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Thompson named Country Woman of the Year 2011

BISMARCK, N.D. – In a special luncheon program July 29, Lynette Thompson, of Amidon, N.D., was crowned as the 18th recipient of Farm & Ranch Guide’s Country Woman of the Year.

“I just feel so very honored – there’s so many other women deserving of this award,” said Thompson. “I’m glad Farm & Ranch Guide has a way of honoring country women. They sacrifice a lot for their families, communities and operations.”

A large crowd was in attendance at the Doublewood Inn in Bismarck to honor not only Thompson but all six finalists and, in fact, all country women.

In addition to Thompson, the other finalists were Bonnie Fettig, Tappen, N.D.; Bonnie Joy Hendrickx, New York, Mills, Minn.; Codi Kuss, Woodworth, N.D.; Corrine Melberg, Powers Lake, N.D.; and Arlene Wolff, Long Lake, S.D.

The event is usually held in Minot in conjunction with the North Dakota State Fair but the the luncheon was moved to Bismarck this year because of the historical flooding in Minot.

As winner, Thompson received a special pink New Holland G4010 Zero Turn lawn mower from the Northern Region New Holland Dealers, one of the grand champion sponsors.

Cody Montgomery, representing the Northern Region New Holland Dealers, said, “I grew up on a farm so country women were always a part of my life. It is truly an honor to be a part of this event.”

Other prizes Thompson received included a Medora vacation package for two sponsored by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation; a framed print from Farm Credit Services,  and a bouquet of roses.

All six finalists were awarded gift certificates for dairy products from Cass-Clay Creamery, and beef certificates from the North Dakota Beef Commission.

Thompson is a full-time rancher with her husband, Kevin, and also does the bookkeeping for their operation, TNT Simmental south of Amidon. Thompson said their operation has grown significantly over the years and she is especially proud of the successful bull sale they have at the ranch every year and all the work the family puts into it.

After being named Country Woman of the Year, Thompson thanked all the sponsors and her family and friends for supporting her.

“Thank you to all the sponsors and special thanks to my family, including my husband, who keeps encouraging me to hang in there and says, ‘we can keep doing this,’ and thanks to all the local people who showed up for me today,” Thompson said, adding she has received so many letters, cards, emails and congratulations from her community “family” in Amidon and in her church.

Theodore Roosevelt in Boy's Life | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The Adventure of Living
by Theodore Roosevelt

Life is a great adventure, and I want to say to you, accept it in such a spirit. I want to see you face it ready to do the best that lies in you to win out; and resolute if you do not win out, to go down without complaining, doing the best that is in you, and abiding by the result. What is true of the boy is also true of girl; what is true of the young man is true of the young woman, the fundamental facts are the same.

Nothing worth having normally comes unless there is willingness to pay for it; and perhaps the highest good that comes from training of the kind which you get in school or college is not merely training of the body, not merely training of the mind, but the training of what counts for more than body, more than mind - the training of character, especially in the two ways of giving you the proper perspective (so that you may see what are the important and what the unimportant things), and of giving you the type of soul which will make you willing to strive, and to pay the necessary penalty for achieving the things that are really worth while.

I do not at the moment remember any man or any woman whose life has been entirely easy, and who has at the same time lead a life that under conceivable conditions I would have been willing to lead. That is true of the men; I think it is probably even more true of the women. The man or woman who has come to three-score years and ten without knowing sorrow, with no effort or risk, has, save in wholly exceptional cases, not known the highest joys. As I have said, life is a great adventure, and you can not win the great prizes unless you are willing to run certain risks, unless you are willing to pay certain penalties. It is the same in large things as in small. If an indvidual starts to play football, and expects not to get bumped, he will be sadly disappointed. An indvidual who tries to rise to any position of prominence along any line in his college work and to surpass competitors, and expects to do so without struggle, is again in error. In the college world there is not any real prize in any filed, the winning of which does not necessarily imply effort and self-denial, does not imply a certain amount of risk. As on the football field, if you desire absolute safety, I do think you had better play the game. And while it is the business of your elders and betters to shape conditions which shall minimize the risk, there will always be a certain amount of risk. On a larger scale it is just so in everyday life. When you graduate, when you go into your life work, you can purchase immunity from risk, the certainty of ease, the certainty of possessing a soul that will be unruffled by any pain, only on condition of living a life not worth living, only on condition of leading the life of a vegetable.

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