Lynde Bradley Uihlein attended Colorado Rocky Mountain School from 1961 until she graduated in June 1963. Labeled a progressive school for its cutting-edge approach to education, CRMS was young and small, pulling a student body of about 100 attendees from all over the country. They came from a variety of backgrounds: some from academic families, some from western ranching communities, some from urban or suburban environments, some even from overseas. The culture shock was intense for her, the high level of academic expectation daunting. She was homesick.

Her friendships alleviated some of the pressure, but it was the music that won her over: Dan playing his banjo, introducing her to folk music; Sidney who played her recordings of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez; Big Sing; the Madrigal Group led by Ted Rickard; Ted’s wife Flo singing in concert “Le Cigarette”.

Paula Mechau showed her great kindness. Rolleen Stricker cracked open her mind.

The classic late bloomer, Lynde spent her two years at CRMS fooling around with classmates, persuading John Holden to give her smoking permission, and getting suspended for drinking Glühwein on a skiing trip to Aspen. Mercifully, the Holdens let her back in school and she was able to graduate. 

College was not so different. She left Bennett Junior College after a semester, transferred to the University of Colorado, got caught up in the 60s, dropped out, then finally finished her degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Ann Holden said to her once, speaking of another late bloomer, “Sometimes we wait a very long time.”

After employment as a child care worker in a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed boys, she returned to school, completing a Master’s Degree in Social Welfare. Working as a Psychiatric Social Worker, she soon married and followed her husband to Connecticut where she was employed by Yale-New Haven Hospital in their early efforts at abortion counselling.

Two children followed, and her preferred path was motherhood. Her marriage broke apart after 12 years. Concomitantly, the family business was sold, presenting her with new opportunities.

Family philanthropy had been an influence throughout her life, but now Lynde was in a position to follow her own interests, primarily women’s rights. She founded Brico Fund, short for the French term bricolage, or “do it yourself”. Bricolage also refers to a fairy tale describing a hero who carries on without always knowing the consequences of his actions (Puss in Boots, for example). She was making it up as she went along.

About this time, she was invited to join the CRMS Board of Trustees. The school had been through some changes, and Chris Babbs was hired to right the ship. She was grateful for the opportunity to influence the emotional development of adolescents and give something back to the school.

Fast forward to the present. Brico Fund has taken root and grown into a respected entity in her community. Its areas of grantmaking have expanded to include a broad range of women’s issues with reproductive rights at the center; ecology, especially the climate and environmental degradation; land preservation; community needs; and political action.

Along the way she purchased a dairy farm in her neighborhood and converted it from cows to goats. The Blakesville Dairy herd is now on average 900 head. Blakesville Creamery was established in 2020 and has been producing award winning cheeses since then. 

Lynde has also been the steward of a family property, Afterglow Farm, preserving the 220 acres in partnership with the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. Among other activities, Afterglow and LMBO together are evaluating habitat, eradicating invasives, monitoring purple martin colonies and attracting kestrels to the property. For fun she tends 10 acres of Wisconsin oldfields, restoring plants to their native habitat. Every minute available she spends with her children and grandchildren.

In hindsight, CRMS taught Lynde about difference, exposed her to excellence, demanded selflessness and team effort. She believes her two years there were the seminal experience of her development as a human being. Time spent at CRMS was an opportunity that ultimately influenced her finding a place in the world and her trajectory as a philanthropist. She is honored to be invited to join the 1953 Society.

Lynde Uihlein ‘63 Tribute
By Dave Davenport ‘63

One of Lynde’s CRMS classmates from 60 years ago remembers her as friendly, quiet and rather shy. In her classes she was deeply moved by the poets and novelists she studied, particularly in Rolleen Stricker’s Senior English course. Lynde has had a lifelong love of poetry and even now she can recite poems or lines from poems she came across her senior year.

Her classmate thought that Lynde really came into her own after CRMS when she became a philanthropist and was able to focus on causes important to her. On a national level, these included women’s rights, the environment and the climate crisis. She is particularly concerned with the need for land conservation and clean water. On a local level, Lynde supports efforts to clean the waters of Lake Michigan and to restore and protect the landscape where she lives in southeastern Wisconsin. She is actively working to preserve the natural habitat of the wildlife she loves.

In addition to her social and environmental work she still finds time to run a large farm that is listed in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Gardens. It is called Afterglow Farm and it operates a CSA, that is, a community supported agriculture program that raises organic fruits and vegetables and eggs for local subscribers. Among other distinctions it is recognized for its innovative use of clean waste water for irrigating its crops and gardens.

If the farm weren’t enough to fill her time, Lynde is also overseeing a herd of roughly 1,200 sheep and goats on an adjoining property. Those sheep and goats produce, among other things, milk. So Lynde decided to build a creamery to use the milk to make cheese. This is not just run-of-the-mill cheese. It is good enough to compete in something called the annual World Cheese Championships.

To be honest, I don’t know much about cheese competitions, but this one turns out to be a big deal. This year Lynde’s cheeses were judged against over 3,300 entries from famous cheesemakers based all over the world, in 25 separate countries and 34 American states. She may be too modest to mention it, but a few months ago, Lynde’s cheeses won 3 separate awards at this year’s World Cheese Championships.

She is truly a remarkable person and we are pleased to invite her to join the 1953 Society.