Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, March 20, 1947
•The Verndale Commercial Club, which now has a membership of 66 members, had a turnout of 57 at their steak dinner at Desrocher’s Cafe Tuesday evening. Following a delightful and well-prepared steak dinner, members of the Commercial Club and their guests adjourned to the village hall to conduct their business meeting. County Commissioners present at the meeting were: Albert Lehman, Lars Leinonen, C.J. Peterson and Newman Ireland. One of the purposes for having the commissioners present at this meeting was for airing the problem of erecting a building in Verndale to house both the county road patrol and the Verndale village fire truck and equipment.
• Eight to 12 members of the Verndale basketball squad will leave Thursday morning of next week to take in all the games of the State basketball tournament. While in Minneapolis they will stay in the Vendome hotel and will be chaperoned by their coach Earl Seaton and Supert. Peterson. Donations taken up by Art Attleson the past few days and $10 from the Verndale Commercial Club will help pay for the boys’ trip.
• Mrs. Clarence Anderson wished us to again remind the women of Verndale and the community that she has Red Cross material for sewing hospital gowns. All notices to the women heretofore have gone unheeded, and Verndale’s quota still remains unfilled. Are the women of Verndale going to let their quota of work go unfilled? The war is over, we know, but there is still a big demand in the hospitals for gowns where disabled soldiers are being cared for. We helped them during the war with fighting clothing, now let us help the unfortunate ones that are still in the hospitals.
40 Years Ago, March 25, 1982
•It isn’t often youngsters anxiously go to school long before the starting bell sounds, but last Tuesday, Mr. Olson’s sixth graders reported for work 45 minutes early in order to fill 240 balloons with helium to be released by the elementary students later that morning. It took them an hour and 15 minutes to complete the task, tie and attach notes to each balloon. Here they await the countdown by reviewing with Mr. Olson percentages of returns they might expect. They then dispersed to the various classrooms to distribute their lighter-than-air-balloons.
•Clarice Horsager was chosen by local American Legion Auxiliary members, co-sponsors of Girl’s State, to represent Verndale at this year’s convocation which will be held June 13-19 at St. Catherine’s College in St. Paul. Girls interested in becoming candidates were asked to submit essays on why they’d like to attend Girls State and are chosen from those entering.
• Six Verndale future homemakers participated in FHA Action Activity events at Akeley, hosts to the District 4 FHA last week. Activities included demonstrations and speeches on a number of topics. Two of the Verndale girls earned State trips through superior ratings. They were Cathy Colby and Cam Nelson, with their trophy for their demonstration entitled “Space Unknown, Make Your Own!”
15 Years Ago, March 21, 2007
• Mike Carr and Steve Young celebrated their retirement Saturday, March 17, at the Elk’s Club with a reception and a roast after retiring from the Wadena County Sheriff’s Office. Carr was a graduate of Verndale in 1967. He then graduated from Alexandria Technical College with a law enforcement degree in 1971. Carr became Wadena County Sheriff at the ripe age of 28 and served as sheriff for 28 years, while Young served as his deputy for 27 years.
•Kelsie Trosen and Becky Richter were crowned the junior and senior dairy princesses of Wadena County on Saturday, March 17, at the Pine Cove Inn in Wadena. Both girls are from Verndale.
•The Verndale FFA Farm Management team placed first in the Region II FFA Farm Management Career Development Event (CDE) on Tuesday, March 13 at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. Palani Sheldon led the team with a score of 97, Chris Cottrell scored 85 points, Brittany Cottrell scored 80 points, and Josh Harris added 58 points. The Verndale FFA Farm Management team will advance to the state competition at the University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus on April 22-24.
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