Frank Leroy Farrar was born in Britton on April 2, 1929, the son of third-generation Marshall County homesteaders. An Eagle Scout and Boys State governor, he graduated from Britton High School and then earned business and law degrees from the University of South Dakota, where he was student body president. In 1953, he married Patricia Henley and they had five children. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, worked as a tax examiner, and then opened a law practice in Britton, where he served as county judge and state's attorney. At age 33, he was elected the state's youngest attorney general, and in 1968 he was elected governor. As governor, he focused on consumer protection and on modernizing statutes for banking and insurance, signed a narcotics law to address illegal drugs, and recruited 3M to Brookings and Aberdeen, EROS to rural Minnehaha County, and the Big Stone power plant to Grant County. After leaving office in 1971, he returned to Britton and owned several banks. He became known for physical fitness, participating in triathlons and Ironman competitions into his eighties, and he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2006.