Democratic state legislator Gervase A. Hephner who represented the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago in the Assembly for twenty years from 1966 to 1986 was born in Rantoul, Wisconsin on February 5, 1936. During his youth he worked for many years as a farm laborer. Upon graduation from Chilton High School in 1954 Hephner volunteered for the U.S. Army, and he served until 1956. He then attended St. Norbert College and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oskhosh with a B.S. in 1960. After graduation he worked for seven years as a systems analyst for Addresso-Graph Multigraph of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
In 1956 Hephner married Kay Berger of Chilton. The couple has raised four children: Mary, Ann, John, and Tim.
Hephner won his first election in 1966, defeating Republican Wilmer H. Struebing by slightly more than 200 votes. The victory made Hephner the first Democrat to hold that seat in thirty years. He was successfully reelected in subsequent elections until he chose to step down in order to run for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1986. Hephner was defeated in the primary by Sharon Metz.
Because of his experience as a farmer (he continued to manage his 600-acre farm near Chilton throughout his legislative career) Hephner was particularly active in agricultural issues in the Assembly. His legislative achievements included a near-decade-long struggle to establish a veterinary school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; the CROP loan program; a vaccination program against brucellosis; redistribution of school aids to help rural school districts; sales tax exemptions to benefit farmers; the Something Special from Wisconsin promotion; and Operation Touch, a program to improve health care for the unemployed and uninsured.
In 1985 Hephner was considered for appointment to the position of secretary of the Department of Agriculture. Also well known for his interest in veterans affairs he unsuccessfully sought appointment as secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs in that same year.
Hephner's committee assignments included serving as chairman of the Excise and Fees (1983, 1985), Agriculture (1971, 1977, and 1983), Consumer and Commercial Credit (1981), Taxation (1971), and Enrolled Bills (1977) committees and as Assembly chairman of the Joint Survey Committee on Debt Management (1979). He also headed the Special Committee on Telephone and Electricity Rate Disparities (1973), the Legislative Council Advisory Committee to the Natural Resources Committee on the Perpetuation of Canada Goose Flock (1973) and the Legislative Council's Special Committee on Private Retirement Plans (1971). A complete listing of his committee assignments is contained in the Wisconsin Blue Books.
Since leaving the Legislature Hephner has been a lobbyist for the National Farm Organization, the Tavern League of Wisconsin, and other organizations.
