Board member Nancy Gettelman was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and
at the age of thirteen came to live with her aunt in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin following
her mother’s death. Three years after graduating from Wauwatosa High School she
married Tom Gettelman, who worked at the Gettelman Brewery and eventually
became its president after his father died.
When their two children entered their teens, Nancy enrolled at Marquette
University as a freshman. Three years after her graduation she became Marquette’s
first Foreign Student Advisor. This gave her an opportunity to meet several Jesuits
who would stop there on their home leave from places such as India, and the
Himalayan Kingdoms. Throughout the following years, that same opportunity also
lead to her travels in those countries.
Subsequently, she has written four novels: a romance novel set in Victoria and
three suspense novels. One was set in Bhutan, another in Tibet, with the third, Full
Circle set in Milwaukee and involves a brewery, but not Gettelman. She has also
written two illustrated, non-fiction books: an account of Buddhism in India and the
Himalayan Kingdoms and A History of the A. Gettelman Brewing Company.
