I grew up in Minnesota but came out to the Black Hills to teach. I started here in Box Elder as a K-2 teacher at Douglas School District. I went to Rapid City to teach after 6 years as I was elected to the Douglas School Board where I served for 36 years. I retired after 40 years as a teacher and administrator.  I am married and have two children. They are both married and I have 5 granddaughters.  In 2015 I ran for Mayor and was elected.  As mayor of one of the fastest growing cities in the state I want to make the Black Hills Children’s Museum a reality. It will become a great place for young children to experience learning at its best.  

 

I became interested in children’s museums when we took our youngest granddaughter to the children’s museums in Sioux Falls and Brookings. I came back from there and brought it up at our city administration meeting.   I said, “we need to have a children’s museum in Box Elder.  There are none in western South Dakota.  Box Elder will become a destination.” Everyone was excited about the idea and we started by setting up a board and getting a developer to donate land for the museum right off our main street.  We then got $500,000 donated from another business to get us started.