Longbotham, Marion (1917 - )

Marion Longbotham

As an extension specialist in home management and housing and a professor of Home Management and Family Living and then Consumer Science, Marion Longbotham taught Wisconsin residents about housing and household appliances for twenty-two years. She authored numerous circulars and resource packets on topics such as shopping for a mobile home, household repair, and selecting and prolonging the life of household appliances. Many of her publications were intended for those with limited incomes. In 1970, she received a three-year $80,000 grant to train managers of public housing for the elderly. Once the funding ended, the managers saw such great need for additional training that they formed their own organization. She also played an important role in extension programs relating to energy conservation in the early 1970s. Her work in home ownership counseling with the Oneida Housing Authority involved teaching energy conservation, finances, and household maintenance to new home owners.

Longbotham received her BS in Home Economics Education from UW-Stout in 1938, after which she taught high school home economics for five years and worked as an extension home economist for nine years in three different Wisconsin counties. She earned a Masters in Home Management (Housing) from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1957, and was appointed an extension specialist at UW that same year. She retired in 1979.