Patrica A. Owens (born 1941) was the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Grand Forks, North Dakota during the

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

that devastated the city in April 1997. She actively lobbied then-president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

for funds to rebuild the city and construct a permanent flood protection system for the city and neighboring

East Grand Forks, Minnesota East Grand Forks (also known as EGF) is a city in Polk County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,176 at the 2020 Census, making it the largest community in Polk County. It is located in the Red River Valley region along the easte ...

Political career

Owens, born in 1941 in East Grand Forks,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, worked as the mayor's executive assistant for 33 years, before running for mayor herself in 1996. She received 76% of the vote and became Grand Forks' first female mayor. Then in 1997, after less than one year as mayor, the city was struck by the 1997 Red River Flood. She received numerous awards and national recognition for her efforts after the flood. She ran for a second term in 2000, but was defeated by Michael Brown. Also in 2000, Owens was a member of the Mayors' Campaign Against Breast Cancer.

Retirement

Owens currently resides in Ocala, Florida, where she moved in 2001. That same year, she was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

degree from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...

. In 2004 when Florida was struck by a string of

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s, she was asked by the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...

(FEMA) to act as an ambassador for them by trying to help give the victims some sort of hope. However, she was unable to as the retirement development had been damaged by two of the hurricanes that hit the state.

References

External links

FLOOD AFTERMATH (APRIL 30, 1997)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Pat 1941 births Living people People from East Grand Forks, Minnesota Mayors of Grand Forks, North Dakota Women mayors of places in the United States Women in North Dakota politics 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women

Political career

Retirement

See also

References

External links