Paul White smiles as he pulls a jar of homemade spicy canned pickles off the shelf at his home in Stirum, North Dakota, for an out-of-town visitor.
“Put ‘em in the fridge for a while, and they’ll get nice and crunchy.”
A walking depiction of ‘North Dakota Nice,’ White serves as the owner/general manager of Bobcat of Gwinner and is going on the third year as a member of Cass County Electric Cooperative’s (CCEC) board of directors. While his tenure on the board is young compared to some, his recollections of the cooperative world and love for the region he calls home rival those of a long-term director.
Just down the road
A self-described ‘homebody for life,’ White grew up on a farm just north of Stirum that sits just a stroll away from his current residence. During outages, the sight of a CCEC bucket truck was a beacon of light.
“When you’d be out of power back in the ‘70s, it wasn’t like it would just flash back on,” White recalled. “I just remember when you’d see the trucks come, there was this huge sense of excitement.”
Splitting time between his factory job and the farm at 27, White recalls the infamous ice storm of 1997 and CCEC’s impact.
“(I remember) how closely the farmers worked with CCEC,” he said. “It was all hands on deck and had such a community, member-based feel. We saw the same sense of community during last year’s ice storm.”
The nostalgia resonated with White in 2022 when he ran and was elected to serve CCEC’s District 1, encompassing the entire western side of the cooperative’s service territory.
“I’ve learned so much and how important it is to embrace the diversity that our service territory offers,” White said. “There’s so much opportunity for us to do good things.”
Full circle
White has held his position since 2019. He has bachelor’s degree in agriculture and biosystems engineering from North Dakota State Univeristy.
His solution for covering tuition?
Starting White Trucking at age 23, a business that maintains and transports garbage and recycling receptacles in West Fargo and central Minnesota. White sold the business in 2015.
While his career path shifted to the machinery industry, White’s love of agriculture still weaves its way into his life.
“I still own a few acres and find great joy in driving around monitoring and checking on fields,” White said. “My kids make fun of me for it, but it’s a nostalgia thing.”
As White looks toward the future of CCEC and the region, he couldn’t be happier with the people seated at the table.
“I think our members have done an excellent job selecting members of our board, and it’s going to pay off; it already has,” he said.