FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Friday, June 4, 2004

CONTACT:  Jeff Mammenga, (605) 773-6000

Historical Society board of trustees has three new members

PIERRE, S.D. -- The South Dakota State Historical Society board of trustees has three new members this spring.

Two were determined by the annual election and one was appointed by Gov. Mike Rounds. The 12-member board of trustees governs the State Historical Society, headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center. Six members are elected by the membership and the governor appoints six. State law specifies that the board must include a professional archaeologist, architect, architectural historian, archivist and historian.

Robert Kolbe of Sioux Falls, a 25-year member of the society, was elected to a three-year term as an at-large member. Other candidates for that position included Charles “Chuck” Cecil of Flandreau, Jon L. Lauck of Brookings, Douglas P. Sall of Yankton, Everett Schmid of Plankinton, Ted Thoms of Sioux Falls, Dana R. Vaillancourt of Huron and David A. Wolff of Spearfish.

Dr. Gayla Koerting of Vermillion, the archivist for the I.D. Weeks Library at the University of South Dakota, was elected to a three-year term as the board’s professional archivist. Her opponents in the election that saw more than 500 ballots returned by society members were David Kemp of Sioux Falls and Laurie Langland of Fulton.

Elizabeth Squyer of Sioux Falls, an architect with Architecture, Inc., of Sioux Falls, has been appointed to replace R.Z. Hazard of Sioux Falls as the architect on the board.

Gov. Rounds recently reappointed John D. Fowler of Elk Point to an at-large board position. Fowler is currently retired and restoring his childhood home in Elk Point.

Memberships are a major source of revenue for the State Historical Society, a division of the Department of Tourism and State Development. For more information on becoming a member and helping to fund the society’s work in preserving and protecting South Dakota’s heritage, contact Jeff Mammenga at (605) 773-6000 or Jeff.Mammenga@state.sd.us.

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