2025 Recipient: Dr. Berdie L. Cowser, PhD, MBA, MS
The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs is honored to recognize Dr. Berdie L. Cowser as the recipient of the first annual Anna Mae Robertson Veteran Legacy Award. This award honors Wisconsin veterans whose leadership, advocacy, and community service have made a lasting and meaningful impact across the state. Dr. Cowser’s life of service reflects the spirit and legacy of Anna Mae Robertson, a trailblazer in advancing support, dignity, and opportunity for Wisconsin veterans.
Early Military Service
Dr. Cowser began her service in the United States Army in 1993 and was commissioned as a Quartermaster Corps Officer in 1999 through Auburn University’s ROTC program. Her military experience shaped the leadership, discipline, and compassion that continue to define her work today.
Advocacy for Women Veterans and Families
Dr. Cowser has been a strong advocate for women veterans and for veterans from historically underserved communities. She co-created Boudicca House, the only transitional housing program in Wisconsin explicitly designed for single women veterans and women veterans with children. This program has provided safety, stability, and a sense of community for hundreds of women and families rebuilding their lives after military service.
Leadership in Veteran Housing and Support Services
Over the course of more than two decades, Dr. Cowser has been a leading advocate for veterans in Wisconsin. As the Immediate Past Vice President of Housing and Development with the Center for Veterans Issues (CVI) in Milwaukee, she oversaw statewide housing, suicide prevention, and supportive service programs. She secured significant local, state, and federal grant funding to expand access to transitional and permanent housing for homeless and at-risk veterans.
She led the renovation and expansion of VETS Place Central, now an 81-unit campus and Wisconsin’s largest transitional housing facility for veterans. Her work also advanced new housing developments across southeast Wisconsin, integrating mental health, workforce training, and reintegration services to support long-term stability for veterans.
Advocacy for Women Veterans and Families
Dr. Cowser has been a strong advocate for women veterans and for veterans from historically underserved communities. She co-created Boudicca House, the only transitional housing program in Wisconsin explicitly designed for single women veterans and women veterans with children. This program has provided safety, stability, and a sense of community for hundreds of women and families rebuilding their lives after military service.
Strengthening Community Organizations
Her work extends beyond veteran housing and reintegration. Dr. Cowser is the Founder and Executive Director of a treatment foster group home that provides specialized care for children, including those from military and veteran families. She has also served in leadership roles on numerous boards and advisory committees, including:
• National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (DEI Committee Chair)
• Milwaukee County War Memorial Board (Personnel Committee Chair)
• Cardinal Stritch University Board of Trustees
• Washington High School Foundation Board
• Alabama State University Milwaukee Alumni Chapter (President)
Her service within the Church of God in Christ spans over 45 years, reflecting her belief in servant leadership, grounded in faith and community care.
Service Through Civic Organizations
Dr. Cowser is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Epsilon Kappa Omega Chapter, and The Cream City (WI) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. Through these organizations, she has led initiatives focused on literacy, health equity, veteran wellness, community support, and economic empowerment.
Mentorship and Leadership Development
Dr. Cowser established a lifelong learning initiative that offers internships and service-learning experiences for college students across Wisconsin and the Midwest, focusing on nonprofit leadership and veteran services. She also serves as an adjunct professor of Leadership Development at Waukesha County Technical College, guiding students in developing purpose-driven careers rooted in service.
Lasting Impact
Dr. Cowser’s work has strengthened the systems that support veterans in Wisconsin. Through advocacy, resource development, mentorship, and community building, she has helped thousands of veterans and their families access housing, healing, stability, and opportunity. Her life’s work continues to influence both current and future generations of veteran leaders.
About the Anna Mae Robertson Veteran Legacy Award
This annual award honors a Wisconsin veteran who exemplifies service, integrity, community leadership, and a commitment to uplifting others. The award is named in memory of Anna Mae Robertson, whose advocacy for veterans and families left a lasting legacy of dignity, care, and opportunity.
Beginning in 2008, WDVA established a Woman Veteran of the Year Award to honor exemplary service and outstanding veterans. Recently, we’ve reenvisioned our tools for recognizing outstanding veterans and their service to Wisconsin and our country. To that end, WDVA is proud to announce the inaugural Anna Mae Robertson Veteran Legacy Award, honoring a lifetime of extraordinary service.
Anna Mae Robertson embodies the best of what it means to be a veteran, a trailblazer who exhibited quiet strength and served in what would become the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). She enlisted in 1942 and, after training, set sail for England as a member of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-African American, all-female unit deployed overseas during World War II. The women, all battle-trained, performed an often-overlooked service that was essential to preserving the psychological well-being and morale of over 7 million U.S. service members in Europe during World War II: delivering mail from loved ones.
Robertson was part of this effort to quickly process a backlog of over 17 million letters and packages under challenging conditions. Many letters were addressed improperly, rats had gnawed through rotting food parcels, and there were 7,500 Robert Smiths alone. The unit created a tracking system for all U.S. service members and worked in eight-hour shifts, 24 hours a day, in unheated, frigid warehouses with blacked-out windows under the threat of German rocket attacks. Their motto was “no mail, low morale.” Robertson’s tireless, unglamorous work helped fortify our troops by connecting them with home. The unit received the Congressional Gold Medal in April 2025.
Anna Mae Robertson continued to serve veterans and her community after her honorable discharge in December 1945. She moved to Milwaukee, where she worked as a nursing assistant at Zablocki Veterans Hospital. Robertson participated in the open housing marches in Milwaukee in the 1960s, which paved the way for Milwaukee’s fair housing laws. Treasured by her community, she was named Grand Marshal of the 2025 Milwaukee Juneteenth Jubilee parade. In addition to her service as a volunteer and a veteran, Robertson was a wife to John D. Robertson and a loving mother to eight children who continue to honor her legacy of resilience and courage. She passed away on May 30, 2025, at the age of 101.
Hear Anna Mae in her own words through in our oral history collection.
Learn more about the 6888 here.
Past Women Veteran Award Winners:
- 2024: 2024 -Yolanda Medina, M. Ed., USMC
- 2023: Kerry McAllen, United States Army CSM
- 2022: Marine Corps Veteran Captain Natalie Isensee
- 2021: Lt. Colonel Darcie Greuel, United States Army
- 2020: Joanie Dickerson, United States Navy
- 2019: Gundel “Gundy” Metz, United States Army
- 2018: Kim Graff of Milton, United States Marine Corps
- 2017: Connie Walker of Madison, United States Navy
- 2016: Cindy Brosig of Sun Prairie, United States Air Force
- 2015: Denise Rohan of Verona, United States Army
- 2014: Jennifer Sluga of Waunakee, United States Army
- 2012: Nancy Kaczor of Franklin, United States Air Force
- 2011: Holly Hoppe of Oconto, United States Air Force
- 2010: Jessica Maple of Mosinee, United States Air Force
- 2009: Marjorie Marshman of Madison, United States Marine Corps
- 2008: Connie Allord of Madison, United States Marine Corps