Sheila Wellstone

Sheila Ison was born and raised in Kentucky, where (although the granddaughter of coal miners) she grew up in a middle class Southern Baptist family with two siblings.

She was uprooted when as a high school junior her family moved to Washington, DC, where at the age of sixteen whe met and started dating her future husband Paul Wellstone.

[1][2] After her husband finished his PhD in political science, he accepted an offer to teach at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, and the couple moved to Minnesota in 1969.

Wellstone focused much of her work on domestic violence, assisting survivors and pursuing policies to support its prevention.

The Sheila Wellstone Institute continues her commitment to building power and visibility to ensure that ending violence against women and children is a national priority.