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Tom Lesan said he’s honored to be chosen Citizen of the Year by the Creston Chamber of Commerce.
“The other citizens of the year, when I look back through there, I have a lot of respect and admired a lot of the people who have held this,” he said. And now I think that I can’t even imagine that somebody thought I was worthy to in the same light as Ron Levine ... or the Rileys.”
Although reluctant to talk about himself, a trait he says may be tied to his childhood as the son of newspaperman, Lesan talks at length about the accomplishments of the boards he represents and his affinity for and the opportunities in Creston.
Lesan, a Creston native, sits on at least seven boards in addition to his work at Southwestern Community College. His favorites among them show his love for all things outdoors: the Union County Conservation board and High Lakes Outdoor Alliance.
As chair of the Union County Conservation board for close to 20 years, Lesan has overseen the addition of docks at Three Mile and 12 Mile Lakes.
HLOA, a non-profit conservation minded group, has raised money for many projects in Union County and the surrounding areas. Lesan is proud that all of the money raised by HLOA is spent in southwest Iowa — nearly all of it in Union County. Over the years, HLOA has raised more than $1,000,000.
“None of the money goes out to different areas,” he said. “It all stays here.”
The group has raised money to create a shooting range on the north end of Three Mile Lake, fishing jetties on Summit and cabins at Green Valley State Park. Lesan said it especially aims at creating opportunities for youth to experience the outdoors.
“Hunting and fishing, that kind of activity — if kids are involved, we’re going to be involved,” Lesan said.
Lesan also sits on the Crestland Community Betterment Foundation, which has been working on creating walking trails in the Creston area for 40 years in addition to being instrumental in building the Southern Prairie YMCA and SWCC performing arts building. Currently they are working on finishing the trail around McKinley Lake
Lesan said Creston has all of the recreational opportunities he needs, speaking of the plentiful game and fishing areas and area golf courses.
“Everything that I like to do, Creston’s a really good place to do it,” he said. I don’t need mountains. I don’t need an ocean. I like lakes.”
He remembers hunting in a duckblind with his father and grandfather and their neighbors, the Sandemans, as a child as well as fishing in ponds and lakes across the area. He championed the sport of hunting while emphasizing that, in his family at least, there is no wasteful killing.
“Everything we shoot, we eat,” Lesan said. “I read articles about people who are anti-hunting. ‘They just shoot and let it lay.’ Well, you didn’t do that in my family.”
Growing up eating wild game, Lesan said he still enjoys the fresh venison, duck and pheasant provided by hunting at least once a week.
“It’s a way of life,” he said. “We don’t go too long that we’re not eating some type of wild game or fish that were caught out of a local lake or something.”
SWCC
Lesan’s time at SWCC has been spent in the same building — moving only one door down in the 39 years he’s been there. But his job has evolved from adult continuing education coordinator in 1981 to his current title of as vice president for economic development. He said every three years, they would give him more responsibilities.
“Of course, they didn’t take anything away,” Lesan said with chuckle.
Lesan has no plans to retire anytime soon. He said he’s still having fun and he has good health, crediting his work with the students as helping him stay young.
“It’s not been too hard at all to stay fired up and keep active,” he said. “Probably when they tell me they’re tired of me, it will be time to go at that point. ... I’m not checking days off a calendar. If it gets to that, I’ll say it’s time I’m going right then.”