Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
40 Years Ago, April 10, 1980 • Joey Pilgrim aims to put Verndale on the map. He competed last week at Columbia Heights in a Cultural Exchange Wrestling Tournament and was victor over both the A and AA State High School Wrestling Champions Mark Maska and Mark Johnson in freestyle Roman-Greco type wrestling. Joey wrestled in two classes heavier than his usual 134 pound class. Now at 149, he took on contenders in the 155 class. Joey was picked along with 11 other Minnesota wrestlers to compete in Europe this summer. He will leave on June 1 for a week of practice at Joliet, IL under the guidance of Olympic coaches, and will then fly to Europe to battle grapplers in Germany, Austria, Poland and Egypt. They will be gone one month. This is a preliminary to the Olympics on which Joey has set his sights for 1984. • They’re off and running after candy treats scattered earlier Saturday morning by the Jaycees. Three of the plastic shaped eggs contained nothing but a slip of paper indicating the finders were winners of chocolate Easter bunnies. Jaycee Armond Swanson, who was in charge of this year’s event, presented the prizes to Steve Carlson, Andy Schmitz and John Rouslang. • Jane McAlpine, R.D., nutrition consultant with the Dairy, Food and Nutrition Council of Minnesota, presented a plaque to Elementary Principal Arlene Ferrian during a demonstration project evaluation of the nutrition program conducted here in the Verndale elementary department.
15 Years Ago, April 14, 2005 • Agnes Winkles and Patti Desrocher were honored with certificates of appreciation from the Wadena County Board for the work they do at the Verndale Senior Center. Also recognized were: Lila Perkins, Nimrod; Joyce Dorenbush and Lila Savela, Sebeka; Maria Marthaler, Humphrey Manor; and Ellen Honga, Menahga. • The Verndale American Legion baseball team received a donation of $1000 from Ron Litzau and his wife Lynn who represent the Wolf Lake, Wolf Pack. Jim Carr and Jim Runyan were pictured receiving the check on behalf of the team. The Legion team is planning on using the funds to purchase uniforms. • The Verndale Baseball Association started with the idea of having a fundraiser and the idea grew into what took place on Thursday, March 31. Many community members have been quoted as saying that the community hasn’t come together like this before for any cause. The freewill offering for the meal brought in $1868. The raffle brought in $2200. The auction went very well bringing in a total of $5568 with the top item being a 12-foot water trampoline purchased by Brandy Anderson. The funds raised will go towards an electronic scoreboard, benches in the dugouts and various other projects.