Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, May 15, 1947
•The contract for the new village hall that will house the fire equipment, two-cell jail, and council rooms was let last week with the breaking of the ground and construction starting Monday of this week. The building which will be 30x50 ft in size will be located on the corner west of the theater building. N.O. Nelson & Son of Wadena has the contract for the building.
•Seven boys and 13 girls make up the 1947 high school graduating class from the Verndale public school this year. Commencement exercises will be held Thursday evening, May 29 with Mr. George J. Skewes of the St. Cloud Teachers College the speaker. Leota Rupp is valedictorian and Anita Borchers is Salutatorian.
•Only two filings were made for the two vacancies on the school board to be filled at the election in the Verndale school next Tuesday evening from 7-8 p.m. Charles Aldrich and Clarence E. Anderson, whose terms expire this year have filed for re-election.
40 Years Ago, May 20, 1982
•Four-hundred nineteen voters turned out in record-breaking numbers to return Incumbent Russ Birch to his seat on the school board of District 818, and move Rodney Bounds into the position being vacated by Earl Flores. A four-way race for two vacancies was decided when Bounds received 276 votes, Birch 216, Flores 185, and Dave Trosen 109.
•Over 300 visitors stopped by to tour the State Green Thumb office located in Wadena last Thursday during the open house at their new location. On staff at the office is Emarita Maxfield of Verndale. She is one of the seven persons performing duties at the state headquarters building in Wadena. Others are State Director Paul Anderson, Alene Brandrlet, Debra Pundt, Herb Wachlin, Clara Sarff, Ethelyn Loween and Lucille Pfeffer. Two field workers are Pam Ebert and Carroll Maas. Holding mini solar units for the demonstration are Elmner Schroeder of Wadena and Crew Leader Harold Koth of Verndale. The solar collector they built will heat the office.
•The District Choir Trophy is being awarded to Ron Denny, senior choir president, by the director Larry Spencer for the two-star rating received at the District 24 music contest. He also presented the Maureen Erichs award to Laura Carlson for being chosen outstanding musician in the choir.
15 Years Ago, May 16, 2007
•Students from the Verndale School participated in the Staples Rotary Art Show on April 26-29. Students competed in nine categories against area schools. Chris Cottrell was awarded first place in the mixed media category with his piece titled Tribal Obsession. Dan Adamietz was also awarded first place in the crafts category with his piece titled Glass Glory. Receiving the merit award in the painting category was Ringa (Rory) Paalanen with her piece titled It Could Have Been You.
•Three Verndale student-athletes are in the mix for a rebuilding women’s basketball program at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. Coach Brad Amundson of the CLC women’s team announced that Cayla Collison, Megan Hejhal, and Stacey Schoon have been recruited along with six other outstanding players from the region who want to be part of his rebuilding plan. The trio will play for the Raider of the Minnesota Community College Conference in Division III competition.
•The Pirates boys baseball team won one of their three games last week. They kicked off the week on Tuesday with a double-header against New York Mills at home. In the first game, the Pirates were looking favored to win, but NYM came back at them to win 13-12. The Pirates struck back at the second game, winning by a much greater margin than the first game with a score of 13-3. Leading hitters for the first game were Brandon Cottrell and Sam Moenkedick, both with 4-3 batting records.