News and Events
SHSND Foundation Dinner Honors Donors
Posted 6/07/12 (Thu)
BISMARCK, N.D. – Former First Lady Grace Link, Terrance Rockstad, Larry Rolfson and Hollis Nappen, all of Bismarck, were among those honored for their contributions to the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation at its Recognition Dinner May 4.
Click on image at right to view the 2012 Recognition Report
Link was presented with the Enduring Legacy Award for the contribution she and her husband, the late Governor Art Link, made toward the origination of the North Dakota Heritage Center in 1981 and its expansion, which is now underway.
Rockstad and Rolfson were presented with the Leadership Legacy Awards for their outreach that brought donations and volunteers from across the state to support history projects and programs Rockstad is CEO and Chairman of Dan’s Supermarkets of North Dakota. Rolfson is vice presidet of relationship development at BlackRidge Bank of North Dakota.
Nappen, a native of Lankin, North Dakota, was recognized with the Family Legacy Award. A longtime supporter of state history programs and projects, he donated $400,000 in memory of his late wife, Theodora Nappen, to fund the Dakota Kids Tree House in the expanded North Dakota Heritage Center. An engineer, Nappen was the construction foreman for the Westland Oil company in Minot from 1947 to 1968.
Also recognized at the dinner were members of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly for their support of funding for additions to historical sites across the state and Governors William Guy, George Sinner, Allen Olson, Ed Schafer, John Hoeven and Jack Dalrymple.
Honored guest at the dinner was Bakken oilman Harold Hamm, the chairman and CEO of Continental Resources, Inc., the largest mineral leaseholder in the Bakken oilfield in North Dakota and Montana. A major donor to the expansion of the North Dakota Heritage Center, his gift of $1.8 million was announced in January 2010.
Hamm was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in an April issue of Time Magazine.
The 2009 Legislative Assembly authorized $51.7 million for the expansion of the exhibits and collections spaces of the North Dakota Heritage Center. Of this, $39.7 million in state funds was appropriated. The remaining funds are being raised from private donors. Construction is now underway on the expansion of the Heritage Center, which will nearly double its size with the addition of 97,000 square feet. It is expected to be completed by 2014, the 125th anniversary of North Dakota.
The State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation is a private, non-profit organization supported by membership and donations. It was formed in 1965 by the state legislature to generate private financial support for the State Historical Society’s projects and programs that are not funded by the legislature.
The Foundation is governed by a board, which includes Jon McMillan, president, Fordville; Wally Beyer, vice president, Bismarck; Barb Lang, treasurer, Jamestown; Darrell Dorgan, secretary, Bismarck; Pat Grantier, Bismarck; Mike Gustafson, Kindred; Armen Hanson, Devils Lake; Robert Horne, Fargo; Tom Riley, Fargo; Dalles Schneider, Bismarck; Paul Olson, Fargo, and State Historical Society Board Liaison Calvin Grinnell, New Town.
Click here for photos from the dinner.