(dramatic classical music) - Hello, I'm Maryann Lazarski, Producer at Milwaukee PBS.

- And I am Scottie Lee Meyers, also a Producer here at Milwaukee PBS.

- So, we wanna thank you for those of you who've viewed our digital series, "Women Founders: Milwaukee Soldiers Home."

We hope you've enjoyed it.

It's our digital first series and it's kind of a prequel to something bigger that we have planned that we'll tell you about in just a minute, but we just wanted to talk a little bit about how people always ask us, "How did you come up with this idea?"

Or, "Why did you decide to do that?"

So, it kind of started with the bigger picture on Milwaukee Soldiers Home.

So, Scottie and I share an office together, and we often talk about ideas, and one day, I said, "Hey, Scottie, would you like to do something on 'Milwaukee Soldiers Home?'"

And we're both into, you know, Milwaukee history, and as you may have heard in our digital series, a lot of people don't know what that kind of haunted-looking mansion looks like, what it is, by Brewers Stadium, right?

And so I said, "There are a lot of people who know it, but then there are a lot more people who don't know what that is and who it services and what it stands for."

So, one thing led to another, and what do good producers do?

They start to do research, right?

- So, this really started with a really fun meet and greet that we had with Laura Rinaldi and one of our re-enactors Terry.

And we met at Cranky Al's coffee shop and donut place in Wauwatosa, and really, Maryann and I were just looking to pick their brains a little bit about what they knew about this place, some of the history.

We show up and they're waiting for us already, and they have stacks upon stacks of binders and books and pictures, and they are just ready and chomping at the bit to kind of go over this with us.

And it was so fun to hear from them their passion, how dedicated they are to the story of Milwaukee Soldiers Home.

The story of this place really starts with the women, right, Maryann?

- Yeah, and, you know, you kind of heard here and there reading, you know, books and going online and doing some research, but the more we talked to these ladies, we thought, "Wow, people don't know what the Milwaukee Soldiers Home is.

I don't even think they really understand who these women were."

You know, they might have heard something in, you know, passing or read a passage, so, you know, we were talking and I thought, "You know, why don't we do something on these women?"

And March happened to be Women's History Month, so perfect pairing.

- So, we really want to now go into the next phase of this project and tell the larger story, which is the documentary about the Milwaukee Soldiers Home, and we're looking to produce that in time for Veterans Day, the month of Veterans Day in November.

- Yeah, kind of our way of saluting our veterans, and, again, just trying to educate people on what we have here in Milwaukee and what it really means to a lot of people.

You know, again, you know, how do producers find ideas, and how do they, you know, tell their stories?

And, again, a lot of it has to do with research and research and more research, right?

Talking to people and so on, and we stumbled upon a family who grew up, these siblings grew up on the grounds, primarily their teen years, because their father was a chaplain for the VA. And they were living out in Brookfield, but he kept getting called back to the grounds and he thought, "Hey, let's move the family."

So, again, these people were very gracious in meeting us on the grounds, just having them reminisce for us.

And we really wanted that human element, so in this documentary, you're gonna hear from this family and they have some great stories to tell.

Imagine being a teenager growing up on the grounds of the Soldiers Home.

- Maryann, you had mentioned all the research we've been doing.

It's been tough for us to keep track of all the archives and all the image requests we're making from these various institutions.

We've gone to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison.

We've gone to the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

We've been going to the archives at UWM.

And for me, this has been my favorite part, is just going deep.

We're seeing handwritten letters and sometimes we can't even read it 'cause it is in such a cursive format that it's difficult to interpret.

I remember we were going through Lydia Ely Hewitt's folder at UWM and one of the first things we saw when we opened the manila folder was a black silk mourning band that someone, presumably her, wore after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

And here was this artifact tucked in this folder with just history coming alive.

And I think that's kind of what we wanna do in this documentary as well.

- [Maryann] One of the things that struck me is when we started to interview veterans.

Some who live there now and others who don't, but yet have such a passion for the grounds, but also what it stands for.

And they're very, very protective of what it all means.

Take a listen.

- The whole perspective of being here is sometimes overwhelming for me because I can't believe that I'm here.

I can't believe that I'm actually in this hallowed building.

So, it goes way beyond that just living here.

- It's a sign that we care about veterans and what their experience has been and what their experience is now.

'Cause it stays with you.

- So you can tell that these veterans and everyone involved with this facility have an incredible reverence for this institution.

If you have stories, artifacts, pictures, documents that relate to Milwaukee Soldiers Home, perhaps you have a relative or a distant, you know, family member or friend who's been involved with Milwaukee Soldiers Home, reach out to us, we'd love to hear about it.

And we thank you for watching.

And like you said, Maryann, yeah, let's get back to work.

- Let's get to work.

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