Meet Nobles Cooperative Electric Director Lee York and learn about the York family’s more than 60-year legacy of cooperative leadership and community service.
For Director Lee York, service to Nobles Cooperative Electric is more than a position on the board. It is part of a family connection to rural electrification and the cooperative movement that stretches back more than six decades.
Lee was elected to the Nobles Cooperative Electric Board of Directors in 1993 and represents District 2, which includes portions of Murray and Pipestone counties. More than 30 years later, he continues to bring the perspective of a farmer, longtime cooperative member and lifelong area resident to the board.
A Family Legacy of Cooperative Service
The York family’s connection to Nobles began a generation earlier.
Lee’s father, Jay A. York, was elected to the Nobles Cooperative Electric Board in 1964. During nearly three decades of cooperative service, Jay became a respected leader locally, throughout Minnesota and across the country. He went on to become the first Minnesotan to head the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), representing the interests of rural electric cooperatives and the people they served on a national level.
Following Jay’s death, his contributions to rural electrification were remembered through the establishment of the Jay A. York Scholarship in 1994. The scholarship continues to help students from Minnesota electric cooperative service territories pursue their education, extending his cooperative legacy to another generation.
That commitment to cooperative service continues with Lee.
Farmer, Member and Director
A lifelong resident of Murray County and the Lake Wilson area, Lee graduated from Southwest State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Agricultural Economics. Following graduation, he returned home and began a farming operation that continues today.
Lee and his wife, Joan, have two children, Brian and Kayla, and today he operates a diversified grain and livestock operation with his son and brother.
Lee has also experienced the cooperative from both sides of the board table. He has been a Nobles Cooperative Electric member since 1974, giving him more than 50 years of firsthand experience as a member-owner of the cooperative he now helps govern.
Leadership Beyond Nobles
Throughout his years on the Nobles board, Lee has taken on a number of leadership responsibilities, including serving as secretary/treasurer and vice president.
His service has also extended beyond Nobles Cooperative Electric. Lee currently represents Nobles on the Great River Energy Board of Directors, where he helps provide governance for the generation and transmission cooperative that supplies wholesale electricity to Nobles and other member-owner cooperatives across Minnesota.
His involvement reflects an important part of the cooperative business model. Nobles is locally governed by directors elected by its members, while Nobles, in turn, has representation at Great River Energy. That structure helps ensure the voices and interests of local cooperative members remain part of decisions being made at each level.
Lee’s commitment to service extends well beyond the electric cooperative world. Over the years, he has served as president of the Hadley Farmer Co-op Elevator, Lake Wilson Economic Development Authority and Lake Wilson Community Club. He is also a member of Lake Wilson United Methodist Church, the Lake Wilson Community Club, Lake Wilson Post 285 Sons of the American Legion and the Slayton Post #64 Legion Riders. He currently chairs the administrative board of Lake Wilson United Methodist Church.
Agriculture has remained an important part of Lee’s life throughout those years of service. His experience operating a diversified grain and livestock farm has given him a firsthand understanding of the importance of reliable and affordable electricity to farms, homes and rural communities.
More Than 60 Years of Cooperative Leadership
From Jay York’s election to the Nobles board in 1964 to Lee’s election in 1993 and continued service today, the York family has been part of Nobles Cooperative Electric leadership for more than 60 years.
Their story is also a small part of the larger history of rural electrification—one built by local people willing to serve their neighbors, become involved in their communities and help guide their cooperative through changing times.
As Nobles Cooperative Electric celebrates 90 years of serving our members, stories like the York family’s remind us that while technology, equipment and the electric industry have changed tremendously through the decades, one important part of the cooperative model has remained the same:
Local people serving local people.