Long-Time Community Leader Looks Back On Life In Kosciusko
May 1, 2019 at 1:05 a.m.
By David [email protected]
“I hope while standing up for myself that I’m standing up for this community that’s so special to me. You don’t live someplace for 86 years and not care about it. That’s why I know there’s an awful lot of people who care about this community, and there’s a lot of them who are helping it in one way or another, but we need more, helping in some way,” she said over coffee at Creighton’s Crazy Egg Café.
Northenor grew up in Atwood, and lives just about 2 miles south of there now. She went to Mentone for school. She and her husband, Jim, only moved away one time, and that was to Illinois when R.R. Donnelley wanted Jim to help start a new division.
Born Dec. 21, 1932, she was a tomboy growing up and has always loved the outdoors. She’s gone deer hunting. Has ridden and owned horses her entire life up to about two years ago, when she got two new knees.
“From the time I was 3 years old, up until just a couple of years ago, I’ve had horses. I love horses. So I’m an outdoors person,” she said.
Changing Politics
She got involved in politics in her 30s. Jim was her strongest supporter, and when she was thinking about whether to get politically involved, he told her, “If you do I will support you, but be sure you bring the same integrity out that you are taking in.”
When Ed Pratt and Pauline Jordan were running the Republican Party in the late ’60s, Pratt asked Northenor to be involved. He thought she would enjoy it. “I wasn’t sure, never had been,” she said.
Her first political position was assistant vice precinct committeeman.
Around 1971, there was a “little shake-up” at the courthouse when the county treasurer resigned because of ill health. Kathryn Teel was working in the auditor’s office and the county commissioners appointed her county treasurer. That left an opening in the auditor’s office, so auditor Lawrence Butts hired Northenor.
When Butts couldn’t run anymore because of term limits, Pratt asked Northenor to run. She did and won, serving two terms.
When she was auditor, there was a fire in the courthouse. The commissioners told her to “put it back together,” and she did, though it was a “very tough time.”
Former Kosciusko County Commissioner Avis Gunter said she enjoyed working with Northenor in the auditor’s office and afterward. She said they’ve known each other since they were “‘Petticoat Junction’ girls at the courthouse.”
At this point in Kosciusko County there was still two strong political parties. Stan Nice was the Democrat county chairman and liked to push Northenor’s buttons.
“They were pretty active. They’ve never been successful, but they were busy. And Stan dearly loved to just give me fits every time he turned around. It was an active political area, but it was good,” she said, noting that they were friends.
“You don’t see that any more. There’s so much hate out there in the political/government area. Whether it’s national or local or whatever, it’s sad. It was fun. It was fun to give back and forth and challenge back and forth. But nobody meant any real harm.”
Two people back then might be in opposing political parties, but she said they weren’t enemies. “Now, it’s enemies, which is sad. It’s sad for the political and government system, and it’s really sad for all the people, I think. I don’t like it much anymore. It’s too critical. Too hateful.”
Chairwoman Of The Board
After her terms as auditor were over, Northenor was hired at Lake City Bank as marketing officer. She worked her way up to executive vice president “in charge of everything no one else wanted to do.” She was there 20 years. When she retired, she was elected to the board of directors for two years, then decided she wanted her free time.
For 10 years, Northenor served as the Kosciusko County Republican Party chairman.
She got to know many people from around the state, including former Indiana Governors Otis “Doc” Bowen, Bob Orr and Evan Bayh, a Democrat.
“I have a Sagamore (of the Wabash) from Evan Bayh. In fact, I’ve got four Sagamores actually, but to get one from a Democrat is a pretty neat thing,” Northenor said.
She served as president of the auditors association so she got to know the auditors from all 92 Indiana counties. She found that fun, too.
“I’ve had a busy life, but it’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed most everything I’ve done,” she said.
She served on the sheriff’s merit board for 10-12 years.
Kosciusko County Community Foundation CEO Suzie Light has always known Northenor, but she didn’t really interact with her until Northenor served on the KCCF board for 10 years.
“She was a very good board member. Always came to meetings prepared. Always had wise thoughts about things, everything from how we governed the foundation to policies to recruiting new board members to grant making. She was very knowledgeable,” Light said.
Besides serving locally, Northenor’s been appointed by Indiana governors to various boards. For Gov. Orr, she was on the license branch commission when it took the branches away from county chairmen and made them more like businesses. She was chairman of the lottery commission, and she spent three years on the Indiana Judicial Qualification Commission that interviewed candidates for the Indiana Supreme Court.
“It was one of the neatest things in my career, when I was appointed to the commission by (former Indiana Gov.) Mitch (Daniels),” she said. “... It was an extremely wonderful experience.”
Finding New Leaders
Kosciusko Leadership Academy had its 38th annual graduation banquet Thursday. Northenor not only co-founded KLA, but has mothered it along the way.
Northenor said KLA came about at a meeting with Matt Dalton and Doug Grant. A man from Ball State University talked to them about starting a leadership academy. The academies were done through chambers of commerce in cities. Being a “county” person, Northenor told them she wouldn’t take on anything that didn’t have to do with the county.
“So, bless their stinking little hearts, they decided that, ‘OK, you pick the board. You find all the people we need to help put this together throughout the county.’ And I had a good time doing that because I just called in favors, all throughout the county. I had people all the way from Syracuse to Silver Lake and Claypool on that board. And some of them are still there,” she said.
One of the “greatest things” that happened in all of that was now-retired judge Duane Huffer, she said. His law firm thought Huffer should be a part of the first KLA class, but he told Northenor he lived in Kosciusko County his whole life and didn’t need to know anymore. She told him to try it. so he relented.
“And then he became one of the staunchest supporters of KLA and sent his children to it, to the KYLA, because he said he had no idea there was so much about this county that people don’t know. That’s what it was about – to learn about the county and to become leaders because we didn’t have a lot of young leaders,” she said.
KLA moderator Dr. Allyn Decker has known Northenor for about 30 years. He met her when he worked at Grace College and she was senior vice president at Lake City Bank. She hired Decker to come work at the bank, where he worked for her about 10 years. He then worked with her through KLA, serving as moderator the last 11 years.
“Jean is incredibly focused, determined and fair,” Decker said. “In her role as senior vice president, one of the areas she was over was human resources and she would always really stress that, that in the way we handle employees we need to be consistent and fair.”
He said she’s had a hand in raising over 30 years of community leaders, “which is just amazing.”
Light said, “Jean is the same person no matter if you are meeting with her in her home or you’re meeting with her around the board table, at the foundation or if you’re at the KLA banquet. She is her authentic self wherever she is, and watching her, especially as a younger person put into a leadership position, being able to observe how she managed people and managed herself was really a good learning experience.”
Over the years, many things have came out of KLA, from KYLA to the greenway and bike trails. “There’s dozens of other things that have come out of KLA because some young people saw a need and got interested and worked hard to put it together. And they’re still doing it,” Northenor said.
A winning KLA project receives a monetary prize named after Northenor.
She’s never sought the spotlight, but she’s also never been afraid of it.
Impact
Decker said Northenor’s impact on the county is hard to measure. “Her impact has been over so many years and in so many different areas,”?he said.
Politically, he said Northenor brought integrity to the role of county auditor and helped shape county government. At the bank she was responsible for building all “the new branches during the big building craze of the ’80s and ’90s. So much of the expansion of Lake City Bank was due to her.”
Light said Northenor served on the hospital foundation board; in the Republican Women’s Committee, she encouraged other women to be in leadership positions and encouraged women to be in KLA.
“She told us yesterday at the KLA banquet that when Matt said he wanted to do a Warsaw-centered leadership, she said, ‘No, I won’t do it unless you include the whole county.’ She didn’t share it then, but she said it had to be women and men, and if you aren’t going to do women and men, then I’m not going to do it either,” Light said, adding that now it’s just a given that women and men would be at the table.
“If you think when she and Avis Gunter were in county government, there weren’t a lot of women who were taking leadership roles. And she encouraged women to do that. She’s encouraged women at Lake City Bank in leadership roles,” Light said.
“I think her love of community is what drives her, and she has shared that example with others,” Light said.
Gunter said Northenor has had a “tremendous impact” on the county.
Kosciusko County Republican Central Committee Chair Mike Ragan said Northenor is a wonderful mentor.
“I enjoy her very much. We discuss things very regularly I would say. Several times a week,” he said.
Northenor is “irreplaceable,” he said. “In anything I’ve known her to do, she was a valuable asset with whatever it was.”
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“I hope while standing up for myself that I’m standing up for this community that’s so special to me. You don’t live someplace for 86 years and not care about it. That’s why I know there’s an awful lot of people who care about this community, and there’s a lot of them who are helping it in one way or another, but we need more, helping in some way,” she said over coffee at Creighton’s Crazy Egg Café.
Northenor grew up in Atwood, and lives just about 2 miles south of there now. She went to Mentone for school. She and her husband, Jim, only moved away one time, and that was to Illinois when R.R. Donnelley wanted Jim to help start a new division.
Born Dec. 21, 1932, she was a tomboy growing up and has always loved the outdoors. She’s gone deer hunting. Has ridden and owned horses her entire life up to about two years ago, when she got two new knees.
“From the time I was 3 years old, up until just a couple of years ago, I’ve had horses. I love horses. So I’m an outdoors person,” she said.
Changing Politics
She got involved in politics in her 30s. Jim was her strongest supporter, and when she was thinking about whether to get politically involved, he told her, “If you do I will support you, but be sure you bring the same integrity out that you are taking in.”
When Ed Pratt and Pauline Jordan were running the Republican Party in the late ’60s, Pratt asked Northenor to be involved. He thought she would enjoy it. “I wasn’t sure, never had been,” she said.
Her first political position was assistant vice precinct committeeman.
Around 1971, there was a “little shake-up” at the courthouse when the county treasurer resigned because of ill health. Kathryn Teel was working in the auditor’s office and the county commissioners appointed her county treasurer. That left an opening in the auditor’s office, so auditor Lawrence Butts hired Northenor.
When Butts couldn’t run anymore because of term limits, Pratt asked Northenor to run. She did and won, serving two terms.
When she was auditor, there was a fire in the courthouse. The commissioners told her to “put it back together,” and she did, though it was a “very tough time.”
Former Kosciusko County Commissioner Avis Gunter said she enjoyed working with Northenor in the auditor’s office and afterward. She said they’ve known each other since they were “‘Petticoat Junction’ girls at the courthouse.”
At this point in Kosciusko County there was still two strong political parties. Stan Nice was the Democrat county chairman and liked to push Northenor’s buttons.
“They were pretty active. They’ve never been successful, but they were busy. And Stan dearly loved to just give me fits every time he turned around. It was an active political area, but it was good,” she said, noting that they were friends.
“You don’t see that any more. There’s so much hate out there in the political/government area. Whether it’s national or local or whatever, it’s sad. It was fun. It was fun to give back and forth and challenge back and forth. But nobody meant any real harm.”
Two people back then might be in opposing political parties, but she said they weren’t enemies. “Now, it’s enemies, which is sad. It’s sad for the political and government system, and it’s really sad for all the people, I think. I don’t like it much anymore. It’s too critical. Too hateful.”
Chairwoman Of The Board
After her terms as auditor were over, Northenor was hired at Lake City Bank as marketing officer. She worked her way up to executive vice president “in charge of everything no one else wanted to do.” She was there 20 years. When she retired, she was elected to the board of directors for two years, then decided she wanted her free time.
For 10 years, Northenor served as the Kosciusko County Republican Party chairman.
She got to know many people from around the state, including former Indiana Governors Otis “Doc” Bowen, Bob Orr and Evan Bayh, a Democrat.
“I have a Sagamore (of the Wabash) from Evan Bayh. In fact, I’ve got four Sagamores actually, but to get one from a Democrat is a pretty neat thing,” Northenor said.
She served as president of the auditors association so she got to know the auditors from all 92 Indiana counties. She found that fun, too.
“I’ve had a busy life, but it’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed most everything I’ve done,” she said.
She served on the sheriff’s merit board for 10-12 years.
Kosciusko County Community Foundation CEO Suzie Light has always known Northenor, but she didn’t really interact with her until Northenor served on the KCCF board for 10 years.
“She was a very good board member. Always came to meetings prepared. Always had wise thoughts about things, everything from how we governed the foundation to policies to recruiting new board members to grant making. She was very knowledgeable,” Light said.
Besides serving locally, Northenor’s been appointed by Indiana governors to various boards. For Gov. Orr, she was on the license branch commission when it took the branches away from county chairmen and made them more like businesses. She was chairman of the lottery commission, and she spent three years on the Indiana Judicial Qualification Commission that interviewed candidates for the Indiana Supreme Court.
“It was one of the neatest things in my career, when I was appointed to the commission by (former Indiana Gov.) Mitch (Daniels),” she said. “... It was an extremely wonderful experience.”
Finding New Leaders
Kosciusko Leadership Academy had its 38th annual graduation banquet Thursday. Northenor not only co-founded KLA, but has mothered it along the way.
Northenor said KLA came about at a meeting with Matt Dalton and Doug Grant. A man from Ball State University talked to them about starting a leadership academy. The academies were done through chambers of commerce in cities. Being a “county” person, Northenor told them she wouldn’t take on anything that didn’t have to do with the county.
“So, bless their stinking little hearts, they decided that, ‘OK, you pick the board. You find all the people we need to help put this together throughout the county.’ And I had a good time doing that because I just called in favors, all throughout the county. I had people all the way from Syracuse to Silver Lake and Claypool on that board. And some of them are still there,” she said.
One of the “greatest things” that happened in all of that was now-retired judge Duane Huffer, she said. His law firm thought Huffer should be a part of the first KLA class, but he told Northenor he lived in Kosciusko County his whole life and didn’t need to know anymore. She told him to try it. so he relented.
“And then he became one of the staunchest supporters of KLA and sent his children to it, to the KYLA, because he said he had no idea there was so much about this county that people don’t know. That’s what it was about – to learn about the county and to become leaders because we didn’t have a lot of young leaders,” she said.
KLA moderator Dr. Allyn Decker has known Northenor for about 30 years. He met her when he worked at Grace College and she was senior vice president at Lake City Bank. She hired Decker to come work at the bank, where he worked for her about 10 years. He then worked with her through KLA, serving as moderator the last 11 years.
“Jean is incredibly focused, determined and fair,” Decker said. “In her role as senior vice president, one of the areas she was over was human resources and she would always really stress that, that in the way we handle employees we need to be consistent and fair.”
He said she’s had a hand in raising over 30 years of community leaders, “which is just amazing.”
Light said, “Jean is the same person no matter if you are meeting with her in her home or you’re meeting with her around the board table, at the foundation or if you’re at the KLA banquet. She is her authentic self wherever she is, and watching her, especially as a younger person put into a leadership position, being able to observe how she managed people and managed herself was really a good learning experience.”
Over the years, many things have came out of KLA, from KYLA to the greenway and bike trails. “There’s dozens of other things that have come out of KLA because some young people saw a need and got interested and worked hard to put it together. And they’re still doing it,” Northenor said.
A winning KLA project receives a monetary prize named after Northenor.
She’s never sought the spotlight, but she’s also never been afraid of it.
Impact
Decker said Northenor’s impact on the county is hard to measure. “Her impact has been over so many years and in so many different areas,”?he said.
Politically, he said Northenor brought integrity to the role of county auditor and helped shape county government. At the bank she was responsible for building all “the new branches during the big building craze of the ’80s and ’90s. So much of the expansion of Lake City Bank was due to her.”
Light said Northenor served on the hospital foundation board; in the Republican Women’s Committee, she encouraged other women to be in leadership positions and encouraged women to be in KLA.
“She told us yesterday at the KLA banquet that when Matt said he wanted to do a Warsaw-centered leadership, she said, ‘No, I won’t do it unless you include the whole county.’ She didn’t share it then, but she said it had to be women and men, and if you aren’t going to do women and men, then I’m not going to do it either,” Light said, adding that now it’s just a given that women and men would be at the table.
“If you think when she and Avis Gunter were in county government, there weren’t a lot of women who were taking leadership roles. And she encouraged women to do that. She’s encouraged women at Lake City Bank in leadership roles,” Light said.
“I think her love of community is what drives her, and she has shared that example with others,” Light said.
Gunter said Northenor has had a “tremendous impact” on the county.
Kosciusko County Republican Central Committee Chair Mike Ragan said Northenor is a wonderful mentor.
“I enjoy her very much. We discuss things very regularly I would say. Several times a week,” he said.
Northenor is “irreplaceable,” he said. “In anything I’ve known her to do, she was a valuable asset with whatever it was.”
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