Hall of Fame
Barbara Hallberg Kruse was busy during 1974-78.
After graduating from Forest Lake High School, Barbara began working on her bachelor of science degree in dietetics at CSB. During this time she participated in both volleyball and basketball.
She spent four seasons on the volleyball court and three years with the basketball program (during her fourth year she finished up her course work in dietetics at the University of Minnesota). During her career as a student-athlete Barbara was a co-captain for each sport as well as Most Valuable Player.
The influential factor for her attendance at CSB was the intercollegiate athletic program that had just begun.
"The College of Saint Benedict provided me the opportunity to do something I truly loved and enabled me to use my gifts as an athlete," said Kruse. "Sports were so much a part of my life. I didn't realize it then, while I was practicing and playing, but I was also reaping valuable benefits; primarily a great education. I also feel that the seeds of a social conscience were planted during those years, which continue to grow and flourish as my life plays out as a Christian, woman, wife, mother and professional."
Following graduation, Barbara was accepted into the dietetic internship program at St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center which she completed in one year. She became the director of nutrition services at the Regina Memorial Hospital in Hastings, Minn., for four years. During that time Barbara remained active playing volleyball on a city league. In the spring of 1982, she and her husband Joe, a Saint John's graduate, moved to La Crosse, Wis., where they both accepted positions at St. Francis Medical Center. Barbara was a supervisor of the food production and wellness dietician when she retired in 1986 to raise her children. She remains an active member of the American Dietetic Association, Wisconsin Dietetic Association and La Crosse Area Dietetic Association and has held several offices on the board, including president. As of 1996, Barbara was the chairperson of the Coulee Region Crop Walk for hunger and was involved in the St. Clare Health Mission, which provides free health care to uninsured people.
Barbara and Joe have four children: Ben, Paul, Joe, and Mark. They reside in La Crosse Wis.
