20 for 20: John Yourd (1999)

To celebrate our 20^th anniversary of Lakeland News, we’re taking a look back at some of the memorable local stories we’ve covered over the years. It’s called 20 For 20 – twenty stories in all, one for each of the twenty years we have been on the air with Lakeland News.

This time, we look back on the year 1999, which was marked by the passing of a man considered the father of public television in northern and central Minnesota. John Yourd worked tirelessly to start the station now known as Lakeland PBS, and without him, our station and the newscast we are now celebrating may not have ever happened.

Shortly after John’s death, Lakeland PBS established the John Yourd Pillar award in his honor. It’s given to an outstanding volunteer of public television during the station’s annual board meeting each year. So far, 19 people have been honored with the John Yourd Pillar award.

You can watch reporter Jean Gnojewski’s entire story from 1999 in the video above. If you’d like to see more stories featured in our 20 For 20 retrospective, please click any one of the following links:

• Swingin’ (1998)
• Highway 371 Bypass Opening (2000)
• Bob Peters (2001)