A role model in McKenzie County
By Betsy Ryan
Farmer Staff Writer
March is women’s history month in the United States. In honor of women’s history month, the McKenzie County Farmer will highlight women who have had a significant impact in McKenzie County. This is part two of the series.
“A woman in this country can accomplish anything she wants to,” says 67-year-old North Dakota native, Patsy Levang. “When I have put in my time and energy, and was a little polite, I don’t feel like I have been held back from a thing.”
Coming from a line of strong go-getters, Levang found her best role models in her parents.
“When my father was sent overseas in World War II, my mother did not sit around and pine away for him,” explains Levang. “She travelled from North Dakota to Milwaukee to set up a beauty shop. She got organized and built a business.”
Though Patsy was born after wartime, the stories she grew up hearing, her father liberating victims from a concentration camp in Germany while her mother worked hard in the states, are stories that shaped her perspective and identity. On a farm in Arnegard, her parents instilled the value of being a self-starter and a hard worker, again and again.
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