Wisconsin High School

50th Reunion

Partner with husband, Mark in a business, “Hoover Consultant” which deals with welfare reform and offender re-entry in New York, Israel, Denmark.
Husband – Mark
Son – married and living in Minneapolis
Son – living in Madison
Granddaughters – (10 & 12)
Sister – Lives in Madison
Brother – Lives in Florida

55^th Reunion – July 24 – 25, 2015

BIO:        Kathleen Allegar Hoover & Mark Hoover

Received:  July 5, 2015

Mark retired after working 34 years in governmental executive positions for the State of Wisconsin in human services.  Mark and Kathleen then moved from Madison to NYC when Mark was offered a job as chief executive officer of the Human Service Agency under Mayor Giuliani.  The agency has over 16,000 employees, 3.5 million clients, and a budget of over $1.5 billion a year.  (Each of the five boroughs in NYC is a county. The city has almost 9 million people)

In addition, Mark was asked by a prominent family in NYC/NJ to establish and operate a foundation as the executive director.  The foundation provided $12 – $15 million of grants to improve the lives of lower income families and children and improve the performance of the nonprofit agencies that served them.

Kathleen left her job of 17 years as a first grade teacher in the Stoughton School System to take the job of education director for the kids in group homes in NYC.  Later she taught teachers under the Superintendent of Schools in the South Bronx and then worked for the foundation in various capacities.

We lived in a wonderful condo on the East River with all of Manhattan splashed out of our

front window in a 44 story high rise with 1,000 people and as many dogs and a public school within the building.  We loved living in NYC with all it has to offer.  We were residential tourists.

After the Mayor moved on, Mark established an international consulting firm that worked in Israel for six years with Netanyahu and Omert on successfully implementing Wisconsin’s W-2 welfare reform program.  In addition, Mark and Kathleen consulted in labor welfare reform in Denmark over four years, Jamaica through the World Bank Project and work engagements in states, cities throughout the US and with federal government.

We are now living in Middleton Hills with our Maine Coon cat, Bob, and little tabby, Phoebe.  (Bob is actually a little person in a cat suit.)  Mark has established a foundation of his own working on behalf of formerly incarcerated people and created and trained a volunteer system of over 50 people to assist in getting folks on health insurance and other public benefits.  In addition, the foundation works on environmental issues and income inequality. He established several S Corporations and a property management company that purchases properties lending itself to property development.  He set up a wealth management firm in a large part to fund the foundation’s work.  Our son, Dan, has joined us in these endeavors.  Both Mark and Dan really wanted to be architects.

Last year a foreign exchange student from Spain stayed with us.  Her family invited us to visit so we going and taking our granddaughter, a junior at UW Green Bay, who is majoring in Spanish and business.  What luck, yes?

We look forward to seeing you all.

Mark and Kathleen

Wisconsin High School

60^th  Reunion – September 17, 2020

BIO:      Kathleen Allegar Hoover

Received:  8/10/20

Note from Ann Haberman Armstrong:

I will not be able to attend the zoom reunion. My very best friend of 75 years, Chris Hegley, died July 31.  I helped care for her these last two years.  She was class of ‘59.  She helped me through the death of Mark so it’s a “double whammy.” I go for walks, bike, and meet with friends outdoors. I just bought a piano and will try to recover my early years of lessons. I’m hoping it’s like riding a bike.

I wish everyone well. I look forward to reading the bios that people have sent in.  I miss you all & look forward to really “seeing” you next time.

Gratefully, Kathleen