User:Bloomankid/sandbox

Chester "Chet" Reiten (November 14, 1923 – January 22, 2013) was an American entrepreneur and politician with the Republican Party. He served as the 18th and 20th Mayor of Minot, ND from 1970 to 1982 and 1984 to 1986.

Biography
Reiten was born in Hastings, North Dakota to Lars and Carrie (Smedshammer) Reiten. He was raised on a farm and graduated from Hastings High School in 1941. He started college that fall at North Dakota Agricultural College, now North Dakota State University in Fargo. During World War II, Chet enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 7, 1943, serving as an Ensign and Commanding Officer of a Landing Craft Infantry Ship (LCI ) in the U.S. Navy. Chester was in the Pacific Theatre where the U.S. was preparing to invade Japan and the war ended. He received an Honorable Discharge in July of 1946.

Upon his discharge from the Navy, he returned to college under the G.I. Bill where he met another Navy veteran, Joy Louise Steenson. They were married in Fargo on Aug. 15, 1947.

After graduating with a degree in soils from NDAC in 1948, the couple moved to Jamestown, North Dakota where he was assistant county agent and later to Fessenden, North Dakota where he was county agent. In 1951, they moved back to Jamestown, where he began his career in radio and television as farm director for KSJB radio. They returned to Fargo, where he was the sales manager at KXJB-TV. In 1955, they moved to Minot where he became the station manager at KCJB-TV, later changed to KXMC-TV. He eventually owned television stations in Minot, Williston, Bismarck, and Dickinson, which are now owned by his children. He also owned three radio stations in Minot which were sold in February of 2000.

Chester was first elected mayor of Minot, in 1970, and served 14 years. In 1972, he was elected to the North Dakota State Senate, serving for 16 years. Chester served as Chairman of the Senate Industry, Business, and Labor Committee, and also held the position of Senate Pro Tem. Chester was involved in the community as Chairman of the Trinity Hospital Board in Minot, a longtime Rotary Club member and President of the Minot Chamber of Commerce. He was also a member of the Sons of Norway. Chester was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church, where he served on the Church Council and taught Sunday school for many years.

Reiten’s radio and television background was a natural introduction to the entertainment industry which served him well when he started the internationally known Norsk Høstfest in Minot. The festival began in 1978, and has continued for over 35 years. In addition to celebrating the strong Scandinavian heritage of the area, he brought in great entertainers such as Bob Hope, Andy Williams, Tony Bennett and returning Hostfest favorites such as Bjøro Håland, Charley Pride, Williams and Ree and the Oak Ridge Boys.

Among his personal highlights, Reiten met the King of Norway, Olav V, in 1988, and hosted King Olav V’s daughter, Princess Astrid, at the Norsk Hostfest on two separate occasions and King Olav V’s granddaughter, Princess Martha Louise in 2005. Reiten is one of only a handful of Americans to receive personally the St. Olav Medal from the King of Norway as a result of his work with Norsk Hostfest and his promotion of Norwegian and Scandinavian Heritage. Reiten was inducted into the Scandinavian American Hall of Fame in Minot in 2011.

In 2002, Chet was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, the highest honor presented by the state by then Governor John Hoeven.

For a number of years, the Reitens spent part of each winter in Arizona. He and Joy, his wife, moved to an assisted living facility in July of 2012.