Syb Gullickson, former longtime Forum Lifestyles editor, dies at 88

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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

EARLY EDITION

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A DAY FOR PATRIOTS

Eric Hylden / Forum News Service

Gov. Doug Burgum responds during a Q&A at the 701 Coworking Space in downtown Grand Forks on Jan. 18 during his visit to the city.

State auditors looking at Gov. Burgum’s use of planes

ABOVE: Jim Shaw greets guests Dave and Dee Pretty of Moorhead on Monday during a Patriots’ Day celebration at the Clyde and Esther Allen home in south Moorhead.

By John Hageman Forum News Service

RIGHT: Clyde Allen, right, chats with guest Ken Lever of Fargo on Monday during his Patriots’ Day celebration at his home in south Moorhead.

Photos by David Samson / The Forum

Massachusetts natives bring Patriots’ Day tradition to F-M with colonial garb, tea and a party

By Kim Hyatt khyatt@forumcomm.com Moorhead f you want to know how difficult it is to find patriotic decorations or costumes in Fargo-Moorhead during the middle of April, just ask Clyde Allen or Jim Shaw.

The two Massachusetts

I

natives have spent the past 25 years calling each other on the third Monday of April to wish each other a happy Patriots’ Day. It’s always a race to see who calls first to shout “Down with the British!” and recite the poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

But they both decided the routine was insufficient for celebrating the start of the

Revolutionary War, so they decided this was the year to host a party.

“Nobody has ever heard about this holiday around here,” Shaw said Monday, April 16.

“I thought Patriots’ Day was a national holiday until I went to college in Chicago.”

PATRIOTS’ DAY: Page A5

BISMARCK — An audit of Gov. Doug Burgum’s travel expenses includes an examination of the use of state Department of Transportation-owned airplanes.

State Auditor Josh Gallion is conducting a performance audit focused on “travel related expenditures and use of state resources” by Burgum’s office. DOT spokeswoman Jamie Olson confirmed auditors are looking at flight information but Gallion, a Republican, has declined to discuss details of the inquiry, making its full scope unclear.

Gallion said he hopes to complete the examination in two to three months.

Burgum’s spokesman

Mike Nowatzki defended the governor’s use of state airplanes Friday, April 13. He said “each trip is thoughtfully planned with a priority on maximizing the time and effectiveness of the governor and lieutenant governor and the travel expenses to support being present with North Dakota citizens.”

“The governor’s job is not a desk job in Bismarck.

It demands and requires higher levels of engagement,” Nowatzki added.

Burgum’s office logged roughly 49,700 miles on three planes owned by the DOT in the year after he took office Dec. 15, 2016, according to flight summaries provided by the department. That

BURGUM: Page A5

Emotional candlelight vigil held in Fergus Falls in remembrance of 6-year-old who died of abuse

By Kristin Goosen Fergus Falls Daily Journal FERGUS FALLS, Minn.

— An impassioned candlelight vigil was held in remembrance of Justis Rae Burland Monday evening at Hilltop Celebration Church.

Grief, anger and, most notably, hope were emotions heavily prevalent in the numerous attendees Mathew Holding Eagle / Fergus Falls Daily Journal gathered in the chapel.

Kayloni Nelson introduced herself as Justis Burland’s A week ago, the 6-yearcousin at the vigil Monday and shared memories of the old boy residing in Fergus Falls passed away, leavboy with attendees.

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ing behind a mourning community here and in his home state of Washington.

In the folBurland lowing days, there have been more questions than answers surrounding the young boy’s life, particularly about the abuse he had allegedly suffered at the hands of his caregivers.

The chapel wasl filled to capacity, with folding chairs being brought out for the influx of mourners at Hilltop.

Shawna Zelinsky, who started The Blessing Closet with her mother, Emily Zelinsky, organized the vigil for Justis as he and his twin brother were frequent visitors.

“I hope people walk away feeling better than when they came in,” Shawna Zelinsky said. “I hope they

leave feeling hopeful and that we can make a difference in our community.”

She began the vigil with a testimony and a message of hope in the face of tragedy.

“We need to start learning from our mistakes, we need to stop pointing fingers at the other side and we need to stop bringing even more division into our world,” Shawna said.

VIGIL: Page A5

Syb Gullickson, former longtime Forum Lifestyles editor, dies at 88

By Danielle Teigen danielle.teigen@forumcomm.com FARGO – Syblann “Syb” Gullickson, who served as the Lifestyles editor of The Forum for 16 years, died Sunday, April 15, in Mesa, Ariz., after a short illness.

She was 88.

She was born Dec. 9, 1929, in Bottineau, N.D., and graduated from high school in 1948 in Grand Forks. She graduated with a degree in education in 1952 from St. Cloud (Minn.) State University, where she met her husband, Will Gullickson.

They were married June 3, 1951, in Grand Forks.

Her son, Glenn Gullickson, said his mother expected to become a teacher. When she and his father moved to Moorhead, she applied in 1963 to be a bookkeeper at the Red River Scene, a weekly newspaper only a decade old.

However, they needed someone to write about weddings and events, so she became a writer and columnist, eventually becoming the women’s editor.

On March 17, 1966, Gullickson began working at The Forum as a wom-

en’s reporter. In December 1978, Gullickson was named editor of the women and family department (which would eventually be renamed the Lifestyles section of The Forum), a post she retained until she retired in March 1995. She moved to Mesa, but spent her summers at Lake Washington near Mankato, Minn.

She was active in the North Dakota Press Women/Professional Communicators, serving as president of the organization in 1977 and 1978.

She also coordinated the

Forum file photo

Syb Gullickson.

group’s state and national contests for several years.

She was named the state group’s Communicator of Achievement in 1990.

GULLICKSON: Page A5

Local News

The Forum

VIGIL

2 months old until they were 2 years old.

“It breaks my heart,” Nelson said, before sharing memories of the boys and their curly hair bouncing as they bobbed to music.

“We want change. We want this not to be in vain.

We want a change for CPS (Child Protective Services),” Nelson said. “My aunt started a Change. org petition to start a nationwide CPS database so that no one can go unanswered anymore.”

Nelson hopes that no more children will “fall between the cracks anymore.”

Other family members shared similar sentiments, urging change.

With tensions and emotions high, the vigil became briefly unhinged in the middle, with some in attendance shouting out their accusations before being reined in by the Rev. Jeremy Mueller who reminded them the purpose of the candlelight vigil was hope, and not blame.

“Some of us had a chance to meet him and many of us didn’t and we would like to hear as many good things as we can about his short life,” Mueller said.

Shortly thereafter, the

attendees began to sing “Jesus Loves Me,” the popular children’s hymn, before lighting their candles in a somber moment of remembrance.

At the end of the vigil, Shawna announced that donations were being taken to both construct an angel memorial for Justis and also to give to his twin brother.

For those who would like to donate and could not attend, contact Shawna Zelinsky via the Fergus Falls Families in Need Facebook page or Hilltop Celebration Church at 525 MN-210, Fergus Falls, Minnesota, 56537, or 218736-4529.

Minn., and their children, Grace and Paul.

Glenn Gullickson, who went on to have a journalism career of his own, remembers his parents talking a lot about their jobs when they’d come home at night, which inspired his own career.

“She trusted us a lot, to find the right angle, to make (the story) work,” McMullen said. “She gave us a lot of freedom in that way. I can’t think of anything better for an editor to do.”

Gullickson’s newspaper career spanned more than 30 years, and she was a major player in the evolution of The Forum’s Lifestyles section. During her tenure, she nurtured many young reporters who went on to have successful careers in journalism and communications.

Tammy Swift, a longtime Forum columnist and former features editor, was hired by Gullickson as a clerk in 1985 and was somewhat intimidated by her.

“She was very business-like, very professional,” Swift said. “She just

knew so much and was so experienced and so wise …

I respected her like crazy … she really gave me an excellent preparation for entering the journalism world.”

Cathy McMullen, who worked for Gullickson for 12 years before leaving to teach journalism at Concordia College in Moorhead, remembers the gratitude she felt – and still feels – toward Gullickson for hiring her.

“She made me a better writer and a better reporter,” McMullen says. “She could improve your stories without you seeing what she did with them, but she always consulted you so you could work through the changes together.”

While that helped McMullen learn a great deal about her writing ability, she says that process also reflected the respect Gullickson felt toward her writers.

leaders than the previous administration.

From Page A1 “This high level of engagement with the White exceeded mileage during House is yielding results” the most well-traveled year of his predecessor, including action on drought Republican Jack Dalrymple, relief and environmental by more than 9,000 miles, regulation, Nowatzki said although the data appeared in an email responding to to be missing some flights questions about the use of when compared with more the state planes. detailed manifests.

The 270 flight “legs” State business The financial impact of during Burgum’s first Burgum’s travel wasn’t year was roughly in line with Dalrymple’s fig- clear. OIson said they ures, according to docu- don’t have a line-item ments the DOT provided budget for the governor’s use of the planes. The “air to Forum News Service.

Nowatzki said Burgum’s services” budget, which higher mileage is due includes plane maintein part to longer flights nance, fuel and salaries, to Washington, D.C. He had almost two-thirds of said President Donald its $2.1 million remaining Trump’s administration at the end of February, has been more engaged marking the first eight with North Dakota state months of the two-year

PATRIOTS’ DAY

From Page A1

Those in attendance were invited to share memories of Justis, with each one who had met him personally mentioning the little boy’s bright smile and the happiness he and his brother exhibited.

Some of the twins’ family had traveled from Spokane, Washington, to attend. Justis’ cousin, Kayloni Nelson, spoke of fond memories helping to raise the boys when they were small, saying they had lived with her family from the time they were

GULLICKSON From Page A1

Gullickson continued to be an active volunteer in her retirement, whether that meant serving in her church, helping out at a library or delivering newspapers in her retirement community. She was preceded in death by her husband, Will Gullickson, a veteran Forum sportswriter, in 1990.

She is survived by three sons: Glenn Gullickson of Phoenix; Roger (Rock) Gullickson and his wife, Terry, of St. Charles, Mo.; and Tedd Gullickson and his wife, Lori, of Burnsville, Minn. Gullickson is also survived by one brother, Dickinson Smith, and his wife, Luanne, of Bainbridge Island, Wash., as well as two grandsons, Dan Gullickson and his wife, Bre, of Omaha, Neb., and Matt Gullickson and his wife, Lisa, of Eagan,

Mentor for many

BURGUM

From Page A1

When Shaw was a freshman, he saw there was an exam scheduled for Patriots’ Day – the day marking the first American uprising against the British. He asked his professor how this could be, and his professor replied, “What the hell is Patriots’ Day?” Not to be confused with Patriot Day on Sept. 11, Patriots’ Day is a state holiday in Massachusetts and Maine – also observed in Wisconsin and Connecticut – that commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord, which were the first battles of the Revolutionary War in 1775.

It’s a big deal back in Boston where the highlight of the day is the Boston Marathon and the Red Sox playing at home – though this is the first time in 34 years that the game was postponed.

Shaw and Allen recall having the entire week off from school and

going to parades and watching historical war reenactments.

In preparing for Monday’s party, Allen was told it wouldn’t be until Memorial Day or the Fourth of July that store shelves would be lined with red, white and blue. He caused a scene at Hornbacher’s grocery store when picking up a large cake with a picture of an American patriot on it.

“It caused a real commotion at the cash register with everybody wanting to look at the cake and asking what’s it for,” Allen said. “It was a lot of work to convince them it was a holiday.”

There aren’t many Bostonians living in Fargo-Moorhead. Shaw said having Allen in town is “like having an older brother from my neck of the woods.”

Shaw, 62, was born in Boston and raised in Newton, a suburb. Allen, 83, grew up in Saugus, about 12 miles north of Boston. And they both believe Patriots’ Day

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A candlight vigil was held for Justis Burland at Hilltop Celebration Church in Fergus Falls on Monday.

Gullickson also fought for equal pay for herself and her team.

“Mom really says what she thought and stood up for herself and her people,” Glenn Gullickson said.

“She was very interested in helping young women advance their careers.”

Not only that, but she wanted to push the boundaries of her section to include more stories about social issues. He recalled that his mother worked on important feature stories about unwed mothers and gay children during the 1980s.

“She really fought for stories like that,” he said.

“It was really important

to her that the section reflected what the people were interested in.”

McMullen agreed.

“When I think of Syb, I think of how she changed the section,” she said. “She furthered the changes that had begun under (previous editor) Doris Eastman from the traditional women’s section to a really thoughtful, gutsy section where we did a lot of reporting on social issues like sexual abuse and addiction.

That was really important because it showed what a good feature could do. It wasn’t fluff. She had us do some really important reporting.”

While she pushed her team in their abilities, Gullickson made sure her reporters took care of themselves.

“If you worked really late reviewing a play or whatever, she wanted to make sure you didn’t come in first thing in the

morning,” Swift said. “She always made you watch your hours and take care of yourself. She always factored in that you were a human being, and I always appreciated that.”

In an environment known for high stress and intensity, Gullickson was a calm, steady leader whose professional demeanor is noted even today.

“She didn’t get flustered,” McMullen said.

“She was just a real pro, and she did a lot for women in journalism … she came up in a time in journalism when that wasn’t easy.”

A visitation for Gullickson will be held at 9:30 a.m.

Monday, April 23, with the funeral to follow at 11 a.m., all at First Presbyterian Church of Moorhead.

Korsmo Funeral Service in Moorhead is handling the arrangements.

budget cycle, she said.

Forum News Service first submitted a records request regarding the governor’s use of state airplanes Feb. 26, almost a month before Gallion’s letter to Burgum informing him of the audit and a few weeks after Burgum’s controversial trip to the Super Bowl.

The flight summaries don’t include passengers’ names, but separately reviewed manifests shed light on the nature of the trips.

In September, a DOTowned plane picked up Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford in his hometown of Watford City, along with his wife and son, to fly to Grand Forks for the University of North Dakota’s Potato Bowl football game before bringing

them back later in the day.

Nowatzki said Sanford and his family were invited by the university to attend the game with President Mark Kennedy and conduct the ceremonial coin toss beforehand.

A 2007 DOT memo outlining the use of state aircraft warned they “are to be used for state business only” but doesn’t define “state business.” The onepage memo, provided by Olson when asked about policies governing the planes’ use, said passengers don’t need to be state employees but must be traveling on state business.

Nowatzki said the Potato Bowl trip constituted state business because Sanford was acting in his “official capacity.” He said Sanford “has not submit-

ted a single vehicle mileage expense report since taking office, despite his extensive travels around the state in his personal vehicle for state business.”

While Nowatzki said Burgum has “oftentimes” paid for his own travel to National Governors Association events, he flew roundtrip to Rhode Island on a DOT plane for the organization’s summer meeting in July, a roughly 2,400-mile journey. Nowatzki said taking a commercial flight wouldn’t have allowed him to hold a town hall meeting in Beulah on the drought the morning of his departure.

The audit comes after Burgum and his wife attended February’s Super Bowl in Minneapolis

as guests of Xcel Energy. After some criticism, he reimbursed the utility service provider almost $40,000 for the game tickets and for other related events.

The DOT flight logs show Burgum didn’t fly to Minneapolis using a state plane that weekend, and Nowatzki previously said he paid his own travel expenses. Gallion declined to say whether auditors are examining that excursion, and he cited a state law shielding his “working papers” from public view.

“We ask for information, we want to make sure it’s verified,” he said. “We do our due diligence before we release anything.”

should be a national holiday.

Unfortunately they said most people who have caught on to the holiday have only learned about it since the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. For Allen, he said that’s the most memorable Patriots’ Day of his life.

“It was a violation of my home territory. I had been right in the same area a few years before and saw it on the news,” he said. “That hit home.”

tea, of course. Some guests wore colonial attire, while others wore Red Sox jackets, like Ken Lever.

Lever, of Fargo and originally of Shrewsbury, Mass., said he was surprised to get the party invitation after decades of missing out on Patriots’ Day back home. He brought along with him historical documents and a ledger book from an ancestor, Ananias Cook, who took part in the Revolutionary War. Throughout Allen’s home, signs were hung up that read “The Redcoats are Coming,” “No Tax on Tea” and “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.” A film on the Revolutionary War narrated by Charles Kuralt

played in the background.

Shaw said he went around Fargo-Moorhead looking for tricorn hats for the party, but ultimately went on Amazon.com to order a revolutionary-era costume – with white wig and all.

Dee Pretty, who lived in Newton Centre for a year in 1968 while her husband Dave was in school, is nextdoor neighbors of Allen and his wife Esther.

Asked if she celebrated Patriots’ Day while living in Massachusetts, Pretty said “absolutely not,” because she didn’t have any idea what the holiday was.

But this year she

purchased a Martha Washington dress to attend the celebration in style.

North Dakota Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, attended the party as well. He went to Harvard University at age 50 in 2000 for a master’s degree. He said that in Cambridge and Boston there is a “continued physical presence of people and places that we in the Midwest just read about in books.”

Allen said he and Shaw are thinking about hosting another Patriots’ Day party again next year.

An unexpected party

Ahead of her time

On Monday, the two invited a couple dozen acquaintances and new friends over to Allen’s home in south Moorhead for socializing, cake and

Readers can reach features editor Danielle Teigen at (701) 451-5709.

Call Hageman at (701) 255-5607 or send email to jhageman@ forumcomm.com

Readers can reach reporter Kim Hyatt at (701) 241-5511

JOB W E N INGS N OPE M ERY S H Q . C O V E B DED .JO

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