November 2019

Wed
27
Nov

The 'Magic' is on its way

 

The 'Magic' is on its way

 

Tickets are now on sale for The 2019 Magic of Christmas at the Silver Springs Golf and Country Club on Dec. 6-8. The home tours, a unique feature of The Magic of Christmas, are being decorated for the holiday season. The home tours are Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 8, from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

Tickets are $10.00 for the home tours.  The following homes decorated for the holidays include Deb & Alvin Hageman (1780 Peppy Place Road, Decorah), Jessica and Jonathan Kipp, 238 (123rd Street, Ft. Atkinson) Wendy and Kraig Ney (2553 St. Andrew's Road, Decorah), and the “chome – church home” of Ginny and Philip Olson (30696 Juniper Road, Ossian) 

Wed
27
Nov

SW Rec Department names new director

Troy Anderson

 

 

SW Rec Department names new director

 

The South Winneshiek Recreation Department announced last week that it has hired Troy Anderson as its new director.

Anderson was born and raised in Calmar and graduated from South Winneshiek in 1995. He went on to attend Waldorf College for two years and then the University of Northern Iowa where re received his bachelor’s degree in leisure services.

Wed
27
Nov

Dona Lansing

Dona Lansing

 

Dona Lansing is turning 90 years young on December 3 and would love to hear from family and friends.

Please send congratulation and best wishes to her at: Stoney Brook, Atten: Dona Lansing- N-3, 705 S Pine St., West Union, IA 52175

Wed
27
Nov

Home is where the heart is

Ranching is definitely a family affair for Elgin native Drew Dummermuth and his wife and daughters. Posing last Christmas for their family greeting card are center, Kellie and Drew and their nine girls. Pictured, front row, (l-r) Erica, Clare, Kate, and Laurel, far right; back, (l-r) Alaine, Hallie, Jana, Nora, and Papa holding Ahnalee. (Submitted photo)

 

 

Home is where the heart is

 

 

By Jack Swanson
jswanson@fayettecountynewspapers.com

 

Twenty-one years ago Drew Dummermuth began running. He was running to become a cowboy in Montana. He was running away from people and places he knew. He was running from pain and sorrow. He was running to find something; what, he didn’t know. What he would find, would be more than he ever imagined.

A 1996 graduate of Valley High School, Drew, son of Kim and Lois Dummermuth, grew up on the family farm near Elgin. Agriculture was in his blood from the beginning. He loved working with the cattle and all it entailed on his parents’ farm. Other things that he really doesn’t want to talk about in detail now were driving him to another place.

“I thought about going out to Montana and being a cowboy. I had been going to Iowa State University for two years when I saw a flyer on campus about an internship at a cattle ranch out there,” Drew explained. 

He took the internship and found himself working on a seed stock ranch and helping to ship cow embryos to South America.

“Now I had a real job. I never returned to school,” he said soberly.

Besides the cattle and the horses he got to work with everyday, he found something else that made him want to stay.

“Everything up to this point put me in the spot where I met my future wife. Kellie was already working out there when I met her. We met in a feedlot,” Drew related.

Kellie was also a Midwesterner. She had come to Montana from Minnesota a few years earlier when her dad took a job on a ranch out there.

A cattle feedlot in the middle of Montana doesn’t sound real romantic to a lot of people, but for Drew and Kellie, it couldn’t have been any better.

Wed
27
Nov

Cookies, Cocoa and Caroling at City Park in Clermont Dec. 1

Clermont community members Kim Alexander, Tracy Johnson, and Lisa Davis (l-r) are lighting up the night with a festive holiday display at the Clermont City Park.  While this is the first year the community has organized such an event, they hope it will become a yearly tradition.  (LeAnn Larson photo) 

 

'Cookies, Cocoa, and Caroling' at City Park in Clermont, Dec. 1

 

By Jack Swanson
jswanson@fayettecountynewspapers.com

 

The Clermont Community Club along with other community members have decorated the City Park with lights and put up a Holiday Tree in the Bandstand, all for a new holiday event, they hope will start a new tradition.

Tracy Johnson and Lisa Davis, members of the Clermont Community Club, recently spearheaded updating the electrical capabilities for the Clermont Bandstand. Also involved in the project was the City of Clermont and other club members and volunteers. 

The Club will provide treats, singing, and lights to “spark the spirit of the holidays” at the “Cookies, Cocoa and Caroling”, or “Light Up the Park” event on Sunday, Dec.1, starting  at about 5 p.m., at the City Park gazebo, just off Stone Street.

Wed
27
Nov

The community brings a fresh change to the Elgin grocery store

Members of the community including (l-r) Dirk Torkelson, Tim Butikofer, Craig Bennett, Michael Ellison, Rod Marlatt, and Eric Koenig, worked together to help keep the local Elgin grocery store open.  The local market will be officially named Valley Fresh Market as the group takes control of operations on December 1.  (LeAnn Larson photo) 

 

The community brings a fresh change to the Elgin grocery store

 

By Megan Molseed
mmolseed@thefayettecountyunion.com

 

 

Residents and visitors of the valley area in Elgin will be noticing a fresh new look to their local grocery store as it becomes the community owned and operated Valley Fresh Market.  

“It should be a pretty seamless transition,” said Dirk Torkelson a member of the Main Street Elgin Investors.  “It’s important that we keep bringing our shoppers back into the grocery store, and into the community.” 

The change to the local business comes after a short discussion among Elgin community members and business owners.

“We’d had an idea that the owner was looking at pursuing different things, and we weren’t entirely sure for awhile, what would come of the grocery store,” explained Torkelson.   “As a community we did not want to see it close.”  

Wed
27
Nov

Hawkeye Library Director retiring

Cindy McFadden has been a familiar fixture behind the head desk at the Hawkeye Public Library for the last 12 years. She will be leaving her library director position on Dec. 12 when she starts retirement. (Jack Swanson photo)

 

 

Hawkeye Library Director retiring

 

By Jack Swanson
jswanson@fayettecountynewspapers.com

 

Love of books…love of people….that’s what it takes to be a good librarian.

That’s according to Hawkeye Library Director Cindy McFadden who will be retiring on Dec. 12 after serving the community for 12 years.

“If I could do anything in the world I would be a librarian,” she said reflecting on her time at Hawkeye.

Wed
27
Nov

Mock trial gives UIU student from Clermont outlet for speech

Elizabeth Goddard finds time to review some law books in the Upper Iowa University Library. This will hopefully give her a better understanding of law cases to help in her portrayal as a witness in UIU’s Mock Trial competition. (Jack Swanson photo)

 

Mock Trial gives UIU student from Clermont outlet for speech

 

By Jack Swanson
jswanson@fayettecountynewspapers.com

 

The State of Midland vs. Jordan Ryder is the most important court case of the year; in fact, it’s the only case and it will be tried hundreds, perhaps thousands of times across the U.S. But that’s only if you are a member of a Mock Trial team.

Upper Iowa University in Fayette is fairly new at this extracurricular competition where college and university students try a case in front of a group of judges. The school is in its third year. The same case is tried in every competition and at every competition for each season

.

One of UIU’s team members is Elizabeth Goddard from Clermont. This is her second year of competition. 

“I would rather talk to a room of 2000 strangers than 50 of my friends and relatives. No matter what the topic,  I can talk about anything to anyone,” said the Communication Mayor with an emphasis on Public Speaking.

Elizabeth, unlike some of her UIU teammates, has to use note cards during the competitions, and unlike some of her other teammates, she suffers from short-term memory loss and some physical challenges as the result of a near fatal accident five years ago.

Wed
27
Nov

Elaine Myers

Elaine Myers

 

Elaine Myers age 81 of Waucoma, IA died Monday, November 18, 2019, at MercyOne New Hampton Medical Center. 

A Memorial Mass was held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 23, 2019, at St. Mary Catholic Church in Waucoma with Rev. Dan Knipper Celebrating the Mass. Burial was held at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Waucoma. 

Friends greeted the family from 4 - 7 p.m. Friday, November 22, 2019, at St. Mary Catholic Church in Waucoma, where there was be a 3:30 p.m. Rosary and a 6:30 p.m. parish scripture service. Visitation continued an hour prior to the Mass at the church on Saturday. Online condolences for Elaine's family may be left at hugebackfuneralhome.com

Elaine was born on April 28, 1938, in Waucoma, IA, the daughter of Charles and Ottie (Vaughn) Kappes. At the age of four, the family moved to Evansville, IN. She attended public schools and graduated high school in 1956 from Central High School in Evansville, IN. 

Wed
27
Nov

Madonna O'Connell

Madonna O'Connell

 

Madonna T. O'Connell, age 89 of Mason City, IA, formerly of Lawler, IA, died peacefully on Thursday, November 21, 2019, at the Muse-Norris Hospice in Mason City. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 30, 2019, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in Lawler with Rev. Aaron Junge celebrating the Mass. Interment will be in the church cemetery. 

Friends may greet the family 4 - 7 p.m. Friday, November 29, 2019, at the Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton where there will be a 4 p.m. Catholic Daughters of the America's Rosary followed by a Parish Scripture Service. Visitation continues an hour prior to the Mass at the church on Saturday. Online condolences for Madonna's family may be left with hugebackfuneralhome.com

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