By Jolene Farley
Luella Schlueter has contributed to the Hills Crescent in one way or another for more than 45 years.
Luella's column, Hills Local News, appears in the Crescent every week. "I like meeting the public and keeping alert to what is going on in town," said Schlueter.
Luella grew up in Marion, S.D. After graduating from high school, she attended Eastern Normal School, now Dakota State College, in Madison, S.D.
While teaching country school near Canistota, S.D., Luella became acquainted with George, her future husband. Luella boarded with George's family.
After teaching positions in Hetland, S.D., and Larchwood, Iowa, Luella trained to become a Morse code instructor at the Air Force Base in Sioux Falls during World War II.
While in Sioux Falls, Luella recalls singing with the Civilian Glee Club of the Army Air Field. The Glee Club cut a record and performed at the Arkota Ballroom. Five other women instructors and Luella formed a sextet and sang on various occasions.
After the Sioux Falls air base closed in 1945, Luella married George and moved to Hills. George was already publisher of the Crescent.
Luella teasingly said she followed her college roommate, Clara Clemetson, to Hills. Clara's husband, Merle, operated the Hills Creamery at the time.
Luella became the Hills "correspondent" after deciding to assist her husband by seeking out more local news items for the paper.
"I decided to help, so I went around to businesses and asked for news," said Luella.
She attended clubs and social meetings, keeping an ear open to learn who in the community was entertaining out-of-town guests, who was traveling, who had a birthday or a baby or any information she could use in the Crescent.
Besides raising four children, Bonnie, Gerry, Wayne and Laurie, Luella helped in many areas at the paper. In addition to her column, she proofread stories and handled the bookwork for the Crescent.
Luella remembers hearing employees emphatically say, "We can't put the paper to bed yet (meaning it couldn't be printed) because Lily Sjolseth hasn't called in yet," said Luella. "We appreciated her contributions and loved her for it." Sjolseth was a frequent contributor, but not very prompt, according to Luella.
One of the highlights of "those years" was attending press conventions in the Cities, according to Luella.
After Crescent Publishing printed its first cookbook in 1960, Luella helped in that area of the business also. She remembers a crew of women around a table each gathering a page at a time until the books were completed.
Luella has seen big changes in the publishing industry. "I've seen type set by offset printing; then we went to Justowriters. Now it's another phase... computers."
Besides her weekly Crescent column, Luella has a radio show broadcast at 9:25 a.m. Monday through Friday on KQAD, Luverne.
In 1971, Harold Norman, the station's owner, came to the Crescent office to ask George to go on the air to talk about area happenings. Instead, George offered Luella's services.
Luella said writing her column has been "really interesting."
She doesn't hesitate to say how "truly blessed" her life has been.