This is an archived article.  December 4, 2003  From Wobegon to
the Emerald City: Three staffers follow yellow brick road  What
are the chances that three people who grew up together in a
small town in northern Minnesota would all end up working at the
same university 40 years later? Whatever the odds, Jay Johnson,
Dorothy Van Soest and Keith Ritala have beaten them. All are
from Biwabik, Minnesota (pronounced By WAH bik), a town of about
1,800 when they were growing up and now down to 900.  Johnson is
a professor in the College of Forest Resources. Van Soest is the
dean of the School of Social Work and Ritala is the manager of
laboratories and new technology for the Washington Technology
Center. Not only are they all from Biwabik, but they all lived
on the same street, Van Soest and Ritala just two doors apart.
The interconnections among them are many.  Johnson, the oldest
of the three, graduated from high school in 1959. Van Soest’s
sister Judy was in his class and was the friend of a girl
Johnson was datin