Serving Polk County’s St. Croix Valley since 1897
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018 VOL. 120 NO. 46 www.osceolasun.com $1.00
SPORTS: Athletes named to all-conference teams. PAGE 10
Liaison, organizer, visionary: ArtBarn names new executive director BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
Recipe for an executive director at a small-town arts center: Mix equal parts event planner, volunteer coordinator and visionary. Add a dash of diplomacy and a pinch of ambition. Stir gently. At the St. Croix ArtBarn, a new executive director took the helm January 1. An Amery resident and longtime volunteer at the arts center, Chad Leonard has his own take on the job description. “Really, it’s doing everything that needs to get done,” he said. “To work between the executive board, the board and volunteer groups. To make sure we plan our season and that we have enough people to do all the work we need to do.” But his biggest role? Building the relationship between the ArtBarn
SUZANNE LINDGREN |THE SUN
Chad Leonard, the ArtBarn’s executive director since January, believes the Barn has potential to become a year-round facility.
and community. It’s a mission that can take many forms: painting classes, a fundraising effort for a pottery studio, adding a student-held seat to the board, working with the local chamber of commerce to make Osceola a destination for community arts.
Or as Leonard put it: “How can the ArtBarn create opportunities for people to get involved in community arts? “As of late we’ve been a venue for theater and we’ve done some classes,” he continued, “but I really want to see us do more of the educational piece.”
For a decade, Leonard spent off hours volunteering at the Barn, becoming increasingly involved as he joined the board in 2016. “I love that this is a place where everyone is welcome and that we find something for evSEE ARTBARN, PAGE 8
Amateur radio “Field Day” demonstrates science, skill, service Members of the Polk County Amateur Radio Association will participate in a national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise, June 23 and 24 at Fresh Pastures Neighborhood farm (2316 State Road 35, Milltown). Since 1933, ham radio operators across North America have established temporary ham radio stations in public locations
during Field Day to showcase the science and skill of amateur radio. This event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. For over 100 years, amateur radio — sometimes called ham radio — has allowed people from all walks of life to experiment with electronics and communications techniques. They also
provide a free public service to their communities during a disaster, all without needing a cell phone or the internet. Field Day demonstrates ham radio’s ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location and create an independent communications network.
WWII pilot, Osceola resident turns 100 BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@OSCEOLASUN.COM
A plane engine drones in the sky above William Patten’s Osceola townhouse. It’s a fitting backdrop for the centenarian’s stories. In the final years of World War II he flew a B-17 bomber. Now, days shy of a century old, Patten recalls his days as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force with rich detail. “My first duties were in Yuma, Arizona flying gunners for air practice,” he says. “After that they sent Patten me to Dyersburg, Tennessee. There I became a pilot getting ready for combat overseas.” As a child in Kansas City during the Great Depression, it’s unlikely Patten would have guessed he’d ever fly a plane. “Our family had a very difficult time,” he says. “My father was a bus driver. I remember vividly him coming home and saying he lost his job. From then on it just went down. It seemed like we were moving every four or five months to a smaller, cheaper place. … My mother was well educated and would’ve been a contributor but she was very ill.” Patten graduated from high school and joined the workforce. Two years later, he’d saved enough to begin college. “I picked a college close to home so I could stay at home at night and not have the expenses,” he says. His mother, still ill, died of cancer when Patten was in his early 20s. She was 49. Eventually, though, Patten’s circumstances began to improve. He found the love of his life, a young woman named Pearl. They married. And after graduating with a degree in aeronautical engineering, Patten took a job devising replacement parts for the production line at Beach Aircraft in Wichita. “At Beach I had an opportunity to fly with the test pilots,” Patten says. “It was probably five times in my career, but it gave me a little bit of an idea that I’d like to be a pilot.” Meanwhile, in the wider world, the U.S. had been drawn into World War II. SEE PATTEN, PAGE 12
SEE FIELD DAY, PAGE 6
Junior Rangers invited to explore “Explore, Learn, and Protect!” The Junior Ranger motto will ring out this summer at the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway as children participate in activity-based programs about rivers and fishing. Park rangers and volunteers will present these free programs regularly throughout the summer at the two park visitor centers. Children can earn a St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Junior Ranger Badge as they: • learn ways that biologists study the St. Croix and Namekagon rivers; • make observations with hand lens, binoculars, thermometers, and GPS units; NEWS 715-294-2314 editor@osceolasun.com
• discover the habitat and animals that live under the surface of the river; • discover the shoreline habitat and animals that live there; • learn the proper way to wear a life jacket; • meet a park ranger and take home an activity book. Children can also earn a badge based on a new national program, “Let’s Go Fishing.” Explore national parks and national wildlife refuges while learning to have safe and enjoyable fishing expeSUBMITTED
SEE RANGERS, PAGE 8
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Pearl and William Patten in California, 1944.
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