Ingrid Lindberg didn't plan to make the Extension Service her career.

But she has spent 32 years teaching adults about a wide range of consumer issues and helping youths take part in 4-H activities in her roles as an Extension assistant county agent and a family and consumer science educator.

Lindberg has become one of the most well-known faces of the South Dakota State University Extension Service in western South Dakota.

She will retire from the Extension Service on Monday, March 31.

"I think, 'How can this have happened?'" Lindberg said in a recent interview. "I was never going to stay in Extension. This wasn't going to be my career; but here I am, 30-plus years later."

Over those years, Lindberg said, much has changed in the way she can get information to people.

"There's still a basic need," she said. "I get questions ranging from cooking at altitude to preserving food."

But she said her audience now is much more sophisticated in the type of information they want and how they want to get it, particularly through computer technology.

"Some of that has been kind of hard to adjust to," Lindberg admitted.

She also said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has moved away from its old food pyramid to another nutrition program.

But she said it is still exciting to learn new things. "It keeps the program fresh and keeps me fresh in knowing what's new in nutrition and the educational mode of nutrition," Lindberg said.

Bill Keck, the Extension educator for horticulture in Rapid City, praised Lindberg as highly organized and dedicated to youths.

"I've been here 16 years, and Ingrid will be sorely missed, as she has been a great part of the family consumer science education in Pennington County," Keck said.

Lindberg, who grew up in Mount Vernon, had graduated from SDSU in 1970 with a degree in home economics journalism and was getting concerned about finding a job.

She applied for an opening in the Extension office in Rapid City but was told that the job required experience in 4-H, which she didn't have. A couple of months went by, and she heard about another opening in Rapid City. This time she talked to a different person. "I said I don't have that 4-H background," Lindberg recalled.

"This person said: `That's not a big deal. We can train you.'"

She got the job as a county agent assistant in 4-H.

Lindberg said that despite her lack of experience in 4-H, she was helped greatly by Extension Service mentors such as Shirley Tisdale and longtime county agent Lyndell Petersen in the Rapid City office and Dorothy Benson in Hot Springs.

A few years later, Lindberg left the Extension Service for more than six years, including working 4-1/2 years for the Dairy Council of the Central States in Omaha, Neb.

She returned to the Pennington County Extension office in 1980, switching to a role as a home economist, which included heading the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. She now has two assistants, one who works with adults and the other with youths who receive free and reduced-cost lunches in the schools.

Lindberg said the program works in partnership with agencies that serve people eligible for the nutrition programs.

She is the family and consumer science educator with emphasis on nutrition and food safety for Extension Field Unit West One, which includes Pennington, Jackson, Haakon, Bennett, Shannon, Fall River and Custer counties.

Lindberg delivers a daily broadcast on consumer issues on KOTA radio.

She also helps organize events such as 4-H Achievement Days, youth day at the Black Hills Stock Show, and the Western Junior Family and Consumer Science Show.

Even though 4-H is not the focus of Lindberg's job title, she has given a lot to kids, even coming in on her days off to participate in events, according to Mary Lunders, president of the Pennington County 4-H Leaders Association.

"She is 100 percent for the kids. When the kids have something going on, she is always there," Lunders said.

"She is real positive with all the stuff they do."

Lindberg, 60, said she doesn't know what she plans to do after she retires other than "decompress" and rest.

"I've been 30-plus years in this job. It's been my life," she said.

Lindberg plans to stay in Rapid City, putter in her yard and spend time with her brother and sister and their families.

Eventually, she said, "I'm going to reinvent myself. I'm going to find those things I really like to do."

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com.