Our Board of Directors

 

Pat Maroney, Board Chair
Pat is a native of Miner County, longtime business owner and public education advocate. He has owned Maroney's Bar for 40+ years, taking over the business from his father who owned the bar for 23 years prior. Pat has served on the Howard Public Library Board for over 35 years and is an active donor and volunteer for the Dakota State University Foundation. Pat also serves as a Miner County Commissioner.

What does it mean to reimagine rural?
Reimagining starts with a state of mind. In order for people to break the habits that have brought devastation to their communities, they must first break the habit of stale thinking. Life-long learning is a fundamental step in this process: the next is having the agency to do something about it.

 

Mads Andenas, Vice-Chair
Mads Andenas started life in 1948 on a Miner County farm with no electricity or running water, but with unlimited opportunity. Eight years of "Country School" and four years at Howard High School led to a Civil Engineering degree and several years of professional experience in that field. The path led back to Miner County in 1978 when he started farming with his father and brother. Besides grain farming, he operates a farm/home/auto insurance agency which he started in 1981. Mads is married to Chloe Moore, who grew up in Artesian, SD. He has one daughter, Kirsten, who lives in St. Paul with her husband, Reggie.

What does it mean to reimagine rural?
Reimagining "rural" means many things. It means cherishing the rural past and the richness of rural life and rural community, without being imprisoned in the past - unable to adapt to changes in the world about us.  It means building anew on the old but substantial foundations of rural life.

 

Max Schwader, Treasurer
Local farmer - Howard, SD

 

Sue Dillon, Secretary
As a mother, grandmother of 3 young grandsons, wife and businesswoman I have always lived in a small, rural community. Many people don't understand rural life but when they come to a rural area they are enchanted with the solitude it offers.

Rural means knowing and caring for your neighbors and being able to take part in the success of your community. How wonderful it is to feel you can make a difference!

 

Mary Stangohr
School teacher - Howard, SD

 

Dick Peterson
Dick is a life-long Miner County resident. He currently lives on a farm that his family has been operating since 1885. The farm is in its 5th generation. Dick has 3 children, 4 grandchildren, and 4 step-grandchildren. Dick is actively involved in his community, and believes that contributing personally to community work is essential to creating positive change.

What does rural life mean today?
Rural life has changed tremendously in my lifetime. I've seen firsthand how changes in agriculture have directly impacted our rural communities. Today, rural is about moving forward to make the best of what we've got. It's about taking a different approach.

 

Robin Gudahl
Robin Gudahl is the proud mother of one daughter, Brynn, and has lived in Howard for 28 years.  She is currently employed in the Quality Assurance Dept. of PBM Packaging and, along with Brynn, bartends at Maroney's Bar occasionally..

Miner County is a great place to live and raise a family! My hope through the Rural Learning Center is to make it even better than is already is!

 

Lois Perrine
Lois was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, but has lived in rural South Dakota for 21 years now. She is married and has two grown children and four beautiful granddaughters. Lois spends her summer days gardening and making grape jelly from the vines her husband tends. She is also actively involved in her community, and her latest goal is to be more aware of her impact on the environment by thinking 'green' in her daily life.

What does it mean to reimagine rural?
Reimagining rural is about reimagining possibilities. In an age where cities are more crowded, prices are high and people aren't as friendly as they used to be, rural isn't just about being in the country. It's about clean air, friendly faces, and a progressive vision for growing roots that keep us firmly grounded.

 

Tom Kilian
Tom Kilian works in the past and in the future. He is the SD Coordinator for the World Future Society and has been a leader for the SD State Historical Society and many other state and local history and preservation groups. His vision and work has inspired the creation of many important ventures in South Dakota, including Kilian Community College where he served as the school's first president.

Tom is a strong advocate for rural life and believes that a close association with nature can have profound effects on human behavior. He is author of several books, including his most recent "Old Days on the Prairie," which tells of life in Tom's hometown of Vilas, SD from 1920-1940.

 

Bruce Williams
Bruce is a retired pastor who served rural parishes in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and South Dakota throughout his career, including Belleview-Bethany Lutheran Parish in Miner County in the '70's. He is married and a proud grandfather of four. Bruce is also a devoted racing car fan, Marine Corps veteran and occasional mountain climber.

He enjoys the challenge of engaging in the issues of rural life and envisions the Rural Learning Center to be a gift to help "reimagine rural" for the northern plains and beyond.

 

Bob Sutton

Bob Sutton is a South Dakota native who serves as the President of the South Dakota Community Foundation. Hailing from the Heart of the Hills, Bob is a Hill City High School graduate, who received an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Philosophy and a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. He has spent 18 years in Pierre, SD, serving as an association executive and lobbyist for county government, the oil industry, and the financial services industry. Bob also previously served as a vice president at Citibank in Sioux Falls, SD.

Sutton serves on numerous boards of directors across South Dakota, including the South Dakota Housing Development Authority, Avera Health, the South Dakota Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Rural Learning Center.  In his spare time, Bob plays and coaches basketball, reads, and tries to play golf. 

Bob and his wife of 19 years, Lori, have two children, Madison, age 12 and Matthew, age 10.

 

Val Kuhl

Bio coming soon!