The Catholic priest who’s been named the new head of Boys Town is a native of Carroll, Iowa. His parents both grew up on Carroll COunty farms, but when he was just a boy, Father Steve Boes says his folks moved to Nebraska. They moved to Elgin, Nebraska, when he was in 6th grade because his dad got a better job managing a farm coop, but also the town had a Catholic school his folks had sought for their kids to attend. Boes, the eldest of six kids, went to seminary school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and began working in the ministry. He was a priest for a couple of years, and then had a tragic event; one of his students committed suicide. He did so much counseling that year in his parish, he decided to get training in the field. He got a degree from Creighton University in Omaha, though he ruefully chuckles that it took him ten years to do it. Last August, Omaha Archbishop Eldon Francis Curtiss gave Boes a call. He was at a climber’s ranch at the time in Moose Lake, Wyoming. “I do technical climbing for fun,” he says, adding cheerfully, “I think Girls and Boys Town will be the biggest mountain I ever climb.” The archbishop asked him to apply for the job, he did, and after a nationwide search that included 150 candidates, the board picked him. Boes says he’s very honored to become the fourth successor since Father Flanagan. “But I do plan to keep his dream alive, providing hope and help and healing for hurting children.” The facility near Omaha expanded its range years ago and changed its name to Girls and Boys Town. Today in addition to more than 800 residents, it offers programs in nearly 20 other cities around the nation and helped more than 43-thousand kids last year.