Caroline Erickson

The Caroline Erickson Scholarship was established in 1965 by Mrs. Erickson’s children, in hopes that her work for the cause of education will never cease. Caroline Erickson was a Swedish immigrant who came to Superior, WI in 1901, and had a profound appreciation for the opportunities available in her adopted country. Unable to speak English and possessing only a grammar school education, she could do only a maid’s work. When she married John Erickson, another Swedish immigrant, an unschooled lumberjack in the North woods, she was determined that her children would have an education so that they could achieve a position in life higher than hers.

Caroline lived a hard life, always financially insecure, but she achieved happiness and satisfaction in seeing others get the education she could not have. She never had the money to finance education for her six children, but she had a persistent drive which impelled them all to finish high school and some to continue on to college. Her zeal for education as a requirement for success was almost fanatic and touched others outside her own family. During the depression of the 1930’s Caroline operated a rooming and boarding house on the corner of 17th Street and Lamborn Avenue which served as a home away from home for many students from Superior State Teachers College.