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AL TIBBITTS
Vice President Administration

Al Tibbitts was born to Theodore and Irene (Crazy Thunder) Tibbitts at the old agency location of Cheyenne Eagle Butte, SD near the Missouri River. When construction of the Dahe Dam was complete, the old agency had to be moved to its present location of Eagle Butte, SD.

Al grew up and went to school at Winnebago, NE; Belco, ND; Rosebud, SD; Pierre, SD; and graduated from High school at Fort Yates, ND in 1965. After this he attended and graduated from Northern State College at Aberdeen, SD with a degree in Industrial Technology, after taking a brief involuntary break to serve with the US Army Security from 1970 to 1972 in Ft. Devens, MA.

While going to college, most of his summers were spend working for the Bureau of Reclamation, except for one summer when he was lured out to Prairie City Oregon by the Forest Service to work on a Wildfire Crew. The fire season was so hot that summer that he never got to see the ocean and the beach, but he came back to school with a pocket full of money.

After graduating from NSU in 1972, Al started his career with the US government working for the Bureau of Reclamation at Huron, SD, where he served in the Construction Division as a surveying aid, Inspector, Draftsman, and Civil Engineering Technician in the fields of surveying, survey crew chief, and design and estimating.

In 1976, Al transferred to the Bureau of Land Management in Butte, MT, as a Civil Engineering Tech/Liaison person for the Conservation Youth Corp. When the CYC program was discontinued he moved over to the District Office to become their Lead Civil Engineering Tech running the District Road Maintenance Program, developing construction contracts and setting up the summer work program for college students. Al also served as a crew/saw Boss for the District Wildfire team during his 7 years there.

In 1982, he transferred back to the Bureau of Reclamation in Billings, MT for the opportunity to work in the Planning and Design Section. Here Al worked on the initial planning and feasibility studies for upcoming projects in the region.

Then in 1985, Al transferred out to the Oroville-Tonasket Construction Office in Oroville, WA to serve as Asst to the Contract Administrator in the Contracting Office. This project involved development of a large irrigation system for all the orchards irrigators in the Orovil1e valley.

In 1986, Al was enticed to come back to South Dakota to the Deerlield-Pactola Construction Office to become Chief of Contracting Division. He served in that position until the project was completed and the office closed in 1988.

After a short hiatus of semi-retirement (real estate and business owner) Al went to work with the Belle Fourche Projects Office, Bureau of Reclamation, to work in their Contracting Section until he retired in 1996. Also during his work at Belle Fourche, he was selected to be on a 20 person FEMA team to assist with the Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles CA. Here he did damage assessment surveys and loan applications for FEMAlSBA on residential housing damaged by the earthquake that hit the area.

In 1997, after growing weary of being a business owner, he began work with the Black Hills Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America as their Senior District Executive serving as their Outreach Director for rural and disadvantaged youth. Although this position was developed for South Dakota, success with the Outreach program send him to neighboring states to assist them with their scouting outreach programs. During this period Al was awarded the Scoutreach National President's Award for outstanding service to urban and rural youth in the area, awarded to only 32 District Executives in the country.

Then finally in the spring of 2004 Al saw the opening of Vice President for Administration at Red Cloud Indian School advertised in a local paper. The position intrigued him as his parents and brothers went to school there, and he always had a very positive perception of Red Cloud as an organization of high values and academic standards higher than other schools on the reservation. He felt that if he wanted to work at any organization on the reservation, Red Cloud would be his choice.

In June of 2004 Al began his career with Red Cloud Indian School, bringing with him the testimony of his rich experiences, and enjoying the challenges of maintaining the rich heritage of the school and its mission.

Al enjoys his three kids who are all in college pursuing something positive and productive in their lives. His oldest, Jeremiah, is pursuing a Drs degree in Chiropractic Medicine in Kansas City. He is in his last year and has managed to stay on the Dean's list since his start. He is also a graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD. His daughter, Emily, is in her last year at BHSU in Spearfish, SD working towards her degree in respiratory therapy. She is also a single mother who makes Al a proud grandpa. She's a great mother and a great student, Al will tell you proudly. And last and not forgotten is his youngest son, Justin. He’s the maverick of the bunch. Justin took a short break after graduating high school to build custom log homes for the rich and bum around. After swinging a hammer for a couple of years he finally realized that was not the end of the hammer he wanted to be on. He is currently a sophomore at BHSU majoring in Industrial Technology and Business Admin with a vision of owning his own home building business. He's also Al’s fishing and hunting partner. Their favorite pastime is taking time to backpack into a different wilderness area every summer.