Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Wright News

06/21/2006

Hi, how’s it going?  Fine I hope.  When I sit down to type the news, it sometimes feels like I’m writing a letter to a friend.  I hope my readers also feel like they are getting a letter from a friend, too.

There’s not much time left now till Wrong Days in Wright.  Remember its on July 14th, 15th and 16th with all the usual activities and events taking place.  Watch for the signs to see what is going on, or how you can help out.

There was a mix-up in the names I reported for the Wrong Days in Wright Queen Candidates.  They are Tara Cieluch, Mandy Egge, Ally Cahoon, and Kaylan Risacher.

Eddie and Angela Dahlman Luna will be coming to visit her parents, Mark and Linda Dahlman and family, July 13th - 27th.  It will be nice to have them around especially since they will be bringing their new son, Mateo Allan.

Our sympathy is extended to the family of Stanley J. Tabako, Sr., 92, who died on June 14, 2006 at the Mercy Health Care Center in Moose Lake, MN. His wife Mary died in 2002.  His funeral was held at the Northland funeral Home in Cloquet on June 17th.  He will be missed by his daughters, Kathleen (Chester) Thomas and Rebecca (David) Stenson both of Wright, Patricia Tabako and Roberta (Tom) Meister both of Mpls., sons, Stanley, Jr. and wife Irene, and Edward of California.  The Tabako family has lived in the area for years and years and have contributed a lot to the community over these years and they still do.  Our sincere sympathy to you all on the passing of elder generation of your family.  Parents are always deeply missed!

I see in the Duluth News Tribune that Kyle Smith completed the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth last weekend with a great time of less than 4 hours.  If there were others from the area, please let me know.

Congratulations to Margy Harp of Cromwell on being promoted to Internal Auditor Assistant at the Members Cooperative Credit Union in Cloquet.  She has been at the credit union for the past 22 years and has worked in the operations and lending departments.

Thrivent Financial for Lutheran is holding their annual Picnic at Chub Lake Park on Wednesday, July 19th.  Loren Lindevig will provide the music and B&B Catering will provide the brats and hamburgers.  All attending are asked to bring a Pot Luck dish to share (usually a favorite dessert).  Because of limited seating, you may want to bring your lawn chairs, too.  Please RSVP before July 14 so they will know how much food to plan for.  Call Steve at 218-384-4400 or 1-877-584-4440.

If you are planning on going to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in Walnut Grove, MN, the dates are set for July 7-8-9, 14-15-16, and 21-22-23, of this year.  I have been to this pageant and it is really great.  It starts at about 8 PM and lasts till 11 PM.  The most impressive part of the Pageant is when you can see a covered wagon coming from way across the field and it’s almost like seeing the real Ingalls’ family.  Bring blankets to keep warm, and enjoy this wonderful event.  There are also many other things to see in town that were very interesting.

It took two nights to come up with a winner in the 5th Annual Villa Vista Spelling Bee.  I have been holding a Spelling Bee at the Villa for the past 5 years and this year the winner was Joanne Mapes.  She had some stiff competition from 2nd Place Winner, Gladys Clark and 3rd Place Winner, Francis Phillips.  Betty Johnson had held the winners spot for the past 3 years.  The 1st winner was Lucille Nyberg who has since passed away.  The other participants were 4th Place: Betty Johnson, 5th: Elizabeth Hanson, 6th: Sonja Eggerdahl, tied for 6th: Earl, Hilda Nivala and George Balsness, 7th: Wanda Woolums and 8th Place to Hulda Hill.  It’s always amazing how well they try and how well these residents can spell.  There are never any hard feelings and they are happy for the winners.

Lake Country Power has announced that the return envelope you receive with your bill is bar coded to Lake Country Power’s Virginia service Center.  If you use this envelope for payments other than your Lake Country Power bill, it will be delivered to the Virginia office and not to the business you intended it to go to.  Please use the return envelope only for your Lake Country Power bill.

When we were on out trip to California in April, I was amazed at all the semi truck traffic.  I guess they really do keep our country in food and goods.  One thing I did notice, though was a sign on the back of the Covenant Transport Trucks, it said and I quote, “IT IS NOT A CHOICE, IT IS A CHILD.” That really struck at my heartstrings.

Last week my husband, Bob, gave some of his homegrown leaf lettuce to the Purcells in Wright.  That prompted Mary to tell me that the leaf lettuce had reminded her of one of her favorite sandwiches she used to make in the Pre 1940’s (now you can guess how old she is).  She says, “Don’t gag, but I made the sandwich out of bread, butter, salad dressing, peanut butter, and leaf lettuce!” Mary said she is tempted to try one of those sandwiches now, but is she sure her taste buds have changed since childhood so maybe she should just keep the memories.

She would also dip a stalk of rhubarb in a mixture of salt, pepper, and sugar.  Her Mom said it would set her teeth on edge just to watch Mary eat it.  Mary would read while eating rhubarb, and one book she especially remembers reading was “Little Women”.  She also says, “ The older I get, the more memories come coming back”.

Rosie Purcell is living in Iisle, Illinois and is a beautician.  James Purcell and his wife Angie live in Auburn California and have just bought a house.  He is working with disabled adults.  His goal is to be a Special Education Teacher.

Larry and Mary Purcell’s son Dan is now cancer free.

I’ll let you know more about the Purcell family next week.  With 8 children, many grand children and great grandchildren; there are lots to tell.

A big thank you goes out to Gil and Dawn Kinnunen for donating over 5,000 pop tabs to the 4th grade.  The 4th graders want to collect one million and one tabs for the Ronald McDonald House to help house families of kids with cancer.  At this time, they are over half way there.  So if you are saving the tabs, great, if not, please consider starting.  Thanks!

The Cromwell Class of 1955 and 1956 will be meeting at the Fireside in McGregor on the Saturday of Wrong Days, That’s July 15th at 1:30 PM.  NOTE THE AFTERNOON TIME NOT EVENING.

The Cromwell Class of 1965 and 1966 will be getting together for a Class Reunion during Harvest Fest in September.  If you know of other reunions please let me know.

Congratulations to the following individuals who were baptized at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Wright on June 18, 2006.  Emmalee Grace Hoover and Levi Allan Hoover, whose parents are Jeremy and Mindy Hoover, Emmalee’s sponsors are Mason Hansen and Tabitha (Houck) and Jonathan Webster, Levi’s sponsors are Thomas Hansen, and Steve and Cherie (Houck) Stodieck: Kyle Wayne Webster whose parents are Jonathan and Tabitha Webster and his sponsors are Steve and Cherie Stodieck.  They celebrated with family at the Hoover home after services.  God Bless these newly baptized children and welcome to the family of believers.

July 9th will be a special day at Bethany Lutheran Church in Cromwell as the group “Higher Power” will be putting on the service that day.  This quartet will be performing at the 10:30 AM.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

Ray Lally and the Memorial Blood Centers have asked me to say a huge “Thank You” to everyone who donated blood at the last Blood Drive on June 13th. There were 32 people registered and 28 were able to give blood.  They had to defer 4 people and one person was a first time donor.  One unit of blood can help as many as 3 people, so 83 patients could be benefiting from the units collected at this blood drive.  Blood donors are special people for truly giving of themselves so that others might live!

I got up at 5 AM today, June 21st and went for a mile long walk.  The sun wasn’t up yet, and it was a great time to walk and watch it rise.  This is also the longest day of the year.

Household Hint: The quickest way to clear the air in the bathroom is to light a match!  (Hopefully there won’t be an explosion!)

“Lord prepare me for what you are preparing for me!” This is a quote I heard at the NE MN Women’s Synodical Convention in Duluth over the weekend of June 8-9th. I thought it was great!

That’s all the news from Lake Happy Juhannus and Hello to all my Finnish Friends.  That’s (Juhannus) the first day of Summer!!  June 21st.  Have a great week!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Wright News

06/13/2006

Wright News by June 12, 2006

Welcome Summer!  We will have the longest day of the year on June 21st. That means that the sun rises just after 5 AM and goes down after 9 PM.  So we will have a month or more of very long days and then we go slowly back to less daylight.

Please don’t forget to attend the Harvest Fest Steak Fry on Friday, June 16th in Cromwell.

A Midsummer’s Evening with the Finn Hall Band will take place at the pavilion in Cromwell on Saturday, June 17th starting at 6:30 PM.

Jackie Bloemendaal, daughter of Dave and Joan Bloemendaal, will become the wife of Sean Michael Hoke on June 24, 2006 at her parent’s home in rural Wright.

Congratulations to Andrea Lynn Gronbeck, daughter of former Pastor Jim and Julie Gronbeck, on her recent graduation from Battle Lake High School.

Jeremy David Adelsgruber, Madelyn’s grandson, graduated from Newman High School in Georgia with high honors and gifted program, and ranked in the top 8 of a class of 353 students.  He received several scholarships including the Pell Grant and will be attending Georgia Tech, University of Atlanta, in the fall.  His family, of course, is so proud of him.  Jeremy and his sister and brother are spending the summer in the area with his dad, Michael, and family.  It’s really hard not being able to have them around more often, but the family tries to make quality time with them during summer and Christmas.

A graduation party will be held later in June.

Villa News: The Red Hat Ladies will be going to the Cromwell Park Pavilion on the 22nd at 1 PM.  Then the Looney Tunes will be at Villa on the 26th at 1:30.  Family Picnic will be on the 30th at noon.  The public is always welcome to attend these Villa events.

The Wrong Days Buttons are in.  The Queen candidates this year are Kaylan Risacher, Olivia Warpula, Mandy Egge and Amber Cahoon.  Please try to support these gals by purchasing buttons from them when they come around to sell them.  Remember Wrong Days is July 14th -16th.  The Coronation will be held on Friday, July 14th at the Talent show around 7 PM.

Please let me know if you or a group you know is willing to perform at the Wrong Days Talent Show on Friday, July 14th at 7 PM.

Please let Alice Lake or Shirley Johnson know if you plan to attend the class reunion for the 1955 and 1956 Cromwell Classes at the Fireside on Saturday, July 15th.

There will be three, 4-year School Board terms to be filled beginning January 1, 2007.  If you are interested in having your name on the ballot please note the following application dates and stop in the school office between Tuesday, July 4 - Tuesday, July 18 to pick one up.  Tuesday, July 4th First day to file for candidacy, Tuesday, July 18 last day to file for candidacy, and Thursday, July 20th, last day to file affidavits of withdrawal of candidacy.

If there are more than seven people filing, a primary will be held in September, otherwise the election will be held during the general election in November.

School Board members whose terms are up are Shari Hutar, Todd Johnson, and Terry Smith.

Summer school will be held at the school August 7 - 10, and 14 - 17th for the elementary students who need to attend.

Two and a half year old Emma Katerina Hawkinson, daughter of Mark and Tami of Plymouth, Mn recently had her picture in the Duluth News Tribune’s Grandma’s Brag Book.  (6-12-06) She is the granddaughter of Walter and Lola Johnson of McGregor, MN and Margaret Hawkinson of Tamarack, Mn.  Cute Photo! Congratulations to Jeff Romosz and Sylvia Shafer on their recent marriage at Hope Lutheran Church in Floodwood, Mn on June 10, 2006.  Sylvia is a 2001 graduate of Floodwood High School and is pursuing a dental hygienist degree at Lake Superior College.  Jeff is a 1996 graduate of Proctor High School, he then graduated from Rainy River Community College in International Falls in 1999 with an Associate Degree and from Lake Superior College in Duluth in 2001 with an Industrial Electrical Associate’s Degree.  He is an electrician for USG Interiors in Cloquet.  They plan to live in the Brookston area.

The Carlton County Retired Educators met at the Four Seasons Restaurant in Scanlon, Mn on Tuesday, June 13th.  Guest speaker was Tami Taylor Depre, Executive Officer of the Arrowhead Builders Association and a member of Women in Construction.

Today, June 14th, as I sit down to write the news, is Flag Day.  Please display the flag and do it often.  Our American Symbol is never out of style.

Don’t forget to email me your news at or check out my website at http://jkh.cwhanson.com/

This weeks household hint: To magically eliminate refrigerator odors, saturate a cotton ball or two with ordinary vanilla and place at the back of the shelves.

That’s all the news from Lake Longerdaysandshorternights and Hello to all the Fathers on Father’s Day and all year through. Have a great week!