The Henry G Fix Post #23 recently donated $5,000 to Blue Dragon Academy for their building fund. The non-profit will be beginning construction on the addition to their facility in May. Blue Dragon Academy is extremely grateful for the support of the Legion both now and in the past.
by Kris Frerk
Ask and you shall receive!! That’s just what happened on Saturday, April 2nd when the Garretson Food Pantry held an Open House. We asked the public to visit and donate cereal for the Pantry and the Backpack Program. We currently go through about 30 boxes a week between the two programs. We received the mountain of cereal you see in the above photo. Two hundred nine (209) boxes were donated. This is enough cereal for the rest of the school year for the backpack program and the food pantry. The Garretson Food Pantry is totally self-funded by the generous support of our community. Thanks again for donating in a big way to our recent request!!
William Koens, 88, passed away on April 9th, 2022. He was born in Luverne Minnesota on May 4th, 1933, to Frank and Sena Koens.
Bill married Judy Koens on June 7th, 1959. They were married for over 62 years. Bill, father to Michael, Timothy and Douglas raised his boys with love and devotion in Skyway and Buckley, WA.
Bill graduated from Garretson High School in 1951. He started a corn shelling business in Garretson, SD in 1953. He then purchased a trucking business in South Dakota, and at the same time started a mechanic shop. Bill sold his business in 1962 and moved to Missoula, Montana. In 1968 Bill and Judy moved to Skyway, WA and then to Buckley, WA. Bill retired from Puget Sound Energy after 28 years.
Bill enjoyed traveling around in his motor home with Judy. Together they spent 12 winters in Yuma, AZ at their home there. Bill enjoyed spending time with family and friends at their cabin in Sun East near Ellensburg.
Bill is survived by his three sons: Mike, Tim and Doug; three daughters-in-law: Terri, Dianne, and Kari; six grandchildren: Jessica, Daniel, Rachael, Kateyln, Jordan and Kayla; four great grandchildren: Della Rae, Greyson, Koen, and Grayson; and brother, Frank Koens.
Services will be held at Weeks Funeral Home in Buckley, WA at 1:00 PM, Thursday April 14th. Followed by a graveside service and reception. In memory of Bill, please send donations to Saint Elizabeth hospital in Enumclaw, WA.
Please share a memory of Bill on the tribute wall at www.weeksfuneralhomes.com
Retold by Marty Luebke
Although I have known our ‘neighbor lady’ in this photo many years, I never would have guessed who she is. So it’s probably not surprising that that not too many of our readers will recognize the above photo either. Telling you that she was born the same year as Judy Garland probably doesn’t help.
If I tell you this is a graduation picture of Miss Johnson most of us still wouldn’t know who it is. But if you were told it’s Bernice Hermanson, wife of Eric Hermanson, Edison Township, some of us could say—oh sure, I know who she is!
Isn’t it interesting that many ‘old items or antiques’ often become more valuable as time goes on? Perhaps because there are not many left or rare. If you had saved one of the rare Peace Silver Dollar coins made in the year Bernice was born it would be worth $6,750 today. Yes, very precious and just as precious are memories that will be gone forever, if not recorded, saved and passed on. With that in mind, I must thank and give due credit to family members who took the time to listen and recorded much of the family history that follows. So let’s start from the beginning and listen to what Bernice had to say in her story of Long Ago Memories.
“I was not born in a hospital but delivered by a midwife on July 6, 1922 on our family farm in Moody County NE of Trent. I was the youngest of John and Luella Johnson’s 8 children. My oldest sister said all of my siblings had to wait in the barn while I was being delivered. I’ll never forget the crowded sleeping quarters we had-5 girls in one room and 3 boys in another. Many times I slept at the foot of the bed or sandwiched between two sisters. My folks had the smallest bedroom upstairs.”
“We had a hand pump in the kitchen for our water supply from a cistern. But our drinking water supply came from a well with a windmill near our livestock tank. By the time I was 12 my job included carrying two 5 gallon buckets of water to the house (one on each hand for balance). I remember when gasoline lamps were considered a modern marvel-they gave off more light than kerosene and hung from the center of the ceiling in a room.”
“Of course we had no indoor bathroom and we recycled catalog paper before ‘recycling’ was ever popular. We were always thankful when it came time for peach season--we could re-purpose the soft individual wrappings. Our mailbox was a mile and a half from our home and we walked or road our bikes for the mail.”
“Our school was 2 miles from home and we walked unless the weather was bad, our dad took us. On average there were about 35 kids from 1-8th grade with one teacher. Our lunch pails were empty tin Karo syrup pails filled with homemade items like bread, meat or cookies. We had apples in season but never had bananas or oranges. When we had to go to the ‘outhouse’ we had to raise our hand to not only get permission but had to indicate why we needed to go. We thought this was a dumb rule and didn’t know why the teacher had to know.”
When I ask Bernice about the depression and the dirty 30’s she replied.
“Oh that was a bad time and I’d rather not talk about it.” But she went on to say, “Some days were so dark with dust clouds it seemed like it was night. It was really dry and hot and in 1936 we had an all-time record heat wave with temperatures reaching 106 degree. I sometimes wondered if the world was coming to an end. But we were more fortunate than others and never went hungry. We had a good well and could water our garden. We always had home canned vegetables/meat and even shared our produce with others who weren’t as fortunate.
“During the depression my mother’s brother, his wife and two children stayed with us. They all slept in one bed in the boy’s room. In the summer my mother still had to cook/bake in the kitchen. It was too hot to sleep upstairs so we slept on the floor in the porch. We had no electricity so no fans, much less air conditioning.”
Bernice went on to graduate from Trent High School and started attending Madison ‘Eastern Normal’ in 1940.
“After 1 year I obtained my teaching certificate and in 1941 began teaching at Heeren Country School east of Dell Rapids and was paid $50 a month. Later I taught west of Garretson at Fairview School. The longer I taught the more money I received and before long I was making $150 a month (but that included all janitorial duties).
“WW II broke out during my 3rd year of teaching at Fairview. Our coffee and sugar was rationed. Two of my brothers fought in the war but they wouldn’t take my 3rd brother. A family that lived a ½ mile from us had both sons in the war and one was killed. It was a difficult time as I also had a lot of other friends and neighbors in the service. It was our patriotic duty to write to them. Once they returned from the service they would come visit and thank me.”
Can you imagine what your life would be like without a telephone, TV or other social entertainment? Perhaps the following provides some insight.
“During those times there was not a lot of entertainment. If you wanted to visit someone you just went to their place and likely found them at home. We always had a lot of company on Sundays. There were no phones, TV and movies were expensive. Dances were popular and I went to some with my brothers (against my parents’ wishes). The girls would stand and wait on the sidelines for a guy to ask them to dance. I was careful about who I danced with. I had met a tall handsome man earlier at a baptism in church. So when Eric asked me to dance I didn’t hesitate. He learned that I was teaching and living close to his family’s farm. To make a long story short I went against my ‘vow’ to never marry a farmer.”
“Farming life became easier as time and modern conveniences came along. Tractors replaced horses, lamps were replaced with lights when REA came to our farm. Before refrigerators we used a cistern to keep food cool. I never liked operating the crank which pulled up and lowered food in the cistern. Our new ice box was a big improvement so you can imagine how great it was to have a refrigerator and freezer.”
“We worked with neighbors and it was a big job feeding all the workers-especially at thrashing time. We cooked 5 meals a day starting with breakfast before 7AM. The girls would bring out morning lunch to the fields at 9:30 and our big meal was at noon. We would feed a large crew chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy vegetables, pies and by 4:30 it was time again for coffee, sandwiches, cookies, cakes or raised donuts. Evening suppers were sometimes leftovers.
“I really enjoyed cooking and made several loaves of bread at a time. You had to know just the right amount of cobs and wood to put in the cook stove so it would bake but not burn on. Along with cooking we had other tasks like making detergent with lye and waste fat. That was strong soap but it sure turned clothes white. We heated water on the cook stove to do washing and hung clothes on a line even when it was frosty out. Ironing the clothes was not my favorite job.”
“It was not all work and we had lots of fun swimming, sledding or going on family trips. We were able to become active in the Garretson community and were on the Swimming Pool Committee to help raise funds to build a pool. We were also active with Zion Lutheran Church and home Bible Study groups.”
“By 1969 all 4 of our kids were attending SDSU and we were able to enjoy our ‘empty nest’. We also were able to become more active in mission work outside of Garretson including traveling to Indonesia.”
Interestingly, when I first called Bernice to see if she was willing to meet with me she said. “No I can’t, I’m quarantining myself and getting over COVID”.
When we were able to later meet, she informed me this is not the first or worst time she had been quarantined.
“When the Spanish Flu epidemic hit so many people died that my folks were still very cautious and if we got sick we were self-quarantined. When my oldest brother had Scarlet Fever we all had to be quarantined.”
When I asked Bernice what advice or words of wisdom she had for us younger folks had a quick reply.
“Trust in the Lord and personally know how much he loves you. Never underestimate the power of forgiveness.”
For all who know Bernice that answer will not be a surprise. She has been an inspiration to all who know her.
She ended our visit with her usual modesty saying “I had two good marriages and have a great family. It is not ME but the LORD who has allowed all of these good things in my long life”.
Thanks Bernice for your willingness to share some of your “Memories of Long Ago”.
By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – For the third meeting in a row, the Minnehaha County Commission had open testimony and discussed a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline that would run through the county if Summit Carbon Solutions has its way.
At the Tuesday, April 5, meeting, for the first time in two years, the chairs in the room were back at “pre-COVID” numbers to accommodate the people present.
Again, people were there to oppose the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline, even though, not as many spoke this time, as Commission Chair Cindy Heiberger specifically asked the audience not to be repeating comments made in the past.
The first person to speak against the project, Rick Bonander of Valley Springs, began by asking people in the room to stand if they were representatives of their Minnehaha County group against the pipeline.
At that point, most of the over 40 people present stood.
Bonander and the five others who spoke asked the county to do three things, place a moratorium on pipelines placed in the county, put zoning requirements in place that would require a farther setback than 50 feet from an occupied property and to bury the pipeline deeper than the planned three to four feet, and to become a party “at the table” before the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.
While the PUC will be taking comments up until they vote on the matter, the deadline to apply to become a party to the process was Friday, April 8, at 5:00 p.m.
A party in this process allows a person or group to be present for any discussions about the issue.
The two loudest comments of the meeting came from Joy Hohn of Hartford, as well as Commissioner Jeff Barth.
Hohn was adamant in her appeal that “We need YOU, Minnehaha County Commissioners, to protect the citizens of the county.”
She emphasized how CO2 was colorless and odorless and could kill people in as little as 15 minutes.
“You are responsible to the people of Minnehaha County, not to Summit to put billions of dollars into their greedy pocket,” Hohn said.
As Heiberger stressed, the subject on the agenda was to address a letter that was drafted to be sent to the PUC.
The entire text of the letter can be found on the Minnehaha County website in item 12 of the packet for the April 5 meeting.
However, other than stating the factual dates and specifics that the PUC would already know, (i.e., what is being proposed the dates when certain meetings happened, and items regarding specific comments made to the Minnehaha County Commission), Barth did not feel like the letter was strong enough in expressing the negative views of the project that commissioners had expressed when the matter first came up on March 15.
“I don’t like the letter; it’s too mild-mannered,” Barth said. “(The pipeline project) is bad for the land, it’s bad for the people, and it’s bad for the county. We need to do the best to protect our people, our land, and our way of life.”
The room erupted in applause after Barth finished.
He was also concerned about what would happen to the CO2 after it reached North Dakota.
Summit has said that if the CO2 gas was used in fracking, then the project would not be available for the carbon tax credits that Summit is banking on to make the project economically feasible.
Barth said that he didn’t put too much stock in this, as he felt that the CO2 could be sold at some point in the future.
Others present also said they did not trust the words of pipeline companies, as Hohn spoke of a neighbor, whom she said was present, that reported surveyors on his land without permission.
And Chase Jensen from Dakota Rural Action spoke of Summit’s lack of being forthcoming with a report of a “worst case scenario” rupture modeling study.
But back to the PUC letter, Commissioner Dean Karsky did say he thought it was well-constructed, and it reported the many claims people brought to the commission.
Commissioner Jean Bender mentioned that no one commented on the letter having problems, and that she was supportive of it.
The text of the letter does conclude with the following statement: “The Minnehaha County Commission firmly concurs with these concerns related to PUC Docket HP22-001 in its current form. Further, the Minnehaha County Commission urges the Public Utilities Commission to seriously consider the comments of the citizens of South Dakota as a primary variable in determining the outcome of this PUC Docket HP22-001.”
So, while sandwiched in between what some would call “legalese,” the letter does read the commission agrees with the concerns expressed.
And in the end, the commission voted 5-0 to send the letter as written.
An agenda item
At about the same time this meeting was going on, in Canton, the Lincoln County Commission met and did address an agenda item to be made a party to the PUC in this matter.
By a 3 to 1, that board voted to apply for party status with the PUC on matter of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline.
Commissioners James Jibben, Tiffani Landeen and Jim Schmidt voted in favor, Commissioner Joel Arends voted against it, and Commissioner Michael Poppens abstained.
The next meeting of the Minnehaha County Commission will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 19, in the county administration building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
On Tuesday, April 12, the Garretson City Council held an election for a two-year term for Ward 3, as two petitions were filed for the seat by incumbent Karen Stainbrook and newcomer Jackie Rotert. Fifty-six total votes were cast out of a potential 334 voters, a turnout of approximately 17%.
Of those votes, 36 were for Rotert, and 20 were for Stainbrook, making Rotert the winner of the election.
The other seat for Ward 3, a one-year term, was filed by newcomer Bruce Brown with no competitors. The seats for Mayor, Ward 1, and Ward 2 were filed by incumbents Greg Beaner, Dave Bonte, and Greg Franka with no competitors. This meant no election was held for any of those positions.
Election held on April 12, 2022
For Ward 3 City Council Seat;
Jackie Rotert: 36
Karen Stainbrook: 20
56 Total Votes
The votes are in, and the Ward 3 city council seat will be awarded to Jackie Rotert, who received 36 of 56 total votes. Two long-time Garretson Middle School teachers will be retiring at the end of this year, the Minnehaha County Commission voted to send a letter to the South Dakota PUC regarding their stance on the CO2 pipelines that are proposed, and track is off to a fine start this season, plus more!
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The votes are in, and the Ward 3 city council seat will be awarded to Jackie Rotert, who received 36 of 56 total votes. Two long-time Garretson Middle School teachers will be retiring at the end of this year, the Minnehaha County Commission voted to send a letter to the South Dakota PUC regarding their stance on the CO2 pipelines that are proposed, and track is off to a fine start this season, plus more!
By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – Current county auditor Ben Kyte will face a primary opponent for the Republican nomination for Minnehaha County Auditor on Tuesday, June , according to information on the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website.
Kyte, from Sioux Falls, was appointed by the county commission to fill the remaining term of Bob Litz when he retired at the end of 2020.
Kyte’s opponent in June will be Lea Anderson, also of Sioux Falls.
Whoever wins that race will face the Democratic challenger, Brian Wirth of Dell Rapids, in the Nov. 8 general election.
In the election for Register of Deeds, only two Republicans have filed, setting up a primary for that office.
The two who filed, Amanda Halsey and Chad Zink, both of Sioux Falls, will face each other in the June Republican primary.
Whoever wins that seat will be replacing current Minnehaha County Register of Deeds, Julie Risty, who will be retiring at the end of her current term.
And while more names will be on the ballot for Minnehaha County Commission, with only two Democrats and three Republicans running for three possible seats, there is no need for a primary, and voters won’t see them until November.
Gerald Beninga, a Sioux Falls Republican, is the only incumbent running for re-election, as both Jeff Barth and Cindy Heiberger are stepping down.
Barth, a four-term commissioner who is currently the longest serving member of that board, was originally sworn in on Jan. 2, 2007.
Heiberger, who has lived in Minnehaha County most of her life, began her tenure on the county commission in 2011.
Challenging the incumbent Beninga for the three open seats are Jen Bleyberg of Hartford and Joe Kippley of Sioux Falls, both Republicans, and Nicole Cauwels, Brandon, and Tom Holmes, Sioux Falls, for the Democrats.
No other candidates have stepped forward to run against incumbent Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead, who filed his election petition prior to the March 29 deadline.
However, while this sets up the primary races in June, there could be more names on the November ballot, as people have until April 26 to file as Independent candidates for any of these offices.
Absentee voting for the primary begins April 22. On June 7, the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
by Oran Sorenson
Following a long-standing tradition, the Garretson athletic department this Saturday at the Jesse James Invitational track meet will honor a past state event champion or relay who has achieved track and field excellence deserving of such an award. Because of circumstances you will come to understand, this year five, not one, former stars will be recognized.
We will have to roll the calendar back a whole 53 years to the spring of 1969 to a time when all athletes were expected to participate in any sport where they could contribute. We only offered 3 male sports at that time and females had no athletic opportunities whatsoever. Thus, cheerleading was very popular back then. Hard work was valued by your coaches who most often served as coaches in all of those sports. Schools Garretson’s size only had two varsity coaches. Your head football coach was the assistant basketball coach. The head basketball coach was the assistant football coach. And one of the two was the head track coach and the other the assistant. If you wanted to be a part of Garretson’s most popular sport of that time, football, you knew you needed to be working out in track and field in the spring. Thus, there were always thirty or more boys out for track. To tell the whole truth, many boys may have had still another motive for sports, it got them out of hard work and chores back home. In 1969 junior high coach Al Bowar had 39 boys out for 7th and 8th grade track.
The above situation was the same in all area schools. Therefore, in those years track and field was very competitive and participants not only had the chance to display their skills, but you would get to personally know many athletes from many different towns. Track meets were usually only on Saturdays because extended time away from class was not acceptable. Because of fewer meets in those years, we often traveled farther to meets in Worthington, Tyndall, Hurley, Madison, Mitchell, Vermillion, Howard Wood, and Pierre. Hurley had a clay or dirt track, Madison and Dell Rapids used crushed quarry rock for their surfaces, and the rest were cinders. Every med kit had a bottle called “Cinder Suds” because when an athlete gave it his all and occasionally wiped out on the track, that product would help bubble the cinders or rock out from under your abraised skin. There were no all-weather tracks in those years, some even experimented with tar or black topped tracks. Most had no track at all. Your workouts were on the paved streets or some makeshift oval in a field or parking lot. Your biggest meets of the year were always conference, region, and state. There was no such thing as state pre- qualifying events. You had to place either first or second in the region meet to qualify for state. In later years they did allow three qualifiers from each region in the 100-yard dash.
In the spring of 1969, a contingent of athletes from GHS were able to bring home many victories on the cinders the season long. This year we honor 5 former standouts whose efforts combined to help Garretson finish 3rd in the state meet that year in Rapid City. Finishing first in the mile relay in school record time of 3:29.8 were seniors Arlon Gill and Randy Swenson, junior Dan Hanson, and sophomore Rich Holzapfel. Sadly, we lost Randy Swenson to cancer just one year ago. This foursome edged out West Central who was a tough opponent in this event all year long. We also honor this year Bob Garry, who as a senior earned the silver in the 220-yard dash. He finished in the same 23.2 time as Tony Merry, but after viewing the film from the photo finish the gold was given to the Quarrier of Dell Rapids, whose team went on to win the state meet. We also on Saturday will honor sprinter Royce Quamen who as a junior that year combined his talents with Hanson, Holzapfel, and Garry to finish 2nd in the 880 relay to a very talented squad from Wagner, who our runners battled all year. In all, 10 Blue Dragons qualified for the state meet that year. In those years only five athletes earned medals in each event. Also earning medals that year were Rich Holzapfel earning 4th in the open 440, and senior standout athlete Wayne Rask finished 5th in the shot put, both setting school records. Other qualifiers that year certainly deserving honorable mention were junior Steve Holzapfel competing in shot put, senior Neil Hammer in the discus, and pole vaulter and junior Joel Undem. Another area of excellence usually strong for Garretson has been the half milers and the 2-mile relay. They placed high in meets all year long but were not able to finish in the top two in the Region Meet in that event. Congratulations to you five and all the other former Blue Dragon runners, jumpers, and throwers who once competed and did their best for their alma mater.
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