After climbing the ranks at the Association for Non-Smokers-MN, Jeanne Weigum was appointed president of the association in 1980 — a position she’s held ever since without drawing a salary. It put Weigum, a consummate volunteer in St. Paul civic circles, front and center in legal battles against Big Tobacco, inspiring Minnesota Monthly magazine to name her its 1997 “Minnesotan of the Year.”

Weigum, who developed an appreciation for nature growing up in the prairies of South Dakota, has worked tirelessly on civic campaigns large and small, including ongoing efforts to block or remove billboards throughout the city, which she equates to blight, through Scenic St. Paul. And she was a longtime president of the Friends of the Parks and Trails of St. Paul and Ramsey County, helping to establish a no-net-loss rule around real estate development impacting the city and county’s parklands.

Jeanne Weigum, president of the Association for Nonsmokers-MN since 1980, will be honored Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023 when the St. Paul City Council declares “Jeanne Weigum Day” in the city of St. Paul. Weigum has been a longtime advocate for tobacco restrictions, as well as fewer billboards in the city. (Courtesy of the Association for Nonsmokers-MN)

Weigum, a foster parent to rescued dogs, also founded Pooches United with People, which provides wellness clinics for rescued animals in remote areas and places them in loving homes, as well as Weigum’s Great Plains Landscape Arboretum in Mobridge, S.D., to test and demonstrate trees, shrubs and perennials in extreme environments. She also created and tends ornamental gardens on Summit Avenue and Mississippi River Boulevard.

With a resolution calling her the “grande dame of advocacy and community building in St. Paul … and beyond for the past 50-plus years,” the St. Paul City Council voted 7-0 on Wednesday to name Dec. 13 as “Jeanne Weigum Day.”

Wearing a T-shirt that reads “I Support A Nicotine-Free Generation,” a beaming Weigum told the council she was flattered, but she noted she still had plenty of fights ahead of her, including campaigns against a proposed digital billboard at Interstate 94 and Minnesota 280, as well as disposable e-cigarettes that are proliferating as litter in public spaces.

“It’s been a good run,” said Weigum, adding a note of caution for the newly elected council members. “This is my warning: The majority of the council is leaving, but I’m not. … I’ll be here to say no thank you.”

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