Hillard Knutson was born March 11, 1932, at Binford, North Dakota, to Ole and Caroline (Thune) Knutson, number 12 in a family of 13 children. He graduated from Hannaford High School in 1952, served in the U. S. Army during the Korean War, and graduated from North Dakota State University at Fargo in 1960. Hillard worked for the Williams County Welfare Department at Williston, North Dakota, as a child welfare worker from 1960-63. He was Sargent County Welfare Director at Forman, North Dakota, from 1963-65, and McLean County Welfare Director at Washburn, North Dakota, from 1965-66. He then entered the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver graduating with a Masters Degree in Social Work in 1968. He returned to work for the Ward County Department of Welfare as a child welfare worker. He also taught at Minot State University and was a consultant to the District Court at that same time.
While in graduate school, Hillard met Ann Schwarz, another social work student. The two of them were married on September 14, 1968, in Sauk City, Wisconsin. Ann is the oldest of seven children born to Carl and Carolyn Schwarz on July 23, 1944, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1969, Hillard and Ann moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Hillard worked as Clinical Director of Brockhurst Boys Ranch, a residential treatment center for emotionally troubled teenage boys. He helped develop and taught a two-year degree social work program at El Paso Community College at Colorado Springs. While there, Ann earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 1971. The family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, in 1974, where Hillard works as a School Social Worker and Ann works as a social worker for the Boys and Girls Home and Family Services.
Jason was born to this family on October 29, 1969, at Colorado Springs. He graduated from North High School in Sioux City in 1988, and is a freshman at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where he is majoring in architecture. Their daughter, Amy, was born in Colorado Springs on February 9, 1972, and is currently a junior at North High School.
Hillard and Ann are in the process of preserving the Ole Knutson farm northwest of Hannaford, North Dakota. They have restored the house and are in the process of restoring the other buildings.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 181