Remember When

10 years ago (2014) •Luverne High School graduate McKayla Schilling was recently recognized by the Army National Guard for physical fitness excellence following 10 weeks of basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. She was the top female finisher in her company, with only two male recruits finishing ahead of her. At the end of her training, she received “The Army Achievement Medal for exceeding…

10 years ago (2014) •Flowers and gardening have a healing effect on humans, and at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne, one little garden is helping a lot of humans – and wildlife, too. The garden oasis that sprouted near the home’s west wing entrance started with one resident, Rex Oberhelman, who enjoyed plants and flowers and filled windowsills and corners with his hobby. When his hobby…

10 years ago (2014) •After 27 years of clocking into work in school kitchens at 6 in the morning, Mary Smook will be able to sleep in this fall. “When school starts in August, that will be kind of nice,” Smook said. Smook retired as the head cook at Luverne Elementary School at the end of last year. She had been cooking for Rock County students and school staff since 1988 when she began as…

10 years ago (2014) •It’s been a good summer for Kenneth brothers Nathan and Justin Rust, who were promoted to master sergeant and senior master sergeant respectively in the U.S. Air Force. Nathan Rust found out in June of his promotion to master sergeant, and Justin was notified July 16. Nathan’s wife, Darlene, was promoted to technical sergeant last winter. “The fact my wife, brother and I…

10 years ago (2014) •The Luverne Country Club yielded its first hole-in-one of the 2014 season Saturday. Brad Van Santen, an LCC member for the past seven years, registered the first ace of his career during the first two nine-hole rounds he played at the course. Van Santen pulled a 9-iron out of his bag to attacked the pin on LCC’s par-3 No. 3 hole. Van Santen’s shot from the tee bounced in…

10 years ago (2014) •Luverne City Park is closed for the rest of the year. So is Riverside Park and its softball diamonds. That’s according to Luverne Public Works Supervisor John Stoffel, who said the parks will need to be reseeded due to extensive floor damage last month. “We’ve had other floods where we were able to get the water levels down soon enough, but this time was long term and…

10 years ago (2014) •Stetson Gath, a 2014 graduate of South Dakota State University, Brookings, traveled this spring with other SDSU students to China, where he studied agriculture, infrastructure, and their cultural way of life, along with changes in their growing population. Gath, son of Mark and Leah Gath, visited the cities of Beijing, Xi’an, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. While in Beijing, he…

10 years ago (2014) •Rock County farmer Peter Bakken recently remarked, “What good are all the soil conservation measures if we don’t know if they’re helping?” So, when the Rock County Soil and Water Conservation office asked him to host a field runoff sampling site, Bakken and his brother, Jay, didn’t hesitate to participate. “The Bakkens certainly aren’t the only conservation-minded farmers…

10 years ago (2014) •Longtime Mary Jane Brown Home activities director Janice Fick said a tearful goodbye to co-workers and residents in her retirement party June 30. Fick began her tenure at MJB in 1979 when she was a 16-year-old high school student. After attending college and earning a teaching degree, she returned 24 years ago and has served on the staff ever since. Fick shared a few…

10 years ago (2014) •The Rock County Historical Society is requesting $150,000 each from the Luverne City Council and the Rock County Board of Commissioners. The request comes as part of a $900,000 fundraising campaign to transform the downtown Ford Motor building into the new History Center, as it will be called. History Center Fundraising Chairman Greg Burger presented a preliminary project…

10 years ago (2014) •The parishioners of St. Mary’s Church in Ellsworth and St. Catherine’s Church in Luverne are celebrating a special milestone this month. The Rev. Msgr. Eugene Egan, known to most as “Father Egan,” was ordained into the Catholic priesthood 60 years ago on June 6, 1954.” Egan grew up in rural Ellsworth and graduated from high school in 1946. He currently resides at the…

10 years ago (2014) •A group of athletes participated in the Annual Relay Iowa last weekend, Friday to Sunday (June 6, 7, 8). This is the longest running relay in the United States. The 339-mile running relay starts at Sioux City and continues east across the entire state of Iowa and ends in Dubuque. There were 29 teams entered this year, and Luverne Dave’s Duffy entered an all-female team…

10 years ago (2014) •Luverne will host its 30th Annual Buffalo Days celebration this weekend, marking three decades of community pride. “That’s a long time ago and it’s certainly worth noting,” said Luverne Chamber Director Jane Lanphere. “We just really need to compliment all the different groups over the years who have partnered to enrich, enhance and develop the event to keep it relevant…

10 years ago (2014) •Ask someone to describe what a school nurse does, and there may be as many different answers as the people who are asked. And they may all be correct. The list of responsibilities and tasks assigned to school nurses today is much longer than most people probably realize. Luverne school nurse Deb Vander Kooi has been covering all of them and more since 1992 when she began…

10 years ago (2014) •Magnolia native Blair Knutson played a role in the recent launch of the Dragon Capsule which delivered 2.5 tons of equipment and supplies to the crew at the International Space Station April 20. Knutson, an engineer at SpaceX in Hawthorn, Calif., helped design and manufacture the spacecraft fuel tanks. The current mission launched on April 18 atop the Falcon 9 version 1.1…

10 years ago (2014) •Tuesday was a big day for local early childhood education supporters and the “Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom” in Luverne. A groundbreaking Tuesday morning put the wheels in motion for a new outdoor classroom to be built near the elementary school between the bus garage and playground. Discovery Time Preschool Teacher Angie Janiszeski has taken the lead to implement the…