Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, September 5, 1946
• The Milton Chapin and Pete Dewald families in Thomastown Township were quite alarmed last Friday noon when a big black bear was seen between their two farms. Dale, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Chapin, was close enough to throw stones at “Old Bruin” and scared him into climbing up a tree. But before he could get to the house and back with a gun, the bear had disappeared. Mr. Dewald, who also saw the bear, reported that he was between six and seven feet tall.
• Earl Seaton came up with a very unusual golf shot last Thursday evening while playing golf with C.R. Peterson, Bob Anderson, and Bob Bradford. Earl was shooting from the rough on No. 3 and got off a good shot only to have his ball slow down and thrown off its course when it hit and killed a sparrow in mid-air. Earl’s only remark was, “As if I wasn’t having enough tough luck on this hole without having to hit a bird.”
• J.B. Conley and son, purebred Shropshire Breeders, were awarded both champion and reserve champion placings in the Shropshire class at the sixth annual Minnesota State Purebred Ram Sale held August 31 at University Farm in St. Paul. The champion ram sold for $107.50 and the reserve champion brought $100. The finest flocks in Minnesota were represented with over 60 rams being sold at the sale.
40 Years Ago, September 10, 1981
• A barn raising, which was interrupted last week Monday when Florian Schmidt suffered a massive coronary, is now nearing completion thanks to the efforts of relatives, neighbors, and friends: Duane (Butch) Davis, Herman Wiese, Clarence (Clyde) Schmidt, Jim Davis, Terry Davis, Harlan Schmidt, Rex Weinmaster, Ron Notch, Keith Schmidt, Perry Schmidt, Leo Peterson, Wally Wiese, Elmer Weise, Mark Weise, Virgil Schmidt, Roland Gilbert, Virgil Faye, and Bruce Samuelson. Since Keith joined his father in farming, it was necessary to increase their milking facilities which had been handling 35 to 60 cows. Keith broke his leg a week ago at a family reunion and the added workload apparently became too much for his father. With a crew like this, it is expected that the 34’ by 60’ addition will be ready for the pouring of the floor next weekend.
• Tightening the cables which steady the new UHF TV tower located two and a half miles southwest of Verndale were the Dietz Brothers and their crew from Spicer who erected the structure. Workmen were in the process of constructing the building which will house controls. The final section of the tower was placed last Thursday afternoon. The project completion date is October 1, after which folks in a 35-40 mile radius will be able to view CBS programming via KSTP-TV.
• Work on the new entrance to the Verndale Methodist Church is proceeding rapidly thanks to much volunteer labor. Included in the addition will be an extension of the basement area and a remodeled kitchen work area which will be moved from the back to the new addition.
15 Years Ago, September 7, 2006
• Meet the new teachers at Verndale School this fall. Marilyn Carver, Spanish; Ben Huhta, 7-12 music; Mitch Carr, DCD special education; Jordan Hinkle, high school English; Beth Hemming, student-teacher in the science classroom.
• Verndale Volleyball is now in full action and has begun regular season play. This year there are a total of 27 girls in grades 9-12 out for the sport. The varsity roster consists of 15 girls, five seniors, five juniors, and five sophomores. The volleyball team opened their season with two away games this past week. On Tuesday, August 29, the girls traveled to Parkers Prairie and were defeated 3-1 in the opening games. On Thursday, they traveled to Clarissa and beat the Eagle Valley Rebels.
• The 2006 Verndale swimmers are senior Brenda Roth, sophomore Alicia Johnson, junior Dana Motschenbacher, and eighth-grader Lauren Jeziorski.
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