Gretchen Wetzel

Gretchen Wetzel is a retired Certified Nurse Midwife, having practiced at Mount Sinai Hospital, Hartford, CT.  Her life’s work has been dedicated to caring, daring, and sharing of her financial resources.   

Gretchen has been a pioneer in many areas of her life, beginning as a member of the second class of women at Dartmouth College, in a time when there were few or no academic or social support services for women or for the LGBTQ community.  Since then, Gretchen has worked to expand student rights in sexual assault cases, to enhance diversity at Dartmouth, and to further both women’s and gender studies programs.  She was a major, founding donor for Triangle House, Dartmouth’s LBGTQ focused residence hall. 

A late bloomer lesbian, Gretchen raised her family and lived around the world with her ex-husband, a retired Partner with Accenture.  She continued her pioneering role while living in Frankfurt, Germany, where she was a gestational surrogate mother for her sister and brother-in-law.  She volunteered with the International Confederation of Midwives in London, helping to provide first-class maternal and childcare to families and children throughout the globe and to enhance midwifery education and services to families of many cultures. 

Gretchen’s philanthropic work has been focused on the following organizations:  The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, DGALA (Dartmouth’s gay alumni organization) scholarships, WISE of the Upper Valley (NH and VT) support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, The Portland (Maine) Stage Company, and The Portland Lesbian Coffee House.  She has served on the Board of Interplay Jazz and Arts, Woodstock, VT. 

Gretchen received a B.A. Degree in Spanish from Dartmouth College and her midwifery training and Masters of Science in Nursing from The Frontier School of Midwifery and Case Western Reserve University.  She resides in Cumberland Foreside, Maine, with her wife Cindy Halliday.  Together, they have six children and eleven grandchildren.