We are excited to announce a very special award that was presented thisyear. The MIC was cofounded by F. Robert Starr and fellow farmers and business men back in 1958. The MIC grand prize award is named after him. His wife Ethel supported him in his many endeavors over the years, always joining him at the Minnesota Inventors Congress event. Sadly, Ethel passed away recently and the family has graciously given us a memorial to present in her name. The Board of Directors have elected to use the funds for a special award recognizing the most supportive spouse.

So we offered our inventors the opportunity to nominate their spouse to be recognized by the MIC and the Ethel & Bob Starr family with a certificate and gift of $500.00.

The Starr family's choice for the Ethel Starr Award is Joy Mills. This is her husband Johns' response to the questions:

            1. How many years have you been inventing? Like many farm/rural folk I have always made things to solve routine problems. This is the first time I thought the invention (J-wheelz) might be marketable. The process started over 2 years ago.

2.  Does your spouse support you throughout the invention process? Absolutely. She picks up odd parts from hardware stores without Question. She has helped set up and is taking care of bookkeeping responsibilities. She makes sure the bills get paid - even when she knows that means our savings account has to be "tapped" to do it.

            3. Does your spouse attend events, like the MIC, with you and participate in

the process?  She is here this weekend in full support - from set-up through tear down - because my son (co-inventor) could not be and she recognizes it takes two.  No complaints either - in fact she seems glad to do it.