The business was started by George and Elaine Gross in Napoleon after the two saw similar displays during a trip to Branson, Mo.
Meanwhile, the Spragues, who live on their third-generation family farm near the shores of Lake Isabel, had a tradition of stringing Christmas lights on the evergreen trees lining their driveway each season. But as the trees grew larger, that task was becoming more difficult. So, the couple visited George and Elaine one afternoon to look at their light displays.
“Help is available. They’re not alone in this,” said Dawn Sauvageau, an adult outreach hearing specialist with the Center. The N.D. School for the Deaf (NDSD)/Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing’s Adult Outreach works with anyone 18 years of age and older who is either deaf or has a hearing loss.
In 2009, the N.D. Legislature mandated that the School for the Deaf expand its services to all ages. Established in 1890, the school had previously served children from birth through high school graduation or age 21, explained Pam Smith, the program coordinator.
Growing up in Bismarck, Gagner dabbled in art as a child, dreaming of being a professional artist someday.
“I’ve always loved painting and drawing, ever since I was a little kid. When I was really small, as soon as I learned what an author/illustrator was, that you could write books and draw pictures for it, I was in. That was what my job was going to be,” she says.
