|
|
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
|
|
Time to let go Kay LaFrance leaves Northland Arboretum to return home Outdoors Editor Kay LaFrance says she's lived in the two best places in the nation.
A native of Montana, LaFrance moved to Minnesota in 1995. In Brainerd she found work at Universal Printing and then In-Fisherman before taking a job "like no other on the planet."
That job was director of the Northland Arboretum, which turned into a labor of love that LaFrance found hard to let go. But let go she finally did. Saturday, LaFrance hitched a trailer to her SUV and pointed it west to Bozeman, Mont., where soon she will begin a new job as director of development and marketing at Montana State University's College of Nursing.
"We loved every second here, but we missed Bozeman every second, too," said LaFrance, speaking on behalf of her husband, Dan, who has found work as a landscaper in Bozeman. "There's something about that mountain air. Minnesotans feel the same way about their trees and lakes. We always knew we'd go back. It just took us longer than we thought."
The reason, LaFrance said, is because she became attached to the arboretum.
"I came in at a great time," said LaFrance, the fourth director in the arboretum's history. "Look what's happened with this city since 1999. Green space and trees started to mean something. The arboretum is in the middle of two cities. Just 30 years ago this was the dump and it was way out of town."
The gatehouse, a maintenance building and an outhouse were the only buildings on the property when LaFrance came aboard. Except for summers, when a part-time worker was hired, LaFrance did the work alone. She mowed the trails, weeded the gardens, went to city council meetings. Her office was wherever she found it: at home, in her car, on a picnic table.
"At one point," LaFrance said, "somebody -- I don't remember who -- said to me, 'Forget about the mowing and go find money. It'll be bad for a year or so, the place will look terrible, but ...'
"That was the best advice I ever got. Go find money so I wouldn't be married to the place, so it could move forward and not just be in survival mode. So that's what I did."
In reviewing the work of her predecessors, Rudy Hillig, Dick Beal and Kent Montgomery, LaFrance said, "Rudy got the basics established, Dick concentrated on securing the property, and Kent emphasized the education programming. The arb was moving in the right direction from the start."
And how does she want her tenure at the arboretum to be remembered?
"Mostly that I continued to move it forward," LaFrance said. "When I was interviewing here they asked me why I thought I should get the job. I said, 'Because I think I can make a difference.' I hope I made a difference. I feel we've moved forward."
Indeed, the arboretum took a huge step forward this past year with the opening of the new visitor's center, which has 4,700 square feet on the main level and equal space on the as-yet unfinished lower level. LaFrance finally got an office -- a corner office with windows facing two directions, no less.
Arboretum membership today stands at 600 and is growing. Annual visitors number about 25,000 per year. Grants and gifts are the main source of income. Because the Paul Bunyan Trail runs adjacent to the arboretum, federal grant money was secured and helped pay for the building and the new parking lot. The city of Brainerd provides an annual levy.
On one of her last days on the job LaFrance said she leaves with complete confidence that the arboretum will continue to fulfill its mission.
"I'm totally confident in our board," she said. "They know where they want to go. They're willing to take risks and do the work. The gardeners, the people answering phones, mailing letters, working on the capital campaign. They didn't get paid. I did.
"I'm glad I'm not applying for this job now. I looked at the applications as they came in and was amazed at their qualifications. I wouldn't have gotten an interview."
At 540 acres, the arboretum has reached peak size. There is no more acreage to be added. But the arboretum will continue to grow in importance to the twin cities of Brainerd and Baxter and all the people who call them home, thanks in part to the work of Kay LaFrance.
VINCE MEYER can be reached at vince.meyer@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5862.
|
|
|
Thinking about a New Job?
These employers want you!
|
|
Schools has an opening fo...
|
|
not a
9-5 person,
how about
11-2, 4-...
|
|
CASH!!
Independent Carrier need...
|
|
position plans sales trai...
|
|
is hiring for the following
...
|
|
|
|
Bids Being Accepted
call...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Today's Best Classifieds:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Overcast, 61°
