Portraits by Kelly Kubista

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 103

Portraits 2011

Celebrating those whose

contributions will keep Steele County strong for years to come

owatonna.com

Welcome …

Inside these 104 pages, you will find rich, colorful stories about pillars of our communities — individuals whose contributions will keep Steele County strong for years to come The individuals featured here stretch across the spectrum of life here in Steele County — from people in the business community to those in sports or who are involved in the arts. Some of the faces will be familiar; others may be new to you. But each person profiled here has contributed something of their time, their talents or their resources to make Steele County a wonderful place to live, and we are all made the richer in our lives because of their contributions. This annual publication is a product of the Owatonna People’s Press staff, covering months of photography, interviewing, writing, designing and creative advertising efforts. Special thanks to Michael Connor of Connor Fotografia for his numerous pictorial contributions to this publication. We hope you enjoy Portraits 2011 for weeks and months to come as we celebrate the pillars of our communities. — Ron Ensley, Publisher and Editor

Page 2

Story index John Gross: Gentle giant....................................................................................................4 Dale Hursh: A heck of a ride..............................................................................................7 Virginia Stirens: The community’s cook..........................................................................10 Tim McManimon: Safeguarding the community............................................................13 Harland ‘Harley’ Manke: A tradition of service................................................................16 Norma Buxton: Music to our ears...................................................................................20 John Worke: Helping the Blossoms bloom.....................................................................23 Sabra Otteson: Following in the family footsteps...........................................................26 Mike and Trudy Pierce: Working together........................................................................30 Steve and Sis, Chad and Karen Lange: A family tradition...............................................34 Mark Skroch: A lucky toss................................................................................................37 Roger Tenney: Music man................................................................................................40 Jerry Ganfield: Making his mark in history......................................................................48 Sharon Stark: Matron of the arts......................................................................................54 Bill Kottke: Owatonna’s cheerleader................................................................................58 Gary Staats: Right up his alley.........................................................................................64 Ferris Chladek: Against all odds......................................................................................70 Ken Wilcox: A man of many hats....................................................................................75 Sharon West: Like father, like daughter............................................................................80 Elmer Reseland: Keeping the fair a well-oiled machine.................................................84 H Peterson: The art of small-town living.........................................................................94 Lois Nelson: Endless energy.............................................................................................97 Dudley Otto: The Iceman Cometh..................................................................................101

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Portraits 2011

Celebrating those whose

contributions will keep Steele County strong

for years to come

owatonna.com

Portraits 2011 A special project of

135 W. Pearl St., Owatonna, MN Publisher RON ENSLEY Advertising Director DEBBIE ENSLEY Managing Editor JEFFREY JACKSON Cover Design KATE TOWNSEND-NOET Account Consultants: LUKE BROWN, BETTY FROST, DIANE GENGLER, LAURIE JENSEN, DEB THEISEN Ad Design: JENINE KUBISTA, KELLY KUBISTA KERRI POHLNER, SUE SCHUSTER Contributing Writers/Editors/Photographers JEFFREY JACKSON, MELISSA KAELIN, CLARE KENNEDY, ASHLEY PETERSON, JASON SCHMUCKER, IAN STAUFFER, DEREK SULLIVAN, AND MICHAEL CONNOR, CONNOR FOTOGRAFIA Portraits 2011 is distributed to subscribers and readers of the Owatonna People’s Press at no additional charge. All rights reserved. ©2011. All advertising contained herein is the responsibility of the advertiser.

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

John Gross:

Gentle giant

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Former Medford teacher and football coach John Gross sits in a classroom at the Medford school. Gross is now a member of the Medford school board. He also “teaches” Steele County about its history through books that he writes and lectures he delivers.

By IAN STAUFFER istauffer@owatonna.com

f you’re ever in a hurry to get somewhere, don’t run into John Gross. And if you do come across the former Medford football coach, don’t start a conversation. The 69-year-old Gross coached football and taught social studies and drivers education at Medford High School for more than 30 years, and he knows a thousand tales from those many years with the Tigers.

“It was so funny, a few years ago, John got the microphone and he was supposed to give a three-minute deal between basketball games,” Medford principal Jeff Sampson said. “It ended up being 10 minutes, and we were giving him the ‘cut it off’ motion. He just kept talking and talking and talking. We all had a good laugh about it later.” That prolonged speech came during a night honoring Gross’ wife, Pat Heger, for her 40 years of teaching and coaching at Medford. As usual, Gross had plenty of information to share with all of those in attendance. That’s just par for the course for Gross, who has written five books about history

and given countless lectures as a representative for the Steele County Historical Society. He has been the go-to historian for anyone seeking information on Steele County for decades now. “It’s just a love you have. Maybe ‘passion’ is a better word,” Gross aid. “I’ve always loved history. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always been able to remember names, places and dates. “You ever play Trivial Pursuit? We’ll do that, and people always ask me, ‘How do you remember all that stuff?’ If it’s names and dates and places, I can remember them.” One date Gross will never forget is Feb. 5, 1855. That’s the day Steele County was

created. It’s a date you can find in Gross’ fifth book, “Steele County, 1855-2005: Crossroads of Southern Minnesota.” He co-authored that book with Nancy Vaillancourt and Jerry Ganfield to help celebrate the county’s sesquicentennial in 2005. Gross began his research into Medford and Steele County’s history almost as soon as he arrived in Medford in 1968 after he coached and taught three years at Bethlehem Academy in Faribault.

See GROSS

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Gross Continued from page 4 Gross grew up with two brothers, the children of Depression-era farmers, on a dairy farm between Hayfield and Blooming Prairie. He went to Hayfield High School and graduated in 1964 from the College of St. Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas), where he played football and basketball. Both of his brothers, Don and Bill, also graduated college and went on to become teachers. Gross’ first job was at Bethlehem Academy in the fall of 1964. He accepted that position because he was offered the football head coach job despite being just 22 years old. He was also the head baseball coach and assistant boys basketball coach. After three years, he left Faribault to pursue a master’s degree at Mankato State College (now Minnesota State University). That took him one year, and then he landed in Medford with a plan to stay for one year only. That didn’t really work out. “That was during the Vietnam War, and the draft was in,” Gross said. “If you didn’t have a teaching job, you were subject to the draft. So I was just going to try to find a one-year job to get me through, and one year became 30. “It was a good place to work, it really was.”

While Gross is well known for his ability to tell a story, his lasting legacy in Medford will be his time as the head coach of the Tigers’ football team. He won 145 games in 33 seasons with the Tigers and won a small school state championship in 1981. At 6-foot-5 and well over 200 pounds, the former college offensive lineman fills a doorway with ease, but by all accounts he was a gentle giant on the sideline. “He was very interested in football and developing young men, getting them ready for all the trials of life,” said Jim Slifka, who was an assistant coach under Gross for 28 years. “He would pull kids aside and talk to them one-on-one. He never liked to make an example of one in front of the rest.” Opposing coaches knew Gross would always have his team ready to play, no matter how big or small the game was. Jon Bakken has been the head coach at WatervilleElysian-Morristown for decades, and his teams had many battles with Gross and the Tigers over the years.

See GROSS

page 6

Submitted photo

John Gross in his football days at the College of St. Thomas.

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Gross Continued from page 5

“I was a new boy in the conference when he was already established and had a state title,” Bakken said. “You knew when you played them, they were going to know what to do. They were very meticulous, doing all the little things right. You knew that execution would be a big key against those old John Gross teams.” Perhaps that same meticulous nature Gross brought to his football teams was what drove him to be such a great historian off the field. If Gross could take so much time to remember all those longgone names and dates, it makes sense that he would expect his players to remember the proper way to hold a ball or throw a block. In all his years as a teacher and coach, Gross got to know people — a lot of people. He counts among his friends coaches from almost every school within a hundred miles of Medford, and many outside that circle. One of the closest is current Bethlehem Academy volleyball coach Franz Boelter, a legend in his own right after 33 very successful years with the Cardinals. “I first came to Medford in 1978 and John was kind of a mentor to me,” Boelter said. “He was also my landlord when my wife and I moved into a four-plex he owned. “I remember John being so committed to the kids, the school, the community, and his coaching. He just lived and breathed football. He had such respect Submitted photo from his coaching contemporaries. He John Gross is carried off the field by members of his Medford High School football team. was always considered one of the best.” Gross’ commitment to Medford didn’t end when he retired from teaching in kids. As the recruiting coordinator, I got nificance. He’s been to Gettysburg Na- of fun.” 1997. He wrote a book called “Medford: into a lot of schools, lot of homes, and tional Military Park many times, and he Gross said he doesn’t always rememHamlet on the Straight River” in 2003 to met some outstanding people.” said he and his wife have visited almost ber every former player or student that help the town celebrate its sesquicentenWhen the coaching staff changed at St. every state. comes up to him, but he does his best to nial. Olaf, Gross found himself back at BethGross also keeps himself plenty busy figure it out. He is currently in his fourth year on the lehem Academy as a volunteer assistant by staying active with his church and the “You learn after a while, you have Medford school board, and he can usu- coach. He spent three years with the Car- Knights of Columbus. He also represents little ways,” he said. “You ask, ‘Oh, was ally be found at a Tigers sporting event dinals and officially put his whistle away all the retired football coaches in Minne- your brother Jim?’ They’ll give you little keeping book, sitting behind the micro- after achieving 40 years as a football sota on the coaches association executive clues.” phone, or cheering on the kids. His wife coach. committee. Gross and Heger never had any children is still an assistant girls basketball coach He was inducted into the Minnesota Gross also likes to stay close to chil- of their own, but with almost 80 years of for the Tigers. High School Football Coaches Associa- dren. He substitute teaches once or twice teaching and coaching between them, it After Gross retired from Medford, he tion Hall of Fame in 2001, and he was lat- a week in Owatonna and Medford, and seems like they have thousands. spent five years on the coaching staff at er honored as a 40-year football coach. almost everyone in Medford still calls “We have two cats. That’s kind of our St. Olaf College. He was the recruiting Away from the football field, Gross still him coach, especially his former players. extended family,” Gross said. “Our famcoordinator and an offensive assistant for loves to immerse himself in history. He “That’s one of the greatest honors you ily has been all the kids we’ve had come the Oles. does lectures for the Steele County His- can have, that’s respect,” Gross said. through, all the families we’ve touched. “That was a great experience, five great torical Society almost every year, and he “They still come up to me 20, 30 years Now their kids are coming through, or are years,” Gross said. “I met some great loves to travel to places of historic sig- later and still call me coach. That’s a lot already through.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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By ASHLEY PETERSON apeterson@owatonna.com

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See HURSH

page 8

Ashley Peterson/People’s Press

Dale Hursh in his office at Hursh Motors.

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Hursh Continued from page 7 “I’m the only guy in the place who works six days a week here every week, God willing, that is,” Hursh said. “One of my biggest fears in my life is retiring.” Hursh was born in Hinsdale, Mont., on July 7, 1923 and grew up in Anaconda, Mont. — the third child in a line of five kids. Some of his fondest memories of high school include the summers he’d spend with ranchers during the hay season. “I just loved the damn work, and I got a big kick out of it,” Hursh said. “I seemed to have a knack for the buckrakers in high school. Haying usually took about 60 days. When we were all done, we’d sit around the table and he’d pay us $60, and boy that was a great deal, coming out of the Depression. I could go out and buy my own clothes then.” After high school, Hursh joined the military via volunteer draft in 1943 and went to war in World War II. He served in the European Theater of Operations in two battle campaigns and Army of Occupation. He spent time with the military in North Africa and all around Europe. He was discharged in 1946, ending his three-year stint with the military. Upon arriving home after war, Hursh met the woman he would marry later that year — Helen B. Thorness. By 1947, Hursh graduated from Butte Business College in Butte, Mont., with a business degree that led him to public accounting. Beyond his interest in numbers and accounting, Hursh is an avid outdoorsman, one who once worked as a fishing and hunting guide prior to getting into the auto business. “When I was a public accountant, I did a bit of professional hunting. Being raised where I was, I was quite involved in hunting and fishing,” Hursh said. “That would be the reason I’d go back to Montana if I’d ever go back.” Through a small fishing and hunting gear store Hursh owned in Montana, he crossed paths with fellow lovers of the outdoors on a daily basis, and once in a while, the occasional celebrity seeking to get away from the limelight and into the great outdoors. “I knew Bing Crosby from him coming into my store in Montana,” Hursh said. “That’s how we got to know most of

Ashley Peterson/People’s Press

Dale Hursh stands among the vehicles on his showroom floor. Hursh’s expertise at sales and service garnered him the TIME magazine Dealer of the Year award in 1993.

those guys — through fishing. They were some of the neatest people.” Hursh remembers meeting the head of the Fishing and Game Department and the attorney general of New Jersey as well as teaching a young man to fly fish who ended up going on to become the national champion fly fisher. While living in Montana, out of the office, Hursh couldn’t get enough of being outdoors, but at work, he kept busy because he was the only accountant within a 100-mile radius. It was through his biggest account, Chevrolet, that Hursh started working with cars. A Chevrolet dealer in Ennis, Mont., asked Hursh to work out of his office and help with the dealership book work. Then a banker Hursh knew told him about a Pontiac dealership for sale in Helena. Hursh bought the business and there his 54-year automotive adventure began. At home, Hursh was tending to Helen, who had become ill. For four years, she struggled with different symptoms of a disease no doctor could diagnose. A simple move out of the elevation of Montana to the flatter lands of Minnesota would prove to be all the cure Helen needed. Hursh and his family moved to Owatonna from Helena in 1957 at the urging of the Pontiac Corporation.

“(The Pontiac dealer) in Minneapolis wanted me to be close by so our wives could play,” Hursh said. “I found the spot (in Owatonna) and bought the guy out in about five minutes.” On March 3, 1957, Hursh opened his first Owatonna dealership at the corner of Rose Street and Oak Avenue in the Manke building. When asked why he got into the car business, he said it all started when he was an accountant. “I got in it because I was a public accountant. Since being a dealer, I’ve never desired to do anything else. I love the accounting side of it, the people. I’ve always enjoyed people. That’s one of the main things. It was something that was offered to me and I took him up on it and never let loose. Right now, I hold the oldest new car franchise that’s still in business as a person in Minnesota. Some have suggested I might be the oldest (new car franchise) in the United States,” Hursh said. A man who claims to have only taken one sick day in 45 years, Hursh was joined by his two sons, Jim and Dennis, in the dealership and he said that though sometimes it’s difficult working with family, he’d have it no other way. “It’s wonderful,” he said. “Dennis did

exceptionally well on the West Coast and sold his company and decided to come back home and play with the cars.” Though his sons have followed his footsteps into the car business, son, Jim, said time with his dad was often centered around work. “I didn’t really know him that much until I was about 10 years old because he was working all the time,” Jim said. “But more than anything else, I’d describe him as very driven and very hardworking.” Since the ’50s when Hursh had 14 other new car dealers in town to compete with, that competition has reduced to one other new car dealer in town besides his own. In addition to his to-the-brim car dealer career, Hursh said he lived a lively life with his wife, whom died in 1998. “My wife and I lived a real full live. I’ve been in really ever major country in the world outside of China and Japan. We’d go wherever we thought would be interesting,” Hursh reminisced. “I remember one time I came home on a Thursday and I said ‘Want to go on vacation for a few days?’ and she said ‘Oh yes!’ So I said, ‘We’ll go to Norway’ because she had family there. And then we went.”

See HURSH

page 9

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Hursh Continued from page 8 Outside of work and family, Hursh was involved in numerous community organizations. Hursh is a life member of the VFW, Associated Church board member, an Owatonna Foundation member, and an Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism member. His past participation includes Owatonna Country Club, the local Zuhrah Shrine Club, Owatonna Historical Society, Boy Scouts Gamehaven Council, Little Theatre of Owatonna, Boy Scouts, United Way fundraisers and countless dealership councils. With his age and experience, Hursh said he has many things he would consider his greatest achievement. There is however, one thing that surpasses all the rest: The TIME Magazine “Quality Dealer Award” he won in 1993, chosen by his peers. “I have several I’m pretty proud of. I guess when my peers voted me to represent them in the United States TIME Magazine Award, that was one of my favorites. I think I did more for mankind at that time

than anyone else,” he said. “You get as old as me and you look back and you can’t remember all that stuff.” TIME Magazine’s Dealer of the Year Award is one of the most prestigious awards a new-car dealer can receive. TIME Magazine, in association with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and in cooperation with the National Automobile Dealers Association, names the Dealer of the Year at NADA’s annual Convention & Exposition every year for the past 42 years. TIME Magazine says “The Dealer of the Year award calls attention to new-car dealers in America who exhibit exceptional performance in their dealerships, combined with distinguished community service; creates a positive public relations forum for all new-car dealers; and provides a representative spokesperson for Dealer of the Year.” As the winner of the 1993 TIME Magazine’s Dealer of the Year Award, Hursh was honored with the most prestigious

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award a car dealer can strive for, making it a notable accomplishment on an already successful career. But even after winning such an honor, as Hursh ages, he said he wants nothing more than to keep working hard in the town he has come to love. “I can’t think of anything I don’t like about Owatonna. It’s one of the neatest towns and I’ve lived in many of them,” Hursh said. “Suppose I’ll have to retire some day. I want to keep going. I don’t know how to loaf. Never had a job in my life where I could loaf.” Jim knows his dad will work until the day he in no longer able. “He could take it a little easier, but he won’t. He feels like if he quits, it will kill him,” Jim said. “He won’t retire. He’ll be taken out of here in the box.” A lifelong Steele County friend of the Hursh family is the Clair Peterson family, a friendship that began when Clair and Dale’s sons became close friends.

“I’ve known Dale for about 50 years and the first time we really got to know each other, we went up into Canada fishing. I always kid him about the time all he carried in when we portaged was the sleeping bags and the rest of us had to carry the gas and the motors and the heavy things,” Peterson said with a laugh. “We went on a lot of trips and we had a great time doing that.” Peterson said he would describe Hursh as somebody who is a “very, very friendly and intelligent person who really cares for people.” As for Hursh’s love for the career he’s invested most of his life into, Peterson said it’s clear the work is Hursh’s passion. “It’s his baby, and he just loves to be there and he has done that for many years. He’s always been the first one there and usually the last one to leave. It’s his way of expressing how he feels. I think it would be very hard for him to retire because he’s so used to this and it’s engraved in him,” Peterson said.

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Virginia Stirens:

The community’s cook

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Virginia Stirens dons an apron at the VFW in Owatonna. The VFW is now home to the annual Community Thanksgiving and Community Christmas dinners that were started by Stirens.

By JASON SCHMUCKER jschmucker@owatonna.com

irginia Stirens knows which side her bread is buttered on. In fact, she knows which side most Owatonna residents’ bread is buttered on. And she should, because she has been feeding many of them for years. Stirens was the driving force behind the Community Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The dinners, now in their 24th year, serve a combined 2,000-plus people annually.

Though Stirens has since handed the reins over to Mike and Trudy Pierce, she still recalls those first years fondly. “It’s something that I thought about for a long time before I decided to do it,” Stirens said of the annual dinners. “I guess I was aware of the fact that there are a lot of people — elderly people — who don’t have anywhere to go on the holidays.” The elderly have always held a special place in Stirens’ heart. “I always thought, ‘Someday, I’m going to be there,’ and I just want to be treated kindly,” Stirens said. Stirens said that the now-annual event started small. The first Thanksgiving dinner fed about 100 members of the community.

“The first year — I still laugh about this — I called some friends of mine, and I said, ‘You know, I’ve got an idea’ and I laid it out,” Stirens recalls. “We just all cooked turkeys and put this thing together.” Stirens could not have forseen the effect that the dinner would have on her. “It was so much fun, but it was such a good feeling,” Stirens said. “That’s what I remember — that wonderful feeling when I walked out there and looked at all those happy people. It was a great feeling. So then I said, ‘We did so good this Thanksgiving, let’s do Christmas!’” After that inaugural year, the dinner grew and grew and finally became an institution all its own.

“I think a lot of people thought (in the early years), ‘This isn’t real,’” Stirens said. “This is the thing that I stress every year — this meal is for people that are alone during the holidays. They need to be with someone. Bringing people together, that’s what this is.” As the meal grew, so did the diversity of the attendees. “We’ve had people there that I know have money, money, money,” Stirens said. “And we had people there that had nothing. But when they come together like that, they are all one people. It’s just a great thing to see.”

See STIRENS

page 11

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 11

Stirens Continued from page 10 Stirens credits much of that success to her ever-growing team of volunteers and supporters. “We wouldn’t have this without the community,” Stirens has said. “Owatonna is a very giving community, and that’s why we’ve been able to provide this service all these years.” Outside of her commitments to the community dinners, Stirens also helped feed the community in other ways. Stirens ran a private catering business and the kitchen at the Elks before she purchased the Kozy Korner Kafe. Stirens was the was the owner, cook and chief bottle-washer at the Kozy Korner Kafe for 14 years before putting the eatery on the corner of Bridge and Oak streets up for sale in 2007. “It’s time,” Stirens said after putting the cafe up for sale. “My health isn’t what it used to be.”

See STIRENS page 12

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Virginia Stirens stands behind the counter of the Kozy Korner restaurant in the days shortly before she sold the business.

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Stirens Continued from page 11 During her time at the cafe, many of the city’s most recognizable names became regulars — Vern Ahlers, Bud Coufal, Bill Weisjahn, Harold Carpenter, Gutsy Anderson and even Federated CEO and President Al Annexstad. Stirens was particulary proud of visits by Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman and U.S. Sen. Rudy Boshwitz. Having to give up the cafe was hard for Stirens. “I miss it every day,” she said. During her time at the cafe, Stirens made an impression on most everyone who passed through the diner’s doors. Proof of that is in one of her prized possesions from her run with the cafe. Sen. Boschwitz once left her a photo of himself, along with a note. “To Virginia,” it read, “With much admiration for your chicken soup and your wonderful insight into life.” Despite her deep ties to the community, Stirens is not a native Owatonnan. “I’ve lived here since 1963, ’64,” Stirens

“My father made a big impact. I was raised with a strict hand. You appreciate that as you get older. I can only hope that I did as well with my kids as they did.” — VIRGINIA STIRENS

said. “I married a guy from Owatonna. I grew up in Montana.” Stirens has adopted the community as her own, though. “I am so proud to be from Owatonna,” Stirens said. “I’ve always said it is the most giving, caring community.” Stirens credits her upbringing with her philanthropic attitudes. “My father made a big impact,” Stirens said. “I was raised with a strict hand. You appreciate that as you get older. I can only hope that I did as well with my kids as they did.” These days, Stirens occupies her time as a greeter at the Owatonna Wal-Mart.

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“I love working at Wal-Mart as a greeter,” Stirens said. “All the people I see, all the people I have known for years, and it’s a wonderful place to be!” Stirens takes her duties as a greeter seriously, though. “I make it a point to greet everyone specially and smile at them, and make a big fuss over the little kids,” Stirens said. One of the biggest honors in her life was when she was hired by Target to cook for the crew that put together the company’s ﬁrst Rose Bowl Parade ﬂoat. “What an honor,” Stirens said. “Was I ever proud of that.”

She ﬂew out on Christmas Day 1995, following the annual Community Christmas Dinner. “I had the dinner, got through the dinner and got everything done and cleaned up. I was just going like crazy,” Stirens said. “I grabbed my suitcase and headed to the airport and ﬂew to Pasadena.” She is still amazed at the life she has lived, and the opportunities that have been afforded her. “I’ve been pretty lucky all throughout my life,” Stirens said. “I’ve known a lot of great people, I’ve done a lot of things. I don’t have any complaints. It’s been a good time.” With everything that she has done, Stirens still looks on the community holiday dinners as her lasting legacy to the community. “Other than my three sons, I think that my greatest accomplishment in life is those dinners. That’s something I’m so proud of,” Stirens said. “I’m just so proud of the fact that it has lasted all these years.”

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Page 13

Tim McManimon:

Safeguarding the community

Tim McManimon stands next to the safe of the Owatonna office of Profinium Bank where he is president.

By JEFFREY JACKSON jjackson@owatonna.com

ome of the greatest lessons S that Tim McManimon ever learned came not in a classroom or in his life in the business world, but on a farm.

McManimon, president of the Owatonna office of Profinium Financial, said that his experience on that dairy farm outside of Rushford, Minn., taught him much about what it means to live in and be a part of a community. “Where I grew up, a number of farm families banded together. We lived 10 miles out in

the country,” McManimon said, further noting that their distance from town — even a small town like Rushford — meant that neighbors relied on neighbors. “People had to help people,” he said. But living on that farm, where he and his brothers helped their dad tend to a couple hundred head of cattle, also instilled within him a work ethic that he still has today many years and miles away from that farm. “It was hard work, hard, physical work,” he said. “Nothing was given to us. Everything was earned.” Those experiences have instilled within McManimon core values of community and hard work — something that he has carried with him into his professional career, his per-

sonal life and his life as a community leader. “From that I learned the value of hard work and the belief that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself,” he said. “But I also learned the value of helping others.” That, he said, led him to working with the chamber of commerce in Winona when he was a student at St. Mary’s College. His work with the chamber there led to his first job and eventually got him into banking. And when he got into the banking business, he brought those values along. “How a bank is involved in the community is important,” McManimon said. “If it’s active, it can help the community grow and prosper. If it’s not active, if it’s not vibrant, it can hurt the community.”

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. When he was in high school in Rushford, McManimon was active in just about everything he could be — from sports to debate. It was, of course, a small school, he said — one that encouraged students to be a part of the community and take leadership roles. He went to college with plans to major in political science. “I really didn’t know where I was going with that,” he admits, adding that he “really enjoyed” the poly-sci courses.

See McMANIMON

page 14

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

McManimon Continued from page 13 Then, when he took a business class, he discovered where his passion was and where he could make the most impact in a community. He graduated with a double major in political science and business administration. But before he graduated, he did an internship his senior year with the Winona Chamber of Commerce — a job that he describes as a “go-fer.” Through his work with that chamber, he said, he learned more about business, jobs and economic development — lessons that he would remember and use throughout his career. And it was there, he said, that he first became interested in banking. Why? It comes back to community. “Bankers are vested in the success of the community,” he said. The president of the chamber worked for Norwest Bank in Winona, and McManimon knew that every year Norwest would hire one college graduate to become a trainee in the bank. He finally “got the gumption” — his words — to ask the banker about the trainee program. But before he could ask — literally, while he was walking up to the man to ask — the banker asked McManimon first if he was interested in the program. He interviewed for the position and was hired. “I graduated on Saturday and started at the bank on Monday,” McManimon said. He stayed with the bank for a few years before he was recruited to work for a company that required him to travel around the country, going to trade shows, working with salesmen and providing financing for buyers. But then, when the country slid into a deep recession in the early 1980s, the company was sold and McManimon, who had two young children at the time, found himself looking for a new job. He went back to his contacts in the banking world, asking if there were any opportunities in banking and eventually interviewed in three different communities. “I was fortunate enough to come to Owatonna,” he said. In September 1983, he came to work here at the Norwest Bank, now Wells Fargo, as a junior commercial lender. Over time, he became the manager of commercial lending. Then, in 1997, when Ken Wilcox retired as bank president, McManimon was chosen to take his place. Eventually, his work with Wells Fargo led him to lead a management group for the state, with five offices under his supervision, and then to a position with the regional commercial bank for Wells Fargo, where he worked

with larger companies and corporations in North Dakota and South Dakota as well as Minnesota. That meant a lot of travel, and though he found the job very rewarding, he was vested in community — this community — and he wanted to be closer to home and to his family. It was about then that he was approached by Profinium, which wanted someone to build and run a bank in Owatonna. McManimon accepted the challenge. And it all comes back to community, and throughout his professional career in Owatonna and Steele County, McManimon has shown himself to be someone who does what is needed to help and grow the community. That growth is important to McManimon. “I believe in expanding the base,” he said. “I don’t believe you can shrink your way to prosperity or shrink your way to lower taxes.” That conviction led McManimon to try to help grow the community from those first days he came to town. The first place he visited was the chamber of commerce, which was run at the time by a two-person staff — Ted Ringhofer and Carol Schultz. “I introduced myself and said, ‘Can I get involved?’” McManimon said. He was young — “27 or 28,” he said — and eager, but, he admits, he “didn’t know how everything worked.” Still, with his interest in economic development and helping to create jobs, he worked to help recruit businesses to the community. “How do you recruit and attract businesses to town?” he asked. Over the years, he has learned that what businesses look for when they consider locating in a community is good housing, a good health care system and strong education, including post-secondary education. “We need to be excellent in all of those areas,” McManimon said. “Those were the areas I focused on.” And focus he did. The housing arena came easily to McManimon. After all, he was in the banking business and helped to finance new development, construction and apartments. He also helped to promote a housing study for the community. Such a study, he said, was important because Owatonna’s population at the time was nearing 18,000 with almost zero vacancies in town. “We needed more housing units,” McManimon said. “Without a housing stock, you can’t raise your population.”

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

“How a bank is involved in the community is important,” says Tim McManimon, president of the Owatonna office of Profinium Bank. “If it’s active, it can help the community grow and prosper. If it’s not active, if it’s not vibrant, it can hurt the community.”

Likewise, he became a part of the effort to improve health care in the city, including time spent on the local board of trustees for Allina Hospital, the health care organization that runs Owatonna Hospital. His efforts and those of the rest of the board were instrumental in getting the new hospital built. The building of the hospital did not come without opposition. “In the public arena, especially when it comes to funding, there are some who say we need to hold back and hunker down,” McManimon said, recalling the opposition. “On the other hand, if you don’t strike when the iron’s hot, you may miss the window of opportunity. In Owatonna, things go pretty good. The health care campus was one of them.” In addition, he pushed to improve the educational opportunities in the city. Though never a member of the Owatonna school board — despite his political science major, he’s never held public office — McManimon worked on advocating the bond issue that eventually would build the Willow Creek Intermediary School in the city. He was also instrumental in getting the Owatonna College and University

Center built — something that he regarded as essential to the growth of the town. Bringing post-secondary education to the town was important, McManimon said, because too many talented young people were leaving the city to get their education. Then the city would have to try to recruit them to come back. “It just didn’t make sense,” he said. By building a campus where educational opportunities were available, more high school graduates would stay here. And what has been McManimon’s role in all of this? “My role over the years has been facilitation,” he said. “You can’t take people to places they don’t want to go. It takes hundreds of people to get this done. Often the difference between success and failure is who’s going to call the question. Who’s going to ask, ‘My goodnes, are we going to do this?’” Over the years, McManimon has been willing to call the question. And he does it not for fame or glory, but for the satisfaction of seeing people served. In other words, it comes down to community.

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Harland ‘Harley’ Manke:

A tradition of service

Clare Kennedy/People’s Press

Harland “Harley” Manke sits behind his desk at Manke’s Outdoor Equipment in Owatonna. Manke, who was born in 1941, has no plans to retire. He said, “Mankes never retire … They just keep going.”

By CLARE KENNEDY ckennedy@owatonna.com

ou could call Harland Manke a workaholic, but to be fair it runs in the blood. Harland, known by most as “Harley,” is the owner of Manke’s Outdoor Equipment, and the company has been a part of him almost as long as he has been alive.

The business, which has been in the Manke family for 65 years, was started by Harley’s grandfather, Fred, who immigrated from Germany when he was just 2 years old. The family originally settled into farming. His grandfather later started a trucking business — the first to haul concrete culverts across Minnesota. That began the Mankes’ move toward town. After Harley’s father, Ervin Manke, got discharged from his service in the Army, he started up a Shell station with his brothers and father. Harley, an Owatonna native, was born in 1941. During his boyhood, the family business entered a period of rapid expansion. In

the late 1940s they moved into auto sales, selling Jeeps and Packard cars. In the 1950s they picked up two new product lines — Toro lawn mowers, snowblowers and home appliances. The new lines proved to be a wise investment. “That was fairly new. (The snowblowers) were something that nobody had,” Harley said. Harley grew up on the shop floor. He started work almost immediately. By 1956, he had a wage of 30 cents an hour. On average, he put in 60 hours a week washing cars, pumping gas, and running deliveries.

In 1959, he graduated from Owatonna High School. At the time, he intended to strike out on his own and become a washing machine repairman. He quickly became disillusioned with his choice after just one or two weeks on the job, however. “One woman asked me to take all the dirty diapers out of the machine and throw them in the tub, and being a high school age kid, dirty diapers were not my cup of tea,” Harley recalled.

See MANKE

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

The tradition of service in the Manke family dates back 65 years when Harley Manke’s grandfather started a trucking business (left) and continued on into the full-service gas station business of which Harley was a part (below).

Submitted photos

Manke Continued from page 16 He gladly went back to the family business. He can still vividly recall one of his first major sales pitches. The year was 1959, three years after his grandfather had died. “My uncle told me to go and sell a wheelhorse tractor mower,” Harley said. The wheel-horse tractor mower is a little lawn garden tractor. “So I drove out into the country to do a demonstration for these people. Right away the starter broke.” Undeterred, Harley used a clothesline to get the motor running. He got on the tractor to give the machine a run for his potential clients. The demonstration went down without a hitch until he took the tractor on its first curve. The wheel promptly fell off. The family bought the machine anyway, quite a testament to Harley’s salesmanship. In fact, those folks became loyal customers during the decades that followed. Harley is now a third-generation owner. He still has an amorphous job description, one that depends on the tasks that need to be done that day. “With a family business you do a little bit of everything to keep the doors open,” Harley said. “My dad never wore a watch. Today to survive in this business you have to be willing to come in early and stay late if that’s what a customer needs.” This is especially true now Harley said, because the business has to compete with big box stores. Most people nowadays buy for a price, and the larger stores can always undercut a small business owner. The small stores strategy rests on providing better service — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That means free delivery, a competent repair staff and the willingness to put

some muscle into it. Sometimes, Harley said, clients call wanting them to move appliances, which got heavier as the years wore on. These days those on the Manke crew sometimes find themselves trying to jimmy a massive flat-bed freezer out of a narrow basement door. About eight years ago, the Mankes moved to their current location at the corner of Glendale and Hoffman, right across from their old site, which now is home to Sterling Drug. Even after the move, Ervin and Harley’s uncle Warren stayed over at the gas station to pump gas, he said. “Ervin and Warren continued because they thought there was a need for full-service gasoline because there are a lot of handicapped people,” Harley said. “They kept right on at it until Sterling Drug came in. They had a great following.” Harley’s father died in 2004, at the age of 84. The old man worked until the end. However, the most challenging chapter of Harley’s professional life came last year, during the flood of September 2010. The Mankes had a four-hour head start on the flood, which ultimately inundated their building with 30 inches of water and made the roads around the business impassable for days. “It was the first time that it had ever flooded in this location,” Harley said. “We didn’t have flood insurance because it cost too much. But we were able to survive.” He knew it was serious when a manhole in front of the business started backing up. Harley and his family were able to pull out most of their inventory and valuables before the water got too high, thanks to the help of volunteers. As they frantically emptied the

building, the water came up, lapping at the door, then seeped onto the sales floor. Eventually, all the movers were sopping around in inches of flood water, but they got most of it out. They lost little, comparatively speaking. Harley said that they’d set 25 new dehumidifiers up on chairs, hoping that it would save them. The water got high enough to float them off, ruining them. “That was the most difficult time for me,” Harlie said. However, within no time the shop was back to normal. Anyone entering Manke’s today would never guess what had happened in September 2010. But it’s not all work for the Mankes. When Harley has some free time, he likes to fish. “That’s the big thing,” Harley said. He has been known to go all the way to Canada just to angle. He tries to get to Saskatchewan at least once a year. On his last trip, he and nine other friends came home with 14 northerns more than 40 inches long. His personal bests are a 46-inch northern and a 22-pound lake trout, which he caught out of Reindeer Lake. He has also been involved in volunteer activities from time to time. At one point he was a member of the Jaycees, otherwise known as the United States Junior Chamber. The organization is for young people, from 18 to 40 years old. The Jaycees provide a group of peers to help members make friends, network, find new job opportunities and build their resume through training and seminars. As a group, they also sponsor community service projects. During Harley’s time with the Jaycees, the

organization sponsored a new city park, now known as Jaycee Park. The city bought the land from the State of Minnesota on April 23, 1963. The seven-acres tract was originally used as highway land. At that point, the Jaycees were already deeply involved in the park’s development. The land was re-named in their honor before the land was transferred, on March 11, 1963. The Jaycees provided funds for the park restrooms, picnic shelter, walkways, a sand volleyball court and much of the playground equipment. In addition, they put in many hours of labor to get the park up and running. Harley was responsible for finding money for the sign and putting it up. He was also involved at his church, St. John Lutheran, where he served on the church council from 1967 to 1969. Manke’s also sponsors free shows at the Steele County Free Fair, the city’s annual party. In the past, they’ve put on Elvis shows, Patsy Cline revues, and other entertainment. This time around, they plan to bring in the Richie Lee & the Fabulous ’50s, a nostalgic act from Des Moines. It’s unlikely that Harley will be slowing down any time soon. “Mankes never retire. We stay with it until the end,” he said. “My father and uncles never retired. They just kept going. You have to like what you’re doing and like the people you work with.” However, he does hope that one day his daughters will pick up the torch. “They’re following in my footsteps,” Harley said. “They can do just about everything I can do — selling, helping customers and doing service work.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 19

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Norma Buxton:

Music to Our Ears

Photo courtesy of Federated Insurance Companies

Decked out in Owatonna Huskies school colors, Norma Buxton waves to a crowd in an Owatonna High School Homecoming parade.

By MELISSA KAELIN news@owatonna.com

uiet the band. Still the fanfare. And let the a cappella artist sing. Norma Buxton, a long-time resident of Owatonna, has been delighting Owatonna’s ears for decades, and she’s been using the sound of her voice.

“Music has always been a part of my life,” said Norma. Norma grew up at the opposite end of the state. She was raised in Roseau, not far from the Lake of the Woods. But even in a town of less than 2,800 people, she built for herself a strong foundation in music. “We had two wonderful music teachers,” said Norma. “We were so fortunate.” After Norma graduated from high school, she attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., and performed with the famed Concordia Choir under Paul J. Christiansen. Christiansen composed and arranged hun-

dreds of hymns and choral compositions, developing the choir at Concordia College into what it is today. The choir is considered one of the world’s finest and most accomplished undergraduate a cappella choirs, often making performances in foreign countries. Norma said her studies under Christiansen were no easy feat. The man had a talent for musical composition and instruction, but he did not tolerate mistakes. “By George, you learned to dot your i’s and cross your t’s,” said Norma. But she said even under the direction of a strict conductor, the music reached her on a personal level. “Be-

cause we sang sacred music, that did a lot to nurture my own soul.” While Norma was in the choir, she had the unique opportunity to travel and perform in Norway in 1949. In 1946, the Concordia College Band became the first musical ensemble from the college to ever travel abroad, but women were not permitted to take the trip. Just three years later, Norma had the same experience with the Concordia College Choir.

See BUXTON

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 21

Buxton Continued from page 20 “That was quite thrilling,” said Norma. “It was right after World War II, and Norway did pretty well at getting themselves rebuilt.” In 1950, Norma married Charles Buxton II, whose great-grandfather Charles Buxton I cofounded Federated Insurance in 1904. Charles graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, and he was recalled to the Navy to work on an atomic energy project in Albuquerque, N.M. He moved back to Owatonna to live with Norma after his years of service. For Norma, who majored in art and music at Concordia, Owatonna was a different kind of community. “Owatonna — it’s very diverse, and I learned that early on,” she said. The town was quite a bit bigger than her hometown near the Canadian border, and it took some getting used to. Before she knew it, though, Norma settled in and became a mother. “We had six children, five that lived to adulthood,” said Norma. “That kept me occupied.”

With four daughters and a son, Norma kept the house running. She said it was a team effort, but that the kids, who were very active on the Owatonna sports scene, always kept her hopping. Two of Norma’s children made it big before they even graduated from high school, as both John and Sarah Buxton made the Owatonna High School Hall of Fame. “Man, we were busy following the teams,” said Norma. The children’s schedules grew busier every day, but Norma was her usual self, sharing her friendliness and wit with everyone she came across — not to mention her voice. “I was fortunate enough that I met a man, and I fell in love with him and he asked me to marry him and I said yes,” said Norma. Charles was a good catch, Norma said, and she was by his side during both the good years and the years that saw more toil and labor. “What most people don’t realize is there’s been hills and valleys in the economic effort for years,” said Norma. Through both the hills and the valleys, the

couple stuck together. They worked hard, saved hard, and steered Federated Insurance in the right direction. Though Charles had started at the company in the stockroom, he worked his way up the ranks. Then in 1957, at the age of 32, he was named director and president of Federated Insurance, and he became chairman in 1964. Under his direction, the company’s sales grew from $25 million to $1 billion. Norma contributed where she could, at one time selecting the art pieces that would adorn the walls of the Federated buildings in Owatonna. She even offered her husband advice in company matters. “I gave it whether he wanted it or not,” she said. But she said the family dynamics worked, bringing the couple happiness until her husband’s death in 2000. “I think we made a good team,” she said. Norma is quick to point out that her husband never retired. He died shortly after being diagnosed with acute leukemia, while he was still working at the company.

“You have to put your shoulder to the wheel,” said Norma. In the early years, with five children, she said the paychecks were quickly spent. Norma was a full-time homemaker, volunteering in the community and at Owatonna schools, but she did not take this charge lightly. “I had to make every day pay,” she said. Now, the Buxtons are widely known for their charity. After Charles rose to the top, the family made donations to local community organizations, such as the Steele County Food Shelf and the United Way. They also contributed to the music and arts scenes, and many of the organizations that support the work of Owatonna residents and Minnesota residents alike. Throughout her years in Owatonna, Norma has been actively involved in the arts and music scene. She has a deep passion for art and music is never far from her.

See BUXTON

page 22

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Buxton Continued from page 21 She sang in the community choir, and performed in a musical production at the Little Theatre of Owatonna, “Singing in the Rain.” And when Roger Tenney held auditions for a Roger Tenney Chorale, she went out for that too. The Roger Tenney Chorale toured the Midwest, giving concerts on Friday nights. It was made up eight sopranos, eight altos, eight tenors and eight bases, and it was frequently featured at conventions, performance halls and even in the park. Roger Tenny conducted the chorale, and he remembers Norma’s voice to this day. “She’s a sweetie,” said Tenney. “She was one of my favorite soloists.” Norma remembers the concerts, too, and posing for beautiful photographs in Mineral Springs Park. “That was a lot of fun,” she said. Norma was also one of four performers in a group formed by Veta Alexander called the “Off Broadway Singers.” Made up of Lud Gillespie, Ann Lindekugal, Dale Torgerson and Norma, the group sang at meetings of the Woman’s Club. Their repertoire was primarily songs of the musicals on Broadway, and they even performed in neighboring towns. Norma also sang solos for the River City Band, which was featured in various celebrations around Owatonna and in a 1986 concert called “The USO Show.” Norma performed solos in numbers like “Sentimental Journey,” “The More I See You,” “Embraceable You,” “Let’s Get Away from it All,” “Moonglow,” and “I’m Beginning to See the Light.” But the reality of the thing was that Norma was singing almost all the time. “It’s part of my DNA,” said Norma. “I know I sang as a little kid. It was part of me. Even the children used to say, ‘We always knew where mom was. We could hear her singing.’” Even with Minnesota winters blustering in Charles “Chuck” and Norma Buxton. and forcing Norma to close all the windows in the house for one long enduring season, Owatonna Arts Center, and helping to estabNorma kept singing. When the milder seasons lish musical programs there as well. But in of spring and summer finally broke, her neigh- one particular event, she decided there needed bors knew it by the sound. to be a fundraiser to benefit children who were “My neighbors used to say, ‘Summer’s victims of child abuse. She worked to orgahere. You can hear Norma singing.’” nize three concerts for cherished children, and Norma’s generosity did not end in song, raise money for prevention efforts. however. Over the years, Norma has volun“It was here in Owatonna,” said Norma. “It teered her time and effort to a great many is so heart-breaking to me that these children projects. They run the gamut, some as small are abused. They are cherished and it makes as bake sale fundraisers, and some as big as me sick. These children need food and care.” initiatives that change communities. The money raised from the concerts went Norma was known for helping out at the into a larger fund that was used for profession-

Photo courtesy of Federated Insurance Companies

als working in the field. Norma also lent a hand in the beginnings of a club that still functions today as an integral part of the Owatonna community. Already a member of the 20th-century Club, Norma decided to try to unite women to form a club where they could enjoy each other’s talents and gifts. Norma served as the first temporary president for the Women’s Club of Owatonna when it was founded nearly 50 years ago. After the club was incorporated in 1962, Rita Pepper became president and Buxton served as vice

president. Norma returned to her post as president again in 1963. “There were a lot of women’s issues that were discussed,” Norma said. Norma also brought with her to Owatonna a bit of Norwegian heritage. While the town is growing in diversity, she said her hometown of Roseau was less varied in population, with just about everyone being of Scandinavian ancestry. “All my relatives are Norwegian,” said Norma. Norma’s grandfather even came to stay with her family when she was young, emigrating from Norway. But it was during the Great Depression, and the family had to think outside the box in order to make ends meet. “Those were Depression years. You didn’t throw anything away,” said Norma. She recalled the toys her grandfather made for her, like an airplane with wheels and a propeller. She loved the music and the language of the old country, though she couldn’t speak much Norwegian and had trouble understanding anything her grandfather said. Now, Norma celebrates her heritage as an active member of the Sons of Norway. The group is devoted to studying Norwegian culture, and celebrating people of Norwegian birth or Norwegian decent. Norma attends the meetings when she has time, but she is also famous for helping to put on a Christmas program. In fact, she has worked with others in the Sons of Norway Lodge to put on a musical Christmas program for at least 15 years. “We like to keep the heritage alive,” said Norma. A modest woman, Norma also reserves a little bit of pride for her Norwegian roots. “It’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect,” she said, of being a Norwegian. These days, Norma still lives in Owatonna, but retreats west for the winter. She immerses herself in the arts and music culture in Arizona, and returns after the snow melts to play with her grandchildren. “Owatonna is just a remarkable community,” she said. “It’s been wonderful to be able to perform here.” Lately, Norma said her shows have been comedic, letting her wit shine in her ripe old age. And when she thinks back on her life, she can’t name any experience above another as having more value or being more memorable. “I think of a patchwork quilt,” she said. “The quilt has so many colors and textures. It comes together, and it’s delightful.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 23

John Worke:

Helping the Blossoms bloom

By DEREK SULLIVAN dsullivan@owatonna.com

ohn Worke was born a Blossom. He eventually became an Awesome Blossom. While a lot of men might not enjoy being associated with a flower. John doesn’t mind. In fact, the man who has given his life to the town in southern Steele County has a favorite saying he repeats with pride: “It’s one thing to be a Blossom, it’s something else to be beaten by one.”

See WORKE

page 24

Press file photo

John Worke at work on the basketball court as head coach of the Blooming Prairie High School girls basketball team

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Mary and John Worke have offices back-to-back at Blooming Prairie High School where Mary Worke is a counselor and John Worke is the school’s athletic director. Derek Sullivan/People’s Press

Worke Continued from page 23 John has defeated a lot of Tigers, Rebels, Panthers, Vikings, Cobras and other ferocious mascots in his life. In high school, he helped Blooming Prairie reach the state football tournament. As a girls basketball coach, he has won eight Gopher Conference titles and one section crown in 1999, all as a Blossom. Take out a four-year stay at Winona State, and a year trying to farm in Owatonna, and Worke has woke up every morning in Blooming Prairie for the past 44 years. Most of his days are spent in an office where he is an athletic director and facilities manager at Blooming Prairie High School. On the other side of his wall is his wife’s office. Mary works as a counselor. Up against the left wall sits a duffle bag, which belongs to his son Matt, a freshman at BPHS. His daughter Madison, an eighth-grader, goes to the junior high. She won’t be able to hide from Dad for long. In a year or two, her father will be her basketball coach. When she graduates in 2015, John’s other daughter , a third-grader named Julia, will be walking the halls of Blooming Prairie. It’s a family of Blossoms. John spends almost 15 hours a day at Bloom-

ing Prairie, either in his office, the hallways, the gym, the football field or track. He’s up early every morning for the start of the school day and still up at 10 p.m. to make sure all of the activities ran smoothly. It’s tough working those kind of hours, but having his family in the same building helps. “It’s tough, but at the same time, you see your family all of the time,” John said. “As educators we see them on a daily basis.” Plus, John can sneak home off and on during the day. The Worke family of five lives a half block away from the high school. The connection to the town and high school goes all the way back to birth for John, but for Mary and Matt it really started in 1997. That summer, John was let go by the high school he graduated from in 1984. He was a fifth-grade teacher when his contract wasn’t renewed due to budget cuts. Surely, Mary didn’t think much of a place that kicked her husband to the curb. But that same year, the town would embrace the young family as they experienced something a lot more stressful than looking for another job. Matt was born with a disease called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. According to the

National Institute of Health, hypoplastic left heart syndrome occurs when parts of the left side of the heart (mitral valve, left ventricle, aortic valve, and aorta) do not develop completely. The condition is present at birth. Matt spent the first five weeks of life on his life in the hospital. He needed three open heart surgeries. On top of the job loss and Matt’s heart problems, Mary was pregnant with the couple’s second child. Friends, family members and neighbors drove up to Rochester, made hot dishes and helped out in any way they could. “One thing about Blooming Prairie from what I have seen throughout the years is that through thick and thin, they support you 100 percent,” John said. “At times in a small town you get the rumor mill going, and being a teacher, a public educator and a coach, you’ll hear negative things. But when I think about Blooming Prairie, I remember when Matthew was born and the support we got, with people coming over to Rochester, people bringing over hot dishes and clothes. The support our community has for one another is phenomenal.” Matt now plays basketball and baseball at

Blooming Prairie. Madison plays volleyball, basketball and softball. Mary played volleyball at MSU, Moorhead. “We don’t hunt, fish or have any hobbies other than sports,” Mary said. “You’ll find us playing sports in the front yard. Our kids might have a lot of other talents that we don’t know about because our lives revolve around sports.” While no one likes to be without work, John now looks back on the year as a blessing. He went back to school and got certified to teach secondary education. Within two years, he was Blooming Prairie’s athletic director. “I never would have gotten that job if I didn’t move up to the high school,” Worke said. “If I would have stayed down in elementary, you could just never be the athletic director and elementary teacher. You need to be up in this building because this is where all your events and activities take place. Really that year, by going back and getting my middle school certificate, was a big benefit.”

See WORKE

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Worke Continued from page 23 Having adjoining offices doesn’t keep Mary successful athletic program. In the past couple from being a basketball widow. Her husband of years, Blooming Prairie has sent football has coached the Awesome Blossoms girls and softball teams to the state tournament. basketball team since 1993. Against J-W-P Last spring, both the boys and girls golf teams on Jan. 28, John won his 300th career game. won Gopher Conference titles. He has eight Gopher Conference titles, and, in Jake Jacobusse (boys track coach) has been 1999, he led the Blossoms to the state tour- with Worke since he took over the girls basnament. The 1999 team had the school’s lone ketball team 18 years ago. 1,000-point scorer in junior Andrea Banton, “He’s been a really good communicator,” along with Kari Olson, Missy Avery and Jana Jacobusse said. “He’s really organized. DefiPeterson. The Blossoms fell to Morris Area in nitely one of the positives things about John is the quarterfinals in Mankato. how organized he is. That’s really important.” “Now in my 18th year, to It’s a fine line being a coach see how things have to fall and an athletic director. Worke into place to get to that level,” oversees 18 different extra“He is so John said. “I was only in my curricular teams, including passionate about sixth year, and I was in the his own — the girls basketball Blooming Prairie. state tournament. I didn’t reteam. He would love nothing alize at the time how special more than to watch his playThis is where it was. I knew it was special, ers compete in the gym 12 everything is for but here I am 12 years later months out of the year, perhim. He takes a and we’ve had only one other fecting their jump shots. But lot of pride and team reach the section final. many of his top players also ownership in Other than that, we haven’t excel at other sports, and as been close.” athletic director he needs to representing Worke has coached girls make sure every team sucBlooming Prairie.” basketball for 17 years — as ceeds. long as the previous five “John has always been re— MARY WORKE, coaches did combined. His ally sensitive to the goals of Blooming Prairie High School 305 career wins are 221 more other coaches,” Jacobusse counselor and John’s wife than Dean Meshke, who said. “He doesn’t try to insits in second place. He has fringe other programs. He coached hundreds of girls wants to help every program over the past two decades, and even turned his succeed and let the kids play the sports they volleyball-playing wife into a fan. want to play. He has been good that way.” “I’ve always liked basketball, but he’s really As time has gone on, Worke has been given instilled in me a passion and love for the game more and more responsibilities. When princiand watching our children and his teams com- pal and superintendent Barry Olson leaves the pete,” Mary said. “It’s fun to see and connect building, Worke runs the school in his place. with past players and see that they have good “If I’m not in the building, then (Worke’s) memories of playing at Blooming Prairie.” in charge,” Olson said. “He’s done a great When he moved up to the high school, he job and handles any situation. He has served taught earth science. One year later, Bill Bun- Blooming Prairie very well for a long time.” kers stepped down as athletic director and Worke has accomplished a lot in his time at Worke took over as head of the Awesome Blooming Prairie, but it’s a youth sports proBlossoms. gram that he’s most proud of. Worke played a “He’s so passionate about Blooming Prai- key role in the success of the Blooming Prairie. This is where everything is for him,” Mary rie Rec Association, which teaches young kids said. “He takes a lot of pride and ownership in about sports, arts and crafts. Worke helped start representing Blooming Prairie.” the program in 1991. His youngest daughter, In his decade as athletic director, Worke Julia, currently participates in BPRA hasn’t searched for many coaches. He knows “It’s an organization that’s really close to year in and year out that Chad Gimbel will my heart,” Worke said. “The BPRA piece I coach football, John Bruns will coach boys take a lot of pride in having effects on little basketball and cross country, Chris Staloch kids. I like that. I like their energy. I helped will coach baseball and Ali Mach will coach build it up from the ground level and I’m still softball. He knows consistency is a key to a hanging in there.”

Page 25

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Sabra Otteson:

Following in the family footsteps

Ashley Peterson

Sabra Otteson in her office at J-C Press in Owatonna — a family-owned printing business that has roots back to nearly the beginning of Steele County.

By ASHLEY PETERSON apeterson@owatonna.com

abra Otteson’s heart, soul and business are in Steele County, where she tends to the family-owned printing press she brought out of nearashes 28 years ago and into a raging success today. Otteson owns and operates what is now known as J-C Press, a business that began in 1859 as The Owatonna Journal, a newspaper publication in Steele County.

Otteson’s family came to town in the late 1800s and her grandfather, Egbert Kilbourne Whiting started the Owatonna Chronicle newspaper in 1887. In 1906, he acquired the Owatonna Journal and formed the Journal-Chronicle Company. It was 41 years later that Whiting sold the newspaper operations to the Owatonna People’s Press and instead worked exclusively on commercial printing and stationary supplies much like J-C Press does today. When Whiting died in 1940, the business was passed to his two sons, one of them Otteson’s father. Otteson grew up in Owatonna and was well aware of the family printing business.

“Dad was involved and my uncle was in Rochester, so we grew up in this business, but most of my experience was on the supply side until I took over. We had an office supply store downtown, so I worked there after school and after I had my family, worked part-time as needed in accounting or sales,” Otteson said. “But I was a typical kid. I didn’t spend all my time working. I was involved in Girl Scouts and I’ve played golf since I was eight. Back then we didn’t have girls athletics like today.” Otteson left Owatonna to attend Rollins College and after graduation she took a job as a legal secretary. Since that time, Otteson married and returned to Owaton-

na until 1986 when she and her husband moved their “merged family” of six to the Twin Cities. “My husband worked for Owatonna Canning Company for 20 years before he worked at Rahr Malting Company,” Otteson said. “We merged families 34 years ago and raised four kids. Three of them are married and each has two children so we have six grandkids from ages five to 17.”

See OTTESON

page 27

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 27

Otteson Continued from page 26 In the early ’80s, Otteson saw her father’s business struggling and she said she never really had intentions of taking over the printing business. “I kind of expected because of my age and that generation I might be a stay-athome mom and be the consummate volunteer like my mother had been,” she said. That all changed in 1983 when Otteson took over the company — “training by fire,” she called it — and began rebuilding it into the full service digital commercial printing facility it is today. “The thing that’s changed so much in the printing business is technology. They used to set type in hot metal and run ink over it. Then you pasted and cut and glued and took a picture of that, and of course now everything is digital,” Otteson said, reflecting on the advances in her industry. In addition to running the business and raising a family, Otteson has been ex-

tremely committed to community service and is incredibly vested in the well-being of Steele County. “One of the greatest things most recently that I’m proudest of is getting the hospital built and I co-chaired the team that was responsible to get the hospital built. I started out by being interested in health care and the financing. I wanted keep health care in Owatonna to continue to attract people and business. It was apparent it was something we needed. Allina gave us the OK and so much money and the community ID’ed extras and the budget was set and we raised the money. We raised over $3 million and now we are going to become a mini medical center because of the location and the combination of the building.” Though the Ottesons have lived in the Cities for more than 20 years, it’s important to both Sabra and her husband, Bill, to remain involved in Steele County, whether it’s remotely from their home

Making Quality Products Since 1925

in the Twin Cities or in Rio Verde, Ariz., where they spend their winters. “It’s the community I grew up in, and it’s been very good to me. With my education and through my business experience, if I can leave it a better place than when I arrived 66 years ago, that’s what I want to do,” Otteson said. “I’m more of leader, front runner. I enjoy working with people. I had a mother who didn’t work, but she was a leader, the head of several state organizations as leaders, so I had that example growing up. I was raised seeing my parents involve us as a family, as well as my dad and the business. Both of my parents were very active volunteers in the community and I saw that it not only brought them a feeling of satisfaction in all of this but they were appreciated for all they did and I appreciate my upbringing from them.” Otteson’s desire to give back in accordance to what she’s been given is seen firsthand in her company, where J-

C Press CFO Jenine Whited has worked alongside Otteson for 17 years. “After working with her for this long, I would say I know her pretty well. She’s a great mentor and just a really smart businesswoman in the fact that the smartest thing about her is she’s willing to listen to other people’s opinions, not someone who’s out touting that she knows everything. Rather, she’s seeking answers or other opinions to judge her own opinions,” Whited said. “She’s also very involved in the community and that I think has been a big strength. That community involvement and being visible in the community has been really helpful.” Whited said Otteson tends to treat her J-C Press employees like family, like an “extension of her at-home family.”

See OTTESON

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Top left: Sabra Otteson’s senior picture. Above: Otteson with television personality Art Linkletter and then Congressman Tim Penny in 1998. Left: the cash register of the former Journal-Chronicle newspaper — the predecessor to J-C Press today — sits in Otteson’s office. Far left: A photograph of J-C Press as it used to look.

Submitted photos

Otteson Continued from page 27 “She wants to know about her employees and the things that go on in their lives outside of J-C Press. All the while I’ve worked here, every year she wants to know who has a kid and who’s graduating and any wedding that’s going on,” Whited said. “She’s a great asset to JC Press for sure, but to the community over all she’s one of Owatonna’s biggest cheerleaders. People should be able to talk long and hard about the good things she’s done because she’s everywhere.” Otteson said her goals with the company is to be able to grow the business, though she said she’s not looking for huge growth. She just wants J-C Press to continue to be known as a quality employee and customer-friendly company. Otteson remains involved in the Owatonna Foundation and was once president of United Way of Steele County, the Rotary

Club and was on the Board of Trustees for Owatonna Hospital — all avenues in which she became good friends with Wenger president and CEO, Bill Beer. “Sabra is one of my very favorite people of all time. I can’t speak to the longevity of the family and her Owatonna influence, but I’ve heard from secondhand information from others I respect in town that the Otteson family has been around forever and contributing to the well-being of the community for such a long time. Sabra is such an accomplished business owner and operator on one hand and her family is so benevolent in giving back to the community on the other,” Beer said. Otteson and Beer first crossed paths a few years ago in the realm of community giving. “Sabra and I served together on the hospital fund drive a couple of years ago and

worked together on that. Sabra has been a very active supporter of United Way, where I’m on the executive committee and board,” Beer said. “We named Sabra volunteer of the year two years ago, the highest award from United Way. I’m on the board of the Owatonna Foundation with Sabra and each one of those cases it was more than giving her money. She obviously is a financial supporter of all three of those things but more important here’s a lady who lives in the Twin Cities and runs a business down here and spends a great deal of her time attending fundraising meetings. So when somebody gives their time that’s a deeper level of commitment.” Beer said Otteson falls into the story of Owatonna entrepreneurs who start a business in this community and remain loyal to Owatonna. “It’s not just the business environment

— that’s just one hat she wears — she contributes to loyalty way beyond that,” Beer said. “She’s one of the most upbeat people I’ve ever met. Everyone else in the room can be talking about the economy but she always looks on the bright side of things; always sees the silver lining when the rest of the group sees the clouds.” If Otteson has it her way, she’ll just continue giving back to the community and invest in the town she grew up in. “I’m just trying to think about what this community has meant to me, and on my mother’s side we go back five or six generations in this community, so I have heard all of the stories of the early pioneers,” Otteson said. “Many friends of my parents and great-grandparents I have known and I’m so happy to be a part of it. I don’t need to leave a legacy. I just want to give back.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Mike and Trudy Pierce:

Working together

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Trudy and Mike Pierce stand in the VFW hall in Owatonna where the Community Thanksgiving and Community Christmas dinners are held. The dinners were moved to the VFW hall when the Pierces took over running the events from Virginia Stirens. The move from the KC hall was made to accommodate the large crowds that attend the dinners.

By JASON SCHMUCKER jschmucker@owatonna.com

ood food is good for the soul. That is a lesson that Mike and Trudy Pierce have taken to heart, and feeding the community is a task that the couple has tackled since they moved to the community — first through their involvement in 4-H, then with the VFW and finally with the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas community dinners. The Pierces took over the reins of the annual holiday dinners after event founder Virginia Stirens stepped down in 2003. “When I thought about retiring (from the dinners), there’s no two people I could think of that are more qualified than Mike and

Trudy,” Stirens said when she passed the proverbial torch on to the Pierces. “I’ve known Mike and Trudy a long time, and they came up and helped us. They are just so involved in the community. They were just the perfect people. I thought about it for a while. I thought, ‘You know what, I can’t do this anymore. Who am I going to find to do this?’ And the Lord sent (Mike and Trudy) through that kitchen door.” The Pierces had been involved with the dinners for several years, after they found themselves with an empty nest for the holidays. “We have three grown kids with their own children,” Trudy said. “Each of them were either going to see the other side of the family or were trying to start their own traditions, and we found ourselves alone on the holidays.

Virginia told us about (the community dinner), and it’s such a great thing that you get to help people and be with other people on the holidays.” The Pierces were honored to take over the events, which Stirens had helmed for 17 years. “She was talking about retiring from it, she was just getting older,” Mike said. “She asked if we would be willing to do it.” The organization of the annual events — each of which serves about 1,000 people annually — is a daunting task, but the Pierces knew what they were taking on. “We worked with Virginia for a couple years, so we had an idea of what was coming,” Mike said.

Under the Pierces leadership, the dinners changed venues — from the local Knights of Columbus Hall to the Owatonna Veterans of Foreign Wars post. “It used to be in the KC hall, which is much smaller. It was upstairs, and it is in a residential area, so there’s no parking,” Trudy said of the decision to move the dinners. “That’s why we wanted to move it to the VFW. (Now) we have handicap accessibilities. People can come in with walkers and wheelchairs. There is also a huge parking lot.”

See PIERCE

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Press file photo

LEFT: Trudy Pierce at the Community Thanksgiving Dinner held at the Owatonna VFW hall.

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

RIGHT: Mike Pierce in the kitchen of the VFW hall in Owatonna where he helps prepare the meals for the Community Thanksgiving and the Community Christmas dinners.

Pierce Continued from page 30 The VFW facility also sports a larger kitchen than the Knights of Columbus hall, which has made the prepartions for the feast a little easier. Since the move, the dinner has grown, Mike said. “We’ve really gained in numbers,” he said. The VFW was a natural choice for the Pierces — Mike is the post commander and cook, and Trudy is the president of the VFW Ladies’ Auxiliary and former state president with the organization. Both Pierces have left their mark on the local post. Trudy was honored at the 2007 National Mid-Year Conference of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States for her leadership. Mike, on the other hand, is also state cochairman of the Pheasant for Vets program, which has treated hospitalized veterans around the state to a pheasant dinner on behalf of both the Minnesota American Legion and VFW for 69 years. “We do the auction that normally (raises)

somewhere between $10,000 and $18,000,” Mike said. “And 100 percent of it goes to the homes.” Local fundraising efforts for the statewide program raise more money than any other post in the state. Mike’s leadership and philanthropic efforts earned him a White Hat Award and an AllState Post Commander award for the work done by the post and auxiliary for others in the community. “The VFW and 4-H have been our main two activities that we are really active in,” Mike said. The couple’s involvement in 4-H stemmed from their children. “I’ve been involved in 4-H ever since we moved to town in 1974, when our children were in it,” Trudy said. “I was a volunteer up until about 10 years ago, so probably 25 to 30 years I volunteered with 4-H. Now, I actually work in the Extension Office. I’ve seem some of the (former) 4-Hers come back as parents, now with their children in the program.” Trudy spent many years as the leader of the Happy Hustler’s 4-H Club, and also served as

an officer on the Adult Leaders’ Council and as the advisor for the Junior Leaders’ Council. Mike and Trudy just couldn’t escape the need to nurture both the minds and bodies of their young charges, so they donned their aprons and picked up their spatulas to feed the masses. “We used to run the food stand for 4-H for 10 or 15 years,” Trudy said. Trudy was honored for her life-long contribution to Steele County 4-H with a permanent plague at the Minnesota State 4-H building. It hasn’t been all honors and accolades, though, as the Pierces have seen their fair share of hardship. Last year was an especially hard year on the family. Mike had surgery in April 2010 following the discovery of a blood clot in his right calf an aneurysm behind his right knee. Complications forced doctors to amputate Mike’s leg at the knee. It was a rough year for Trudy, as well. Medical complications forced her into a hospital bed at the end of the year, sidelining her for the annual community dinners.

“Oh, last year was something,” Mike said. “This year is going to be a great year.” “When you go through some of the problems that we did last year, you realize how many lives you’ve affected by who you hear from,” Trudy said. “Some aren’t even close friends. I think, ‘Gosh, I heard from so-andso, isn’t that cool?’ Well, yeah, you must have affected them somehow.” That optimism and generosity of spirit is something the Pierces try to work into their everyday relationships with people. “Everybody likes to hear a kind word,” Trudy said. “How many of those people haven’t been given a kind word or a smile all day?” And she hopes that people take that kind word and helping hand and pass it along to someone else. “I hope that people do the same thing we are doing — reaching out and helping others when they need help,” Trudy said. At the end of the day, the Pierces are proud to call Owatonna home. “It’s the small-town atmosphere, and it’s a very giving community,” Trudy said.

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Steve and Sis, Chad and Karen Lange:

A family tradition

Press file photo

Steve Lange stands at the honor wall at dedication ceremonies of the Morehouse Dam on June 21, 2007. The day also happened to be Lange’s 96th birthday. The Lange family made significant contributions to the dam preservation project.

By JASON SCHMUCKER jschmucker@owatonna.com

“T

o those that much has been given, much should be expected.” That’s Chad Lange’s philosophy, one that he said was instilled in him by the generosity of his parents, Stephens and Gertrude “Sis” Lange. The family’s ties in Owatonna run deep. Chad, whose full name is Chadwick Stephens Lange, is, in fact, named after his father, Stephens, and his mother, whose maiden name

was Chadwick. Chad’s given name helps to gauge the scope of his family’s influence on the community — the Chadwicks came to the city in 1870 with the arrival of Miles B. Chadwick. “Miles Chadwick was my great-grandfather on my mother’s side,” Chad said. “He came from Pennslyvania, via Ohio State where he got his law degree,” Karen, Chad’s wife, added. “That’s 141 years of the family in Owatonna.” After arriving in Owatonna, Miles — a prominent Mason and lawyer — settled into the political scene and his influence grew. In 1878, Miles was elected Steele County auditor, a post he held for four terms. Miles also served as clerk to the Minnesota Legislature in 1874, a post that is also elected.

“(Miles) also went on to become a municipal judge in Owatonna, as well,” Karen said. The Langes, on the other hand, didn’t arrive in Owatonna until the early 1900s. A canning family from Wisconsin, the Langes saw success with the Big Four Canning Company — named after the four Lange brothers: L.C. (Chad’s grandfather), Gus, H.T. and Fred. L.C. left the Big Four in 1911, and headed to Minnesota to strike out on his own. From that decision, the Owatonna Canning Company was born, an enterprise that exists to this day under the ownership of Lakeside Foods, one of Owatonna’s largest employers. Stephens entered the family business in 1923, though he didn’t join the company fulltime until 1932. Steve served as secretarytreasurer for 15 years before becoming com-

pany president in 1960 and finally chairman of the board in 1981. Chad joined the business in 1962. When Steve took over the chairman post, Chad became company president. Under their leadership, the Owatonna Canning Company grew and was finally sold to Chiquita Brands International in 1997. The company switched hands again in 2003, when Seneca Foods Corp. bought the company before selling it to Lakeside Foods. The Lange family still operates the Festal Farms Company. The Festal brand was created under the Owatonna Canning Company banner following World War II.

See LANGE

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Lange Continued from page 34 The Langes’ involvement with the Owatonna business community doesn’t end there, though. Steve was also prominent in the early years of both the Owatonna Chamber of Commerce and the Owatonna Country Club, and was instrumental in the creation of the Owatonna Development Corporation, which was the forerunner to the Owatonna Industrial Park. Steve also served as trustee as of the Owatonna Foundation for 45 years and served two terms on the Owatonna school board. The Langes are not merely a business family. They also supported numerous civic projects, not the least of which was the reconstruction of the Morehouse Dam. Steve and Sis were the lead benefactors on what was, at the time, a project that divided the city in the early 2000s. “For probably 18 months to two years, (the dam project) was the most controversial subject in the city,” Chad said. “The city council had been advised that the dam was unsafe, structurally. It had been there since the late 1850s. They determined that it would be too costly to replace the dam.” The state, Chad said, had offered to provide funds to tear the dam down. On Dec. 17, 2002, the Owatonna City Council approved a measure to remove the existing dam and dramatically lower the resevoir. “I was aware of what dam removal would do to a river,” Chad said, based on his knowledge of a similar project in

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Reedsburg, Wis. “Several years previous, they had taken a dam down. What happens is, especially in the summer, you get a muddy little creek with a big slough surrounding it.” The Lange family became involved in the Morehouse Dam fight after Chad attended a public meeting on the topic at Owatonna High School. “The city was making a one-sided presentation on taking it out,” Chad said. “Of course, at that time, there was division among people who wanted to save it and people who said that it’s not a priority.” Chad immediately joined up with the dam preservation proponents, a group that eventually became the Dam Preservation Corporation. Chad also encouraged his father to join the preseravtion efforts. “At the last minute, I approached my father and said, ‘The council will be meeting on this tonight, and they’re going to vote on removing it. Unless we make a sizable contribution to start a fund drive to preserve it, it’s all over,’” Chad said. “To make a long story short, we went to the council meeting and we threw the thing into a tizz by offering to give the lead gift.”

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Lange Continued from page 35 Chad said the announcement was met with skepticism by some residents and politicians alike. Despite the opposition, the announcement started a four-year process to preserve one of Owatonna’s most distinctive historical landmarks. Proponents worked tirelessly to raise private funds to support the project. The project met resistance from city officials, until the 2003 election changed the makeup of the city council. The new sitting council was more receptive to the efforts to preserve the landmark, and in June 2004 reversed the previous council’s decision to remove the dam. The decision didn’t come without conditions, though, chiefly the establishment of endowment fund to cover longterm expenses associated with upkeep and repair to the dam. The project came to a final fruition in the summer of 2007, when the Dam Preservation Corp. celebrated the last milestone in the fight to save the dam — the dedication ceremony. “This is our gift to the citizens in Owatonna,” Dennis Von Ruden said at the ceremony. Von Ruden was the sitting president of the Dam Preservation Corporation. “This is something our town should be very proud of.” Steve Lange took a similar tack. “It’s a great day,” Steve told those at the dedication ceremony. “It’s a monstrous thing for us to have something like this that’s so good in our town.”

The Morehouse Dam

Chad still beams with pride at the mention of the dam project. “It is a one-of-a-kind in the country,” Chad said. “There’s only a couple of inches of water running over it. The feature that really makes it unique is that the water now goes around the pseudo-dam in the form of rapids. We did not eliminate the free-ﬂowing river. We created rapids.” Chad said the dam’s unique design still permits ﬁsh to swim upstream and spawn, and also allows river skating in the winter. “You could not have skated on the river anymore, because there wouldn’t have been the backing up of the water (if the dam had been removed),” Chad said. While the dam project helped preserve an iconic piece of local history, the Lange family would soon tackle a much larger project — the preservation of the history of the entire county. In 2007, Steve and Sis also offered the lead gift for the creation of the Steele County History Center . The Langes put up $1 million on the project, with the condition that the local historical society would match the funds in order to receive the donation. The society rose to the task, and the $3.3 million dollar project broke ground in October 2010. Chad was also instrumental in the creation of the city’s municipal swimming pool at its location in northeast Owatonna — River Springs Water Park. The Lange’s Festal

Chad and Karen Lange

Farms Company traded the 10-acre plot that the park now sits on to the city in 2008. The swap was what is classiﬁed under Internal Revenue Service code as a 1031 exchange, or like-for like. Festal Farms received a parcel of land that will ultimately be used to quarry limestone. Most recently, the Langes, through Festal Farms, donated 17 acres to the City of Owatonna for an extension to the trail system, which will allow the current trail to extend to 26th Street. Chad is proud of his family’s contribution to the history — and by extension, the future — of both Owatonna and Steele County.

“When you preserve an historical place, you preserve a part of who you are,” Chad said. Chad is quick to note that his family could not have accomplished any of these projects alone, and said that many of the projects could not have come about with out strong backing from local residents, ofﬁcials and business leaders. He maintains that he is just a cog in the larger machine of the community — a machine that he says has given no indication of slowing down. “Owatonna has a bright future,” Chad said. “The diversity of the community bodes well for continued prosperity.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Mark Skroch:

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ark Skroch loves to sit down every morning and drink coffee at a local gas station. It’s a simple activity, but it affords him the chance to relax and relive memories with the former students and constituents that walk by.

Everyone in Ellendale knows Skroch, and they should. He was mayor of the small town just off of Interstate 35 for nearly three decades. He installed the sewer systems. But when folks stop by to talk to him, they don’t always talk about politics. A lot of them remember Skroch as Ellendale’s Music Man. If you ask Skroch what he did for a living, he will tell you that he was a music teacher for almost 40 years. He came to Steele County from Claremont in 1959 and stayed for 37 years. The decision to teach in Ellendale was decided by chance. He was offered positions in Ellendale and Modesto, Calif. He flipped a coin to decide.

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Skroch Continued from page 37 “If the coin would have gone the other way, I would have ended up Modesto, Calif.,” Skroch said. “It was just a flip of a coin, true story.” Seeing how that gamble paid off — he met his wife (Gail) and had his two kids (Dave and Suzanne) in Ellendale — it’s no wonder that gambling is still one of Skroch’s favorite pastimes. “I love playing cards,” he admitted. “I love to play poker, three card, four card, Mississippi Stud. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but for me, it’s kind of fun entertainment.” In the 1960s and ’70s, Ellendale had one of the top bands in southern Minnesota. Skroch, who played the flute and other woodwinds in the military, had a coach’s mentality as band director. Ellendale High School was all about winning. “When I taught, I took my job very seriously,” Skroch said. “I wanted the kids to succeed, to the point where before competitions, I would get ulcers.” Thankfully, the ulcers weren’t needed. Many of Skroch’s bands did very well at statewide and national competitions. “We have had some outstanding bands,” Skroch said. “I was fortunate to have some of the best bands in southern Minnesota. Good participation. The parents were really supportive, and I had a lot of good students that really learned to play well.” Police officer Scott Crabtree played bass for Skroch in the late 1980s. Crabtree also played football, wrestling and track and field while at Ellendale High School. He got just as fired up for a musical competition as he did a football game. “I remember going down to Austin to a contest,” Crabtree said. “We always wanted to make sure we got that star rating. “We put a lot of work into band, marching band as well. I remember a lot of marching every spring. We got up every morning and made sure that we had our steps down, made our corners right.” Skroch’s enthusiasm and knowledge of instruments helped his students fall in love with music. The annual trips to states like Florida didn’t hurt either. “Mark was well known as a great band teacher,” Crabtree said. “He would just pick up a trumpet and play it. We would be amazed. Then, he would put it down and say, ‘Now, that’s how it’s done.’” It still makes Skroch smile when he sees former students playing at local churches. Many

Submitted photo

When in the Army following his graduation from Winona State University, Mark Skroch was talked into taking up woodwind instruments for the military band.

of his students have had sons and daughters that play in the current New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva High School band. “The level of expectations that Skroch had has carried over,” said NRHEG principal Paul Cyr. “The kids’ parents played in Mark’s band and they let their kids know that you’re going to play in band, you’re are going to do it well.

“As a school, we benefited from having Skroch and we still do.” Skroch’s love of music started more than 70 years ago when he was born around “a bunch of cheeseheads,” in Arcadia, Wis. He went to Winona State University and joined the military after graduation. He wanted to play the trumpet or trombone, but got talked

into playing more “feminine” instruments. “Back then, there weren’t a lot of women in the military, and who plays woodwinds, women,” Skroch said. “When I got into Army they were so short on woodwinds that they switched me to the clarinet. “I also played the flute. I got pretty good at playing the woodwinds.” With the ability to play so many instruments, Skroch was a natural music teacher. After graduation, he got a job at Houston High School in southeastern Minnesota before moving to Claremont and, eventually, Ellendale in the late 1950s. “The ’60s and ’70s were a great time to be a band director,” he said. “I’m glad my career happened when it did because now with budget cuts, they are squeezing the music programs even more.” While music programs are being cut across the United States, Skroch’s greatest legacy might be the passion for music he instilled in community members in Ellendale. “The parents still support our music programs,” Cyr said. “Many students come to NRHEG because of the music program. Our concerts are packed, standing room only. These communities (Ellendale, New Richland, Hartland and Geneva) support music.” When Roger Young and Leon Mott, two good friends of Mark’s, died in the 1990s, he considered retirement. He left Ellendale Middle School at age 62 in 1996. “I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy retirement,” he admitted. Cyr said everyone at NRHEG was sad to see Mr. Skroch leave after almost 30 years. When NRHEG opened in the early 1990s, Skroch stayed in Ellendale and taught at the newly-formed middle school, which eventually had Cyr for a principal. “When I got here in 1993, I had it easy. I didn’t have to worry about the band at all,” Cyr said. “But he earned it, and it was great that he could retire in good health. That being said, I hated to see him go.” While teaching music, Skroch was also the mayor of Ellendale. While mayor, he tried very hard to be fiscally sound and make sure the bills got paid and the town didn’t go into debt. He understands when people say music is too expensive to have in schools. He knows it can expensive, but he also knows there is a lot of value in the humanities.

See SKROCH

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Skroch Continued from page 38 “There is more to it than just teaching someone how to make a living,” he said. “We also have to teach them how to live. Music is selfexpression, and how much value can you put on that as opposed to math and science. I feel it’s really important for everyone to be able to express themselves, but I also understand the financial end of it. It’s a tough call to find that perfect balance. “The older you get, the more conservative you get. I don’t know how long you can expect people to pay for music programs. Skroch said his son, a successful engineer, will often go out to the garage and play his guitar. “People, no matter if they are a doctor or a lawyer, still love music and probably still participate in it on their own.” Skroch got recruited into politics by Vern

Krajci, who ran the Ellendale Eagle newspaper. “He told me to run for mayor,” Skroch said. “He felt we needed someone who had a lot of interest in the city. He talked me into it and I ran and I got the job. The rest is history.” He won most years by a landslide, but one year he barely squeezed by. Gwen Rice, wife of a local plumber, lost by only one vote. It was a good thing he didn’t anger his wife that day or his political career may have ended. As mayor, he tried to think of all 1,000 Ellendale residents and not just the handful that cussed him out in his office. Luckily, most people stood behind him. “The majority of people are very understanding when they know things need to be done,” Skroch said. “There were some people

that didn’t understand that when you are running a city, you can’t just favor one person. You have to look at the total picture and do what’s best for the city, look long term.” Skroch did have bigger political aspirations. He ran for Steele County Commissioner one year, losing to long-time commissioner Lester Oeltjenbruns. He retired as mayor in 2000. He hasn’t given up teaching completely. He will substitute teach now and then, but for the most part he’s either drinking coffee or sailing around the world. His wife, Gail — also a former teacher — runs a travel business from their home. The couple, married almost 50 years, takes several cruises every year. They have been to every corner of the globe. “I recommend that everyone take a cruise,” he said. “They’re so relaxing and can also be extremely affordable.”

To afford the gambling, coffee and cruises, Skroch will paint houses. His friend, Rich King, got him interested in painting after Skroch retired from teaching. “Last year, I painted two or three houses,” Skroch said. “People still call and ask, ‘Are you still doing that?’ I’ve got people already lined up for this summer if my health is good. I’m excited to have something to do. The winter is so boring. I just sit around and have coffee.” Skroch doesn’t think about Modesto too much and how close he came to living in the California town with 200,000 more people than Ellendale. He’s just happy the coin led him to Ellendale. “It feels good living in a town where I know so many people,” he said. “I feel by living in a small town, I have a lot of neighbors.”

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Page 40

A Look magazine feature story on Owatonna High School choir director Roger Tenney after Tenney was named National Teacher of the Year in 1967.

Roger Tenney:

By MELISSA KAELIN news@owatonna.com

hen you’ve performed in the midst of two 300-foottall monoliths of Colorado sandstone, stealing the hearts of up to 10,000 people in a geologicallyformed amphitheater, you might stop there. “OK, this is it. I’ve made the big time.” But for Roger Tenney, the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside of Denver, Colo., was just the beginning. Tenney, who came to the Owatonna school district to direct the choir in 1960, was working toward a master’s degree and a doctorate

from the University of Colorado, when he began performing at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Each summer, he would grace the stage in various productions of musical comedy. Up until this point, he had been a small-town boy, taking lessons in earnest from his mother. Raised in Litchfield, Minn., Tenney was the only boy among four children. His parents put him on what he called a “family plan.” “In high school, we were a family that worked for each other,” said Tenney. As the oldest child in the family got ready to go off to college, all of the earnings from her siblings’ part-time jobs would go toward her college education. When the second child in the family prepared for college, the rotation would change, and any money earned from part-time jobs would go toward the next college education. Even as a sixth-grader, Tenney’s wages of $3 per week went toward his

Music man

sister’s college degree. Joining the family plan was Tenney’s mother, who made lefse every day of the week except for Sunday, in order to sell it in his dad’s butcher shop. While it worked, the family plan meant that Tenney never had the opportunity to play sports after school, because he was too busy working a part-time job. It was the same for his sisters, and what Tenney found instead was music — natural talent, social stimulation and an activity that was embedded in his school day. Of course, Tenney had already joined a choir at an early age, as he had the opportunity to sing at his church. “Because we were musically inclined, my mother was the organizer, and we used to go and give programs in other churches,” said Tenney. “I was singing a lot of the solos. I was just a little boy who

got up there and sang solos. So one time when I was a sophomore, the minister’s wife came over to the house to say to my folks, ‘Roger would be pretty good at directing the junior high school choir.’ I said, ‘I don’t know a thing about it.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to do it.’ My mother said, ‘You begin Wednesday night at 7 o’ clock.’” Tenney said there was no arguing with mother in those days. Children did what their mother told them to. So he started directing the junior high choir, and to his surprise, he loved it. By his senior year, he was selected to direct the senior choir at his small church.

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Melissa Kaelin/People’s Press

Roger Tenney at the piano in his home.

Tenney Continued from page 40

“So that’s where I got the knack for directing music,” said Tenney. “My mother was playing God. She was directing me in the path I should go.” Tenney went on to study at St. Olaf College with famed directors F. Melius and Olaf Christiansen. After he graduated, he served two years in the U.S. Army. He landed a job teaching in a Mennonite community, in Mountain Lake, Minn., and while he was there, he spent the summers working toward his master’s at the University of Colorado. This is when Tenney stepped for the first time onto the Red Rock Amphitheatre stage. He was young and single, performing professionally in a stunning natural setting, and one summer, he met his match.

“I met my wife doing musical comedy,” said Tenney. “My superintendent at Mountain Lake, he’d say, ‘Oh, you should be married,’ and I’d say, ‘Well, misery loves company.’” After the prodding from his superintendent, Tenney met a woman on the Red Rocks stage. It was the third summer Tenney had ventured out to Colorado to work on his degree, when a young teacher from Fort Smith, Ark., took the lead role opposite him in the musical “Carousel.” “My superintendent said, ‘If you find somebody you like,’ he said, ‘just call me collect and I’ll see if I can find her a job.’ She was there five weeks and so after four, I called him collect. He said, ‘Why are you calling me collect?’ I said ‘You told me to!’”

Tenney then told his super the story, revealing that his young belle had only been teaching for one year and she had been teaching English and speech — subjects that were already accounted for at Mountain Lake. But Tenney was determined, and after some thought, the superintendent said she could take up the high school librarian position if she obtained a temporary certificate. Tenney asked the superintendent if he could guarantee that, and the super asked if the woman actually wanted to come to Mountain Lake. “I said, ‘She doesn’t even know I’m calling you!’” said Tenney. Nevertheless, the conspiracy was on. “In three days, this contract was sent to me,” said Tenney.

After staying in Colorado for almost five weeks, the woman of Tenney’s dreams was set to leave in just four days to return to Arkansas, and Tenney hadn’t said a word. “We had gone and dated, I think, every night since we did the musical. So I took her out one night before she was leaving,” said Tenney. “I said ‘I kinda’ like you, and I think you like me.’ I said, ‘So, wouldn’t it be great if you came to Mountain Lake with me?’ She said, ‘I don’t have a job there.’ ‘Oh, yes you do!’ But she was quite alarmed.”

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Tenney Continued from page 42 Tenney told her about the contract, and how his superintendent sent it over. He quickly learned that Ethel was Baptist and her father was a superintendent in another school district. But she decided to sleep on it, and stay an extra week to take a class in library science. “I didn’t know whether she was coming to Mountain Lake and they were wondering if she was coming,” said Tenney. “She calls, says ‘Yep, I’ll go! I got it worked out, and I found someone to take my job.’ She came to Mountain Lake and was the librarian for two years, and after one year of being a librarian, we got married.” Shortly after getting hitched, Ethel and Roger Tenney moved to Owatonna, where Tenney would direct the choirs at Owatonna High School. In the small community of Mountain Lake, nearly everyone in the school was in the choir, but the numbers awaiting Tenney in Owatonna left a little to be desired. “I guess some of the kids dropped out because they were sad to see their director go,” said Tenney. “I was amazed that there weren’t more. I decided this was ridiculous. I can’t balance a choir with 33 ladies and 14 men.” Tenney said in just three days, the numbers were already starting to drive him crazy. The voices of the young ladies overpowered the men, and he wanted to form a choir with equal numbers of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. So Tenney confronted the students, and he told the ladies that they had two weeks to bring in men. “I didn’t care whether they could sing. As long as they breathed, I would put ’em in the choir,” said Tenney. “And they literally carried in 19 men. I could hear this after school, kids being dragged out: ‘Do you want to be in choir?’ ‘No way!’ ‘Try it for two weeks, if you like it, fine, if you don’t you can drop out.’ They all came and they all stayed.” The result was a choir of 34 men and 35 women, and aside from the Ladies Glee Club, that was the choir program at Owatonna High School in 1960. The choir started to climb in popularity when it sang at the Minnesota State Fair in the education building, after receiving an invitation. No one realized, though, that it was a performance competition. The choir was surprised to bring home first place bragging rights, along with a

Melissa Kaelin/People’s Press

A photograph of Roger Tenney and his family being greeted at the White House by President Lyndon Johnson after Tenney, the choir director for Owatonna High School, was named the National Teacher of the Year in 1967.

trophy commemorating the win. Just a year after the appearance at the state fair, the choir was selected to perform on Minnesota Day at the World’s Fair in Seattle, Wash., in 1962. “So we traveled by train, went to Seattle, Wash., for a week, and sang at the World’s Fair,” said Tenney. “That got interest from the kids.” With the help of the established pops concerts and some musical comedy at the high school through a production of “Oklahoma!” even more students became interested in the choir. Then in 1966, Tenney became one of five teachers to get their names on the ballot for the Teacher of the Year award. Tenney said he had an advantage because he had the Carolers under his direction, a group which was started by Harry Wenger during World War II. His name had also gotten out into the district through the elementary visits he made with his choir students. He would take high school students to the elementary schools in Owa-

tonna to recruit young voices. “I always did it on a Friday when my men were wearing football jerseys and the women were in cheerleading,” said Tenney. “They’d come up in droves. The voice teacher, the choir director said ‘That’s a lot of kids!’ and I said ‘You can handle it.’” By 1967, the choir program in Owatonna schools had grown to include six choirs, the three top choirs, which Tenney directed, and three feeder choirs. Finally, Tenney learned that he had been named Minnesota Teacher of the Year in 1966. “I had relatives that came that I didn’t know who they were. It was a thrill because they had never chosen anybody in the arts,” said Tenney. “That was a big celebration. I’ve got pictures of my choir lifting me in the air.” Then, after a long review process, he received a call telling him he had been chosen as the National Teacher of the Year in 1967.

“I got a call February the sixth, and I was told by the chairman I was the winner,” said Tenney. “He said you can tell your wife and you can tell the superintendent, that’s all. And you don’t come out here until April 26th.” It took Tenney about five minutes to share the news with the only two people who had permission to hear it. And he said keeping the news quiet was tough, as much of the community suspected he might have won. To celebrate the achievement, the Concert Choir was invited to sing at the White House for President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey during the presentation of the National Teacher of the Year award. “That was most of the kids’ first airplane flight in 1967, and I think it was my second one,” said Tenney. “Hubert Humphrey was vice president at that time, and he was just ecstatic about somebody from Minnesota winning it.” Tenney’s choirs were also invited to perform at the grand opening of the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, and during the 100th anniversary season of Carnegie Hall in New York City. Tenney himself was invited to appear on the Johnny Carson Show, but on the scheduled date, the show’s host went on strike. “What they do as Teacher of the Year, they bring in a full-time substitute for the school. That year, there was a teacher in Owatonna who subbed for me full-time,” said Tenney. “I traveled to 33 states and spoke and gave speeches, not only about music but about education.” Tenney visited states across the U.S. giving speeches, with a stop in Hawaii and even in Guam. At the height of his choral fame, he was featured in Look magazine, for winning the National Teacher of the Year award. For 12 years, Tenney also directed the Roger Tenney Chorale, a semi-professional group based in Owatonna. The group disbanded in 1983, when Tenney was offered a job teaching evenings at St. Olaf College. At St. Olaf, Tenney taught courses in both music education and music literature. Tenney has also served two terms as the state president of the American Choral Directors Association, which is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Jerry Ganfield:

Making his mark in history

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Jerry Ganfield sits at an antique desk with an old typewriter at the Village of Yesteryear. The antiques reflect Ganfield’s love of history.

By ASHLEY PETERSON apeterson@owatonna.com

hen Jerry Ganfield first arrived in Owatonna 34 years ago, he wasn’t planning on staying long. He had taken a job at Gandy and was hoping to pass some time and allow the teaching market to rebound before going back to teaching in Iowa. But Ganfield fell in love with Steele County, or as some might argue, Steele County fell for Ganfield.

“I think having lived in quite a few communities growing up, there’s such a wide range of opportunities for people in Owatonna — such as community theater, support within the community, you get to know a lot of people,” Ganfield said. “A lot of things have happened in Owatonna, having studied the history, because people were civic-minded and supported things financially or by volunteering their support and gathering together and completing things.” Prior to diving head first into Steele County, as a young boy Ganfield moved around a lot with his family. “My father was a minister, so we lived in quite a few communities and have been involved in church all that growing up period, attended a number of different schools and liked all my schools and made friends. Wheth-

er I keep in contact or not, I still remember them very vividly. In fact, this year I’ll have my 50th anniversary of my high school graduation in West Liberty, Iowa,” Ganfield said. In his mid-20s, Ganfield joined the Army. “I was in the U.S. Army from 1968-1970, and I took basic at Fort Bliss in Texas and then worked for a while at Fort Benning, Ga., where I was the editor of the post newspaper. Then I was shipped to Vietnam where I spent a year there in security. Typing was my specialty because we had to redo all the army regulations for security, so having typing skills was a blessing,” Ganfield said. After arriving back in the states, Ganfield returned to Iowa and to his teaching career. “The one thing I love is being involved with people. A lot of the parishioners in my father’s

church said ‘Are you going to be a minister, too?’ — which probably was not a good thing to ask a preacher’s son because it makes you avoid it, but it did instill in me a desire to be with people in an occupation where I would have that interaction with people. And that is probably why I went into education.” Ganfield was inspired by “some excellent teachers” to get his permit of professional teaching certificate from the University of Dubuque, the alma mater of both his parents as well. Ganfield then received his masters at the University of Iowa and went straight into teaching.

See GANFIELD

page 48

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Ganfield Continued from page 46 “I taught English and journalism, photography and film-making, and I was advisor to the newspaper and yearbook. so I had a lot of interaction with students that was not typical classroom, and I enjoyed that very much,” Ganfield said. “With all of the hours spent that were all consuming, I had no personal life. At Waterloo, where I taught five of those years, they had a newspaper that was eight pages to 24 every other week and the yearbook was extensive, too — the largest high school in the state at the time.” After that, Ganfield went back to Iowa State University for additional work beyond his master’s — not to get another degree, but to get some experience in the agricultural field. “I like the agricultural field because other than my father, the rest of my family were farmers, and I spent a lot of time growing up on farms and working for farmers and working for my relatives as well,” Ganfield recalled. After that, he went on to work at Gandy for 33 years. “That’s when I got the job at Gandy, which I foresaw as fairly short-term and thought I’d go back to teaching. But at the time, the teaching market had fallen apart — too many teachers, low pay — so that never happened. But I lived in town, got involved in community theater, which I had been in Dubuque before I moved here, and I found it was an extremely quick and easy way to get to know people in the town outside of your work element. And so I’ve been on stage many times here and have kept my finger in it by doing publicity or other things when not involved recently,” Ganfield said. In addition to community theater, Ganfield was one of the charter members of the local Kiwanis Club in 1990, has been an elder and on the board of his longtime church home, Associated Church, has done extensive traveling and most recently, has been a spearhead for the Steele County Historical Society History Center fundraising efforts. It’s the relationships he forms while giving his time that keep Ganfield coming back to the organizations and traveling. “I’ve traveled quite a bit. For 12 years I escorted tours overseas and in the states for Travel Headquarters, and on my own took tours to Russia, because in 1971 I took a trip when I was teaching to study the educational system of Russia and met a 16-year-old boy and his brother and we kept correspondence

for 19 years before we saw each other again. And then I hosted them here, my friend and his son, who’s my godson, for five weeks and a few years later, the whole family came over and stayed with me for a year,” Ganfield said. The Russian friendship allowed Ganfield to lead three tours to Russia with the help of his friend who had also gotten his tour operator license. Ganfield remains in contact with his Russian friends and visited Russia most recently in 2008. Ganfield has also made friends with a man from Columbia, whom Ganfield hosted to help the man learn better English. Most recently, it’s an Ethiopian family receiving Ganfield’s help. “Recently I’ve been helping an Ethiopian family get settled here in Owatonna, as a point person from the church, to find them housing and collect furniture and shelter them. It’s not only the help you’re giving, but the shared interaction you’re getting with the people that you do those projects with, that is most rewarding,” he said of his mission work. The father of the Ethiopian family has succeeded in obtaining his driver’s license recently, so much of Ganfield’s taxi duties for the family have come to a halt. “I don’t have quite as many chauffeuring duties because I was giving the seven in the family rides here and there and Owatonna is not blessed with a good transportation for those who can’t drive. That’s been a very time consuming and rewarding project. He’s going to Riverland full time, and his wife is expecting next month so there will be some additional needs there,” Ganfield said. In addition to his foreign friends, Ganfield enjoys hosting friends and family at his renovated barn home in the country. “I bought this place in the country which has a lake, and that was of course one of the things that attracted me because my family, even though I’m not a fisherman, my family was very much, so for many years they came up for extended visits and fished in my private lake,” he said. “This summer I put on a balcony deck and a patio to finish off one end of the house so I’ve had it offered as a bed and breakfast stay for fundraisers for the historical society for a couple of years, so I’ve had a Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia couple of opportunities to play that role since I love traveling in England and stayed in bed Jerry Ganfield sits in an antique buggy owned by the Steele County Historical and breakfasts. It’s a neat thing and people Society and kept at the Village of Yesteryear. seem to enjoy it.”

See GANFIELD

page 50

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Jerry Ganfield stands on the site of the Steele County Historical Society History Center. Ganfield, who recently retired from Gandy Corp., devotes much of his time to volunteering for the history center project. Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/ Connor Fotografia

Ganfield Continued from page 48 With his feet on the ground in Steele County, Ganfield devotes much of his time to the History Center project. “We’re still fundraising for the SCHS History Center and we’ve got a long road ahead. I hope people keep giving financially and with their gifts and talents, volunteerism too. It’s exciting. It’s daunting. It makes you happy and anxious all at the same time,” Ganfield said of the project. Spawned from his love of history, Ganfield has been delving into his family genealogy, with diaries and momentos spanning back to the mid-1800s that include a letter from Theodore Roosevelt. “It started with my junior high history teacher who was excellent and loved history and just caught a number of us in his class. When I went to college as an undergrad, I was a history/social studies major, so I studied history there and had a very fine advisor in the history department,” Ganfield said. “My grandfather also was very prone to genealogy so I really got the family genealogy bug from

him and in fact published a book while he was still alive. I rushed to get it printed because he was 90 years old. He lived to be 100 so I had more time than I thought.” Throughout his many avenues of community involvement, Ganfield has touched a lot of lives and created many friendships. It was 33 years of working together that helped form a friendship with Ganfield and Gandy Operations Manager Cindy Barta. “He’s fun to work with and he was very loyal to our customers. Their needs came first. He just cultivated a lot of friendships with his customers over the years as well as fellow employees he worked with. We were a team. We looked out for each other,” Barta said of Ganfield. “He wore a lot of hats. We’re a small company and everyone wears a lot of hats, and Jerry was no exception. Many a times I remember he stayed late after his shift was over and got rush orders out for the customers.” Barta said Gandy has a history of long-time employees, some boasting 40 to 50 year careers.

“There’s just a lot of loyalty and people enjoy what they’re doing and the customers and supporting each other. We’ve made long term friendships over the years. That’s an era that isn’t going to be around a lot longer, it’s rare to find that,” Barta said. “Jerry’s teaching background probably made him the strong employee he was because he had communication skills and writing skills, so many talents kept the job interesting for him, a rare find in today’s world.” Barta said her friendship with Ganfield is one that has remained strong even since his retirement. “We really miss him. I wonder when he had time to work because he did so much volunteer work and if I would go anywhere with him, errands, lunch or Kiwanis together, I swear he knew everyone we met because of his involvement in town,” Barta said. “He gave a lot back, a neat guy.” Friend and fellow Associated Church member Carol Zetah would agree. “I just run into Jerry all the time. He makes

a contribution wherever he goes. He’s so multitalented and articulate, such a good Christian person,” Zetah said. “I think it was when the Exchange Club gave their Golden Deeds Award, Jerry and I received the award the same year.” From Habitat for Humanity trips to Kentucky to a tour through Europe, Zetah has seen Ganfield’s gracious spirit shine through. “Jerry is a very wonderful host as well, so generous in how he shares his home and his property. He is such a giving person. He just gives and gives,” she said. It’s no wonder Ganfield is a giver. It’s in his life mantra. “All those things I’m involved in are our part of the structure of how we need to serve each other,” Ganfield said. “My philosophy is kind of like Dolly Levi’s line in the play ‘Hello, Dolly!’ Her actual line is ‘Well, money is kind of like fertilizer, doesn’t do any good until you spread it around.’ I don’t think it’s just money. it’s your time and talents, too. They don’t do any good unless you spread them around.

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 51

Church Directory

St. John Lutheran Church, ELCA THURSDAY 6:30 p.m. Vesper Service Saturday 5:00 p.m. Contemporary Service SUNDAY 8:00 a.m. Traditional Service 10:30 a.m. Blended Service 9:15 a.m. Sunday School for All Ages Children to Adult 1:00 p.m. Sundanese Worship Service Pastor Dave Klawiter • Youth Director Nathan Holt

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1301 Lincoln Ave • Owatonna • 451-7293 www.stjohnowatonna.org

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church-ELCA P.O. Box 423, 1909 St. Paul Rd • Owatonna 451-4853 • www.oursaviorsowatonna.org

Sacred Heart Catholic Church 810 Cedar Ave S • Owatonna • 451-1588 Saturday Mass at 5:00 p.m. Sunday Masses at 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Spanish Liturgy • Confessions Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Rev. John Sauer • Rev. Andy Vogel www.sacredheartowatonna.org

First Baptist Church 123 E. Main | Owatonna 507-451-2803

Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church (WELS) 750 SW Jeffrey St. • Owatonna • 455-2729

Thomas Smith, Pastor Sunday Worship - (Sept.-May) 9 a.m. Christian Education Hour - 10:15 a.m. Summer Worship - Sunday 9 a.m. • Monday 7 p.m. www.emmanuel-wels-owatonna.com

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Page 52

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

A Time To Rejoice,Celebrate & Worship Home of Owatonna Christian School Pre-K through 12th grade

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Trinity Lutheran Church 609 Lincoln Ave. So., Owatonna Phone 451-4520 Fax 451-1348 Pastors John Lestock, Dean Smith, Julie Malone Visitation Pastor Charles Espe

Services - Sat. 5:00 p.m., Sun. 8:15 & 9:45 a.m. Contemporary Service 11:15 a.m. Sunday School 8:15 & 9:45 a.m. Adult Education Forum 9:45 a.m. Sundays and most Wednesday nights. Please call for details. Cable TV Channel 8 - Mon. 10 a.m., Wed. 6:30 p.m., Sun. 11a.m.

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St. Joseph Catholic Parish 512 S. Elm Ave. • Owatonna • 451-4845 Rev. Edward McGrath & Deacon Patrick Fagan Weekend Masses: Saturday 4:00 p.m.; Sunday 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 a.m. Daily Masses - 8:00 a.m. (please call to verify) Sacrament of Penance 3:00 p.m. Saturday

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Everyone Welcome!

Page 54

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Sharon Stark:

Matron of the Arts

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Sharon Stark sits in the empty auditorium of Little Theatre of Owatonna. Stark, who has been a part of LTO ever since its beginning 45 years ago, does her best to fill the empty seats, often giving her time to take ticket orders when a new production is set to open at the theater.

By JEFFREY JACKSON jjackson@owatonna.com

s another opening night for Little Theatre of Owatonna approaches, Sharon Stark likely can be found sitting in the theater’s box office reading a book and waiting for the phone to ring.

When a call comes in, she will put the book down, answer the phone and make the ticket reservations for the upcoming production. It’s something that she, as the executive secretary for LTO, has done for years. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s my baby,” she said of the community theater group. “I’ve seen since birth through the various stages of growing.” In fact, Stark has been with the theater since its beginnings 45 years ago when a group of Owatonnans got together to stage three oneact plays as a fundraiser for Washington Elementary School. Once the production closed, several of those involved banded together in the summer of 1966 to form the Little Theatre of Owatonna, and Stark was among the organizers. “We set the wheels in motion,” she said, “and we pulled in lots of people.” The first production hit the stage at the Merrill Building Auditorium on the grounds of the Minnesota State School in the fall.

She describes the early years of LTO as “tough,” with rehearsals taking place offsite because the theater group had no permanent home at that time. But she stuck with it, seeing the group find its home and watching as changes were made, including extension of the stage and the computerizing of the light. More often than not Stark is found working behind the scenes rather on stage taking bows. And she’s done it all, sitting at one time or another on every committee formed by LTO, sitting in the director’s chair and, yes, occasionally appearing on stage. She is, in fact, the only founding member of the theater who is still involved with LTO’s daily operations.

Why has she kept with it all these years? “Theater has always been a love of mine,” she said, harkening back to her days in Owatonna High School when she was involved with the thespian organization at the school. Her work has not gone unnoticed. In 2005, Stark was awarded the Fliehr Award by the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres. The award, named after Kay and Dick Fliehr, who helped establish community theaters in Minnesota, is considered a lifetime achievement award.

See STARK

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Stark Continued from page 54 If that were Stark’s only involvement in the community, it would be plenty. But she is not satisfied to leave it at that. And she has become an almost ubiquitous presence in the Owatonna arts community. Indeed, for the past 10 years Stark has worked as the administrative assistant at the Owatonna Arts Center. “Bookkeeping, secretarial stuff,” she said, describing her job. “I keep everybody organized.” The job is tough sometimes, she says, especially as the two-day Festival of the Arts, held annually in Central Park as part of the city’s Five Days of Fun, nears. In early February, she starts sending applications out to artisans who may wish to have a booth in the festivals. Then there is the correspondence she takes care of with the city to secure the park for the festival. And there’s publicity to take care of. Much of the publicity is dependent on the artists themselves. That means that she has to start sorting through the applications as soon as the application deadline comes about on April 15. By May 15 the artists are notified whether they are in or out of the festival. She then collects information and photographs of the artists work, organizes it according to the booth numbers that the artists are assigned, and takes the material to the Owatonna People’s Press, where it will be included in the annual Five Days of Fun publication. That sort of organizational detail has been part of Stark’s life since she was young. Throughout her four-year high school career, Stark worked at the Owatonna Public Library, first as a page, where she spent many hours shelving books and pasting pockets in the back of those books for the check out cards. When she graduated from high school in 1956, she took a full-time job at the library as an administrative assistant. By the time she retired from that post, her career at the library spanned 37 years. “I broke Graham (Benoit) in,” Stark said of the former director of the Owatonna Public Library. “I broke Mary Kay (Feltes, the current director) in, too.” Her ties to the library remain intact. She sits on the Owatonna Library Foundation board and serves on the Legacy Grant Award Committee for SELCO, Southeastern Libraries Cooperating, helping to determine where and how funds generated by the voter-approved Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment would be spent. Then there are the other activities — yes, there are more — to which Stark gives her time and talents.

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Sharon Stark takes a ticket order for a Little Theatre of Owatonna production from the LTO office in West Hills.

When the Festival of the Arts comes to a close for another year, for example, Stark starts in on her next big project — working at the Steele County Free Fair. Actually, to be accurate, Stark starts going out to the fairgrounds “a couple of times a month” in June. By July, even as she is helping to put the finishing touches on her part in the Festival of the Arts, Stark is in the fair office at least once a week. When August rolls around, she’s there every afternoon for three or four hours — time that grows as Fair Week approaches. When Fair Week itself arrives — actually, from the Friday before the fair opens through the Monday after it closes — Stark’s days are lived on the fairgrounds. She arrives between 7 and 7:30 a.m. and doesn’t leave until 9 or 9:30 p.m., never leaving the fairgrounds during those long days. So why such a dedication to the Steele County Free Fair? “I grew up at the fair,” Stark said. Stark’s father was an officer in the Owatonna Police Department — a 32-year career that led

eventually to his being named the city’s Chief of Police. And Stark recalled how when she was a girl, patrolling of the fairgrounds fell on the shoulders of police rather than the Steele County Sheriff’s Office as it does today. That meant that during Fair Week, her father spent a lot of time on the fairgrounds. Naturally, Stark did, too. And eventually, being at the fair was just something she did. Of course, that led to her becoming involved in the fair on an entirely different level. “Way back when, I was approached to come help in the office,” she said. The office back then was smaller than it is today, there were no computers there to help in the massive amount of work it takes to keep the fair organized, and, worst of all, the fair office had no air conditioning — something that could make the stifling hot and extremely sticky dog days of August almost unbearable. Still, Stark stuck it out. For 49 years now — even longer than her association with Little Theatre of Owatonna — Stark has been a fixture at the fair. So much,

in fact, that her face is familiar to long-time vendors who work the fair, many of whom come to Stark if they have a question that needs answering. Indeed, there aren’t too many questions around town that Stark couldn’t answer because not only are her roots here in Owatonna, but her commitment to the community is strong. “I was born in Owatonna. My parents were from here,” she said. “I never left. I got involved in many things.” Involved? Well, do the math: 45 years connected with Little Theatre of Owatonna, 37 years employed with the Owatonna Public Library, 10 years on the job at the Owatonna Arts Center and a whopping 49 years working at the Steele County Free Fair. That’s 141 years — enough not just for one life, but for several lifetimes. “I like to be involved,” she said. “And if you’ve been in the community as long as I have, you have seen changes in Owatonna.” Yes, she has seen a lot of changes in the city over the years, but one thing has remained constant — Sharon Stark.

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Bill Kottke:

Owatonna’s cheerleader

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Bill Kottke pauses at the counter of Kottke Jewelers in downtown Owatonna. In addition to selling fine jewelry, the store is known for being a ticket outlet, especially for events related to the Owatonna school district.

By DEREK SULLIVAN dsullivan@owatonna.com

f you’re looking for a cheer“I leader for Owatonna, Bill Kottke is No. 1.”

That’s what longtime friend Todd Hale said about the man who has spent 63 of his 77 years in the town where he was born. Kottke has served on more than a dozen local boards and sold thousands of tickets to Owatonna High School events. He attended OHS from 1947 to 1951 where he played football, basketball, baseball and track and field. He also was in student government and a host of other activities. In the

spring, he competed in both track and baseball. “Back then, you could do all of those things,” Kottke said. “We had plenty of time. There wasn’t any television.” When Owatonna High School started an athletic hall of fame, Kottke was in the initial class. “It was a very humbling thing,” Kottke said, “especially to go on the first class. There are some pretty fine athletes in that class.” Owatonna sports have been a major part of Kottke’s life since he played for the Indians in the 1940s and ’50s. He helped start the Owatonna Sports Boosters and opened his store for fans to buy tickets to out-of-town events. One year when the basketball team went to state,

Kottke Jewelers not only sold tickets, but also T-shirts and took reservations for buses. “Anytime they need some help,” Kottke said. “It’s gotten now where everyone knows we sell tickets. We have had the same cigar box since day one. Sometimes it gets so full with organizations selling tickets it’s hard for us to keep track. “It’s fun because it gets people into the store. Maybe they see something.” After graduating from OHS, Kottke went to the University of Iowa before eventually transferring to Drake and graduating in 1955. He married his high school sweetheart, Faye, and worked 10 years at Arden’s, a wholesale jewelry company in Des Moines, Iowa. The couple has been married for 57 years

and have four children (Michelle, Mark, Matt and Marty) and six grandchildren. “I have a great family who are very successful and happy in their own lives,” Kottke said. “I’d like to think that I played a part in helping them become the individuals they are, through my examples, and helped guide them as they’ve chosen their paths.” After they “outgrew their house” in Des Moines, Bill told his boss that he was moving home to work with his father Carl at the family’s jewelry store.

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Kottke Continued from page 58 When I told him I was leaving to go back to Owatonna, he said, ‘That’s the only person I wouldn’t deny you to work for — your father, and you’re welcome back here anytime.’ “If I would have stayed there, I would be retired,” he added with a laugh. For the next 46 years, Bill worked at Kottke’s Jewelers. As businesses have come and gone on Ceder Avenue, Kottke’s still sells engagement rings, watches and fine jewelry. Hale has a strong opinion on how Kottke’s has been able to stay in business. “He knows everyone,” Hale said. Kottke has worked with a lot of people throughout the years. He has been a member of several local and national organizations. He helped start and served on the boards of the Little Theatre in Owatonna and the Owatonna Sports Boosters. He has also been president of the Owatonna Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Business Association, Owatonna Park and Rec, Rotary and Owatonna Shrine Club. He has served on board for the Board of River Trails Girls Scout Council, Owatonna Country Club and Associated Church and still serves as a trustee on the Owatonna Foundation Board. Along the way, Bill and Faye have been recipients of two community service awards — the Community Arts Award and the Friends of Education Award. He has been active in the Minnesota State Jewelers Association for more than 20 years. In 2010, Bill was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the national Retail Jewelers Association. It’s not just the people that live in Owatonna who Bill knows well. He even keeps strong friendships with people that have left Steele County. Many former residents will stop by the store when they return to Owatonna for events like the Steele County Free Fair. “The first place they go is Kottke’s,” Hale said. “They do it to say hello and also to find out what’s been going on and so on. “Bill was always the guy who got the scoop about what was going on around town first. “In fact we kind of competed with each other. A lot of the stuff I used in my column or even when I was on radio, I got from Bill. As soon as he heard something, he would call me.” Bill knows there is more to business than meeting people. You also have to treat them fairly. “You treat the customer right,” Kottke said. “I’ve seen some proprietors that are not real friendly, and I think greeting everybody is important. You have to treat the customer right.” He will also be the first person to tell you that he didn’t run the store by himself. He has hired

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Bill Kottke examines a diamond at his store in downtown Owatonna. Bill has been a part of the business for 46 years.

many women through the years, and one of the girls coined the moniker “Kottke Girls” to describe the female help. He knows that without help from the Kottke Girls, he wouldn’t have been able to participate in so many organizations and attend so many sporting events. He also knows that once you’re a Kottke Girl, you’re one for life. “I had one former Kottke Girl, who was back in town to see her parents at Christmas time, visit us. She stopped in, saw we were busy and she started right in,” Bill said. “Without those gals, I wouldn’t have the time to volunteer or be involved in organizations.” He’s proud to call himself a two-time cancer survivor. He has tackled both prostate and male breast cancers. He also survived open-heart surgery. “I have a much deeper appreciation for how precious life is and how fortunate I am to have such a loving and supportive family who has been by my side through the highs and lows.” Kottke Jewelers has been recognized as the oldest retail store in town. Bill feels a lot of pride that his family started a local business with such other Owatonna entrepreneurs as the Buxtons

(Federated Insurance), the Wengers, the Kaplans (OTC), the Alexanders (Alexander Lumber) and many others. “When you look around Owatonna, you see so many things to be proud and thankful of,” he said. “Owatonna is made up by people who truly understand and appreciate the meaning of reinvesting in their community. Through these people’s time, talent and generosity they have provided so many opportunities for others and have helped build a community that has fostered a sense of pride in what we do and who we are.” Bill’s dad worked at the jewelry store until he was 90. Bill isn’t sure if he’ll last that long, but admits he doesn’t know what he’d do if he retired. He also doesn’t think another Kottke will take over the business when he does decide to hand over the keys to the store. His children have found success in fields other than retail. “Retail is not easy, especially this day and age,” Kottke said. “None of them want to spend that much time and give up a lot of benefits. Fortunately, we have been around a long time and hopefully our reputation will keep things going

when I retire.” Until he retires, Kottke will continue to do what he has always done. He will get up in the morning and head to the store, greet most customers, salesmen and community members by their first name. After work, he will head down to Owatonna High School to watch the Huskies play a football or basketball game. “It reminds me of the good ol’ days,” he said. Sports have always been an important slice of life for Kottke, who has probably seen more Owatonna football games than anyone in town. In fact, if the sales bug didn’t grab him at an early age, he might have worn a whistle. “I considered becoming a teacher or a coach,” he said. “I always admired the coaches and teachers that I had.” In a lot of ways, Kottke has spent his life as a teacher and a coach. He worked with the Kottke Girls on sales techniques and customer service. Not that he would admit it. “Bill is very humble,” Hale said. “You won’t get him patting himself on the back for what he does, but he’s a great Owatonna High School alumnus.”

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Gary Staats:

Right up his alley C By IAN STAUFFER istauffer@owatonna.com

all Gary Staats anything you want — he’s heard it all in his more than 50 years in bowling — but don’t dare call Southpark Lanes a bowling alley.

Gary Staats at the Southpark Lanes bowling center, a center that he built in 1997.

It’s a bowling center, and it’s a bowling center Staats built in 1997 to help grow the sport in Owatonna even more than he already had. Gary Staats is to bowling in in Owatonna what Viracon is to glass. He wasn’t the first one, but he has done things no one dreamed of doing on the lanes. Staats first came to Owatonna in 1971 to work at Federated Insurance Companies after serving in the Army in Germany and graduating from Mankato State College (now Minnesota State University, Mankato). He had worked and bowled in Mankato for nearly 20 years, and he even brought his love for the sport to Europe. There was a four-lane bowling center on his base in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and Staats leapt at the opportunity to run it.

“The guy running it was processed out, and they didn’t have anybody to run it,” Staats said. “I was fortunate to get that job, so I did that for a year, and I got extra pay for it, too.” After college, Staats brought his passion for bowling to Owatonna. In addition to working as an accountant at Federated, Staats was working part-time at Fair Lanes Bowling. After six years, Staats had the opportunity to purchase Fair Lanes with business partner Bill Boucher, so they jumped on it. Suddenly Staats was a business owner and a full-time worker at Federated, not to mention a father of four. “I worked the nights at the lanes, and Bill worked the days,” Staats said. “We did that for eight months, and then Bill decided only one of us should keep going. He thought I’d sell,

but no. Bowling was my love.” So Staats bought out Boucher and became the sole owner. Well, sort of. His wife, Mary, was also pretty instrumental in helping run the shop. Gary made most of the business decisions, organized leagues and ran the center. Mary worked as the secretary for the leagues, kept the statistics, and coached the youth bowlers. Of course, like any business, both husband and wife crossed roles and did pretty much everything at one time or another. The Staats’ daughters — Kate, Brenda, Valerie and Theresa — also helped out when they weren’t bowling themselves. All four were good bowlers in their own right, Gary said. For his part, Gary was an exceptional bowler. His 202 average from 1978-85 was

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor /Connor Fotografia

the highest in the Owatonna Men’s Bowling Association, and his all-time highest average for one season was 208 in Mankato. In 1979, Staats was named the Owatonna Bowler of the Year. Amazingly, in more than 40 years of bowling, Staats never rolled a perfect game. He got a 299 twice, which means he got 11 strikes in a row, but left one pin standing on his last roll. While Staats said he was a little sad he never got the elusive 300 game, his induction into the Minnesota Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 2009 with Mary more than made up for it.

See STAATS

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Staats Continued from page 64 “Going into the hall of fame meant so much more to me than a 300 game, especially going in as a husband and wife, which had never been done before,” Staats said. After 20 years of owning and running Fair Lanes, Gary and Mary decided it was time to upgrade Owatonna’s facilities. With the financial backing of local businessman R.W. “Buzz” Kaplan, the Staats built and opened Southpark Lanes & Lounge in 1997. Staats said Kaplan originally wanted a corridor between the bowling center and Kaplan’s club, Upper Deck (now Plaza Morena Mexican Restaurant). The corridor never happened because of high costs and fire codes. “That sat just fine with me because that meant people would stay here in our lounge at the bowling center,” Staats said. The new 24-lane facility had eight more lanes, some updated equipment, a lounge, and lots more room. Sixteen of the lanes and machines at Southpark were physically moved to the new location from Fair Lanes, and eight new ones were built. Southpark’s opening enabled Owatonna to bid for bigger tournaments, which Staats did before a ball was ever rolled in the new building. Before Southpark even opened, Owatonna was awarded the 1998 Minnesota Women’s Bowling Association state tournament, which filled the center every weekend from January through May. “That was nice for business, but not everyone was happy about that because they couldn’t come out and have their birthday parties and whatever,” Staats said. “You can’t please everybody 100 percent of the time, but you try to have understanding for people on the other side of the counter.” That’s how Staats has helped bowling grow the most in Owatonna — understanding. When he first took over Fair Lanes, he quickly realized there were two large segments of Owatonna’s population that weren’t using the bowling center enough — children and seniors. Gary and Mary quickly organized youth bowling leagues. “There was a smaller scale youth program when I first came here, but I saw there was room for expansion there,” Staats said. “We started bumper leagues to get kids involved, and many of those kids stayed with it and went into regular junior leagues, high school and a lot of them are even adult bowlers now.” In 1983, the Staats helped found high school

Submitted photo

Gary Staats, in his younger years, demonstrates his bowling form. Staats, along with his wife, Mary, was inducted into the Minnesota Association Hall of Fame in 2009.

bowling in Minnesota. Some of the bowlers Gary and Mary coached years ago are now some of the best bowlers in the state and country. Former students Chad Nelson, Dan Bock and Dan Langer travel around the country to compete in major tournaments. A smile spreads across Gary’s face and his eyes twinkle when he talks about his former students and their successes. There is little that gives Gary more joy than hearing about

Owatonna bowlers winning on the state or national stage. “There are just so many things for kids to be involved with, but in bowling, every kid gets to play and have fun,” Staats said. “Nobody sits on the bench. You don’t have to be the biggest or the strongest. You just have to be enthused about bowling and willing to practice and keep working.” The rosters of today’s adult teams in Owa-

tonna and surrounding communities are filled with players taught and trained by Gary and Mary Staats, and high school bowling in Minnesota is big business. There are more than 2,000 high school bowlers in Minnesota, and there are varsity and junior varsity state tournaments every year. The one thing high school bowling in Minnesota hasn’t achieved yet is official varsity sport status from the Minnesota State High School League. Staats said bowling has come close to getting the votes, but it just hasn’t happened yet. It’s a sore subject, but fortunately the MSHSL can’t stop an unofficial high school bowling league. In Owatonna, the varsity team won a state title in 1995, and Gary’s grandson, Jordan Von Ruden, won three junior varsity state titles with Owatonna. Owatonna has also earned several runner-up and third-place finishes. Gary actually stopped being the head coach in 1994, but that doesn’t mean he stopped rooting for the Huskies. “I tend to be a pretty competitive person, even in coaching,” Gary said. Those competitive juices melt away though on Monday and Friday mornings when Owatonna’s senior citizens hit the lanes at Southpark. Now in it’s 23rd year, the senior league on Monday morning is an excellent opportunity for exercise, fun and a little competition. “It’s my exercise program,” said Phyllis Wheeler, who has been a regular Monday and Friday morning bowler for 15 years. “I don’t know what I’d do with my time. I’d have to go to exercise class, and I don’t want to do that. I’d rather bowl.” There are typically 50 or more bowlers on Monday mornings, and about 25 or so on Fridays. The Friday bowling, called Dawnlight bowling, is less organized, but Monday morning is an organized league through SeniorPlace. In addition to Mondays and Fridays, Staats also organized a traveling senior league with bowling centers in Owatonna, Faribault, Rochester, Waseca and Mankato. Bowlers from all five cities travel around to the other cities each Wednesday and hit the lanes. Owatonna has five teams, which means the league stops in Owatonna five times during each rotation.

See STAATS

page 68

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Page 68

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Gary Staats makes a few announcements to the senior bowlers on a recent Monday morning at Southpark Lanes in Owatonna. The bowlers are part of a senior league, organized by Staats. Now in its 23rd year, the league typically attracts 50 or more bowlers on Monday mornings. In addition, Staats also organized a traveling senior league with bowling centers in Owatonna, Faribault, Waseca and Mankato. Ian Stauffer/People’s Press

Staats Continued from page 66 “Gary started that league and got the other towns involved,” said Floyd Duncan, who has been bowling in Owatonna for decades in both the senior and traditional leagues. “Gary really takes good care of us. He does a lot for the seniors.” Gary sold Southpark Lanes & Lounge in 2004 after Mary was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Mary bowled right up until the day before she went into a home, still averaging in the 150s Gary said. “A lot of these people bowl right up until the day they die,” Gary added. “Bowling is something where you meet people and build relation-

ships. There are still people in the senior bowling league that have been here since Day One.” When one of the senior bowlers does pass away, Staats announces the passing the next week and holds a moment of silence for the departed. On Feb. 28, the moment of silence was for Mary Staats. She died after a four-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Gary Staats said Mary was in a home for 1,501 days, and he visited his wife “all but 30 or 35 of those days.” Now Mary, like more than 70 senior bowlers before her, is memorialized on a plaque at Southpark. Gary jokes that he’s been saving a space for himself on that plaque for years.

“We don’t forget people,” he said. “I can go through every name on that plaque and tell you something about them. There are a lot of good people involved in bowling.” That’s why, even after more than five decades in bowling, Gary still shows up at the alley — ahem, center — every week to greet his friends and run the senior leagues. “There were some long hours, but there was never a day I didn’t want to to go to work,” he said. “If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, don’t do it.” Gary still lives in the house he and Mary bought more than 40 years ago. Two of his

daughters live in Owatonna and three of his four grandchildren are in school in Owatonna. His two youngest granddaughters — Jessica and Jenna — play hockey, and Jordan “is the bowler in the family,” Gary said. Gary spends a lot of his time watching his grandkids compete in their sports, but he can still be found down at the lanes most days, watching others enjoy the game he loves so much just like he’s done for years. “We never put a lot of money away, but we paid our bills and we were able to do what we wanted to do,” he said. “That to me is what’s all about.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Ferris Chladek:

Against All odds

Press file photo

Ferris Chladek of Owatonna during a Memorial Day parade in Owatonna.

By CLARE KENNEDY ckennedy@owatonna.com

erris Chladek is nothing if not thorough. “Feb. 14, 1920, I was born...” Ferris began, when asked about his story.

He proceeded with a meticulous re-telling of his 90 years on earth, complete with exact

dates, places, times and even dollar amounts. Perhaps he has a photographic memory. Or maybe he’s just had a lot of time to think it over. In any case, there is a lot to say. During his nine decades, Ferris has been a day laborer, a soldier, a Boy Scout leader, and a fine dancer as well. Like he said, his story begins on Valentine’s Day in 1920. He was born in Owatonna, the son of two farm workers. He spent his earliest years on a farm in Lemond township, where his parents ran a farm for the landowner.

“I was about two years old when they ran a 320-acre farm. We had 18 head of horses, and 35 to 40 cows,” Ferris recalled. But times were tough and the Chladeks were forced to move frequently. In 1928, the family moved to Pennsylvania. They returned in the 1930s. “The day that we got home from Pennsylvania was the day that President (Franklin Delano) Roosevelt was elected,” Ferris said. “It was in November. There was no place for my folks to move into and to live.”

The family was split up. Ferris and his brother lived with his paternal grandparents while his parents stayed with his mother’s parents until they could find housing. Finally, they moved to a farm in Steele Center, where they worked for a share of the profits. They were only there for about a year. At long last, the Chladeks were able to buy a farm of their own in Dodge Center.

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Chladek Continued from page 70 “It was March 1 of 1932 or 1933. We bought that farm at $50 an acre,” Ferris said. “It was an 80-acre farm. There was no electricity, no water, no sewer, no nothing.” In 1937, Ferris joined the CCCs, the Civilian Conservation Corps, a government program that employed thousands of boys to work during the Great Depression. The age limit was 17 to 19. “You turned 19 you had to find something else to do,” Ferris said. “I became a leader in the CCCs. When I was discharged in fall of 1940 I came home and got a job in Hayfield working for a farmer.” That fall, Ferris picked corn for a penny a bushel, which gave him a total of $20. His next job was in West Concord, where he worked until summer, until he got sleeping sickness, Encephalitis. The literal meaning of Encephalitis is “inflammation of the brain.” The severest form of the disease is a rare and potentially life-threatening. “There were five of us in the county that had it,” Ferris said. “I never heard about any of them that had it, whether they lived or died.” Ferris’ case was very grave indeed. “(My doctor) took my mother out into the kitchen and he told her that there was very little hope,” Ferris said. “I fooled him. I made it.” His parents put hot packs and warm sandbags all over his body. It was a hot, painful recovery, but after six to eight weeks he was able to get up and move around. He used a beat up, single-shot rifle as a cane when he walked outside. The rifle-cane had an added bonus: He was ready for any jack rabbit that came along while walking in the fields around his home. As his health improved, he was able to go into the woods and hunt squirrel. He was out in the woods on Dec. 7, 1941. “I came home, just dragging along. My mother met me at the door and said, ‘Have you heard the news?’” Ferris said. “What news? She had tears in her eyes. She told me that the Japanese had dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor.” Ferris’ brother was already in the service. “‘Your brother might be killed now.’ That was the first thing she said,” Ferris said. “‘We may be all killed.’ She was so worried about them getting to us. My dad came in and said, ‘Ma, quit frettin.’ This will be all over with in a couple of years.’” Though he had recovered, Ferris was still in bad shape, considered a cripple by many. He still had to use his rifle-cane or a stick when he was getting about town.

Submitted photo

Ferris Chladek poses for a picture in uniform in Iran in 1944. Chladek ran a supply line through the desert, all the way to Russia to help supply the Allies during World War II. “I did not see any actual combat, but we did have desert bandits to worry about,” Chladek said.

“All the people in town said, ‘Ferris you don’t have to worry about going into the service and being in the war,’” He said. “You’ll never have to go, not in the shape you’re in.” Technically, Ferris was classified as 4-F, physically unfit for service. But the townspeople underestimated Ferris by a mile. “I was getting so tired of this idea. Everybody left: My buddies were going, my school mates were going. My brother was already gone,” Ferris said. “I’m still here. I went and volunteered.” When he left for Fort Snelling, the naysayers in Owatonna crowed and began making bets. “There was no money in them days. No money at all,” Ferris said. “But the butcher had a $25 bet that I would be back home.” That is equal to more than $300 today. The butcher came to regret that bet. “I never came home. I didn’t come home until December of ’45,” Ferris said. He trained in Camp Robinson in Arkansas, an experience that Ferris described as lifechanging. He ended up in the infantry. “I had a full-blooded Indian for my platoon leader. If it weren’t for him, I don’t think I would be here today,” Ferris said. “He made a man of me. He screamed and he hollered and he yelled and he did everything he could think of but hit me — he never hit me — to make me a man. And he did.” His next stop was Mississippi, Camp Dixon. On May 7, 1943, he boarded a ship bound for battle. It took them 87 days on the open sea to reach their destination. The ship took Ferris on a world tour: It stopped in Rio, Brazil and Cape Town, South Africa. Then they headed east and north to the country then known as Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and ended up in Bombay, India. They were in the jungles. “The whole battalion was starting to die off because of dysentery. They finally moved us out,” Ferris said. ‘But at this point we had a lot of men who were dying and committing suicide, mostly because of homesickness.” Finally they landed in Iran. Ferris ran a supply route through the desert all the way to Russia, where the allies were. “I did not see any actual combat but we did have desert bandits to worry about. Some of the trucks would get hit at night, blow up and catch up on fire,” Ferris said.

See CHLADEK

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Chladek Continued from page 70 It was a crucial route and a grueling job, especially when the tide began to turn against the Nazis. “I hauled supplies day and night for at least two-and-a-half years. Just before D-Day they run us half to death,” Ferris said. During this time, the Tehran Conference took place with Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt. “That’s when all hell broke loose to get that D-Day started. Any truck that stopped somebody would be hollering, ‘Get going! Go! Go! Go!’” Ferris said. For most of the war, mail service was irregular at best. Letters from the last three or four months would arrive at once, in a foot-tall pile. Among them were notes from a woman named Ruth, the woman who would become Ferris’ wife. Ruth was from Claremont, but the two had never met. “I learned that my girlfriend had gotten married and this young lady right here was working at Josten’s with a friend of mine,” Ferris said. “That girl told her about some guy who could use some mail and wanted her to write to me.” Ruth agreed to write Ferris. In her introductory letter she sent a picture. “I fell in love with that girl right there,” Ferris said. It was a trans-Atlantic romance. “We wrote back and forth. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me, so it was kind of a funny thing,” said Ruth, who spent part of the war working at a defense plant in San Francisco. “What do you write, you know? But his folks lived in Dodge Center and mine lived in Claremont, so we did have a little in common.” After the war ended in the European theater, Ferris stayed on in Iran, where he worked as a driver for a colonel. When he finally got home in Dec. 16, 1945, he looked Ruth up at home. By this time, she was back in Claremont. The two were delighted to finally meet in person, but Ferris had forgotten how brutal the Minnesota winters could be. “When I left Iran, it was 125 degrees,” Ferris recalled. “When I got home it was 27 below. It was pretty hard to take. I would just stand and shiver. I had to be inside most of the time.” It was a rough winter, but Ruth and Ferris made it through. He got a job working for her uncle that spring, right around the time that he and Ruth got engaged in April of 1946. They got married the following September.

Submitted photo

Ferris and Ruth Chladek in their younger days. Although the two had never met before World War II, their romance blossomed during the war through letters sent across the Atlantic Ocean.

The couple raised three sons together. In 1948, he got a job that would sustain and define him for the next 40 years at the SteeleWaseca Cooperative Electric. “There wasn’t too many jobs I couldn’t do if I had to. I’ve done maintenance work, repaired trucks,” Ferris said. “I went out to collect disconnected bills. That was a nasty job. Did some surveying work, helped build substations and dug holes by hand.”

In 1959 he was given a hydraulic digger truck, the first that Steele-Waseca ever had. The vehicle could dig straight through the frost line. That same year he got involved in the Boy Scouts. “My older boy came home one day and said that someone needed help in Cub Scouts. I said I would do it,” Ferris said. His activity in Boy Scouts fit in well with other groups he was a part of, many of which

had military roots. By that time, he’d already been active in with the Honor Guard, which honors veterans who have died with a military sendoff, a group that he headed up for 20 years. Ferris is also a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. As in all other areas of his life, Ferris went above and beyond the call of duty during his time with the scouts. He started a Boy Scout Troop at Washington Elementary School. He rose in the ranks from assistant scout master, to full scout master to a commissioner for the Scouts. He did not slow down, even when he retired from Steele-Waseca in 1982. In fact, he is best known within the community for the work he’s done since. It began simply. He took up a hobby, sharpening saws. This branched out into woodcrafting eventually, an interest he’d first developed in boyhood but left behind during his working years. He is a key member of the Southern Minnesota Woodcarvers who meet at Trinity Lutheran once a week. “He carves now. He didn’t do that when he worked, but he does now,” Ruth said. It’s an interest he pursues even in the worst of times. Ferris is currently in a nursing home, Owatonna Commons, where he is recovering from an injury he sustained while in his workshop. He was in the basement working a jigsaw and his arm started to ache, badly, a sign that he was suffering from an attack of angina. He took a shot of nitroglycerin, and sat down on a stool. He took a second shot, which dropped his blood pressure to dangerously low levels. “He must have passed out. I heard a noise down in the basement,” Ruth said. “So I went to the head of the stairs and he didn’t answer me and there he was.” In the fall, he hurt his back. He is at Owatonna Commons indefinitely until his back is in working order. But he still keeps busy, even though he is bedridden. His wife brings him small blocks of wood to work on. Behind his bed, he keeps a shelf of statuettes he’s carved: A jolly Santa Claus, a finely molded horse and a rather flirtatious carving of Marilyn Monroe. He hopes to be out by fall. He’s got an important date he doesn’t want to miss. “The good Lord willing, the creek don’t rise and nothing happens, on Sept. 10 of this year we’ll celebrate 65 years of marriage,” Ferris said. “I’m proud of that one.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Ken Wilcox:

A man of many hats By CLARE KENNEDY ckennedy@owatonna.com

eople who know Ken Wilcox know him as a man who has worn many hats. In his life, he’s been a stern hockey coach, a tireless fundraiser for non-profits and the president of the beloved National Farmer’s Bank downtown. Press file photo

Ken Wilcox, the former president of what is now Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Owatonna, gives a tour of the building on the 100th anniversary of the historic building.

At the moment, Wilcox is wintering in Bonita Springs, Fla. — a town 20 minutes north of Naples. However, Wilcox’s life began thousands of miles away, in the cold, distant land of Manitoba, Canada.

See WILCOX

page 76

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

LEFT: Ken Wilcox conducts business at his office in what is now the Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Owatonna. He retired as president of Owatonna Wells Fargo Bank in 1999. BELOW: Norma and Ken Wilcox have been together since they began dating in 1957. “It is so critical to have a spouse that supports you,” Ken Wilcox said. “Norma has been a great partner. Submitted photos

Wilcox Continued from page 75 Wilcox was born in 1935 in Winnipeg. Both his parents were U.S. citizens: His father was originally from Iowa and his mother grew up in Minnesota. To this day, Wilcox maintains dual citizenship. He grew up in a small town called Starbuck, which is located just on the edge of Winnipeg. When he graduated from high school in 1953 he didn’t stray too far. He started college at United College in Winnipeg. It was in Winnipeg that he began dating Norma, who has been his faithful companion since they married in 1957. However, he had not yet decided what career he intended to pursue. “Most of my friends were farmers, and their dads were farmers. I knew that wasn’t going to happen, so it really was a matter of whether I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps and

go into the lumber business or not,” Wilcox said. “That wasn’t quite appealing to me.” He decided to major in finance and economics. He took an internship at Great West Life Insurance as a test to see if the field really suited him. It did, and it wasn’t long before Wilcox’s natural talent got noticed. “While I was there, a cousin of mine visited me, someone I had a bit of respect for, and he thought I would make a good banker,” Wilcox said. His cousin convinced him to join up at his bank in Adams, N.D., in 1956. It was a temporary job — just a year or two — but it proved to be a twist of fate for Wilcox. Through his banker benefactor, he met others in the industry who ultimately brought him to Minnesota. By 1957 he and Norma had married and moved to Montevideo, where Wilcox had gotten a job at Security State Bank. That job quickly led

to another in Minneapolis, for an organization then called Northwestern National Bank. “I wasn’t thrilled with the idea,” Wilcox said. “I’m a smaller town person, but it was the the right thing to do for my career.” It wasn’t long before he would get his chance to move out of the city and into a town more his speed. “The opportunity came to consider Owatonna and a person called Cliff Sommer was president of the bank there at the time,” Wilcox said. “He interviewed me and we hit it off right away, so I said yes. I’ve always been so happy with that decision. Owatonna has really become home.” At the time, Norma and Ken were planning a family. Ultimately, they had three children: Brenda, their eldest, Cindy and one son, William, who was born in Owatonna.

However, it wasn’t long before an opportunity took Wilcox away from his new home, albeit temporarily. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he pursued a graduate program in banking and finance. “That was quite a unique year. There was a lot of unrest in Madison,” Wilcox said. During that era, the university was roiled with protests against the Vietnam War. In October of 1967, UW students protested against the Dow Chemical Company, a manufacturer of naplam that was recruiting at the campus. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the protest disintegrated in to a fierce clash with police.

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Wilcox Continued from page 76

Wilcox was a witness to another more violent event at the campus when he was sleeping in his dorm room and a blast awoke him. A group of young men later known as “The New Years Gang” bombed the mathematics building nearby, Sterling Hall. The blast killed physics researcher Robert Fassnacht and left four others injured. “We didn’t know what happened. We went outside and all the police and fire people were there,” Wilcox recalled. “It was then we realized that the building had been bombed. It was kind of scary.” While attending the University of Wisconsin, Wilcox tried to get home to Owatonna as often as he could. When he graduated, he was glad to be back. “It was important for me to get the additional education that way I could get sharpened up in accounting, finance and law. That really gave me the basis for my future,” Wilcox said. “The opportunities were there for moving up.” However, he’d missed Owatonna, a city he’d quickly come to love. “Owatonna was the right size community as far as I was concerned. Everything seemed to fit,” Wilcox said, adding that he had no shortage of mentors in the town. “The homegrown leadership is one of the things I really marveled at. Some of the names I think of — Dan Gainey of Josten’s, Harry Wenger, E.S. Gandrud — they encouraged and fostered that spirit of homeSubmitted photo grown entrepreneurship and leadership. It was Ken Wilcox poses with one of the many hockey teams he coached. Wilcox, on the left in the back row, was a drivreally something to me. It opened my eyes.” ing force behind the development of Owatonna’s youth hockey program and a driving force behind the building of While Wilcox had been in Wisconsin, his the Four Seasons Centre. boss, Cliff Sommer, had taken a public office. The first arena cost about $2.1 million to Wilcox had much praise for the Owatonna Sommer was elected to the state Senate in 1966, longtime supporters of the Owatonna Arts Cen$2.2 million. The later addition was even more Foundation. serving a term that ran through 1971. This helped ter and the Little Theatre of Owatonna. However, he is most proud of his service with expensive: that effort cost $4 million. The sec“It has done a lot of great things. It’s been the Wilcox in two ways: It allowed him to advance his career as the bank staff reshuffled and gave the Owatonna Foundation, which was started by ond addition was completed in the mid-1980s. core piece a lot of times when new needs arise in Sommers and other businessmen. Wilcox joined Both times, Wilcox was charged with raising the the community,” Wilcox said. him an inside view of life at the Capitol. Nowadays, Wilcox is taking it easy — sort of. “He was there for four years before he ended in the effort as well, becoming the secretary- money to build. “The Four Seasons has been so good, not just He is keeping busy, though he does like to fish his career and this gave me a lot of opportunities to treasurer and then the president, a post he held for hockey and skating, but the fair board,” Wil- on occasion. He still helps out where he can. He watch and follow and see what makes things tick,” from 1989 until 2001. During his tenure the Owatonna Foundation cox said. “They have really been able to expand and Norma recently helped raised funds for a Wilcox said. “I got up to Legislature quite often. It worked to get the Four Seasons Centre from the what they do.” major expansion project at Trinity. was really new to me and I enjoyed that.” Wilcox’s role at the Four Seasons didn’t end In the future he hopes to spend more time with In time, Wilcox was named the president of drafting board to reality. As a long-time hockey the local Norwest bank in 1976. He spent his ca- coach and a driving force behind the develop- there. He and his good friend Todd Hale became his two grandchildren. The Wilcoxes plan to stay reer in Luis Sullivan’s jewel box bank — from ment of Owatonna’s hockey program, the proj- arena announcers together, a time that he remem- in Owatonna for good. “We are so committed to remaining in Owa1976 until he retired in 1999, right after Norwest ect was close to Wilcox’s heart. At the time, the bers fondly. Hale would do the play-by-play and kids were playing on the river when it was fro- Wilcox would fill in with color and explanations tonna, even though we sneak away to Florida acquired Wells Fargo in 1998. while Hale was catching his breath. ever now and then. Certainly Owatonna will Over that 20-year period, Wilcox settled into zen over. “The fundraising part was my responsibili“That was back when you had to climb a always be our home,” Wilcox said. “It’s meant the community, becoming deeply involved on many fronts. He was in the Owatonna Jaycees ty,” Wilcox said. “Virtually all the major com- ladder to get into booth. It was scary for a so much to us. I can’t ever see us leaving Owa(the junior chamber of commerce), the church panies were donors, and we had over 1,500 while,” Wilcox said. “All of that has been tonna. Too many memories.” In a closing statement, Wilcox wanted to offer council of Trinity Lutheran, the Elks Club and individuals or families that contributed. It was great fun. I’ve met so many close friends through hockey.” special thanks to his wife, Norma. Noon Rotary. He and Norma have also been a community-wide effort.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Sharon West:

Like father, like daughter

Press file photo

Sharon West shows an article from the Owatonna People’s Press as she speaks with an Owatonna Junior High School student in preparation for “Making Their Mark,” a part of Owatonna’s sesquicentennial celebration in 2004. West was one of 36 of Owatonna’s most prominent citizens who was interviewed by seventh grade students. The students then presented living histories of the Owatonnans who shaped the city’s history. In addition to being one of the prominent citizens interviewed, West was also the co-chair of the city’s 15-week 150th anniversary celebration. The newspaper article is titled “Owatonna’s first family,” and is subtitled “History links father-daughter duo.”

By JEFFREY JACKSON jjackson@owatonna.com

here’s just one good explanation for the reason that Sharon West is the way she is. It’s in her blood. “My brother is truly like my mom,” West said. “He’s a very private person, and my mom was very private.”

Then she smiled, an almost devilish twinkle in her eye. “Then there was Dad and me,” she said. “It’s always been that way.” Indeed, when she was a girl growing up in Owatonna in the 1940s and `50s, her mother would try her hardest to teach young Sharon the homemaker skills she needed. But after five minutes, Sharon would be itchin’ to get out of the kitchen. “Dad would call me to work at the store, and in a shot, I’d be out,” she said. Her father, Steve Pfeil, purchased a store — Anderson Variety, later renamed Cedar Street Variety — in 1944 and moved his young family to Owatonna, where he became, in West’s words, “an entrepreneur of the first order.”

Pfeil had worked quite successfully in a department store in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, so successfully, in fact, that he drove a Packard and rubbed elbows with movie stars who would shop at the store. “He was always good with people,” West said, then added, “Mom and Dad had a good life out there.” But when her father developed health issues, the doctors suggested that the climate in California was contributing to his poor health and that he needed to move, perhaps back to his home state of Minnesota. His first move was to his hometown of Worthington, where he worked for a year selling ads for the newspaper before the op-

portunity presented itself for him to purchase the store in Owatonna. And when he landed in Owatonna, he brought with him not only his experience in the retail business, but his flair for promotion. “He knew about promoting from his work in California,” West said. And, she said, he promoted not only his store, but Owatonna at the same time because he knew that in order for his business to thrive then Owatonna had to thrive. And that meant bringing people downtown.

See WEST

page 81

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 81

West Continued from page 80 To that end, when he first came to town, he joined an organization dubbed the Owatonna Businessmen’s Association. That organization soon gave way to a newly formed Owatonna Chamber of Commerce. Pfeil not only joined the chamber, but he became the group’s first president in 1946. Pfeil was also well known for outrageous stunts that he would execute as a way of drawing attention to his store. On one occasion — the celebration of the store’s third anniversary — Pfeil placed prominent ads in the newspaper, climbed to the roof of his store with balloons and guinea hens with $1 and $5 bills attached to them and threw them to the crowd below. The stunt drew more that 3,200 people to the store that day. Her father’s approach is something that West appreciates. “I don’t know if there’s anything tougher than being in business for yourself,” she said. “People are not going to walk in your door

just because you’re a nice guy. You have to advertise and work at it.” The more she tells the story, the clearer the parallels become. Like her father, Sharon West is a people person and a tireless promoter of the City of Owatonna and its businesses, especially small businesses. “I’m a strong supporter of Owatonna because Owatonna has been so good to my family,” she said. “I love what downtown used to be and would like to see it come back to that. I’m all in favor of the small businessman. That’s where my passion lies.” And like her father, West does not simply express her verbal support. She gets involved, perhaps in ways — though she would be loath to admit it — that exceed her father’s involvement.

Press file photo

See WEST

page 82

Then Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty addresses a crowd during ceremonies recognizing Owatonna’s sesquicentennial. Sharon West, center, and Verne White, right, were co-chairs of the 15-week celebration

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Press file photo

BELOW: Sharon West shares a laugh with her husband Harvey as they talk about one of the great passions of the couple’s life — racing. Sharon says that it made her feel good the first time someone introduced her as “Harvey’s wife” rather than Steve Pfeil’s daughter. Harvey died in February 2008.

Submitted photo

Sharon West poses for a photo with Gerald Mikel at the annual banquet of the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 28, 1994. West became the chair of the board for the chamber at the banquet, the first woman in Owatonna to chair the chamber board.

West Continued from page 81 “Sharon never joins anything just to be a member,” she said of herself in the third person. “I can’t just go into it and sit by.” Her list of accomplishments and involvement in the community is extensive. In 2004, as Owatonna was celebrating its sesquicentennial, West served as co-chair for the town’s elaborate 16-week celebration. She was chairperson for the Homestead Hospice House board. She was president of the board for the Owatonna Business Incubator. She currently serves as a trustee for the Owatonna Foundation. She even has worked with the local Boy Scouts, though she has no children of her own, and is a member of the Sons of Norway, though she is not Norwegian. Then there are the boundaries she has broken for women in Steele County. She was president of the local United Way board – the first woman to hold that position in the community. She was the first woman president of the RC Modelers Club, the first woman to serve as a commissioner on the city’s Civil Service Commission, and the first woman president of the Owatonna Rotary Club. Most importantly, at least from her perspective, is that she followed in her father’s footsteps and became president of the board for the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism — also the first woman to hold

that position. And what made her induction into that post even more special for her was that her father was able to be there to see her assume the office. Because of her efforts, West was named the community’s Woman of the Year in 1989. “It’s my way of giving back to the town,” she said. “Because I feel so close to this town because of what Dad did for this town, I want to continue this, to help businesses grow and to help the town grow.” This she accomplished even while working full time at Truth Hardware, a job she held for nearly 40 years. She started at Truth on Jan. 14, 1964, working as a receptionist and secretary to the president, and retired on July 18, 2000, as manager of the plant’s human resources department. But even then, her working days were far from over. For the past seven or eight years — she really can’t remember how long it’s been — she has worked for the chamber of commerce, where she is now the office manager. The fact that she is still working at her age — she will turn 72 in July — surprises even her. “The thought of my working into my late 60s or early 70s never entered my mind,” she said. Yet, she has no immediate plans to step down, even after a hip surgery that sidelined

her temporarily. Once that hip is mended, she plans to be back at work at the chamber, helping local businesses and promoting Owatonna. She can’t stay away. She’s having too much fun. “I just do it for the fun of it,” she said, admitting that even if they didn’t pay her, she would probably volunteer. “I love working for the chamber of commerce. It’s the best job I’ve ever had.” And how did she manage to stay involved in so many activities around town while working full time? “I had a very understanding husband,” she said. Which brings us to Harvey. Sharon Pfeil was a college student at Hamline University in St. Paul, and one summer, when she was staying with her aunt and uncle in St. Paul rather than make the trek back and forth to Owatonna. “About midsummer, my aunt said she wanted me to meet the neighbor boy, but I didn’t want to because I was dating someone else,” she said. But her aunt was persistent, and finally Sharon relented. When she made the trek across to the alley, she met Harvey West, who was outside washing his father’s car. After they spoke for

a while, he introduced her to his parents. Then they went out for a drive in the car. The couple married in September 1959. Harvey West died in February 2008. Sharon West recalls that when they moved to Owatonna in 1961, people around town — mostly older folks — still knew her as Steve Pfeil’s daughter, so when she and Harvey would attend events around town, people would introduce the couple as “Steve Pfeil’s daughter and her husband.” The introductions always bothered her. Over the years, however, the introductions changed. “It made me feel good the first time someone said, ‘This is Harvey’s wife,’” she said. Yes, she was Steve Pfeil’s daughter. And yes, she became Harvey West’s wife. But more than that, she is Sharon West, a person in her own right who has become a tireless supporter and promoter of Owatonna. And all the while, she’s having fun. “If I can’t have a good time, I will not work for a place,” she said of her current job with the chamber, though she was quick to add that that idea has become something of a mantra for her. “My motto is, ‘Work hard, but have a good time,’” she said. “Heck, that’s how I get through life and handle whatever life throws me.”

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Elmer Reseland:

Keeping the fair a well-oiled machine Steele County Free Fair manager Elmer Reseland in the Muckle Museum on the fairgrounds.

By JEFFREY JACKSON jjackson@owatonna.com

s Elmer Reseland sits in his office at the Steele County Fairgrounds, surrounded by miniature carousels, pictures of clowns, books about fairs and other memorabilia, he admits that doing the job of running the Steele County Free Fair is not as easy as it used to be.

For one thing, Reseland is beginning to feel the health effects of the diabetes he has had for the past 30 years. He feels it especially in his feet. “I walk like I’m drunk,” he says, a familiar though ever-so-slight grin on his face. And at his age — he’ll be 75 by the time this year’s fair rolls around — he says the grind of the fair, especially during Fair Week, is exhausting. That week, he arrives at the fairgrounds every morning at 7 a.m. and doesn’t leave most days until midnight — a pace that would wear out men half his age. On those days, he doesn’t just sit around his office either. Rather, he treks the fairgrounds

constantly, moving from vendor to vendor, from exhibition to exhibition, making sure that everything runs smoothly. In fact, his job making sure things run smoothly starts before — long before — the Tuesday evening opening of the fair. Indeed, on the Sunday night before the opening, after all the fair superintendents and other folks who gather for an appreciation dinner have gone home, Reseland remains. And with good reason. “Right after supper, the trucks start rolling in,” Reseland says. Those trucks are the vendors, about 450 of them, and others who are bringing their prod-

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

ucts in and getting their booths set up. Some of the vehicles are large. Others pull trailers. And the roads leading in and out of the fairgrounds — roads that are usually fairly quiet — are jammed with vehicles, all trying to get to the right place. Reseland knows the importance of getting them to where they are supposed to be with the minimum of confusion. “If we don’t get those trucks to the right place, it’s a miserable Monday morning,” he says. “It takes a lot of organization.”

See RESELAND

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Reseland Continued from page 84 After 17 years at the fair, most of them at the helm, Reseland has it down to a science. Which is why others connected to the fair shudder a bit when Reseland uses a particular that many would rather not hear — retirement. “I’m planning on resigning after this year’s fair,” Reseland says, adding that those connected to the fair have been talking to and trying to recruit someone to take over and fill Reseland’s shoes — if anyone can fill his shoes — after he steps down. Still, he won’t leave the fair high and dry. “I will help here as long as I can.” But who could blame him for wanting to step down? After all, working to keep the fair going as such a high quality attraction is not a job that can be done just one week out of the year. In fact, it’s a year-round proposition, starting the Monday after the fair closes when all the folks who helped run the fair get together for a brainstorming session to talk about what went right, what went wrong and what needs to be corrected for the next year. Later, in the fall and the winter when the group gets back together, they use that list they have

compiled to start getting ready for the fair. And getting ready for the fair takes time. “I’m in and out of here almost every day of the year,” Reseland says, then shrugs matter-of-factly. “There’s no pressure on me. You gotta do what you gotta do.” For Reseland, the pace picks up after the first of the year. First, there are the contracts to be sent out to vendors. With 500 booths, that’s a lot of contracts. Then there’s the convention — actually, three conventions in one — for the Minnesota State Fair, the Minnesota Federation of Fairs and the Midwest Showmen, a convention that allows him to see possibilities for the Steele County Free Fair and to make con-

tacts with vendors and attractions. When he returns from the convention, the contracts coming in, spurred in part by the discount that the fair gives to any vendor who has his contract back in by March 1. Of course, there are the vendors who call in with questions, and Reseland is there to answer them. And when the contracts come in, he goes through through each and every one of them to see what each vendor wants and needs. “It’s easy to screw those up,” Reseland says about the contracts. “If someone’s going to screw those up, I’d rather it be me.” With each passing day, each passing week and each passing

month, the job gets busier and busier, leading up to Fair Week itself, his busiest time of year. “It’s kind of like the first day of school, only it’s seven days in a row,” Reseland says. It’s an apt comparison and one that Reseland understands well. Long before he became the manager of the Steele County Free Fair, Elmer Reseland held a much different position in the community of Owatonna. He wasn’t “Elmer,” as everyone seems to call him today. He was “Mr. Reseland.” In 1965, Reseland came to Owatonna to take the position of principal at McKinley Elementary School. Because the Owatonna school district used to have a policy that rotated principals from one school to another every few years or so, Reseland has been the principal of every elementary school in the district throughout his 30-year career in the school system. He retired after being principal of Willow Creek Intermediary School, a school that he helped design and establish.

See RESELAND

page 92

A miniature carousel that is part of the collection of Elmer Reseland.

Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Page 89

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Elmer Reseland sits in his office at the Steele County Free Fair Office. Next to him is one of the many carousels in his collection. On the wall behind him is a sign for his hometown fair in Fertile, Minn. Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/ Connor Fotografia

Reseland Continued from page 88 In fact, he says, his work at Willow Creek helped to prepare him for taking the reins of the Steele County Free Fair. For a year before the school opened, he met with faculty members who would be teaching at the school. He had hired them, placed them and put teams together — teams that would help decide how the school would operate. It’s the same sort of group decision-making that is used to run the fair, he says. Oddly enough, it was his work with the school district that kept him from being involved with the Steele County Free Fair until after his retirement. “They knew of my interest and abilities from the schools,” Reseland says about people connected to the Steele County Free Fair who were trying to recruit him. “They wanted me to become involved.” But August, he says, is the busiest time of the year for a school principal as he has to finish the last-minute things before the

school year begins. Taking a week out of his busy schedule to help out at the fair, though desirable, simply was not possible. Still, even in those days that he was a principal, his love of fairs and carnivals was evident. He would bring his miniature carnival — complete with 75 rides and 200-plus trucks — to the schools and display it for the students. His collection of carnival miniatures, some of which adorn his office on the fairgrounds, dates back to his youth in northern Minnesota when it was difficult for him to go to the fair. He grew up in the small town of Fertile, about 30 miles from Climax — a bit of an offcolor joke that still makes him smile. When the fair would come to town — a fair much smaller than the one here in Steele County, but still a big thing for the town — young Elmer had at least a couple of reasons for being attracted to it. The house in which he grew up

was next to the fairgrounds and his uncle was the manager of the fair. But more than that, the fair was, in Reseland’s words, “the event of the year.” Unfortunately for him, going to the fair was difficult. “My mother worried about my going to the fair by myself,” he says. “At that time, a lot gypsies followed the fair and my mother always said, ‘The gypsies will take you.’ That scared the hell out me.” Worse yet was his health. As a boy, Reseland was asthmatic, and the dust and pollen of summer made it difficult for him to breathe. “I didn’t go outside much,” he says. “It was tough.” But, his father felt sorry for him and built him miniature rides, like a miniature Ferris wheel, that he could play with when he was stuck inside. It was the beginning of a collection that Reseland has maintained over the years.

The one thing that Reseland has lost from his childhood is that fear of gypsies and other carnival people instilled within by his mother. “Over the years, I’ve got to know the guys,” he says of the people who travel from fair to fair. “And I found out that the vendors and the carnival people are pretty darn patriotic people and pretty religious people. “You learn a lot of things.” So now that he looks beyond his life with the Steele County Free Fair, what does Reseland imagine his life will be like? He shrugs. “Do like everyone else who retires,” he says. “Sit and watch Oprah.” But they’ll never get that love of fairs out of him. So, he says, he’ll probably go back to work on his miniature carnival collection. “I’ll probably volunteer over here,” he says of the fair. “It’s been a wonderful opportunity to bring it up a notch or two.”

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

H. Peterson:

The art of small-town living Ashley Peterson/People’s Press

H. Peterson stands outside of the Blooming Prairie High School, from which he retired as an art teacher. Peterson now devotes his time to being mayor of Blooming Prairie and a promoter of the city.

By ASHLEY PETERSON apeterson@owatonna.com

t takes a confident man to ditch his given name and be known only as a single letter sobriquet. Since ninth grade, Blooming Prairie mayor H. Peterson, formerly known as Harold, has been called by his nickname, H. “I didn’t do it. My friends did it. They said ‘You need a nickname,’ and to this day, there

are quite a few people who just know me as H,” Peterson said. At 66 years old, Peterson has lived the better part of his life going by H. and can still remember the boys who started it all those years ago in the suburbs of the Twin Cities where he grew up alongside three brothers. “My dad was a businessman. My mom stayed home and took care of us. It looked like ‘Leave it to Beaver,’ all the little towheads in the ’50s,” Peterson said. “I grew up a mile from (what is now Southdale Mall) and we’d get chased by bulls down there in the field. It was a rural setting at the time, and that was a neat place to grow up.” In high school, Peterson was involved in

sports, music, drama and, most notably, art — a passion that began even before high school. “The one who molded my love for art was Mrs. Barkla in sixth grade. She was just an absolute lover of art and she was very encouraging and we did a lot of art in her class,” Peterson said. “She had a son who was a very good artist, too, and he went on to be the lead set designer at the Guthrie. Through high school I got to work with him doing our stage sets, and I learned an incredible amount about doing stage sets then.” By 10th grade, Peterson knew teaching art is what he wanted to do after school. “I had another incredible art teacher, Mr. McCarthy, and he was also very encourag-

ing,” Peterson said. After high school, Peterson went to college at St. Olaf in Northfield, Minn., where he majored in art education. While studying at St. Olaf, Peterson met his wife, Jeannie. “I needed a date, and Jeannie was short,” Peterson said with a laugh. “We’ve been married for 47 years and we just listen to each other and it works. We’re a pair. We do most stuff together. It’s a relationship that started out well and it’s grown and gotten better and better.”

See PETERSON

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Peterson Continued from page 94 The young couple left Northfield and their families in the Metro and relocated to small town Blooming Prairie where Peterson took his job as the high school art teacher. “My wife and I got married out of college and I got the job here teaching art and so we came here and I thought we would work here a few years and then go and get a ‘good job,’ but this turned out to be a great job,” Peterson said. “We both grew up in the suburbs, so we really didn’t know what small town living would be like, but since we got here, we absolutely love it. We wouldn’t go anywhere else.” After moving to Blooming in 1966, H. and Jeannie had two children, Sonja and Kurt, and Peterson remained the high school art teacher until 2000. “They paid me to do it which is even better. Everyone wants to be the art teacher because it’s nothing but fun,” Peterson said. “Jeannie has had a number of different jobs, one of which was the development director for the city with community development and the chamber of commerce. She played a big part in building the city, more than she would realize.” At work, H. focused on grades seven through 12. “Anything they knew about art, they learned from me. It’s really neat to watch them grow. Even beyond that, I knew most of the kids before they even got to my class because they were children of friends and you’d see them in church and you see them all over the community. That thing about community raising children, that happens here. And so it’s a conspiracy against the children by all the adults to try and get them to turn out to be decent people,” Peterson said. “You’re never sure if you’re impacting them, but I really liked the interaction with those young people. The rewards of teaching are minimal, but they come back later, like now you go down to the street dance on the Fourth of July and see all these kids you taught who are raising their own families and they come back and remember me. I always remember them, but I don’t always remember their name. They say, ‘Remember when you told me ...’ and 25 years later they come back and tell you something that in seventh grade made a difference and that makes it all seem worthwhile. Things like that really

make your day. It may not be the minute they leave class, but years down the road you hear about it.” Peterson said many of his past students still reside in Blooming Prairie, some he even snowmobiles with to this day. “Who would have thought you’d be hanging out with your old art teacher?” he said with a laugh. Blooming Prairie School District Superintendent Barry Olson used to teach in the ’80s alongside Peterson, then was his administrator for two years before Peterson retired. “He cared about the kids’ performance and trying to get the kids to understand the arts, not only the history of art but also to produce quality projects,” Olson said of Peterson, a man he calls his friend. “He was a good employee and he’s always been a good community servant type of person. He coached football, golf and wrestling and he’s always been concerned about the kids and trying to mold them into quality citizens.” Olson said Peterson’s involvement in the education system perfectly equipped him for his role as mayor. “In education you deal with the public constantly, so you see all different sides of the situation. Dealing with students from a variety of different backgrounds help you understand those. As a mayor, he has that understanding there’s a tremendous variety of public out there and Submitted photo our job as administrators is to please as H Peterson takes a stance in his football days at St. Olaf College. As mayor many of them as possible and do what’s of Blooming Prairie, Peterson has had several issues to tackle. best for the masses,” Olson said. “As a teacher he learned to deal with the public is just fine, because the point was ‘Let’s From that time in 1995 on, Peterson was and he was fair to the students and I think get somebody in there who knows what “perfectly happy” with his city council that’s why he’s well-liked too in dealing they’re doing.’” membership. But when longtime Bloomwith the public.” Peterson said “an excellent city coun- ing Prairie mayor Ron Anderson tried to In addition to his service in the schools, cilman” got onto the board that year. run for county commissioner in 2004, Peterson has been closely connected to H. wasn’t the only Peterson to get in- someone had to step in and be mayor becity since the ’70s. volved in community politics. Jeannie, cause one cannot run for two positions. “I was on the planning and zoning too, has a history of city work. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll do that,’” Peterson board from way back. City government “She kept getting involved with the said. was always asecond home to me,” Pe- development corporation in the chamber, And since 2004, the mayoral seat has terson said. “The city clerk worked part which evolved into a job she had, and I been home to Peterson. time in the school and I was told no one was involved in that because she was. “I don’t think of it as politics. Politics had filed for a position on the city coun- Because we were a pair and when a coun- is separate from city government. This cil so I said, ‘I’ll file’ and he said ‘OK.’ I cil person moved away and they needed is like service and I think of me working was the only one on the ballot and I lost. I someone to fill the position, I told the here as serving my community, not being was from the outside. I wasn’t a Blossom. mayor I’d be willing to do that,” Peterson politically involved. I don’t really have So people said, ‘Who’s this guy?’ and said. “I had done ambulance, city plan- an agenda other than making Blooming they got together and found somebody ning and zoning and county planning and See PETERSON who really should have been on the city zoning, so I did that and it worked out.” council who ran and beat me out, which page 96

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H. and Jennie Peterson at a recent Fourth of July celebration in Blooming Prairie.

H. Peterson in the Blooming Prairie City Hall.

Peterson Continued from page 95 Peterson said as mayor of the rural southern Minnesota town, he often acts as spokesperson when needed. “It’s keeping your community out there, trying to keep it together. I try to lead by example. Those things are important, and what’s important is your involvement and attitude,” Peterson said. “I’m trying to lead by attitude, by being positive in this place and hopefully it rubs off. I think the community does well and I hope I’m not wandering around with blinders on, but I think we’re doing really well here.” Blooming Prairie City Administrator Mike Jones agreed. “He’s a great mayor and as a mayor, he’s a great ambassador for our city. Because of his job working at the school, he knows a lot of the kids and younger people in the community and their parents because he dealt with all those parents over the years with conferences,” Jones said of Peterson, whom he knew prior to working together with the city. “If there’s anything I can say about him, he’s a great ambassador for our community. He’s made some great contacts with our legislators, knows them on a first name basis, talks to them on the phone ... I’m not sure if all mayors have that ability to do that. We’re proud to have him and everyone should be proud of him as a mayor. I’m the paid guy, but a lot of people still like to talk to the mayor about a lot of things.” Peterson said though the local business community has struggled during the recession, all have survived the tumultuous economy and are alive and running today.

Perhaps not only alive, but thriving today is the city hall environment and the staff that goes along with it. “We’re blessed by having some really outstanding employees and that’s part of my attitude in governance that we need to get good people and keep them happy, just happy workers really do nice work ... We’ve got really nice employees ...That’s what makes our city government work. All of our people are happy to get up and come to work. Some of them work too much; They need to take a vacation,” Peterson said. Some might think the 66-year-old mayor needs to do some vacationing of his own. “We keep trying to retire and it doesn’t work. I retired from teaching 11 years ago because I could. And I was getting stale. It was really time for them to get a new art teacher, someone who would bring in some new ideas and they did. It worked out great and I’m really happy for the school,” he said. “I didn’t go looking for work, work keeps finding me. We’ve got this and it keeps going on.” In his time since teaching, Peterson has worked for Central Co-op delivering fertilizer, helped drive truck for a local farmer, helped with the harvest in driving the tractor and grain carts and presently he works at a small graphic arts company in Blooming Prairie, which he describes as “way up his alley.” The Petersons also cherish any time they get to spend with their three granddaughters and enjoy socializing with friends, some of which H.

has gotten to know through his interest in wood carving, a hobby he picked up years ago while searching through community education classes. Through the wood carving classes, the Petersons have become good friends with none other than another Peterson couple; Galen and Dorothy. “He’s a good guy and he’s a talented carver and very meticulous in his carving,” Galen said. “I’d worked at the school with him and he was a teacher there and I was buildings and grounds superintendent. I’ve known him a long time and of course we’re in Lions together too. I know him on a lot of different levels.” With a last name that has a prescription box all to itself at the pharmacy, the Petersons are not related, just close friends and wood carving buddies. “What we do is every Tuesday they come out to my garage and carve. We used to do this at community ed and I was an instructor then. We feed off each other. We each have our own talents. We don’t have a real teacher, we just help each other,” Galen said. Galen said his wife, Dorothy, and Jeannie even share the same birthdays. But as for H.’s involvement in the community, Galen said its second to none. “He’s pretty meticulous in his work and just a fun guy to be around; That flows over into him being a mayor,” Galen said. “He’s a great community leader. He’s involved in a lot of different things and he’s always there for some community service of some sort.”

Quite humble about his community involvement, and though he loves the people in the community of Blooming Prairie, H. would list his biggest accomplishment as the family he created with Jeannie. “There’s a long list of things I’m proud of, but the biggest? It’s got to be having this happy group of people, creating this happy bunch is my crowning blow,” he said pointing to a family portrait including his children and grandchildren. “Between this and the city and these little jobs, I don’t have a lot of spare time. But I’m trying to stay healthy, but I don’t know if that’s my choice but I do the best I can at it,” Peterson said. “I continue to have fun, watch these kids grow up, watch all these other people’s kids grow up and keep our city running smoothly. Other than that, I don’t know if I’m driving this thing or riding it — this little thing called life.” Peterson said he’s the type to take what life hands him, the agenda setting itself along the way. “As long as I’m happy and can do the job and they’re happy with me, that’s fine. If someone comes along, a person who feels they could do it well and just the same thing with my teaching job, it was maybe time for someone else to come do this, then I hope I’ll recognize that and step back, because I don’t have to do this. But I like doing this. It’s fun being the mayor of Blooming Prairie. It’s fun to go places and talk about what a great town this is, and that’s what I get to do. I am this town’s number one promoter.”

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Lois Nelson:

Endless Energy By CLARE KENNEDY ckennedy@owatonna.com

f Lois Nelson will be remembered for one thing, it will be her seemingly boundless energy. The Medford woman has been a school board chair, a city council member and the mayor — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Nelson, now a grandmother, said there are occasions when she gets tired.

Lois Nelson, third from the left, at ceremonies for Catholic Daughters of America.

“There’s times I do,” Nelson said. “My mother will be 90 years old this fall and I can’t keep up to her, so it’s genetic. I know I’ve been told I exhaust some individuals.”

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Nelson Continued from page 97 Over the course of her career, she’s been able to accomplish more than most would in a lifetime, maybe two. Nelson said she simply likes to stay busy. She attributes her work ethic to her youth. Nelson grew up in a large family on a farm in rural Steele County. “I really enjoy service. Each day (my parents) used to tell us around the big table that we may not have much in the way of money but remember you all have time and you all have talent and you have to put that to use,” Nelson said. “I still feel that way.” Nelson has spent most of her life in Medford, the middle point between Faribault and Owatonna. However, her life began in Rice County, where her mother’s family had lived for generations. She was 9 years old when the family re-settled in west Medford, a town she still calls home. Nelson was the oldest of 10 children. All the children were expected to pitch in. “I realize today how much I really appreciate my parents. The neighbors used to say that we grew up in a home where you could eat off the floors,” Nelson said. “I realized that I was putting all this energy to work. My parents were pretty sharp.” Even as a young girl, Nelson was tirelessly involved in clubs and organizations. She was in the Waseca 4H Club — the Thrifty Peppers. Nelson remembers it as a formative experience. In addition to school work and tasks at home, she grew garden produce, baked and even refinished furniture with the Thrifty Peppers. Nelson said the club left a lasting impression — and a lifelong dedication to service. Others who knew her then tend to agree. “One of those area leaders watched me grow up and become involved in other things, and she’d always say, ‘It was those days in the 4H Club,’” Nelson said. When she graduated from Medford High School in 1965, she had big plans — plans that did not include her hometown. “Like any other young person, you gotta move far away, never to return,” Nelson said. “Well, I was dating this guy all the way from Owatonna, and we ended up getting married.” She and her husband, Dave, moved to the city, Owatonna, where they had an apartment. They had their first-born son, Mike, in the Steele County seat. But it wasn’t long before she ended up back on the farm. Right about that time, in the early 1970s, the former site of the Minnesota State Public School for Dependent and Neglected

Lois and Dave Nelson

Children was broken up. The complex had been used as a school for the mentally disabled after the orphanage closed down in 1945. “A family friend worked out there and she was going to be transferred to Brainerd. She lived out in the county and she told my folks that she would really like to rent her farm out,” Nelson said. “She asked if any of us kids would be interested because she really wanted somebody there who won’t destroy the place?” Nelson and her husband stepped up to the plate and took on the farm until they could save up for a house in town. At long last, they ended up within the Medford city limits. They bought the old boarding house in the town, built right after the turn of the century. The idea was to fix up the place then re-sell it.

“We were good industrious folks for about three years, with all the remodeling and updating, and then we got kind of sick and tired of it,” Nelson said. The couple decided to stay for good. At the time, Nelson was working full-time and raising a growing family which would ultimately include three kids — while going to college at Mankato State for business management and marketing. With all she had on her plate, it took her a long time to complete her bachelor’s, but she never gave up. “I was just so committed. I really believed that life quit at 40, so I was going to get that sucker done,” Nelson said. “It took nine years and one baby.” About the same time, Nelson began a career in local politics. During the 1980s, Nel-

son served on the Medford school board. She ran for the first time in 1980 because there was nobody from the city proper on the elected body. At the time, her children were still quite young. Her daughter Sara was just a toddler. “I loaded her in the red wagon and our boys went on their bikes and we went and walked the whole city, just letting people know who I was,” said Nelson, who said she didn’t expect to get elected the first time out. “By gosh, I ended up getting elected the first time around.” She took her seat on the board under the watchful eye of the same superintendent that she’d had as a student in high school, Harold Rowe. It wasn’t long before she became the chair. To this day, Nelson is the first and only female school board chair that the district has had. She served three terms on the school board before she called it quits in 1989. “Through the ’80s that’s what I did and I thought, ‘That’s enough civic service,’” Nelson said. “I had other people come up to me and say, ‘Well, Lois, you really should run for mayor.’” Nelson considered it, but decided she would prefer to be on the council first to get a feel for what the pressing issues in town were. She ran for council and was elected in 1995. “It wasn’t very long before I began to think that there were changes needed,” Nelson said. During her tenure on the council she decided to take the next step and run for mayor. She was elected to the city’s highest office in 1996. “I’m still proud of the fact that it was 60 percent of the vote,” Nelson said. “I brought a lot of things into the community and in doing so scared quite a few people too. That was my thing in the 1990s.” She often worked 30 hours a week on just city business. During her term she tried to improve and increase communication with the townspeople and organized the city’s first comprehensive plan. The town also experienced significant growth over those four years. Three new housing developments went up and the furniture outlet was annexed in, a deal that Nelson negotiated. Nelson ran for re-election but was defeated by challenger Dan Kaiser, who won by a margin of six votes. She took Kaiser on a second time and lost by five.

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Nelson Continued from page 98 Undaunted, she turned to volunteer service. She served on the state Catholic Daughters organization during the 2000s, when she served as an officer, then state regent. In 2006, she was part of the committee that organized the national convention in Minneapolis. She ran for the national board and was elected. Last summer, she completed her two terms on the national board. She also became deeply involved in the Owatonna Noon Rotary, which she joined in 2002. The district governor at the time was also an Owatonna Rotarian Diane Nesvig. “I didn’t realize until after I became a member that she had me pegged as a trainer,” Nelson said. Typically, a trainer would have already held a post with the club. However, Nelson’s professional life centered around human resources and training. She agreed to be a district trainer, which meant schooling of all the district chairs, club officers, assistant governors in the art and science of leadership. She helmed it alone for a few years and then chaired a committee dedicated to training.

“The reality was that this was a lot of volunteer time for one person to do,” Nelson said. Eventually, she herself took the reins. Nelson served as the Owatonna Rotary Club’s president in middle of 2009 to summer of 2010. Now that her tenure as president has ended, she is onto other things — an assistant governorship with the organization. “I really value the ideals of Rotary,” Nelson said. “So I’ve been putting a lot of time into that.” Since 2000, she has also been involved in nine builds for Habitat for Humanity. In fact, she personally took a group down to Mexico for a build three years ago. “I’d like to do that again in another country,” Nelson said. “I wield a hammer and that’s partly because of the work we’ve done in our own home.” However, Nelson may be slowing down in the near future. She is retiring from Riverland Community College in June after decades of work there. She accepted a state buy-out package in December of 2009.

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“The reality is that I’m coming to a new chapter in my book of life,” Nelson said. “At that time it seemed eons away. I’ve loved working at this college. I’ve worked here longer than I’ve worked anywhere else.” She currently holds the title of business consultant at the college, but she has also taught classes and training sessions on everything from managing underground oil storage tanks to corporate human resources. “It’s just been whole lot of fun,” Nelson said. “I learn something with every day that comes about. I like variety and lots of things.” Her natural curiosity has led her in many directions on the job and off. For instance, she played a large part in bringing classes into the Steele County Detention Center. “There are certainly lots of intricacies that go into that. That reminds me that I need to check in on Rev. John Weisenburger, who is teaching a world religions class there,” Nelson said, making a note to herself. She is also helming a new translation and interpretation certification course — Spanish,

Somali, Portugese, Arabic languages, Hmong and French. Her own education is not quite over yet. This winter she took online courses through the University of Minnesota with the aim of becoming a master gardener. “It’s on my bucket list of something I’ve always wanted to do,” Nelson said. “I love gardening.” She has long kept beds of perennials — hostas, lilies, and peonies — and a sizable vegetable garden on their double lot. She also established a restored prairiescapes on the OCUC campus and in the city of Medford. All in all, it’s been a life well-lived. When asked if there is something she hasn’t already done, Nelson said “I haven’t climbed any mountains, nor do I aspire to, quite frankly.” Now that she’s retiring, Nelson said has no plans of leaving Medford. “We’re still in the same house. We’ve probably gone through it a couple of times in those 30 years,” Nelson said. “And I still like the small town atmosphere.”

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Dudley Otto:

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Dudley Otto leans against a Zamboni machine in the Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna. When Otto moved to Owatonna to become a teacher — and, he hoped and believed, the first hockey coach in the Owatonna school district — a Zamboni machine wasn’t needed because the Four Seasons Centre did not exist. He came to Owatonna, however, with the promise that the district would get both a hockey program and a place to play.

By IAN STAUFFER istauffer@owatonna.com

ometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. In Dudley Otto’s case, the two worked together to make him the first Owatonna High School boys hockey coach. Otto, a South St. Paul native, came to Owatonna in 1966 after two years as a youth hockey coach in East Grand Forks. He was the goalie on the 1963 national championship University of North Dakota team, and he went right to work as an elementary school teacher in East Grand Forks upon graduation. As it turned out, Owatonna was looking for a boys hockey coach for its future team at the

same time Otto was looking for a head coaching gig. It was already obvious Otto knew hockey. What he needed was connections, and he found a big one in Elmer Reseland. Reseland, now the manager of the Steele County Free Fair, was a principal in East Grand Forks the same time Otto was a teacher. Before Otto came to Owatonna, Reseland made the move and became principal at McKinley Elementary School. It was Reseland who gave Otto’s name to Ken Austin and Ken Wilcox, two of the biggest movers and shakers in Owatonna at the time. “I was down at the state hockey tournament, and I was sitting in The Saint Paul Hotel bar having a couple brewskis,” Otto said. “A

friend came over and says, ‘Hey Duds, there are a couple of guys over in the corner there from Owatonna that want to see you.’” The two guys were Austin, the mayor and eventual “Mr. Hockey” of Owatonna, and Wilcox, president of Security Bank (now the Wells Fargo Bank downtown). “So I go over there and they start talking with me,” Otto said. “They said they had a good youth hockey program, which they did, and they were trying to get hockey into the high school. The biggest excuse was that they didn’t have anyone on the staff that knows hockey.” That’s where Otto came in. Austin and Wilcox promised Otto that if he would come to Owatonna, they would have a high school

program in two years, and they would have an arena two years after that. “I’ll never forget that,” Otto said. “Austin and Wilcox both said that.” And so it was that Otto received his first interview on the road to becoming Owatonna’s first hockey coach and a pretty big promise in a smoky bar in St. Paul. He came to Owatonna to interview with — who else? — Reseland. He met with Reseland and several other folks and was offered a position as an elementary school teacher at McKinley.

See OTTO

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One of Dudley Otto’s Owatonna High School hockey teams — back when the team was still called the Indians and wore an Indian logo — pose for a photo on the ice outdoors. Submitted photo

Otto Continued from page 101 “The school district is actually the one that hired him and employed him, and it graduated into hockey,” Reseland said. “Ken Austin and Ken Wilcox were both respected members of the community, and if the superintendent heard that the two Kens really liked (Otto), that carried a lot of weight.” The move took some courage for Otto. He had to trust that Austin and Wilcox would be able to get hockey in as a high school sport, and he had to trust in his own ability to coach kids that had never experienced high school hockey. Owatonna did have a quality youth program. Owatonna’s midget program had gone to three consecutive state tournaments in the early 1960s, winning one title and taking home two runner-up finishes. “Some of my friends in hockey circles called me and asked me if I was crazy,” Otto said in the program for the 1982 Owatonna hockey tournament. “They couldn’t believe that I would leave an established program for a school in southern Minnesota that had nothing but a dream and some ideas about starting a hockey team. “I knew I had a feeder program, so that gave me quite a bit of confidence,” Otto added earlier this year. “Then to see Austin and Wilcox,

they were so excited, so committed, so enthusiastic. I was nervous, but I was pretty confident it would all come together because of the quality of people we had here.” Sure enough, Otto got the job, and he and his middle school sweetheart and wife Emma moved to town. Otto and Emma will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2011. “She hates when I say it, but we started dating in seventh grade,” Otto says with a smile. Interestingly, Otto’s mother and father also moved to Owatonna around the same time because Otto’s father opened a business on the south side of town. Otto coached Owatonna’s well-established youth hockey program on the frozen Straight River for two years. True to their promise, Austin and Wilcox helped start a high school program in 1968. Otto picked his first assistant coach — Bill Ryden — from among his friends and former teammates at North Dakota. Ryden was also an elementary school teacher, so the two coaches went from directing young children each day to coaching young men each night. Ryden was an assistant coach at East Grand Forks the same time Otto was there, so the two had known each other for several years.

“Everyone always remembers that I was head coach and Bill was assistant, but I always thought of Bill and I more as co-coaches,” Otto said. “We were real good friends, so he came down and coached with me.” After Ryden left, Otto had a string of new assistants, including several former players. Otto and the Indians had some success early — they got their first win in their second game and they went 15-19-2 the first two years — but it didn’t take long for Owatonna to become a team to be reckoned with in the Southern Minnesota Hockey League. In the program’s third season, OHS went 14-8 and won its first playoff game. In the fourth season, the Indians won the Southern Minny League title with an 18-4 record. Owatonna also hosted its annual Holiday Classic tournament for the first time that year, though the games were played at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault as the promised indoor ice hadn’t come yet. Owatonna won the tournament with an upset win over Hastings, one of the Indians’ first big victories in program history. Owatonna didn’t win the Classic again until 1980-81, but not because the Indians didn’t have good teams. “I recruited some really good teams to come

down here and play in that tournament,” Otto said. “I wanted to promote hockey. I wanted people in southern Minnesota to see what hockey was, so we loaded up our schedule with teams like Roseau, Warroad, Kennedy and Jefferson. My record isn’t all that great, but for who we played, it was pretty good.” In those early seasons at Shattuck, the players and fans developed a strong sense of camaraderie because of all the trips back and forth to Faribault. Even the road to Shattuck’s new arena wasn’t completed during Owatonna’s first season. An Owatonna polka band, fronted by Steve and Tom Partridge, used to bring instruments to Shattuck and play music throughout the game. Indoor ice came to Owatonna in 1973, a few years after Wilcox and Austin originally promised. The first year at the Four Seasons Centre was a little rough with leaky pipes and soft ice, but the Indians finally had a home to call their own. The Indians had been practicing outdoors and playing home games at Shattuck in Faribault for four seasons.

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

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Portraits In Steele County March 26, 2011

Otto Continued from page 102 Otto went on to coach the Indians for 21 seasons and compiled a 232-177-9 record and several Southern Minny League and Big Nine titles. He led Owatonna to the cusp of the state tournament several times, but the Indians were playing in a section with some of the south metro powerhouses and never made it to state. During his tenure, Otto coached many of the greatest players to ever pull on an Owatonna sweater. A few of his early players went on to play in college, including Mark Kristo and Dan Boeke (Bemidji State), Chuck Pribyl (Air Force) and Dan Horecka (Gustavus). All four of those players were captains at their respective colleges at the same time. Later on, Pete McEnaney came through Owatonna and later played at Division I Alaska-Anchorage. McEnaney, a four-time hockey letter winner, is largely considered the best player in Owatonna’s history, and he credits the coach as much as his own talent. “Besides being a great coach, he had that special quality as a coach where you did not want to cross him,” said McEnaney, who is in halls of fame at both OHS and AlaskaAnchorage. “You just knew (Otto) was very passionate about the game. As a player, if you’re fortunate enough to play for someone like that, someone you know would be wellprepared and do everything he could to lead your team to victory, you didn’t want to let him down at all.” McEnaney was one of dozens of players who Otto had previously taught in elementary school, and he said the great coach handled himself in the classroom much the same as he did on the ice. “I remember one day in class I got in trouble, and he said to me, ‘How do you think your mother is going to feel if she found out what you did?’” McEnaney said. “I don’t even remember what I did, but he let me know I made a mistake. I remember, even back then in fifth grade, I wanted to play for Dudley Otto one day. I had an incredible amount of respect and fear for him, but not fear in a bad way.” Otto made sure his students and his players respected his rules. Just as he does now, he wore his North Dakota national championship ring, and he wasn’t afraid to “click it on the back of a kid’s head if they screwed up.” And pushups. There were lots of pushups. “You couldn’t do that now,” Otto said, “but I had those kids trained. If they got out of hand, I’d just say, ‘Hit it,’ and they had to get down and do 10 pushups. And they had to hold the 10th one until I said they were done.

Photo courtesy of Michael Connor/Connor Fotografia

Dudley Otto sits among the empty seats at the Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna. As head coach of the Owatonna High School hockey team, Otto would help fill those seats.

Even now, I still have kids come up to me and tell me they remember all the pushups.” Otto left teaching and coaching in 1988 to work for one of his former players at Viracon. “In a perfect world, I would have been able to keep coaching, but that wasn’t really an option back then,” Otto said. “You had to teach in the district to coach. It was a really difficult decision to leave coaching.” Otto worked in Owatonna for a couple years before Viracon transferred him to Arizona. Before he left town, Otto attended most of Owatonna’s hockey games. “That was difficult, miserable,” Otto said. “To go to hockey games and not be a part of it, that was tough. Once we moved, it became a little easier.” The Ottos lived outside Phoenix for four or five years, moved back to Owatonna for a couple years, and then moved to Overland Park, Kan. They were in Kansas for 16 years before returning to Owatonna in 2010. “It was our intent, even though we left Owatonna, to come back here,” Otto said. “We love this city. That was the toughest part about going to work for Viracon was knowing we’d probably have to leave town. But we always knew we’d come back here.” The Ottos have two sons, David and Mike.

Both played hockey growing up, and Mike was a goalie on his father’s team at OHS. David was unable to play in high school because of injuries suffered in a car accident, but he was the manager for his father’s team. “One of the thrills of my life was having two boys in the hockey program to see their dad act goofy,” Otto said with a smile. Mike is a teacher and assistant hockey coach at Apple Valley High School, and David works at Federated in Owatonna and has two children, Elizabeth and Jacob. Neither of Otto’s grandchildren play hockey, but both are athletes at OHS and Otto said he loves to watch them compete when he can. “That’s another big reason we came back — to see our grandkids,” he said. Emma Otto nearly died in 2010 because of cancer, but she is in remission now and starting to do better. Dudley Otto spent much of 2010 caring for his wife. “It was really scary there for a while because the doctor said they were going to start chemo, and they were going to hit her hard,” Otto said. “He said if there was any family that should see her, we should get them down to the Mayo Clinic right away. That was a scary moment.” Emma spent more than a year recovering from her chemotheraphy, though Dudley still

spends some time helping his wife. He also works part-time at Viracon a few days a week, and he hopes to hit the golf course some more this summer. Otto was an avid golfer, and his love for the game only grew when he lived in the warmer weather climates in Arizona and Kansas. In fact, in Arizona, Otto’s house was right on a golf course, and he shot 18 holes almost every day. Last year, Otto barely got on the course at all because he was caring for his wife. Otto is 70 years old now, and a wall in his basement is filled with photos, plaques and memories he has collected over the years. A few of his favorites are the plaques from when he was inducted into the Minnesota High School Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame in 1993 and when he received the 1997 Cliff Thompson Award for promoting the game of hockey. Another favorite is a photo of professional golfer and British Open champion Mark Calcavecchia and the $20 bill Otto won off of him in a round of golf in Arizona. “That was a fun day, taking 20 bucks off a pro,” Otto said with a laugh. The only reason he was on the course with Calcavecchia was because the pro golfer was married to the daughter of former OHS baseball coach and Otto’s friend, Dale Timm. It’s all about who you know.

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