Ada Deer, prominent Native American leader in Wisconsin, dies at 88

Born in Keshena, Wisconsin, in 1935, Deer grew up on a Menominee Indian Reservation. She lived in a log cabin near the Wolf River where there was no running water or electricity. In 1957, she became the first Menominee citizen to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a bachelor’s degree in social work. She went on to become the first Native American to earn a master’s degree from Columbia University.