Puppeteer, ventriloquist teaches and entertains

BROOKINGS – Master Gardener Diane (Borgen) Kinney, mother of four grown children and grandmother of seven and a resident of White where she owns and operates Health Through Massage, spends lot of time teaching and entertaining children outdoors at McCrory Gardens. When she does, she gets a lot of help from Fred, Sunny Daze and Little Blossom. But she does the work for the trio: she’s their puppeteer and ventriloquist.
A native of Veblen with four siblings, she “grew up on a milking farm, a small farm with every animal there was: (35) cows, the horses, the sheep, the pigs, chickens. It started out as a chicken ranch. My grandma did that, way back in the day. We had chickens roaming around in the pastures.”
She graduated from Veblen High School in 1979 in a class of 15 students. That same year, right after gradation, she got married and moved to North Dakota where she lived “in different places for 18 years.”
After raising her children, she went into the workforce and took training to become a certified nurse’s aide. However, more education lay ahead: From 1993 to 1996, she attended North Dakota State College of Science. That’s when she got started with puppetry.

 A new teaching tool
“It was an extra class you could take in the curriculum for teaching children in grade schools with disabilities,” Kinney explained. She and a classmate went around to different schools with their puppets and taught them that people with disabilities, such as those using wheelchairs “could get around, just in a different way, but still could do some of the same things as a kid who could run with their feet. I used a puppet that had cerebral palsy.”
She graduated in 1996 with a degree in occupational therapy. That brought her to Brookings, where she worked at the Brookings hospital for about 13 years. Kinney noted that her office manager was a gifted gardener and “put it in my genes to become (a Master Gardner).” The title can be earned via a program offered by South Dakota State University Extension. It would take Kinney awhile to get there.
In 2006, she started a massage business in Volga, while she continued working at the hospital for several years.
“In 2013, finally, with just my massage business, I could go over to do what I dreamed about: coming to Brookings to work at McCrory Gardens somehow,” Kinney said. “And with Master Gardening, you have to have teaching, education and 50 hours of volunteer serviceto become a Master Gardener in two years.

“I took a six-week course and a big long test to learn everything about the earth. I became a Master Gardener in 2015. At that time I was reading to the children out at McCrory Gardens.”
In 2016, Kinney acquired puppet Fred from a friend’s mother. In 2018 she got Sunny Daze and in 2019 came Little Blossom. Fred is a sort-of favorite of hers and she uses him the most.
Fred: hardworking,  versatile
“Fred, I liked because he liked the color red,” she said. “He came in a pair of red corduroy pants with a red lumberjack shirt. (However, during a recent visit to The Brookings Register he was dressed in brown and blue.) He did come that way. I just get creative with him and put McCrory Gardens shirts and SDSU clothes on him, because we hang out at the Gardens and I’ve been part of the Extension so many years.”
Fred has proven to be pretty versatile for dressing up for the various roles he plays. “He has many outfits. He dresses up for the insect festival; he’s been a bee or a butterfly. He dresses up for occasions out at the gardens; at Christmas time, he’s an elf, my elf helper.” He’s danced with children’s entertainer Phil Baker.
“Little Blossom helps Fred out when we do garden tours,” she continued. “The children like to do the puppets, so every once in awhile (Little Blossom) will come to the gardens and she’ll pick out one of the children who has come for our program; they’ll be able to animate the puppetry.” Kinney uses the trio – one at a time – in different ways, depending on the age of her audience.
“Puppet Fred performs for 4- and 5-year-olds, usually, Sunny Daze is for the older children. GAP this year is divided by kindergarten through second grade and third through sixth.” She admits to using Fred the most. “For the dancing, the children tag along with him more. The 4- and 5-year-old girls love to dance with Fred.”
In addition to bringing the trio of puppets to life, translating her movements to them, Kinney speaks for them – literally, she’s a self-taught ventriloquist.
“Puppet Fred has a little high-pitched voice more. Sunny Daze is a little bit deeper, he’s a little older.” Fred’s voice came first, after a lot work and practice. Then came the challenge of Sunny’s deeper voice.
Kinney admitted that sometimes her vocal cords need some rest after a day of speaking for her puppets. “I can get a little hoarse,” she said, laughing a bit.
But Fred’s voice was fine during Kinney and the trio’s visit to the Register. He noted that Kinney “is my best friend. She takes me home.” Fred, who is 4 years old, added that he likes Sunny Daze: “He’s like an older brother to me.”
Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.