Monday, January 02, 2006

Wright News

01/02/2006

WRIGHT NEWS BY JENNIE K. HANSON January 2, 2006

There’s a time to be born and a time to die says the book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 and I guess this year was the time to die.  There are two more well known residents that have passed away in our area.

Harold Gilbertson died on December 29, 2005 in Mpls.  Harold enjoyed many years living up in Prairie Lake Township, but was in the VA hospital/Nursing Home for the past year or more.  So, to his wife Judy and his children and her children, we offer our sincere sympathy.

Francis A. Keith, 80, of Moose Lake died at the VA Hospital in Mpls. on December 26, 2005.  His funeral and visitation was held at the Evangelical Covenant Church in Moose Lake on Friday, January 6th, 2006.  Francis was Angie Hale’s grandfather and Angie is my son’s special friend.  Francis will be missed in the ML area as well as by his family, and grandchildren.

I also read in the paper that the late Niilo Suhonen’s sister Laimi Linden, 93, of Duluth passed away on December 28, 2005.  Laimi was born in Wright in 1912 to Jalmar and Mary (Walli) Suhonen.  Now there is only one sister, Saimi Dingman left of this pioneer family as her brothers and sisters, Waino, Arve, Niilo, Toivo, Aili, and Helen have all passed away.

Last week I put a list of those area folks who have died in the past year. I missed including Mary Yuskie in this list.  She died last summer and will be missed by her family a lot.

John Dahlman, of Thornton, Colorado, was recently recognized from his company, WESTEC, for superior quality, timely scheduling, and economical use of resources for his project management in the construction of an Old Chicago Restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He was awarded the “JOB OF THE YEAR AWARD - 2005”.  There was a lot of competition this year. WESTEC built many beautiful restaurants, and had a great year, but a small town farm boy did better than any of the others!  His wife, Mary (Matalamaki) and family were very proud of him, but John said, “ This job was no different than any of the other hundreds of restaurants he has built in the past.” So, he holds everyone in the company to a higher standard. Then, to top it off, he won the grand prize of a $500.00 gift certificate from Home Depot.  Congratulations, to my brother John, you deserve it!

The local Red Hat Society meets at 1:30 PM at the Villa Vista on Wednesday, January 18th.  They meet there on the 3rd Wednesday of each month.  Area ladies are welcome to attend.

On Thursday, January 26th, at 2 PM, the Villa Vista will honor all their residents who are 90 years old or older and those who will be turning 90 in 2006.  As of this writing there are over half of the residents, 26 who will be honored at this special event.

Those residents turning 90 this year are Gladys Clark on February 14th, Hilda Nivala on November 7th, and Helen Maki on December 29th.  The Villa also has 2 residents who will be celebrating their 100th Birthday this year. They are Betty Holm on February 23rd and Anna Dahlberg on July 26th.

Please don’t forget our residents at the Villa.  Stop by for a visit or send them a card.  It’s always great to be remembered.

Sheryl Benson, of Indiana, has sent another letter to the Villa Vista and I’d like to include parts of it in this week’s news.  Sheryl writes: “ Christmas is a time of family and memories.  One of my best memories this year was shopping at the Villa Vista at their Coffee Hours.  The cherished heart of Cromwell is there at the Villa Vista.  This is such a special place.  I fell in love with it through reading of it in the local papers and actually being there made it real and it’s true - there’s a place where there’s true respect and dignity.  And the staff makes that quietly possible.”

For the members of Bethany and Bethlehem Lutheran Churches, please remember the time change for church services on January 22nd.  Bethany will hold services at 7:45 and 9 AM and Bethlehem will hold services at 10:30 AM. Sunday school at Bethlehem will stay at the 9 AM time.  This time change is due to the fact that Bethlehem will be holding their Annual Congregational Meeting after Church on the 22nd and Pastor Matt needs to attend.

ALPHA IS COMING - Bethany Lutheran Church in Cromwell will be holding another ALPHA Course beginning in January.  The “Preview” evening will be on January 15th.  There is no obligation to continue the course, but if you are interested, please come and bring a guest.  This evening will begin with a complete dinner at 6:30 PM followed by an explanation of the course.

The Area Clothing Depot has re-opened for the year.  They were closed over the Christmas holidays.  Donations are now welcome, also.  Please donate only good, clean useful items.  Leave them on the first landing when you donate as things left on the first floor hamper the business located there. Please don’t bring any computers or related computer items as we cannot use them. Thank You.

That’s all the news from Lake Happynewyear and hello to all my world wide readers.  Check us out on the web!

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Crazy Old "Ant" Jennie’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

01/01/2006

Crazy Old “Ant” Jennie’s
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla
12-oz. Choc. chips (1 bag)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream shortening,
brown sugar, and white sugar,
beat in eggs and vanilla,
add flour, soda, and salt,
add choc. chips last.
Make ball of dough size of golf balls,
put on cookie sheets,
flatten slightly,
Bake at 325 for 13 to 15 minutes.
They shouldn’t look quite
done when you take them out.
Take off pan and
let cool on brown paper bags.
Jennie K. Hanson, Wright