Faye Hilgart

Faye Aileen Hilgart (79) of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, passed away of natural causes at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, on February 14th, 2025.

Faye was born on October 8th, 1945, in Soudan, Minnesota, to parents Arnie Branwall and Eline (Williams) Branwall. Faye was very connected to the earth, spending as much of her childhood as possible outdoors, including at her family cabin on Lake Vermillion, which her father built himself.

Faye was Valedictorian of her class at Tower-Soudan High School in 1963 and earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in Mathematics Education and Physical Education. She spent her summers as a camp counselor at Camp Birch Trail during college. After her first teaching job in Minnesota, Faye took her second teaching position in Glidden, Wisconsin, where she met fellow teacher and her future husband, Francis Hilgart, in the Fall of 1969. They married on the first day of Spring 1970.

Faye and Francis moved to Whitehall, Wisconsin, in 1970, where they took teaching jobs in neighboring school districts and had two children, Erin and Brent. Faye taught at the Blair-Taylor school district for 30 years, from 1970 to 2001. The following school year, Faye started a position in the Madison Area School District as a Mathematics Resource Teacher, where she supported teachers to build teacher and student math confidence, competence, and success. Her peers in that role described her as a model and leader among the team of teacher-educators, and the teachers she supported respected her for both her teaching skills and her mathematical knowledge. Faye became close friends with the group of math resource professionals who she worked with, and this small group of women continued a “Math Club” for years, even after she retired from the school district in 2008.

Throughout the span of her years as an educator, Faye was quietly accomplished. Faye was the recipient of several of the highest awards in her professional field, including the Wisconsin State Kohl Award, presented by Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl, and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching (1997), granted by the National Science Foundation and for which she was honored at the White House by President Bill Clinton. Faye earned her master’s degree and was “ABD” or “All But Dissertation,” completing all of the coursework towards a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota. Faye had her numerous mathematics lessons and professional development articles published in national textbooks and publications.

To this day, former students continue to share stories of how Mrs. Hilgart inspired them to pursue careers in the mathematics and/or education field.

In addition to her love of math, Faye had a passion for reading, swimming, biking, and quiet solitude throughout her life. She also enjoyed travel with her husband and children, which the Hilgart family continued as an annual tradition well into her children’s adulthood.

Faye was preceded in death by her parents, Arnie and Eline Branwall, and brother Dexter Branwall, each of Soudan, Minnesota. She is survived by her husband, Francis Hilgart, of Sun Prairie, WI; son, Brent Hilgart, of St Paul, MN; daughter, Erin Hilgart, Ed.D and son-in-law, Jose Viñals of Woodstock, NY; and grandchildren, Amel and Liesel Viñals-Hilgart of Woodstock, New York.

As were Faye’s wishes, there will be no formal funeral service, and her family will scatter her ashes this summer in Lake Vermillion, near her childhood cabin. In lieu of flowers, the Hilgart family is accepting donations towards a scholarship fund in Faye’s honor for girls pursuing a career in mathematics or mathematics education: https://bold.org/funds/faye-a-hilgart-mathematics-and-math-education-fund/