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CHAIRPERSON

Cassie Schetgen

Cassie Schetgen was born and raised in Peosta, Iowa. She attended Loras College, where she obtained bachelor of arts degrees in religious studies and music.

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Cassie is employed by Holy Spirit Parish in Dubuque, where she serves as the Coordinator of Faith Formation. She also teaches piano to several students in the Dubuque area. Cassie is married to Brandon, and they have two daughters, Felicity and Lucy. Cassie's family instilled in her from a young age the importance of standing up for life. She has attended the March for Life numerous times, prayerfully protested outside of Planned Parenthood, helped out at retreats for persons with disabilities, written about the dignity of human life, and served on the DCRTL Board since 2015.

VICE CHAIRMAN

Arthur F. Gilloon, Esq.

Art Gilloon is a senior partner in the Dubuque law firm of Gilloon, Wright & Hamel, P.C.

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He is a 1975 honors graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1978 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law. Art is licensed to practice law in the state and federal courts in Iowa, the state courts of Wisconsin, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He is a founding board member of DCRTL and a member of the organization’s Speakers Bureau. He addresses a wide variety of topics related to life issues including abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, assisted suicide, stem cells, and cloning. Art has also served on the boards of several Dubuque-area community organizations. He was the first chairman of the Dubuque County Mental Health/Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board, and served several years as treasurer of the Dubuque Visiting Nurse Association Foundation Board. He is a past board member and president of Area Residential Care, Inc., which provides residential and vocational opportunities to the developmentally disabled. Art served as a member of The Finley Hospital Ethics Committee for 10 years. He currently serves as a legal advisor to Birthright of Dubuque, Inc., and assists Birthright and Clarity Clinic clients who are experiencing a crisis pregnancy with free legal services. He has also served as DCRTL president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary. Art taught grade school and high school religious education classes for 17 years and also coached girls’ basketball at the YWCA for seven years. He has been married for 39 years and is blessed with a strong and supportive wife, three wonderful children, a great daughter-in-law, and three beautiful granddaughters.

TREASURER

John D. Freund, Esq.

John Freund is an alumnus of Wahlert High School, Loras College (majoring in Economics and English: Writing), and the University of Iowa College of Law.

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John has been an active private attorney since 2004 and founded Freund Law Firm, P.C. in 2010. He practices primarily in the areas of real estate and business advising and is admitted in the states of Iowa and Wisconsin and in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. He and his wife, Amy, have been married since 2000 and have five children who span elementary, middle, and high school. The Freunds belong to St. Columbkille Parish where they are very active. John and Amy enjoy Eucharistic Adoration through the Power of Prayer and at Wahlert High School. John has been involved in several non-profit boards and committees, including serving as the chair for the Dubuque Visiting Nurse Association, Four Mounds Foundation, and the St. Columbkille Finance Council, and he provides legal counsel to other non-profits such as the pro-life maternity home Mary’s Inn. His interests are many and varied, including Chicago Bears football, Shakespeare, history, technological gadgets, and the mass consumption of audio books.

SECRETARY

Sara McDonald

Sara McDonald is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas with a bachelor of arts degree in print journalism and a master of arts degree in catholic studies.

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As a student she participated in pro-life activities, including prayerful protests outside Planned Parenthood, and she served as communications intern at Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL). Her capstone journalisn project examined the nature and preesence of bias in the print media with respect to abortion. Sara has worked in the worlds of publishing, education and nonprofits. She is currently the owner of Yarn Soup and is priviledged to serve knitters and crocheters of all ages and walks of life. She is an active member of St. Mary's Church in East Dubuque, Illinois, and has served on the board of Dubuque County Right to Life since 2016. She resided in Dubuque with her husband.

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BOARD MEMBER

Laura Dolehide

Laura Dolehide is a work at home wife to Jack, mother of 9, grandmother of 8 and small business owner.

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BOARD MEMBER

Leon Jensen

Leon Jensen was raised in Fremont, Nebraska, where he graduated from Fremont Senior High School and Midland Lutheran College.

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BOARD MEMBER

Rebecca McGrane

Rebecca grew up in Waterloo attending Catholic grade school and high school, while being a member of Blessed Sacrament Church.

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She attended UNI where she earned my BA in Early Childhood/El Ed and a Minor in K-6 Science. Rebecca has been married to her husband, Jerry McGrane for 18 years and they have had the gift of raising 8 children; Elizabeth-17, John-16, Brian-15, Laura-13, Maria-11, Daniel-9, Michael-7 and Amelia-2 1/2. She is a stay at home mom and also teaches part time at the local Catholic schools. They are involved at St. Francis Xavier parish. She enjoys daily Mass and being a Eucharistic minister. Her husband teaches at Beckman Catholic High School, where 4 of their children attend school. The other 3 attend St. Francis Xavier School. Her days are busy cooking, cleaning, and running kids here and there. She likes to read, knit, attend bible study and watch movies in her free time. She has attended the March for Life once wiht her oldest daughter and will attend in 2020 with her daughter Laura.

BOARD MEMBER

Katie McGuire

Katie was born and raised on a farm in Bernard, Iowa, and graduated from Aquin High School and Clarke College.

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BOARD MEMBER

Colleen Myers

Colleen was the first employee of DCRTL in 1990 when they opened the office at 1209 Cleveland Street.

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Through that time they kept Planned Parenthood out of Dubuque, took 20 plus buses to Des Moines to stand for Life, started a Mime for Life, hosted a pro-abortion recovery and support group and grew their membership.

Colleen was away from Dubuque for about 15 years which allowed her to be active in other Pro-Life groups in Iowa and Illinois. She was also blessed to be able to travel across the country joining, participating, observing and networking with other pro-life groups.

She is married to John Myers and they have seven children and eight grandchildren. They love being settled back in Dubuque and are members of St. Columbkille's Church. She babysits 2 days a week and is on the Board for the "Miss You Can Do It" pageant. The pageant is for girls 5-25 with physical and emotional disabilities which her cousin started when she was in high school.

BOARD MEMBER

Jessica Pennington

Jessica Pennington grew up in Cedar Rapids. She is a graduate of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, with a B.A. in History.

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After graduating, she returned to Iowa to marry her high school sweetheart, Michael. Michael’s job was in Dubuque, so the couple made their home here in 2012. Currently, she stays home with their rambunctious 5 kids: 6, 5, 3, 2, and 3 months. This year, she is trying her luck at homeschooling their daughter who is a 1st grader. They are active members of St. Columbkille Church.

She loves spending time outside with her family. In her very limited free time she likes to read, crochet, bake, cook, and have adult conversations with friends. When her children are grown, Mike and her hope to see all 50 states and travel abroad.

Standing up for life has been a vital part of Jessica’s life. Her parents taught her the need to respect life in all its stages by their example and hard work. She hopes to instill the same upon her children with her dedication at DCRTL.

BOARD MEMBER

Martha Schmid

Martha has worked in the Dubuque County Right to Life, Inc. office off and on for many years, organizing the March for Life pilgrimage for 8th graders in the area for over ten years.

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Augustine Payne

Augustine Payne is one of thirteen kids (two in Heaven) and grew up in a suburb of Chicago. The whole family was involved in the pro-life movement from a young age.

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After being a leader in the local pro-life group in high school, Augustine attended the local community college where he started a pro-life group on a campus of over 25,000 students. He then transferred from the community college to Ave Maria University where he met his wife Molly, obtained a degree in Economics, and started the university debate team. Augustine and Molly are proud parents of their son, Maximilian Karol.

Besides being actively pro-life, Augustine loves the great outdoors and being challenged. He was able to merge those passions by doing Biking for Babies, which he, along with two of his brothers, were on the team that biked from Dallas, Texas, to Chicago, Illinois.

I look forward to meeting you and learning more about you as we work together to build a culture of life in Dubuque County and the surrounding areas. May God bless and reward you for your commitment to the pro-life movement.

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Julia Schulfer

Julia graduated from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse in May 2020, majoring in archaeology with a writing emphasis and minoring in legal studies.

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She currently lives in Platteville, Wisconsin with her husband, Jacob. Julia is thrilled to be joining the DCRTL team. She has been passionate about pro-life issues since she was a young girl. While in college, she helped to start a successful pro-life group on campus and proceeded to spend one year as president. As president, she helped to design and lead apologetics training, host campus wide displays and events, bring in guest speakers, and organize volunteer opportunities. Julia cannot wait to dive in and help DCRTL fight for the most vulnerable among us.

Get in Touch

Of course, no matter which method you prefer, you can be assured that your contact with us will be treated with complete confidentiality.

If you send us an email, we will not respond to you unless you request us to. In most cases, questions that require no direct response are posted anonymously to our FAQ page.

Dubuque County Right To Life, Inc.

2205 Carter Road
Dubuque, Iowa 52001

M–F 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

563.556.5960
dcrtl@dcrtl.org