Women 360°

December 2023

AN ANNUAL WOMEN’S MAGAZINE PUBLISHED BY THE DETROIT LAKES TRIBUNE

Inside: Mary Rotter, Kathy Michaelson, Marna Crow, Sherri Hanson, & Kathy Nguyen

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Mother-daughter duo

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Sherri Hanson

Mother Kathy Michaelson and daughter Mary Rotter often team up to help make the community a better place for everyone, from Rotary Club programs to child care services.

With a 46-year career in banking, Hanson has a wealth of knowledge, experience and drive that led her to becoming Vergas State Bank’s first female vice president.

MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS: Nathan Bowe nbowe@dlnewspapers.com Vicki Gerdes vgerdes@dlnewspapers.com Barbie Porter bporter@dlnewspapers.com

MAGAZINE EDITOR: Tris Anderson tanderson@dlnewspapers.com

MAGAZINE DESIGNER: Jamie Holte fccspecialsections@forumcomm.com

Elizabeth Vierkant evierkant@perhamfocus.com

ADVERTISING: Britanie Rentz brentz@wadenapj.com Jordyn Bement jbement@dlnewspapers.com Vi Anderson vanderson@dlnewspapers.com Julie Lake jlake@perhamfocus.com Kristy Helmbrecht khelmbrecht@perhamfocus.com

PUBLISHER: Pete Mohs pete.mohs@brainerddispatch.com

Published by the Detroit Lakes Tribune 1030 15th Ave. SE, Suite 2, Detroit Lakes, MN 56501 218-847-3151 • dl-online.com

Big success starts small.

14

Marna Crow

19

Kathy Nguyen

The former Essentia Health midwife was a trailblazer in establishing the service in Detroit Lakes and ensuring that new mothers have all the care they need.

As a sheriff’s investigator Nguyen tackles difficult cases and helps bring justice to victims of some the worst crimes.

Editor’s Note:

T

his year’s “Women 360°” magazine features five women who have made – and continue to make – a lasting impact on Detroit Lakes, as well as surrounding communities.

Whether that’s locking up criminals or helping birth babies, their contributions make our community a better place for all of us.

The newsroom is always Tris Anderson excited to work on this project, and Editor throughout the year, you’ve probably seen some of these women pop up in a few Detroit Lakes Tribune articles. This magazine presents a chance to go beyond our daily news coverage and learn more about their lives.

We hope you enjoy the stories of these exceptional women who graciously fit us into their busy schedules.

Every year, it is exceptionally difficult to narrow down candidates and select who to feature. If you have any suggestions for who to feature in next year’s magazine, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at tanderson@ dlnewspapers.com. Candidates need not live in Detroit Lakes proper.

Thank you for reading and happy holidays.

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Contributed / Kathy Michaelson Rick and Kathy Michaelson with their grandchildren.

Having fun, doing good Mother-daughter duo is involved in a wide variety of community projects

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hough they both grew up in Detroit Lakes, Kathy Michaelson and her daughter, Mary Rotter, have taken different paths in life — paths that eventually led them back to the same place.

“We live about a mile apart,” says Kathy, who lives on Lake Sallie with her husband, Rick.

A graduate of St. Cloud State University with a degree in public relations, Kathy worked at the Lake Park Journal newspaper for a few years, an experience she says was “very fun.”

After the Michaelsons were wed in 1976, they had two daughters, Mary and Becky.

“Rick said, ‘We’ve got two good ones, I think we should quit (having children),’” Kathy said with a laugh.

Both Mary and Becky are now married, and have given the Michaelsons four grandchildren between them.

In 1982, Rick and Kathy purchased Modern Heating and Appliance, renaming it Modern Plumbing and Heating. Kathy took care of the office work and marketing for the business, while Rick handled the

4 | WOMEN 360

rest. They continued to own and operate that business for 35 years, before selling it to Nick Green of Green’s Plumbing and Heating in 2015. Rick and Kathy stayed on at the business for another couple of years, gradually transitioning into fulltime retirement.

At the time that the sale was announced, Kathy told the Detroit Lakes Tribune, “People ask me, ‘How have you guys worked together for 35 years?’, and I always say, ‘It’s easy if you keep your nose out of the other person’s businesses. Take care of your own stuff, and life is good.”

Because they have had such a good life in Detroit Lakes, the Michaelsons have spent a good deal of time giving back to it during their retirement years. As longtime members of the Detroit Lakes Breakfast Rotary, they sponsored their daughter Mary to become one as well, after she moved back to the community to start Laker Prep Preschool in 2011.

All three of them have been involved in a variety of Rotary projects, from the annual Roses from Rotary rose sale to the Poles ‘N

Contributed / Kathy Michaelson Kathy and Rick Michaelson are among the Detroit Lakes Breakfast Rotary volunteers who help out at the club’s annual Poles ‘N Holes Ice Fishing Derby, which takes place during the community’s Polar Fest celebration in February.

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Holes Ice Fishing Derby, held annually during Polar Fest.

Mary spearheaded the establishment of the Breakfast Rotary’s annual Christmas Book Giveaway, and she got her parents involved as well.

“Our club motto is, ‘rising early, having fun, doing good,” Kathy said. “We support each other’s passions.”

Early childhood education and literacy are among Mary’s greatest passions.

In addition to getting the book project off the ground, her parents also helped her set up her new business, Laker Prep Preschool, when she moved back to the community in 2011, with husband Eric and their oldest son, Cole, who was two at the time. Daughter Etta was born about a year after they made the move from the Twin Cities, where Mary had been working for several years as a kindergarten teacher at a Hmong charter school in Minneapolis. Eric, an occupational therapist by trade, had also been working at various St. Paul school districts.

A 1997 graduate of Detroit Lakes High School, Mary had initially moved to the Twin Cities to pursue a career in elementary education. After graduating from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, with a degree in elementary education (she also earned a minor in English), Mary later sought a reading specialist degree as well.

After Cole was born, Mary said, she and Eric began talking about making a permanent move to the Detroit Lakes area, after too many years spent traveling back and forth from the Twin Cities to be with Mary’s family during summer breaks and holidays. There was one problem, however: While Eric would find it relatively easy to get work as an occupational therapist in local schools, Mary quickly discovered that there were no teaching jobs available locally that fit with her skill set.

Solution: Open a preschool child care and education facility in Detroit Lakes.

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Vicki Gerdes / Women 360 Mary Rotter, left, and her mother Kathy Michaelson are both Detroit Lakes natives.

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Submitted photo The Roses from Rotary fundraiser for the Detroit Lakes Breakfast Rotary Club is a collaborative effort that involves contributions from multiple locations and individuals, including (left to right) Val Voigt of DL Floral, Kathy Michaelson and Shirley Kalberer of the Breakfast Rotary Rose committee, and Mara Bergen of Bergen’s Greenhouses.

Detroit Lakes Tribune file photo Modern Heating and Plumbing owners Rick and Kathy Michaelson, left, sold their business to Nick Green, right, owner of Green’s Plumbing and Heating, in 2015.

if they thought an all-day, pre-kindergarten child care option was needed,” she said.

The overwhelming response was “YES,” she added, so she began making plans.

The Laker Prep Preschool had just eight children enrolled when it opened in September 2011, but was quickly filled to its maximum capacity of 20 students, with a long waiting list.

In fact, it became so successful, and the need for local child care providers so great — especially for younger children — that by 2014 the Rotters were already considering expanding beyond the business’s original location on 13th Avenue.

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— which he did. In April 2015, the Laker Prep Early Childhood Center opened its doors to the public, at a separate location on 11th Avenue.

Then, in November 2020, the Rotters stepped in and took over the operation of First Lutheran Church’s preschool program, called “Kids First,” with a focus on toddler care. At the time, Mary said, “When we started looking at this, we looked at what the community needs. We knew there wasn’t enough toddler care.

“Our goal is that if someone starts with us, they can stay with us until age 5,” she added.

In her spare time — what there is of it — Mary also continues to be actively

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Pictured L-R: Sherri Hanson, Brad Helmeke, Daren Berube, Lee Dahlgren, Pryce Score.

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involved with the Breakfast Rotary, as well as at Augustana Lutheran Church, where her parents are also active members. She has worked on fundraisers for the Becker County Museum and Detroit Lakes Public Library, and is a member of the Becker County Early Childhood Initiative and West Central Initiative Childcare Centers Directors Group, which both lobby state legislators to pass bills and create additional funding to help the struggling child care industry. She has also been heavily involved in the creation of the Early Care and Development Foundation of Becker County, which was formed “to strengthen children, families and workforce in our communities through supporting child care now and into the future,” according to its information page at the West Central Initiative website.

An avid golfer, Mary also sits on the Growth of the Game committee at Lakeview Golf Course, which aims to expand the game of golf among area youth and make golf more accessible to everyone.

Her parents, meanwhile, have gotten even more involved with the community, joining organizations such as the Detroit Lakes area chapter of Let’s Go Fishing, which provides free lake excursions and fishing opportunities for area seniors, veterans, adults with disabilities and children.

“It’s quite delightful,” Kathy said. “It’s a great opportunity for anybody who wants something fun to volunteer for during the summer. And I know they’re looking for volunteers.”

Vicki Gerdes / Women 360 In December 2022, Rick Michaelson, left, and his wife Kathy dropped off some children’s books at the Becker County Food Pantry as part of the Detroit Lakes Breakfast Rotary Club’s annual Christmas Book Giveaway project.

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Barbie Porter / Women 360 Sherri Hanson, the daughter of the late Rodger and Dona Hanson, she purchased her childhood home and continues to live in Vergas where she has worked at Vergas State Bank for 46 years.

Hanson makes history at Vergas State Bank Unexpected blessings lead to a career in banking that has spanned 46 years

BY BARBIE PORTER For Women 360

S

herri Hanson recently made history.

The Vergas resident became the first woman to hold the vice president title at Vergas State Bank, and became its first female board member.

Those who know Hanson may highlight her involvement in almost every aspect of Vergas. She is on the Vergas Community Club, Park Board, Community Fund through West Central Initiative, involved in her church, the mother of four adult sons, and has five grandchildren, with triplets on the way. Others may point out how Hanson’s dedication and leadership skills have improved the village that she has always called home.

“She made the community a real focus; to make it better,” said Vergas Mayor Julie Bruhn, who grew up with Hanson.

Bruhn, who is the town’s first female mayor, noted Hanson was instrumental in planning and fundraising for the Vergas Long Lake Trail, which connects downtown to the city beach with a paved path that runs alongside a busy stretch of road.

Hanson also helped bring the second phase

10 | WOMEN 360

the shore of Long Lake.

“They say, if you need to get something done, find the busiest person,” Bruhn said, noting they tend to find ways to move through obstacles. “She is a person who does get it done.”

Lee Dahlgren, chairman of the Vergas State Bank Board and president, said Hanson was a natural choice for the board position that opened after his brother, Greg Dahlgren, passed.

In addition to knowing the overall duties of banking, and having 46 years in the profession, Dahlgren said Hanson has what may be the most important quality a board member can possess.

“They have to know their community,” he said. “They have to be out in their community.”

Contributed / Sherri Hanson Sherri Hanson has four grandchildren with more on the way.

of the trail to fruition. That portion of the trail includes a floating boardwalk that leads to an earthen path that follows along

PLANS CHANGE WITH PRIORITIES Hanson never planned on staying in her hometown. As a teenager, she had visions of travel — flying through clouds to a new adventure where she would “conquer the world.”

“He (her father) always encouraged me to throw my shoulders back, keep my head high and keep going. I remember, even telling that to my kids. What happens, happens; it’s important to keep moving forward.”

- Sherri Hanson “Life kind of got in the way,” she said. “Other priorities took over.”

The other priorities included an unexpected blessing — her first of four sons. Quite suddenly, instead of conquering the world, she wanted to tame it to ensure her child was provided for, loved and had the best opportunities to become who he was meant to be.

One day, after her high school classes finished, Hanson was in the basement tending to her baby when a family friend — Gordon Dahlgren — paid her a visit.

G. Dahlgren was a friend of her father’s. He owned the Vergas State Bank and was the president at that time. He had been a “pseudo father” to her most of her life.

“I’ll never forget it,” Hanson said. “He walks down the stairs. I was living with my parents, and he’s kind of looking at me, and he’s looking at this little baby. He says, ‘Well, you’re gonna need a job.

You need to support him, so come to the bank on Monday.’”

As a child, Hanson would occasionally play pretend at the bank with G. Dahlgren’s daughter. During those play sessions, the bank

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was closed and all documents were locked away. The two girls would sit at the teller’s desks, punch on the adding machines and pretend to help customers.

“It was almost like our playhouse,” Hanson recalled.

All those years ago, she never imagined it would be practice for her first job as a teenager. She showed up the Monday following the conversation with G. Dahlgren. Her first professional discussion had to do with the importance of customer confidentiality. She noted back then, she wasn’t known for holding her tongue.

It was a skill she was still working on when two robbers entered the bank a few years later.

Hanson was 18, and one of her favorite jobs was walking to the post office to retrieve the bank’s mail. She had returned from the post office and was followed by two men wearing ski masks.

“It was February; and it was cold, so ski masks weren’t out of place,” she said.

It turned out, those two men wearing ski masks had stolen a pick-up in town hours before the holdup, and intended on using it as a getaway vehicle after robbing the bank.

As soon as Hanson entered the bank, one of the robbers pushed her against the wall and pointed a gun at her stomach.

“Then, the other guy came around the teller area and had everyone get on the floor,” Hanson recalled.

Instead of keeping quiet, Hanson began rapidly asking questions about what they were doing.

“The guy (with the gun pointed at her) looked at me and said, ‘If you do not shut up, I’m going to blow you away,’” Hanson said.

While the bank was being robbed, the man whose pick-up went missing happened to be across the street from the bank. He meandered over to his truck,

Contributed / Sherri Hanson Gordon Dahlgren invited Sherri Hanson to work at Vergas State Bank as a teenager.

12 | WOMEN 360

Contributed / Sherri Hanson Sherri Hanson enjoys spending time with family, including her sons and their families.

hopped in and headed home. So, when the robbers exited the bank with their stolen loot, they realized their stolen truck had been reclaimed.

“Thankfully, we had a loan officer at that time that came out and locked the door, because when the men realized their vehicle was gone, they wanted to get back in the (bank) for a hostage situation,” Hanson recalled.

The robbers took off on foot and were caught shortly after when a manhunt that included the FBI ensued.

Hanson recalled G. Dahlgren was home sick that day. When he was told about the bank robbery, he rushed to the business.

“Watching him handle it and step into a position of just authority with the officials while making sure all of his employees were OK,” Hanson nodded as if she were still in awe of her former boss’s leadership.

“When I look back on that, it was a turning point because it set an example of how you can either just go into a shell, or you can rise above it, and say I’m gonna learn from this.”

After a moment, Hanson said her father, Rodger Hanson, also taught her how to move forward when life doesn’t go as planned.

“He always encouraged me to throw my shoulders back, keep my head high and keep going,” she said. “I remember, even telling that to my kids. What happens, happens; it’s important to keep moving forward.”

Her ability to do just that showed leadership skills, and Hanson believes it was key to opening more doors of opportunity at the bank. She has worked in CDs, IRAs, obtained schooling to become an insurance agent, and learned just about every other job at the bank.

Hanson, who is a devout Christian, explained when life plans change, she sees it as direction — God placing her where she needs to be. Now, looking back, she sees that her job provided the opportunity

to attend her children’s sporting events. It also opened doors to becoming involved in her community.

“It’s like I’m the chamber desk some days,” she said. “People walk in, on any given day, and I’ll have someone talk to me about park board things. Then, the next person will come talk to me about the wiener dog races, and the next about a church meeting.”

Hanson carries what G. Dahlgren, her parents and the community taught her to the board table. She also brought some advice from one of her sons.

“My son said, ‘OK, now that first day you go into that board meeting, do not get them coffee … and your voice is just as important as every one of them,’” Hanson recalled.

She added the advice was helpful because her servant nature had her “wanting to get everyone coffee” and to “volunteer to be the secretary.”

Being at the board table is an important part of business for the bank. She recalled, through the years, whenever the board meeting day came, all the employees dressed a little sharper and went the extra mile.

“There was excitement in the air that created elevated awareness,” she explained.

When board meetings concluded, G. Dahlgren would allow Hanson to dig into how decisions were made, and why.

“I would grill Gordon,” she said, adding there were “some things he could tell” and others were confidential.

When the board seat was offered to Hanson, she said it was an honor to know that she would be following in the footsteps of such pillars in her community.

“There is beauty in looking back and realizing it was all for a purpose,” Hanson said. “I feel blessed to have raised my sons in the Vergas community. It is a supportive, small town. And, to see them go on and be successful, it’s all worth it.”

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Detroit Lakes Tribune file photo Marna Crow (left) and Hope Adams (right) stand next to each other in 2016 while they were both practicing midwives at St. Mary’s Essentia Health.

Marna Crowe delivered over 1,500 Detroit Lakes babies Former Detroit Lakes midwife, Marna Crow, spent about 20 years in the community, providing obstetrics and gynecology care to her patients throughout the area

BY ELIZABETH VIERKANT For Women 360

C

ommunities are shaped by determined individuals, and one woman dedicated to health care introduced midwifery to Detroit Lakes Essentia Health while pursuing her passion and soul: Marna Crowe. Along the way, she delivered enough babies to create a small town.

Though she grew up in Moorhead, Detroit Lakes played a large part in her life. Her parents and grandparents were both originally from Detroit Lakes, and her grandparents actually opened a resort on Pickerel Lake in 1932: Snyder’s Resort.

This resort played a huge part in Crow’s childhood. She grew up helping her family run it and spending her summers in the area.

“I helped my mom wash the sheets and hang them out,” she remembered. “My grandma would iron the pillowcases. My

14 | WOMEN 360

dad did all the repair work.” Her parents eventually took over the resort, giving visitors from all across the country a great summer.

Crow graduated from Moorhead High School in 1969 and moved away for some time in order to pursue her passion in health care, later graduating from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Fargo around 1971. Her first job was at the Rochester Methodist Hospital, where one of the residents introduced her to his brother.

That resident’s brother eventually became her husband.

“He was in the military — in the Air Force — and so we were stationed at several different places,” Crow said.

During this time, she worked in a surgical unit at a station in Germany, in obstetrics at the Grand Forks Air Force Base, and in labor/delivery in Florida. It

was at this job in Florida that she began to realize midwifery was something she’d like to pursue. There were several moments she caught a baby when the doctors couldn’t make it to the delivery in time, and she knew it was something she could do.

Crow continued her story, “When (my husband) retired, by that time, my mother passed away, and my dad was by himself.

He was trying to run the resort by himself, and it was just too much. So we moved back to Detroit Lakes in 1991, and I worked labor and delivery there at (Essentia Health) St. Mary’s.”

While Moorhead was her first home, Detroit Lakes quickly became her second as she and her husband settled down.

A few years after considering midwifery, she realized that it was indeed something she wanted to do. So, in 1996, she took initiative and decided it was time to go

back to school at the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in Kentucky.

Though Kentucky is quite a distance from Detroit Lakes, this school was pretty revolutionary for the mid-90s and was primarily hosted online. She got her hands-on experience by working sideby-side with three midwives in Fargo, took tests with a proctor to supervise and had to perform a certain number of deliveries before graduating and officially becoming a midwife.

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“I’m thankful the community welcomed me as a midwife and (I was) able to share with them my love of that and my ability to take care of them the best I could.”

- Marna Crow

Now that she’s been retired for several years, Marna Crowe enjoys traveling in her free time.

“The last year of midwife school, because of my clinical, I didn’t work at the hospital, and I had to devote it all to that final year,” Crow remembered. “I had worked with Dr. Mary Groth, who had been in Detroit Lakes as an obstetrician for a long time. I knew her as a labor and delivery nurse … I asked her, ‘When I get through school, do you think I could get a job here?’ And she said, ‘Well, let me know when you get close’ … And she wrote a letter then to whoever about creating that position as a midwife (at Essentia Health in Detroit Lakes), and they agreed to do it. They accepted it. So I started working (at Essentia Health St. Mary’s) in January of 1998.”

16 | WOMEN 360

In fact, what many people may not know is that Crow was actually the very first midwife at St. Mary’s. Though delivering babies is often what comes to mind when people consider the job of a midwife, it encompasses much more than that. In fact, it covers everything under women’s health care. This not only includes obstetrics but also gynecology. Crow would perform annual pap smears, pelvic exams and breast exams for patients. She’d deliver hormone replacement therapy for patients going through menopause and birth control, including the exams that went along with them.

When a patient became pregnant, Crow would see them from pregnancy through

Contributed / Marna Crow

to delivery. Though she performed many vaginal deliveries, she also had the skill set to scrub in with the surgeon to help perform a c-section. Through word of mouth, people began to learn about Crow and her skills, and her practice started to grow.

“Basically, I was on call for my own patients all the time,” she said.

She could be called in to rush into the hospital to help bring a new baby into the world at any point throughout the day — even if it was 2 a.m. and she was sound asleep. She would average delivering anywhere from 90-100 babies every year.

The times she was busy always varied too.

One month she’d deliver 14 babies, and the

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next she’d deliver two. Regardless, she was always ready.

In her time as a midwife in Detroit Lakes, she delivered about 1,500 babies. And this number was just vaginal deliveries. She also assisted in many c-sections.

“It gives you a sense of pride and a real connection to your community,” Crow said when asked what it was like to help bring so many babies into the world. “You’re doing something historical … (midwifery) is like anything else. It has to be the person’s passion.

Some nurses like doing critical care … Some nurses need to be in nursing homes. It’s all kind of just where your heart is. I know

Contributed / Marna Crow Marna Crow (right) smiles as she stands next to her successor, Hope Adams (left).

18 | WOMEN 360

nurses who have left to do something else, and they come back to it if that’s where they want to be. That’s where their soul is.”

Though midwifery is certainly where Crow’s heart is, things started to change as she grew closer to retirement. She didn’t want the midwife position to disappear when she retired, so she approached Hope Adams, who’d been practicing obstetrics for several years. Crow had delivered Adams’ children, so she knew her well and knew the position would be a perfect fit. After some coaxing, Crow convinced Adams to go to midwifery school, and Hope Adams now holds the position of midwife at Essentia Health St. Mary’s.

“We worked together for about a year, and then I got cancer,” Crow said. “So I had to quit. Basically, I went on medical leave, but then when I came back, I didn’t do deliveries anymore. I just did some part-time stuff in the clinic, and eventually, I just retired. But then, (Adams) has carried on — as they say — to pay it forward.”

Crow’s husband died in 2020, and she decided that it was time to live closer to family. She moved to Madison, Wisconsin, that year to be near her daughters and grandchild. She enjoys spending her time traveling, quilting, participating in Bible study and seeing concerts in her retirement.

Though she’s now moved away from the Detroit Lakes area, her presence and effect are still felt throughout the community. Not only did she deliver 1,500 new community members throughout her years here, but she’s made sure midwife services will continue to be offered in the area with Hope Adams. Midwifery may not have even existed at St. Mary’s if it weren’t for Crow and her dedication to health care.

“I’m thankful the community welcomed me as a midwife and (I was) able to share with them my love of that and my ability to take care of them the best I could,” Crow said. “I saw them through the good times and not-so-good times. Most people think obstetrics and having babies are always happy times, and it’s not, you know.

There’s hard times. Being able to provide support for that — it’s special.”

A passion for justice Kathy Nguyen is a ‘vital asset’ to the community, recently winning the Deputy Sheriff of the Year Award

BY NATHAN BOWE For Women 360

K

athy Nguyen brings a sense of humor, an upbeat attitude and a passion for helping people to her job as an investigator with the Becker County Sheriff’s Office.

Next year, Nguyen, 48, will have 20 years under her belt as an investigator. Last year she won the statewide Deputy Sheriff of the Year Award.

“Kathy is truly a vital asset to the Becker County Sheriff’s Office and to the citizens of Becker County,” said Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander. “She is an exemplary role model to others in this profession.”

But her reasons for getting into law enforcement in the first place were simple. “I just thought it was a good way to stay in shape and help people,” she said with a grin.

A lifelong resident of Becker County, she grew up in Frazee (her maiden name is Weidemann) and excelled at the high jump in high school – going to the state track and field tournament four years in a row. She graduated in 1993.

To make money for college, she worked as a quality control inspector at Kenny’s Candy Co. in Perham, then earned her law

Becker County Sheriff’s Investigator Kathy Nguyen.

Contributed photo

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enforcement credentials at Alexandria Technical College, graduating in 1996.

Her career began that same year as a corrections officer at the Becker County Jail, and she became a Becker County deputy sheriff in 1999.

Along with being a patrol deputy, Nguyen served as the department’s crime prevention officer and useof-force instructor. She was promoted to investigator in 2004.

She is one of three investigators in the office, and they all handle all sorts of cases – basically whatever happens when they are on duty.

“Kathy handles each call with professionalism and dignity no matter how small or big the call is,” Glander said. “She has an ‘I can and I will’ attitude.”

But she has a soft spot for victims of sexual assault, and has handled over 300 child sex and pornography crimes in her time as an investigator.

“She can be caring and sympathetic to the victims, however she has a fire and ferocity for the offenders that seems to be the driving force behind ensuring that each case sees its day in court, and the offender gets prosecuted,” said Becker County Chief Deputy Shane Richard. “This helps the victims, so they don’t feel the system has failed them or victimized them a second time for the same event.”

Looking back to when she was promoted to investigator, Richard said he was struck by “how much the change in duties changed her tenacity and determination for helping and advocating for victims. Her and those cases have always gravitated toward each other. Working so many of those cases, she’s also developed close working relationships with the County Attorney’s Office, Human Services, and the Lakes Crisis and Resource Center, because of how these investigations need someone to advocate for the victims on other levels, both criminally and civilly.”

For her part, Nguyen said, “I don’t like sexual assault cases, but I’m good at them – I can give them some closure

20 | WOMEN 360

Contributed photo Kathy Nguyen was honored with the Deputy Sheriff of the Year Award last year.

“I don’t like sexual assault cases, but I’m good at them – I can give them some closure and justice. But they’re hard cases to deal with and can take a lot of time.”

- Kathy Nguyen and justice. But they’re hard cases to deal with and can take a lot of time. They’re hard because you have to listen to another person’s trauma, and a little bit of trauma is left with you. Even though people think we are stone cold, we’re not,” she said.

Her advice to young women thinking about a career in law enforcement is to do some police ride-alongs and maybe work with investigators to get a feel for what the job is really like. “Going to school is not the same as doing the job,” she said. “You don’t get the smells and the blood. There are dead bodies, there are car accident dismemberments – if you’ve got a weak stomach, it’s probably not the job for you.”

Nguyen is good at law enforcement work, but she would just as soon talk about her hobbies – she likes to fish, and has a couple walleyes and a crappie mounted on a wall at home, along with a trout caught by her husband and several of his hunting trophies.

She’s not a hunter, but enjoys cutting, shaping and building with tile and stone – she has created several fireplaces and an outdoor

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kitchen at her home. And not all the fun was because, as she jokes, “we didn’t have to pay someone else to do it.”

Nguyen brings a quirky sense of humor to the job. She uses pink handcuffs and other accessories on the job, for example, and a few years ago she and three other officers ran the 5K Turkey Trot in full uniform.

Her co-workers appreciate her attitude. “I don’t know how she does it, but after all those cases and seeing all those bad things, she comes to work each day with a smile on her face,” Richard said. “She jokes, she smiles, and she enjoys each day, which brightens up the office. I’d just like to say, ‘Thank you for being you, Kathy’ and you deserve this spotlight. I know you’ve inspired me over the years, and am glad you’re being recognized for your hard work and dedication for all those you have helped in their worst moments.”

Kathy and her husband, Lee, 48, who works at BTD, have been together 17 years – almost as long as she has been an investigator.

She brought one child into the marriage and he brought two. All three are now adults.

Nguyen’s daughter is attending NDSU in Fargo and plans to become a dietician.

Growing up, Nguyen was the oldest of six children– three girls and three boys. Her parents weren’t in the law enforcement or emergency services business – her dad, Dennis, is a retired truck driver and her mom, Rosie, now deceased, was a school custodian. But Nguyen now has lots of relatives involved in emergency services.

One of her brothers, Ben Weidemann, is the police chief of Audubon, and another brother, John Weidemann, is on the Detroit Lakes Fire Department.

Her sister, Karla, is married to Ryan Swanson, second in command at the Detroit Lakes Fire Department, and one of her cousins, Josie Johnson, is on the Detroit Lakes Police Department.

Several other cousins are Minnesota State Patrol troopers.

Glander said that Nguyen “has a passion for working with

children, senior citizens, the sexual assault response teams in Becker County, and the White Earth Tribal Police Department.”

Her entire career has been based in Becker County, and “the Becker County Sheriff’s Office has been fortunate to have her on staff,” he said.

Kathy Nguyen playing around in Hawaii.

Kathy Nguyen.

22 | WOMEN 360

Contributed photo

Contributed photo

Contributed photo Kathy Nguyen and her family are do-it-yourself builders, and don’t shy away from home projects like this deck. From left are her brother, Ben, her father, Dennis, and her husband, Lee.

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