Look up “public servant” in the dictionary and I’m pretty sure you’ll find a picture of Diane Booth. I’m not kidding!
And while I certainly don’t intend to offend anyone, I maintain, pound for pound, ounce for ounce, we get more out of this self-giving woman than anyone else I’ve had the privilege to work with in Cook County.
Having had the opportunity, during my four-year term as commissioner, to serve as a member of both the Community Center Board of Trustees as well as the University of Minnesota Extension Committee, I witnessed this first-hand. And if “see is believing,” then, like the fisherman Apostle Thomas, concrete evidence is pretty convincing.
Ask her when she began working for the county and she’ll self-consciously respond, “A long time ago.”
One of the most tenured county employees, Diane will have served our community for three decades this November. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus and the University of Minnesota Duluth with a degree in biology, Diane was working in the region on a three-year acid rain project with Michigan Tech when she transitioned to her role as University of Minnesota Extension administrator for Cook County.
But Diane’s kinship with Cook County really dates back to the turn of the 20th century when her Norwegian great-grandparents, the Husebys, were among the many Norwegians who made their way along the rocky coastline to establish their homestead west of Schroeder, in a community then known as Thomasville.
As a “liten jente” [Norwegian for “little girl”], Diane would often travel up the North Shore from her family’s home in Silver Bay to visit her great-grandparents who operated one of the largest dairy farms on the west end. Diane recalls with affection her great-aunt, who lived with her great-grandparents, “She used to have a pet seagull with a broken leg. She called him ‘Moses’ – I suppose because, like the biblical Moses, the seagull was adopted.”
Diane would often retrieve coal that continued to wash ashore for years after the wreck of the wooden barge Amboy that was lost at Thomasville in the November 1905 storm, a gale that also drove several large steel steamers ashore in Minnesota waters.
Diane and her husband Vern, who met in graduate school in Duluth, moved to the Lutsen area in 1981 with the intention of raising their family in, what Diane refers to as, “a good place.”
In October of 1988, a month before Diane was officially hired by the county, a Governor’s Design Team was invited to Grand Marais and one of the needs that was determined was a building to house a Community Center.
“I inherited the Community Center position after the building was completed in the spring of 1993,” Diane calls to mind.
As for the U of M Extension Service, they used to have offices in all 87 counties; however, it became financially ambitious to maintain these offices so the university determined, as a cost saving measure, to realign with 18 regional centers. “The regional office we would have been assigned to was located in Cloquet. Fortunately, Cook County rejected the plan, believing the county wouldn’t receive the broad range of services offered by a remote Extension office.”
Bob Sopoci, Cook County Extension administrator at the time, retired from the position when the change was made to transition to the 18 regional centers.
In part because of Diane’s background, Cook County was able to develop a unique relationship with Extension, which provided the opportunity to tailor programming and services to local need and interests. A partnership that exists nowhere else in the state.
If you’ve ever had occasion to sit in Diane’s office for any length of time – bolstered by stacks of research papers – you are familiar with the unsummoned progression of calls she fields during the course of a day.
Why do people call?
She’s established a reputation for being both available and knowledgeable; and what she doesn’t know, she finds out and gets back to people. “I’m a voice at the end of the phone,” she volunteers. That, in itself, is unusual in a world overrun with telecommunication robots.
What’s the most unusual question she’s ever been asked – aside from aphids, amphibians, animals, apples, asparagus, and annuals?
“There have been so many over the years,” she concedes with a huge exhale as she collapses back in her chair. “There was a gal who thought she may have ingested a poisonous mushroom, so I took it over to the high school lab and ran some hydrochloric acid tests and determined, in fact, it was poisonous. We were able to treat her appropriately as a result.”
Serving the community, basically six days a week; chipping in out of her own pocket for youth events and pinching taxpayer dollars to the point she’s beginning to feel nothing but her fingers – as demonstrated by her willingness to reach into her own pocket – she’s persevered amidst change, disappointment and ever-increasing expectations.
“My husband is building me a studio so I can go back to doing artwork once I retire,” she confides with a hint of anticipation.
Until that day, you’ll find this true public servant helping people.
…“It’s why I do what I do.”
–Diane Booth
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works.
Leave a Reply