Lydia Bickford

MADISON -- Lydia Buck Bickford Holtshopple, age 69, died peacefully on Friday, September 18, 2015, at Agrace Hospice, Fitchburg, after a brave battle with cancer.

Lydia was born on April 10, 1946, in a Revolutionary-era farmhouse in Morristown, New Jersey, the daughter of John H. Bickford and Lydia Gray Shaw. She graduated in 1964 from the Beard School for Girls, in South Orange, New Jersey, then enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, and later, a Master of Arts degree in English Literature. During her college years she was heavily involved in the promotion of civil rights and in protests against the war in Vietnam. Lydia was a teacher in the Sun Prairie School System.

Lydia's three major passions in life were politics, cats, and sports. In 1982, she worked, with her soon-to-be husband Jon Holtshopple, on Tony Earl's successful campaign for governor of Wisconsin. The following year she and Jon managed Joe Sensenbrenner's first, and successful, campaign for mayor of Madison. Lydia and Jon married, on April 19, 1984, in the Governor's Mansion in Maple Bluff.

In 1992, Lydia and Jon chaired Ada Deer's campaign for U.S. Congress in the Second District. Ada, a Menominee, won the primary in an upset. That same year, Jon and Lydia organized Bill Clinton's New Hampshire volunteer program. Although Clinton was little known there, he won the primary and went on to become President.

When Ada Deer was appointed by President Clinton to a position in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Lydia served as her chief of staff from 1993 to 1997. Lydia served as Interior's Representative to the Presidents Inter-Agency Council on Women and won the Hammer Award for the Interior project. There she wrote the logistical plan, timeline, and taskline for the First Lady's national satellite teleconference: "The UN Women's Conference: One Year Later." For the White House Women's Office, she created "At the Table Internet" to provide a conduit for more than two thousand women to express their concerns.

After her stint at the BIA, Lydia secured a presidential appointment as Confidential Assistant to the Associate Deputy Administrator for Entrepreuneurial Development at the Small Business Administration. There, she assumed progressively greater responsibility during her tenure. She was appointed Acting Deputy Administrator of the Office of Veterans Business Development, and Director of the Welfare to Work Initiative. She wrote a three-year welfare-to-work plan, and received an award from Vice President Gore for her Memorandum of Understanding between the SBA and the Social Security Administration to assist citizens with disabilities to explore entrepreneurship. Lydia served in that position until January, 2001.

After Jon and Lydia returned to Madison, they served in many local political campaigns, always for liberal Democrats. Her friends said that Lydia "was never without a campaign to run."

She also served as Vice President of Ethos, LLC, a woman-owned firm specializing in ethics and compliance processes, management training, and support in the public and private sectors. She also was Vice President of M2BA, a service-disabled, veteran-owned business dedicated to assisting veterans, Reserve and Guard members, and their families to seize economic opportunities. She was also founder of Appar Creative Management, which specializes in strategic planning, project management, political strategy, and entrepreneurship.

Lydia and Jon were generous donors to many charities in their time together. While working in Washington and living in Alexandria, Virginia, they frequently distributed food parcels to the homeless in D.C. The parcels always included a sandwich, a dessert snack--and a pack of cigarettes. They were also fervent opponents of the death penalty.

In Madison, Lydia was well known among all the neighborhood children for distributing the most generous Halloween treats. Their annual summertime "Backyard Bash" parties were, as one friend described, "the hottest ticket in town."

Lydia loved cats, rescued and sheltered many of them, and always shared her home with several. At one point, she housed three cats, named Theodore, Franklin, and Alice, to whom she referred as "the Roosevelts."

Lydia's third passion was sports, especially Badger basketball. This love was doubtless instilled at a young age, when she watched football on television with her father. As a result, she knew more about the intricacies of the game than most male fans. But it was Badger basketball that captured her heart. She knew the game intimately, and held, tongue in cheek, that intentional fouls should be classified as "heinous" or "non-heinous," earning three or two free throws. She held season tickets for many years and contributed annually to the University. She was also a dedicated fan of the New York Mets.

Lydia was truly a unique individual, impossible to classify. Loving, sharp, curious, funny, charitable, outgoing in some ways and private in others, and always, always interesting. She will be sorely missed and well-remembered by her many friends and family.

Lydia is survived by two brothers, John Bickford of Wahalla, South Carolina, and Charles Bickford of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; her step siblings Dorothy Compton and Holly Noelke, both of Austin, Texas; Elizabeth Compton of New York City; Nancy Majoros, Providence, Rhode Island; and Wilson Compton, Washington, DC; her brother-in-law, Jeffrey Holtshopple, in Foothill Ranch, California; by many nieces and nephews, and by Bob and Mary Holtshopple, Jon's parents and Lydia's last remaining family in Madison.

Lydia's family is eternally grateful to the staff of Agrace Hospice, in Fitchburg, for their attentive and loving care of Lydia during her last days.

Lydia's friends and family will gather to celebrate her life on Saturday, October 10th, at the Memorial United Church of Christ, 5705 Lacy Road, Fitchburg, the Rev. Phil Haslanger officiating. Visitation will start at 10 am, followed by services at 11.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Lydia's name to Agrace Hospice Care, 5395 E. Cheryl Parkway, Fitchburg WI 53711, or to the Hillary Presidential Campaign. Lydia wanted with all her heart to live to see Hillary elected. Anyone who knew her would understand and appreciate her fervent devotion and loyalty.

Please share your memories of Lydia.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road Madison
(608) 238-3434