The last lineman from Spink Electric retired on January 2, after 39 years. Kenny Swanson started in February 1987 when Redfield and Tulare members were served by four Spink Electric linemen. His lineman career started from a desire to work outside.

“I grew up on a farm and was outside all the time,” Kenny said. “I had been working at a tire shop and was inside all the time. I wanted to be outside.”

That’s also how he plans to spend his retirement. Kenny will be kicking off retirement by trading his cowboy boots for sandals and relaxing on a beach in Cancun with his wife, Penny. Their next big trip has been picked out as well. In a couple years, Kenny and Penny plan to take a trip to Sweden to visit Kenny’s brother who lives in Sweden. While he appreciates having the chance to travel, he’s just as happy to be home, he said.

“After traveling, I like returning to South Dakota. It’s nice to go home,” Kenny said.

In the coming year, Kenny is hoping to spend more time with his children and family camping, fishing, and hunting. Kenny and Penny have three kids: Garret Swanson, Abby Gjernes, and Emily Brick, and six grandchildren. Kenny tries to go camping five or six times a year. He’s hoping to get a couple more camping trips in, now that he’ll have the time.

After nearly 40 years serving area members, Kenny has seen a lot of changes. He had 10 years as a lineman under his belt before Northern Electric and Spink Electric merged in May 1997. Discussions about the merger started in the fall of 1996. That is year Kenny referred to as “the winter from hell.” Not because of the merger, but because winter started by dumping 20 inches of snow in November and continued snowing through April. The region accumulated 70 to 100 inches of snow and ice over those six months.

“We fixed lines off the snowbanks that year,” Kenny said. “That’s how deep the snow was. You could reach the lines just standing on top of the snowbank.”

The snow, ice, and wind wreaked havoc on the overhead lines. Kenny spent the majority of that winter repairing lines and restoring power. Some of his checks had more overtime than regular hours, he said. There was so much snow, crews had a hard time even getting to the lines. The trucks couldn’t get anywhere without a snowplow opening a path, he said.

Storm jobs like that were some of Kenny’s favorite memories because restoring power is immensely satisfying. Despite the hard work and inclement weather, storm jobs were also an opportunity to learn from linemen from across the state.

“Every co-op does things a little different. On storm jobs, I got to meet other linemen and find out how they do things,” Kenny said. “It might be easier the way they do it, might be harder. You never know.”

Throughout the decades of changes, Kenny said the day-to-day duties of the linemen are still mostly the same. Linemen are still installing new services, maintaining infrastructure, and responding to outages. The major changes have been to the equipment and the scale, he said.

“The services are getting big. A couple hundred amps used to be big. Now, we send 600 amps to houses,” Kenny said.

While the basics haven’t changed, the increase in equipment has made the job a little faster and easier, he said. When Kenny started, the cooperative only had one bucket truck. That meant rookies, like Kenny, mostly had to climb the poles to work on the lines.

“All I did was climb poles,” Kenny said. “I climbed almost every day.”

Climbing that often is hard on the body, especially the knees and shoulders, he said. While linemen have specialized equipment to help with climbing, it’s still strenuous and requires the linemen to muscle their way 30 feet up and down. Kenny had an additional disadvantage: his height.

“I’m not tall,” he said, “I had to stretch to reach the wires.”

While he won’t miss climbing, Kenny will miss the members and his coworkers.

“I like getting out and seeing the members and visiting with them,” Kenny said. “That’s the one thing I’m going to miss the most.”

Between his work as a lineman and participating in NEC community events, Kenny has had the opportunity to connect with people throughout the service territory. He’s welcomed new linemen and members to Northern, and built decades-long friendships. Although bittersweet, as the last lineman from Spink Electric, Kenny will leave a lasting legacy.

Congratulations, Kenny! We wish you the best!