Ken Johnson, Town of Florence
Article written by: Hank Murphy
Those in Florence County who love baseball, the county fair and
freedom owe thanks and a tip of the hat to Ken Johnson, a man
who has quietly worked for many years to make life better for others.
Johnson was born in Green Bay in 1944 and moved with his family to
Long Lake in 1955. His dad worked at DeMuri’s in Florence as a bookkeeper.
Johnson remembers as a child coming to Florence for back-to-school shopping.
After a few years, the Johnsons moved to Florence, where Ken got involved in
school athletics. After graduating from Florence High, he went to school in
La Crosse for two years before enlisting with Uncle Sam. He served 20 years in the Army in places like Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Berlin and Taiwan. He retired from the Army as a sergeant first class.
Eventually, the Johnsons settled back in Florence.
Johnson recalled that his work with youth baseball began in 1988 when he responded to a request for help posted in the Mining News. Someone was needed to work with kids who were cut after Little League tryouts. For the next several decades, Johnson has remained involved in youth baseball in Florence County.
Johnson, however, went beyond working with young ballplayers – he built a ball field for them. He said he’d been looking for a place to develop a ballpark when the Florence County Fair Board apparently “felt sorry for me” and gave him a chunk of property on which to build a field. About five years later, the first game was played at the new field. Johnson’s wife Linda figures Ken did 90 to 95 percent of the work on it himself.
After securing the land from the Fair Board, Johnson would join the organization a few years later. “I guess they needed someone with a strong back and weak mind, and I guess I qualify,” he joked. He has served on the board for 20 years now.
Johnson also works two half days a week for the Menominee River chapter of Habitat for Humanity. As part of a Christian volunteer-based ministry called the Keryx Movement, he goes to the state prison in Marquette once or twice a month to share Christian principles with inmates.
Linda describes Ken’s penchant for volunteerism and helping others this way: “Ken is a strong Christian man. He feels that when he’s helping others, he’s doing the Lord’s work.”
Johnson said, “I like to give something back for all I’ve received.”
He said his strong connection to Florence County began when his family moved to Long Lake in 1955, into a home with no running water. “I guess those were the two happiest years of my childhood,” he said. He loved “the simplicity of it” and now, as an adult, feels a sense of belonging here.
He said he knows many people in Florence County who are worthy of being considered for Citizen of the Year.
“There are an awful lot of people who could have been nominated for this.”
Lydia Krivanek, Town of Aurora
Article written by: Hank Murphy
Growing up in a small farming community taught Lydia Krivanek
a simple but valuable lesson: “You depend on your neighbors and
they depend on you.” That core belief has stuck with her through
the years, and few would dispute that Krivanek has held up her end
of the bargain.
She was born in Antigo in 1950 and spent much of her adult life working as a computer programmer and systems analyst. She lived in places like Madison, Green Bay, Burlington, Vt., Jackson, Miss., and even Tehran, Iran, where she on the last plane out when the Shah was overthrown in 1979. Eventually, she grew tired of city life and living out of a suitcase.
“I wanted to get back to my roots,” she said. She had friends in Florence County and liked it up here, she said. She moved here in 1986 and today lives in Aurora.
Krivanek’s friend, Jenell Wiegel, shed a few details on Krivanek’s move to Florence County. Krivanek went to UW-Madison, where she met Jenell’s brother, Ron Yadro. While living in Green Bay in the mid-1980s, Lydia drove up here just about every weekend to visit friends, and she decided to make this her home. During the move up, she crossed the county line with her cats in the car. One of them became ill and started retching, and Krevanek stopped the car and held the cat out the window.
“Somebody stopped to see if she needed help. And she said, ‘What a wonderful place to live! And that’s how it all started, with a sick cat,” Wiegel said.
With a background in 4-H, Krivanek soon began participating in the fair. One day, Connie Miller asked her to join a group for a photograph, which later appeared in the Mining News. The caption read: “The Florence County Fair Board.”
That tidbit got her to thinking. “Maybe I should start going to meetings,” she said with a laugh. For many years, she served as a valued member of the Florence County Agricultural Society.
Krivanek, a teller at Iron Mountain-Kingsford Credit Union, served on the Aurora-Homestead Rescue Squad for 14 years, retiring in 2006. She joined in 1992 at the urging of neighbor Marilyn Vassar.
She recalled being a young girl when a neighbor was involved in a tractor accident. No rural rescue squads were yet assembled, and the man died.
“If there was an opportunity for me to help out so someone else wouldn’t have to go through that, I was willing to do it,” she said.
Today, Krivanek remains engaged in the community, doing good deeds on both sides of the Menominee River. She designs and makes catnip stuffed eggs for the Springlake Animal Shelter. She makes mittens for the community mitten tree and bakes pies and cookies for a wide range of worthy causes. She also knits Afghans to be raffled off at the fair and the library.
Krivanek has a long record of civic service, said Yadro, and few people know all that she’s accomplished. “She quietly sits in the background and gets things done.”
The reason for her volunteerism: “I want to be worthy of my friends,” she said. “I have a lot of friends who help me out. I can’t always help them, so I figure if I help in the community in general, it evens out.”
As for what appeals to her about Florence County, she says: “I think the people. In a small community, everyone knows everybody and is willing to help out.”
Dorothy Vayda, Town of Commonwealth
Article written by Hank Murphy
When talk turns to good works in Florence County, more often
than not St. Vincent de Paul is part of the conversation. And
when mention is made of St. Vincent de Paul, the name Dorothy
Vada inevitably enters the discussion.
Vada has been a driving force behind the local St. Vincent de Paul conference, which does everything from helping people fix water heaters to providing food for families and offering school supplies to needy children.
Born in Dearborn, Mich., in 1947, Vada moved to Commonwealth in the early 1980s to join her aunt and her uncle, who helped her build a house. Vada quickly became active at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Florence, where she and Laurel St. Louis spearheaded Christmas programs and small giving projects.
One day, Father Leo from Iron Mountain called and asked if anyone would be interested in establishing a St. Vincent de Paul conference in Florence County. Vada and St. Louis got the new conference off the ground with a few rummage sales each year, some funds from the Salvation Army and the distribution of government food commodities. The store was established 14 years ago.
Along with her work with St. Vincent, Vada, clerk for the Town of Commonwealth, also volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. She regularly travels to Kentucky to help rehabilitate houses.
Asked about her strong spirit of volunteerism, Vada recalled going to nursing homes as a high school student. “I guess maybe with my Catholic school upbringing, it’s kind of ingrained that you help those who need help,” she explained.
“I’m single and I have time to do volunteerism, and a lot of people don’t have time,” Vada said. “You actually get so much more back. You do it thinking it’s for them, but you get so much back – the satisfaction of seeing a smile on a kid’s face at Christmas time. I don’t know how to put it into words.”
Anne Leschke, who serves as president of the St. Vincent board, described Vada as someone who is filled with faith and perseverance. “She’s always been very trusting that God will provide,” Leschke said.
“She’s a very hard worker,” Leschke said, noting that she and her uncle built Vada’s house by themselves. “She’s wrapped herself around this community and believes in the people here more than most people do.”
Vada said that what she enjoys most about Florence County is its people and the natural surroundings. “It’s a friendly community, it’s open. I love nature. After coming from the city, this has been wonderful. I live in the woods and see the birds and the trees.”
Honorary Florence County Citizen of the Year
Russ Johnson, Town of Aurora
A True “Friend of the Fair” and of Florence County
The Florence County Agricultural Society began the
“Citizen of the Year” Contest in 2010 as a way to
recognize some of the many volunteers in our communities
throughout Florence County. Contestants are chosen based
on nominations from the public; then on their character,
dedication to family and a history of community service/volunteering.
The late Russ Johnson was the definition of what people were looking
for as a contestant for Citizen of the Year. He was nominated in 2010
and received numerous nominations from the public again in 2011.
At the July meeting of the Florence County Agricultural Society,
the board voted unanimously to name Russ Johnson as an “Honorary Citizen of the Year.”
Last year, Russ Johnson was asked the question “What makes Florence County so great?” His answer—the people, and though he would never think of himself as one of those people, Russ Johnson was exactly one of those people that makes Florence County such a wonderful place.
Russ Johnson was the definition of an active resident in Florence County. His list of past accomplishments include: serving on the Florence County Board, serving on the social services/human services board (also a past chairman of this board), serving as a founding member of the Aurora Rescue Squad and the Aurora Mudd Run and serving as past chairman of the highway department. In 2011 alone, Russ was serving as the chairman of the Aurora Centennial Committee, serving as a Town of Aurora Board member, serving as president of the Aurora Sanitary District, serving as an active member of the Florence County Chamber of Commerce, promoting the Florence County Fair, being involved in the Aurora Parks and Recreation Department, and serving as president of the Northwood’s Antique Tractor Club. His list of accomplishments goes on and on.
Russ became interested in antique tractors when he was diagnosed with leukemia 24 years ago. In addition to his involvement with the Northowood’s Antique Tractor Club, he made sure that there were antique tractors on display at the Florence County Fair every year. A few years ago, the fair added an antique tractor class to their classes at the car show. Beginning this year, the fair board decided that the antique tractor award will be named the “Russ Johnson Memorial Top Tractor Award.” Russ’ tractors will again be at the fair this year as his family are bringing them to the fair and staying with them at the fair—just like Russ did for so many years.
Russ was a fervent supporter of the fair and did what he could to promote it. In addition, he could be found at the Fair Park during the entire fair. When people were looking at the tractors, he was up there talking to them and answering any questions they may have had. Once it would get dark, he could be found dancing to the band in pavilion, and in the early morning hours Russ would get up and help pick up garbage—regardless of how tired he was from staying up late the night before.
While Russ passed away just a short time ago, people from organizations and townships throughout Florence County have commented on more than one occasion that they cannot believe how much Russ was involved in—not to mention all of the work that he did within those organizations and townships.
One fair board member stated that when she thinks about the fair, she thinks about Russ Johnson. It will definitely be different without him. He became a staple of what you expect when you come to the Florence County Fair. Russ truly was a friend of the fair. The board will miss Russ (as so many others will), but they hope to keep his memory going through the top tractor award and with this “Honorary Citizen of the Year Award.”
Russ Johnson will be honored for at the Florence County Fair during the Citizen of the Year Award Ceremony. The Ceremony will be held on Sunday, August 28 at 3:00 p.m. at the Florence County Fair Park. His family will be at the Ceremony to accept the award on his behalf.
