Monday, November 06, 2006

Wright News

11/06/2006

WRIGHT NEWS BY November 6, 2006

Our sympathy to Shirley Pearson, of Wright, MN and her sister, Helen Nelson, of Mesa, AZ on the death of their brother, Ray Haapoja, 66, of Oglivie, MN who died on November 1st, 2006.  Ray was married to Bev Hoffman on December 10, 1965 and they have three children, Mark and Chris of Ham Lake, Tina and Andrew of Howard Lake, MN and Kevin and Jennifer of Germany. Shirley spent some time with Ray on October 14th and he seemed to be doing fairly well, but on Tuesday the 31st he was sleeping heavily but he seemed to know her.  He suffered with cancer and a private family memorial service will be held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006.

The Cromwell YOT will have their Thanksgiving Dinner and meeting on Tuesday, November 14th at noon.  They will have a delicious meal prepared for them!  Cost for members will be $5.00 and guests/non-members are $9.00. All are welcome to come!  If you do plan to attend, please contact Carolyn Krogh @ 644-3670.

The Carlton County Retired Educators will be meeting on Tuesday, November 14th at the Seasons in Scanlon at 11:30 AM for their regular meeting.  They will have a meal, followed by a short meeting and then be entertained by Sue Weets of Carlton.  Please feel free to join them and guests are always welcome.

It’s Coming!  No, it’s here!  What? You may ask?  “The Meeting Place”. Yes, the Co-op Store in Wright has a room set aside for a coffee counter area.  Come on in and see how nice it is and if you would like to try some of the many types of coffees.  They have Cappuccino, Hot Chocolate and Baked goods, too.  The shop will be open during all the regular store hours.

Mary, Wally, Matt and Tara Hakala want to give you a heartfelt Thank You to each and every person, organization or business who bought tickets, came, donated or helped out in any way at Matt’s Benefit.  Over 1,000 people turned out for the event. Your kindness, caring and overwhelming success of the night is deeply appreciated and will never be forgotten.  Matt is now in Rochester for the next 2 month for Chemo and radiation treatments.  If you would like to send him a card of encouragement, address it to Matt Hakala, 4766 Cattle Drive, Cromwell, MN, 55726.

Congratulations to Ben Line and Karla Olson on their recent marriage on October 21, 2006 at Zion Lutheran Church in Cloquet, MN.  Ben is a 1994 graduate of Cromwell High School and also graduated from Hibbing Community College in 1997 with a degree in Electrical Construction and Maintenance. He owns and operates Line Electric.  Karla is a 1999 graduate of Moose Lake High School and a 2004 graduate of UMD with a degree in Early Childhood Education.  She is employed as an ECFE teacher in Esko, MN.

Speaking of the Lines, Congratulations to Jason Line on winning the 2006 NHRA Pro Stalk Championship.  Jason and his wife, Cindy and their son, Jack, live in North Carolina, but will be home soon to celebrate his accomplishments.

St. John’s Lutheran Church in Wright still has many copies of their Centennial Cookbook available.  Call Linda (Bud) Lehti for more information. These books would make a wonderful Christmas gift for friends and family.

Don’t forget to come to the 20th Annual Mojakka Supper at Lakeside School on Saturday, November 11 from 4:30 - 7 PM.  Lakeside school is 2 miles West of Wright and then about 2 miles South off Hwy 21.  Watch for the signs.

Also remember that Cribbage is at Lakeside school every other Friday, so it will be on November 10th and November 24th of this month. Just show up and they draw for partners.

The Cromwell Community Craft Sale was a huge success.  The winners of the American Auxiliary raffle were announced on Saturday at the sale.  They are Michelle Hedin - 1st place Quilt; Helen Berg - 2nd place - Thanksgiving Wall Hanging; Elaine Huhta, 3rd place Glensheen tickets; Denyse Meyer - 4th place Holiday Card Holder; and Dolly Niemi 5th place with a Bridgeman’s Gift Certificate.  The Auxiliary wants to thank everyone who participated in their raffle.

The American Legion Auxiliary Hjalmar Alto Post #429 is pleased to honor our local veterans with free coffee and doughnuts at the Country Inn in Cromwell and the Farmer’s Co-op Store in Wright November 5- 11th.  Just sign the clipboard and have a treat on the Auxiliary. Thanks Veteran’s for all you have done and sacrificed.

Pastor Janeva Stromberg was welcomed into the community and the Lutheran churches on Sunday, November 5th.  She is very happy to be among us and looks forward to meeting all the members of the churches and also community members.  If you see her around and about, please introduce yourself and welcome her, too.  She wants everyone to be able to contact her, so please keep these phone numbers handy. Parsonage phone is 644-3130, Cell Number is 320-420-5474, and her home in Mora is 320-679-1012.  She says she is available 24/7 so don’t hesitate to call her if need be.

Grace and Carolyn Krogh were in Milwaukee at a family wedding last weekend. In addition to all the ceremonial festivities, they were joined by Susan and Ron Elin, Linda and Jon Krogh and Mary and Raymond Walz for a mini Krogh family reunion.

Please remember that November 13 - 17th is National Education Week.  Take a minute to say thank you to our local teachers and school employees to show your appreciation for their hard work.

There will be a Brian Saaristo Benefit at the Cloquet Armory on Saturday, November 11th from 4 - 8 PM if anyone wants to participate.  Brian is now home in Wright and doing as well as can be expected.  He does have pain and will needs months of continued recovery.  Keep him and his family in your prayers, too.

I recently got an email from our former School Principal Joan Bloemendaal and she writes that things are going well for her.  Sarah and Travis will be home for Thanksgiving; Jackie and Sean will be home for Christmas that will be tough trying to have everyone together at the same time.  She also writes that she misses the students, families and staff a lot, but is fortunate to have “inherited” a great bunch of staff—that was one thing she was concerned about when leaving such a wonderful group of people in this area. She is learning a lot and able to use her leadership skills in different ways.  This week she had an enlightening and moving opportunity to be part of a group who went to the Sandstone Prison and participated in mock interviews, resume critiquing, and interview feedback with inmates that will be released in the near future.  About 75% of people who return to prison is due to the fact that they are unable to find employment.  Joan greets you all and hopes to see you at some time in the future.

Mark your calendars for December 13th at 6:30 PM as that is the evening set aside for the Bethlehem Lutheran Ladies Christmas Party and installation of Officers.

Pastor Matt and Sue Saarem are gradually getting settled in their new home. They even hung a couple of curtains.  They do have extra sleeping space, so would enjoy a visit from the area folks in Emory, Wis.

They had a conference at the assisted living home where her mom lives.  The staff was very positive and felt things were finally under control for Sue’s mom.

They are also excited that 5 people from Balsam will be attending the ALPHA Conference with them on November 3rd and 4th, especially since Nicky Gumble (founder of ALPHA) will be the featured speaker.

Here’s an up-date on Russell Tabako. He’s 27 and was in the Air Force and served time in Iraq.  After he left the service, he joined a government organization and went back to Iraq where he is now at a base called “Wayne’s World” outside Baghdad, where he’s an electrician installing air-conditioning equipment and heating for the armed forces.  He’ll be coming home for Christmas to his wife and two daughters in Caro, Michigan. He hears bombing and shooting all night, they throw and shot rockets and hand grenades over the fences guarding the civilian workers.  We’ve forgot that besides the Armed Forces in Iraq, we also have hundreds of civilian workers there.

Do you remember the St. Onge’s that lived in Wright in the 1980’s?  Well, Pat St. Onge lives with her daughter Rita, who by the way is suffering with MS, in Oklahoma.  They just moved and we don’t have their address.  Pat has been getting dialysis due to kidney failure and her husband Phil passed away several years ago due to heart failure.  Trish St. Onge manages a Taco Bell in Omaha, Nebraska and her husband manages a separate Taco Bell in the same city.  Sandy St. Onge is a legal transcriptionist in Oklahoma, near her mother and Jack St. Onge is an Air Force Career Sargent.

I want to thank Stan and Irene Tabako for giving me the information on their family and also the St. Onge’s.  I’ve often wondered how they are doing.

Does anyone have a guitar just lying around collecting dust?  They are needed for the kids who are taking guitar lessons at the school.  Please let me know if you would like to sell or donate a guitar for this purpose.  We really need a couple right away. Thanks.

If you have information on the former families from our area, I really welcome that information for the news.  So many folks thank me for keeping them up to date on area events and families and it’s sometimes hard to keep up without the help of my readers.  Remember you can email me with your news a .  Please do so.

Household Hint: Keep a child-sized broom handy in the utility room for sweeping under and between your washer and dryer.  Also handy for any hard to get to places.

Every week from now on, I’m going to try to put a Bible Verse at the end of my column.  I will try to get a verse from every book of the Bible before repeating any Books.  So here’s the first one.  Keep track to see if I can do it in the next 66 weeks.

Today’s Bible Verse: Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7.

That’s all the news from Lake Thankyoutoallveterans and Hello to all our active duty soldiers, too.