Visiting in the area for a short holiday was Victoria (Anderson) Throop and her three children. They were visiting friends and family in the area. Ms. Throop, a 1970 graduate of Luverne High School and a Hamline University alumnus, is the daughter of Darlene Anderson and the late Elmer Anderson, formerly of Steen. She and her children, William, 17, Barton, 14, and Alvhild, 12, have been living in Anji, China, in the Zhejiang Province since the summer of 2002. Living in a mountain community with no other foreign families, they have enjoyed the friendship and adventure of this beautiful bamboo covered area where tea is the major agricultural product. Ms. Throop has been serving as a foreign expert in the Bureau of Education and Tourism for the Chinese government. For two years she taught in a boarding school for the children of peasants and factory workers. Upon her return to China, Ms. Throop will remain in the same community, but will be training Chinese teachers and establishing a foreign language program in a magnet school for gifted students. In 2003, she was awarded the Houzho Friendship Prize by the Chinese provincial government for her volunteer work in the community. In May 2004, she received a journalism award from the Chinese bureau of communication for several newspaper stories that have been printed in translation in the local papers. The family is now visiting Texas and will return to China on Aug. 22. Dana and Kay Dahlquist returned home last week after spending a week in the Seattle, Wash., area where they visited Kay’s college roommate. While there they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary with a dinner at Space Needle.The Martha Circle of Bethlehem Lutheran Church had a surprise birthday party for Evelyn Rogness at noon in Jacobson Park on Wednesday, Aug. 11, when she turned 90 years old. Steve and Marilyn VanWyhe, Steen, Tom and Matt VanWyhe and Ron, Lexia and Ashley DeWit, Sioux Falls, and Cliff and Vi VanWyhe, were guests at the home of Hugh and Mary Warner in Sioux Falls late Sunday afternoon to celebrate the "Happiness of Hugh’s 5th heart" birthday.Guests from Monday to Wednesday of last week in the home of Don and Edyth Briggs were Don’s cousin, Helen Weitman and husband, Dick, from Mesa, Ariz. Madison and Mitchell Elbers, Valley Springs, spent a few days last week in the home of Wilmer and Betty Elbers. Gerald and Rosemary Kraetsch, Kasson, spent Wednesday night with Bob and Twila Kirsch. They all attended the Moeller cousin reunion at Don and Bonnie Moeller’s home in rural Ellsworth. Chuck and Rheta DeBoer joined the Sinkgraven family in Sioux Falls for dinner Sunday. Sheldon and Ellie Sandager and Aaron Sandager spent last week with Beth Sandager and Jo and Bill Wulf at the ranch at Herrick, S.D.Cliff and Vi VanWyhe, along with Steve and Marilyn VanWyhe, Tom and Matt VanWyhe and Ron, Lexi and Ashley DeWit enjoyed a family dinner Sunday at the Westward Ho Country Club in Sioux Falls. Rheta DeBoer attended a bridal shower Wednesday for Melissa Burgraaf, bride to be of Cameron Vanden Berg at Trinity Reformed Church in Sioux Falls. Kenneth and Julie Hyink have moved into their newly constructed home on South Josephine Ave. They come to Hills from Sioux Falls where some of their adult children live. Kenneth was in the Air Guard and returned and later worked, for a time, at Billion Motors. He has now retired. Julie, in the earlier years, worked for newspapers at Parker, S.D., and Hayti, S.D. Welcome to Hills!