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Alfred Lyman Musson was born on August 31, 1911, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Alfred and Mildred Musson. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Connecticut State College at Storrs in 1933, followed by a master’s degree in 1934 and a doctorate in 1951, both from Iowa State University at Ames. On November 28, 1935, he married Helen Saunders in South Norwalk, Connecticut. They had three children: Alfred L. Jr., Esther, and Merrill, and five grandsons. Helen Musson passed away in November 1987. Alfred later married Hannah Sharp in Brookings on February 18, 1989.

From 1938 to 1941, Alfred and Helen Musson served as house parents at Greer School at Hope Farm in New York. Alfred was called to active duty with the U.S. Army Reserve from 1931 to 1945, serving in the 271st Infantry, 69th Infantry Division. He was a veteran of World War II and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was employed at Iowa State University for six years and spent three years at the Hope Farm School for Dependent Children.

In October 1952, Musson joined the faculty of South Dakota State College as professor and head of the Animal Science Department. From 1960 until his retirement in 1973, he served in the Office of the Dean of Agriculture and Biological Sciences, ultimately retiring as associate director of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.

Following his retirement, Musson pursued genealogical research. He wrote a privately published family history in 1986 and issued a family genealogy newsletter from 1980 to 1982. He was a member of the Brookings Area Genealogy Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and the Marblehead (Mass.) Historical Society. His affiliations also included the Mystic Seaport, Inc., the 69th Infantry Division Association, the American Society of Animal Science, Gamma Sigma Delta, Sigma Xi, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. He was a former Rotarian and Scoutmaster in Ames, Iowa.

Alfred Musson died on July 21, 1990, at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls. He was buried at Westwood Cemetery in Westwood, New Jersey.

The National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights and benefits of retired federal employees and their families at the local, state, and national levels. The Big Sioux Chapter (Chapter 0872), based in Brookings, South Dakota, is part of the South Dakota Federation of NARFE chapters. Although currently inactive, the chapter has previously served members in the region through advocacy, community engagement, and information-sharing.

On January 20, 1933, a group of women met at the home of Mrs. A.H. Hoppe to organize a music club under the auspices of the American Association of University Women. They adopted the four-year study program of the National Federation of Music Clubs. In 1934, the club became officially affiliated with the Federation. The organization's goals were to promote mutual support among members and to advance music within the community.

Morris Nellermoe was born in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and graduated from Watertown High School in 1944. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946 and earned a B.A. (1950) and M.A. (1952) from the University of South Dakota. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and the Internationale Musik Akademie in Salzburg, Austria. Nellermoe worked as a translator for various organizations, including the United Nations, and later taught foreign languages at Colorado State University. He acquired the illuminated manuscript leaves from Ferdinand Roten Galleries in Baltimore.

Bill Nibbelink received his journalism degree from South Dakota State University in 1975 and began his career at the Moody County Enterprise newspaper. He met Tom Daschle through the SDSU Democrats and supported Daschle during his first two campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives. With limited campaign funds, Nibbelink designed brochures and posters for the grassroots “Door-to-Door” campaign. He also served as Daschle’s representative on the Moody County recount board during the contested 1978 election.

After Daschle was elected to Congress, Nibbelink worked in his Mobile Service Office, providing constituent services across 22 counties in eastern South Dakota. Each month, Daschle returned to South Dakota for two weekends, during which Nibbelink handled all the driving using the Mobile Service Office — a van outfitted as a mobile office.

Nibbelink also played a key role in Daschle’s early efforts to promote alcohol fuel development. He helped create pamphlets and books on the topic and collaborated with Dave Billion in Sioux Falls to convert a Pontiac station wagon to run on pure ethanol.

Following his time with Daschle, Nibbelink became active in Native American housing and tribal affairs. He served for 15 years as Executive Director of the Santee Housing Authority. In 1996, he founded his own firm, Bill Nibbelink & Associates, focusing on grant writing and administration for American Indian housing. He also served as an advocate in Washington, D.C.

Nibbelink was appointed to the Native American & Alaska Native Housing Commission, where he played an instrumental role in the passage of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996.

Joseph “George” Norby was born on February 24, 1924, in Paulina, Iowa, to Joe and Amy (Shook) Norby. He began his career as a typesetter for advertisements at the Ireton Ledger in Iowa and later worked for the Hawarden Independent in Iowa and the Wishek Star in North Dakota. Prior to moving to Brookings, South Dakota, in 1952, Norby was employed at a commercial printing shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After relocating to Brookings, Norby worked at Harold’s Printing and Advertiser and at Hauff Printing. He began employment with the Brookings Register in September 1970, where he served as a pressman, cameraman, and news compositor until his retirement in February 1986. He continued to work part time at the Register for an additional five years.

On May 29, 1953, Norby married Evelyn Marie Pederson in Sinai, South Dakota. They had two children, Diana Norby Munger and David Norby. Evelyn Norby was born on August 6, 1932, in Sinai, South Dakota, to John and Emma (Thompson) Pederson. She graduated from Sinai High School in 1950 and worked for many years at the Brookings Laundry and as a motel housekeeper from 1955 to 1982. From 1982 to 1986, she was employed as a custodian at the Brookings Register.

Beginning around 1965, when the old Brookings Register building was demolished, George and Evelyn Norby began collecting photographs and newspapers, some dating back to 1890. Over time, the collection expanded significantly and became widely known within the community.

Both George and Evelyn Norby were active members of numerous Brookings area organizations and clubs. George was a member of the Odd Fellows and served on the County Museum Board of Directors. Evelyn was actively involved with First Lutheran Church, including the First Lutheran Church Women, the Church Library Committee, and the quilting group. She was also a member of the Brookings Genealogical Society and volunteered at the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum at South Dakota State University. Together, the Norbys participated in the Rebekah Lodge, the Brookings Area CB Club, the Brookings County Historical Society, and First Lutheran Church. In 1998, they were jointly awarded the South Dakota Preservationist of the Year.

Evelyn Norby died on May 8, 2002, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. George Norby died on September 11, 2003, at the age of seventy-nine.

Kathleen Norris was born July 27, 1947 to John Heyword Norris and Lois Totten Norris. She graduated from Punahou Preparatory School, Hawaii in 1965, and from Bennington College in Vermont in 1969. After college Norris worked as arts administrator for Betty Kray, Executive Director of the Academy of American Poets, who became her good friend and mentor.

"Falling Off" Kathleen Norris' first book of poetry, was published in 1971 and won the Big Table Younger Poets Award that same year. Soon after, she settled down in her maternal grandparents' home in Lemmon, South Dakota, where she lived with her husband, the poet David Dwyer, for over twenty-five years. Since the death of her husband in 2003, she has transferred her place of residence to Hawaii.

The move to Lemmon was the inspiration for the first of her nonfiction books, the award-winning bestseller "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography." It was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was selected as one of the best books of the year by Library Journal.

In 1986 Norris became an oblate, or associate, of a Benedictine monastery, Assumption Abbey in North Dakota and spent extended periods at Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

For many years Kathleen Norris was the poetry editor of Spirituality & Health magazine. She continues to make numerous appearances, including lectures, symposia, workshops, and retreats. Norris was the Randall Distinguished Professor of Christian Culture at Providence, Rhode Island from 2014 to 2015, and is currently the nonfiction editor of the Saint Katherine Review. She also serves as an editorial advisor to Give Us This Day.

The Oak Lake Writers’ Society was founded in the early 1990s in Brookings, South Dakota, through the efforts of Dakota scholar and writer Elizabeth Cook-Lynn and colleagues at South Dakota State University. The organization emerged from a series of writers’ gatherings and retreats held at the university’s Oak Lake Field Station, located north of Brookings. These gatherings brought together Indigenous writers from across the Northern Plains to share work, discuss literary traditions, and address issues related to Native representation in literature and scholarship.

The society was established to support and promote the work of Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota writers and to encourage the development of Indigenous literary voices in the region. Through workshops, readings, and collaborative discussion, the group created a forum where writers could explore topics such as tribal history, cultural identity, sovereignty, and the preservation of oral traditions through written forms. The Oak Lake retreats provided an important space for mentorship and professional development, connecting established writers with emerging authors from tribal communities throughout South Dakota and neighboring states.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Oak Lake Writers’ Society organized annual writers’ retreats and related programs that emphasized Indigenous perspectives in literature and scholarship. Participants included poets, fiction writers, historians, and scholars whose work addressed the cultural, political, and historical experiences of Native nations in the Northern Plains. The organization contributed to the broader development of Native literary studies and helped strengthen networks among Indigenous writers and intellectuals.

Over time, the society’s mission expanded to reflect the collective identity of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota peoples, known collectively as the Oceti Šakówiŋ, or Seven Council Fires. The organization eventually adopted the name Oceti Sakowin Writers Society, continuing its work of supporting Indigenous writers and promoting literature grounded in the histories, cultures, and contemporary experiences of the Oceti Šakówiŋ nations. Today, the organization continues to sponsor writers’ retreats and literary initiatives that encourage the preservation and advancement of Indigenous storytelling and scholarship.