Local host committee honors Minnesota rural champions

July 2, 2011

KanteenThe Minnesota host committee of the 2011 Gathering of the National Rural Assembly honored "rural champions" at the evening program on Wednesday, June 29.

Rural champion awards were given to nine state leaders who have worked on behalf of rural people and their issues.

Recipients were:

  • Jane Freeman
  • Bob Bergland
  • Anne Kanten
  • Al Quie
  • Rod Leonard
  • Cy Carpenter
  • Lou Ann Kling
  • Jim Nichols
  • Sr. Mary Mark Tacheny

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie addressed the Assembly after the presentations, calling on participants to use their love of place to inspire them to act on behalf of rural communities.

This report on the rural champions awards is republished with permission from the Daily Yonder:

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“Now you have to hit the road”

Wednesday night the Rural Assembly gave awards to heroes of rural Minnesota. There were eight people awarded, and for those of us from elsewhere, it was impressive that Minnesota could find such a long list of people who truly lived heroic lives.

Orville Freeman’s wife Jane was one of the eight. She recalled campaigning with her husband when he ran for and won the governor’s office.

“We were fortunate because there was no television,” Jane Freeman recalled. “We had to travel the state.”

Anne Kanten, farmer, "radical" and former deputy secretary of ag in Minnesota was honored as a "Rural Champion" by the 2011 National Rural Assembly.

She and the other Minnesotans received the award from Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture Dave Frederickson. Anne Kanten served as deputy secretary at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. She said she didn’t know if she would speak, but that her preacher said she should let the spirit move her.

The spirit moved.

“The farm and the land and my faith were all tied together in the 1950s,” Kanten began. She said that during the tough times on the farm in the early 1980s she had to “hit the road,” and she took jobs in the cities.

“But I was always proud to say, I am a farmer,” Kanten said. “And I want to assure you that I am a farmer.”

Kanten said that when she was appointed deputy secretary at the ag department in the early 1980s, the St. Paul newspaper ran a headline saying, “Governor Appoints Radical Woman.” Kanten recalled, “I always thought that was a pretty good word, and I have tried to live by it.”

Kanten said her children are now running the farm. Her son lives in the farmhouse where she lived. She was so proud to say that her daughter could drive any piece of machinery found on the farm.

And she had some advice for the Assembly. “You’ve had three days to listen and learn,” she said. It was time now for everyone to go back to their homes and to tell the story of rural America.

“Now,” Kanten said, “you have to hit the road.”
By Bill Bishop