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Community to celebrate 25 years of Veterans Home in Luverne

Lead Summary
By
Lori Sorenson

On Jan. 24, 1994, the Minnesota Veterans Home, Luverne, welcomed its first two residents.
That day marked the culmination of a three-year lobbying effort to locate the state facility in Luverne and two years of construction after Luverne was selected in 1991.
It also marked the start of an unrivaled economic activity in Luverne.
“It was a major development not only for veterans, but for the community, and particularly for real estate development,” said Luverne’s Ben Vander Kooi, who emceed the groundbreaking celebration for the Veterans Home in Luverne in 1991.
“All of these housing additions (Veterans, Evergreen, Manfred Heights and Sybesma) in Luverne are because of the Veterans Home.”
Vander Kooi, city attorney, and then city administrator Steve Perkins were among a group of local leaders and citizens who lobbied to get the facility in Luverne.
Perkins told the Star Herald Friday that he remembers the Veterans Home development as a turning point in local morale.
“There had been some negative things happening in the community, but veterans were something everyone could support,” he said.
“Some of the folks who were opposed to city government were on the committee with city officials to get the Veterans Home here. … It really united everybody.”
Perkins and Vander Kooi are among the invited guests for the Friday, June 7, open house to commemorate the Veterans Home 25-year anniversary in Luverne. (See the sidebar information)
 
 ‘Cadillac of all veterans homes’
Former Minnesota Senator Jim Vickerman was instrumental in the state’s process of selecting Luverne for the facility and spoke at the 10-year anniversary celebration in 2004.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at it,” he recalled at that time. “What a wonderful place. All I wanted was a veterans home, but this was a Cadillac of all veterans homes.”
In the end, several factors influenced the VA’s decision to invest $4.15 million into the home in Luverne.
•The city was able to provide $2.25 million in matching construction costs — about a third of the total construction project. Another $200,000 in donations came from local and veteran organizations.
In addition, the city purchased 40 acres of land on that end of town, donating land for the 13-acre Veterans Home campus and developing the rest for housing.
•Luverne had what the site selection committee viewed as an impressive supporting medical campus.
•Its close proximity to the VA hospital in Sioux Falls also had bearing on the decision.
 
The right choice
Seeing how the facility thrived in the years to follow, Vickerman said Luverne clearly was the right choice.
“You gotta give credit to the city and community for building homes around it,” Vickerman said in 2004. “It’s not just a nursing home out there all by itself.”
Sen. Bill Weber was on the Luverne City Council at the time site selection for the facility was underway. He had been elected mayor by the time it opened.
“That was the event that opened development on that end of town,” Weber said during the 2004 10-year observation.
“And it was the single biggest reason for housing growth — something Luverne needed at that time. Up until that time, housing development had been stagnant.”
According to current Luverne Economic Development Authority director Holly Sammons, five new housing subdivisions sprouted up since 1991.
They include the Veterans Addition, Evergreen First and Second Additions, Sybesma Addition and Manfred Heights Addition.
All five developments comprise 210 lots, 179 of which have been sold to date.
Weber refers to the Veterans Home opening as an exciting time for economic development in Luverne.
“On the heels of that, we were able to survive the closing of our largest employer, IBP, and have another employer come in in a year,” he said.
“I think these are phenomenal events for a community of our size.”
 
Group effort
Looking back on life in Luverne before the Veterans Home, what stands out in Weber’s mind was the cooperative effort of local government officials and legislators from both political parties.
“I think it’s important for people to remember that,” he said. “We all rolled up our sleeves to get it done. It wasn’t a question about who was going to get credit.”
Perkins said that’s the overriding lesson from that era.
“We all have to work together; it goes beyond us as individuals,” he said.
“It changed the mindset of everyone in Luverne. It got everyone thinking positive and uniting for a common goal, and it started a lot of good things in Luverne with everyone working together on the same page.”
Perkins said the lesson was also that good things don’t just happen.
“It takes leadership and an attitude of what can we do to keep progress going in Luverne.”
The Minnesota Veterans Home remains at the center of social and volunteer activity in the community, with more than 239,000 volunteer hours logged since it opened and more than $2.5 monetary and in-kind donations.
“We are proud to be a vital part of the Luverne community,” said Luke Schryvers, administrator of the Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne.
“None of what we do is possible without support of our community, our staff and their families.”
 
June 7 celebration to include recognition of 25 employees with 25-year careers at Veterans Home in Luverne
The Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne is recognizing its 25th anniversary with a community celebration on Friday, June 7.
The public is invited as current and former staff, volunteers, resident veterans, families and friends of the Veterans Home gather to reflect on a quarter century of caring for our nation’s heroes.
The event includes tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a program at 1 p.m.
Program highlights include a performance by the Minnesota Veterans Home — Luverne choir, remarks from Luverne Mayor Pat Baustian, and a greeting from Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Larry Herke.
The Veterans Home currently employs 196 people, 25 of whom have been with the facility for 25 years, and those individuals will be recognized Friday.
They are (in order of their hires) Anne Stegenga, Lori Carlson, Sandy Kelm, Missy Verbrugge, Sherri Ladd, Daniel Spreiter, Astrid Rittenhouse, Linette Eischens, Kathy Fey, Carolyn Norman, Bonnie Groen, Dawn Esselink, Becky Vander Poel, Nancy Lofthus, Lynette Springman, Jodi Clark, Susan Vis, Rita DeBoer, Maggie Fick, Michelle Madison, Teresa Kooiman, Rachelle VanderWaal, Becky Ranschau, Margene Behrens and Twana Smith.
The Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne has cared for more than 841 Minnesota veterans and their families since opening in 1994.
The facility currently cares for 85 residents in three different living spaces, including a 17-bed special care unit for those with dementia.
“We are committed to creating a community where life is truly worth living —with activities and interactions that residents find meaningful and enjoyable,” said Veterans Home Administrator Luke Schryvers.
Friday’s celebration will also include a history display in the front entry where newspaper clippings and photographs will illustrate the past 25 years of the Veterans Home presence in Luverne.

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