Nominated 2023
Maria was born in England in 1945 and immigrated with her parents to the United States two years later on a decommissioned troop ship later arriving in Milwaukee Wisconsin by train. Her mother was a nurse, and her father was in the Royal Air Force during World War II. She graduated from Greenfield High School in 1963. While in school she was crowned Miss Greenfield in the junior Miss Wisconsin pageant of 1962. She won first place with her senior science project in the Wisconsin Science Fair and was awarded a full 4-year scholarship at Mount Mary University. She graduated in 1967 with a double major in Biology and Chemistry. She was a member of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society. Summers she worked at a quality control chemistry laboratory at Miller High Life in Milwaukee.
Her first job after graduation was teaching science at the High School in Green Lake, Wisconsin. That same year she married Ron Kolpin and moved to Berlin Wisconsin. While living in Berlin for 37 years, Maria was a member of the Althena Literary Club, the Jaycettes, the Junior Woman’s Club and involved with the Scouting program.
After raising their three children, Maria went back to school and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 1985 with a BSN degree in nursing. While at school she was a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Society of Nursing. She was also a member of the American Association of University Women. She then worked for a time as an RN at the Berlin Memorial Hospital.
By the late 1980s she joined her husband in working at the family business, Kolpin Manufacturing when they consolidated their two locations and moved to the newer facility in Fox Lake, Wisconsin. Here she created a Wellness program for their employees. She taught classes such as ‘Stop Smoking,’ weight loss, stress management among others. Kolpin Manufacturing was the first factory/offices to go smoke-free. She offered free immunizations to all employees. She created a ‘Quiet Room’ in the middle of the factory where an employee could go for 30 minutes to destress. This Wellness program became o successful that other factories and businesses asked for her help to create their own Wellness programs.
In 2001 the Kolpins sold their business and moved to Pagosa Springs, Colorado. She immediately noted that although there were medical clinics in town, the closest hospital was 65 miles away and Maria knew what a problem this could be. In 2005/06 she began serving on a committee to raise funds for building a hospital. By 2008 their new facility was opened thanks to the generosity and hard work of the citizens. Today Pagosa Springs Medical Center Foundation has the responsibility to raise funds to continue this most needed service.
A favorite thought: “Taking good care of yourself, both physically and mentally is your most important job, only you can do it.”