at my family history and that I am the only one left now, and what they have done to make the roadway for me, and what I did to take those thoughts and ideas and take them forward,” Koering said Thursday.
Truly legendary
“You truly are a legendary group of women,” Brainerd Public Schools Superintendent Heidi Hahn told the inductees. “You’re inspiring. Hopefully you inspire our upcoming graduates and our graduates for years to come, and I’m grateful to the educators who’ve led to our continued positive and amazing outcomes that change our community and change our world.”
THERESA BOURKE may be reached at theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa.
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