Mark Helpsmeet

Mark Allen Judkins was born on June 11, 1954 in Darlington, Wisconsin. He attended Oconomowoc High School, and, upon his graduation, pursued higher education at Carroll University. While attending college, he studied math, computer science, physics, and speech communication. He ended up graduating with a bachelor's degree. After graduation, when he was twenty-three years old, Helpsmeet volunteered with the Peace Corps. He ended up going to Tabligbo, Togo in 1977, where he taught physics, chemistry, and math in French in a lycée. During his time there, he organized a Science Club for his students and took them on their first field trip. He left Togo in 1979 to return to Wisconsin.[2]

Helpsmeet lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the next eight years of his life, and, during this time, he became a war tax resister. In April 1980, he became a member of Religious Society of Friends in Milwaukee. While living in Milwaukee, Helpsmeet obtained another bachelor's degree and then went on to teach several introductory level physics courses at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee from 1981 until 1986. That same year, Helpsmeet founded the group "Friendly Folkdancers." He and the group have since then toured across the United States, as well as internationally in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Rwanda, Scotland, and Wales. The Friendly Folkdancers still remain connected to many of the main offshoots of Friends throughout the United States and over twenty Quaker Yearly Meetings worldwide.[3] In 1988, Helpsmeet moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin in order to begin a computer programming/consulting company by the name of Infinity Software Solutions. He also founded the nonprofit organization Northern Spirit Radio in 2005 and has interviewed nearly one thousand guests for his programs since then.[4]

In 1984, Helpsmeet married Anne Lucille Fisher. The two of them decided that they wanted to take the same last name. They chose the name "Friend," and Helpsmeet changed his full name to Mark Judkins Friend. They had a son on November 7, 1986 who they named Chris Leslie Friend. The couple got divorced in 1990, and Helpsmeet's name changed back to Mark Allen Judkins. He married Sandra Lee Moessner in 1994, and they decided on the last name "Helpsmeet." They then became Mark Judkins Helpsmeet and Alethia Sandra Helpsmeet.[5]

• Northern Spirit Radio
• Friendly Folkdancers
• Infinity Software Solutions
• Eau Claire Friends Meeting