Recollections
News from Eagle Bend's Past
25 Years Ago
December 31, 1997
Joe Smarzik, 92, former Eagle Bend resident, placed an ad 20 years ago in the Headlight Herald in Tracy, Minnesota. “Wanted: one family to eat Christmas dinner with. I will furnish the turkey.” Smarzik had a wife and three children but the family had broken up in the 1950s. He’d been alone nearly 20 years when he placed the ad. Three people answered the ad, and two offered to fix him a turkey. Only one, a pastor and his family, was willing to share Christmas dinner with them. Reverend Homer Dobson, the pastor who answered the ad, showed the ad to Deanna Edwards, a singer and speaker from Provo, Utah. Smarzik’s ad inspired a song, a book and has become a symbol of all who long for companionship during the holidays. Edwards wrote a song called “Wanted: One Family.” The country heard the song and letters flowed into Smarzick’s home. This Christmas, Edwards visited Smarzick in Tracy and presented him with a copy of her book “Wanted: One Family.”
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The Eagle Valley Cooperative Oil Association held its annual meeting on December 16 at the Clarissa Ballroom. Manager Spencer Hayes reported gross sales of $1,099,924 and a net margin of $7816. Pictured are the 1998 board of directors: Kevin Ehnes, secretary-treasurer; Jim Loken, president: Alex LaVeau, director; Mark Gmyrek, vice president; Glen Pesta, director; and Jim May, director. Not pictured: Jeff Hauer.
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School Board Member Marie Busch donned the Reading Dragon suit and visited the elementary students before Christmas.
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Members of the Wadena Elks Club handed out carnations on Christmas Eve at the Central Todd County Care Center in Clarissa for the 18th year. Pictured are Jim Gustafson, Berdie Parks, Steve Hanson and Pug Tabor.