I was born in Greenbush, MN on Aug. 9, 1936, the oldest of four sons born to Victor and Florence Westlund.  I was raised on a farm and graduated from Greenbush High School in 1954.  I served on active duty with the United States Navy from 1954 until 1957.  After separating from the Navy I enrolled at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND from which I received my undergraduate degree from the College of Business and Public Administration in 1961 and my law degree from the Law School in 1964.  I served as civilian legal counsel with the Judge Advocate General Corps of the United States Air Force for over 31 years.  I retired in October 1997.  From 1998 until 2003 I delivered new buses which were built in Pembina, ND and Crookston, MN all over the United States and Canada.  For the past four years I have been employed by Grand Forks County as the County Public Administrator.

I have been married to my wife Dorothy since June 1, 1963.  We have been blessed with four children.  David of Carrollton, TX.  Brian of Grand Forks, ND.  Kevin of Houston, TX and Kari of Bemidji, MN.  We have four granddaughters, two grandsons and two step-grand sons.  Much of my non-working hours were spent umpiring softball and baseball at both the amateur and college levels.  I have been a scoreboard operator for the UND football team for twenty three years.  I am currently the timer for both UND football and mens basketball.  I also enjoy golfing.

I have been a Lion since 1998 and have served as director, vice president, president and zone chairman.  I have been selected as Lion of the Year in 2004-2005 and 2007-2008.  I have been fortunate enough to have attended the USA/Canada Form in Columbus, OH in 2006 and the 2008 one in Saskatoon.  I also attended the recent Great Plains Lions Leadership Institute in Leavenworth,KS.