Looking Back: 1937 - Fire breaks out at Lismore church

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One year ago

Six babies were born on Veterans Day —11/11/11 — at Sanford Worthington Medical Center.

Worthington residents were told to anticipate a local tax increase of anywhere from 6 to 13.8 percent for 2012.

Voters in the Luverne school district passed an operating levy referendum renewal of $401.27 per pupil-unit, with 875 voting “yes” and 332 voting “no.”

The annual United Way Telethon took place in the Worthington High School gymnasium.

The Nobles County Commissioners approved a $500,000 contribution to Southwestern Mental Health Center’s plans for a new facility in Worthington.

Multiple fire departments spent Sunday afternoon cleaning trucks and equipment after a busy Saturday afternoon and evening of fire calls in Nobles and Murray counties. One blaze occurred on the Colton Fransen farm in Iona Township, near Wirock, and another took hold at Ocheda Dairy. The second fire was believed to have been sparked by some embers reignited from a trash pile that had been burned earlier in the week. High winds exacerbated the blaze.

Five years ago

An Iona man was arrested by the Buffalo Ridge Drug Task Force Tuesday afternoon in Fulda for selling methamphetamine.

A new ministry, ATLAS (Attaining Truth, Love and Self-Control), opened in Sibley, Iowa, recently, with co-directors Clark Haken and Corky Koerselman.

A late-night shooting in Windom resulted in the arrest of three suspects, Windom Police Chief Jeff Shirkey said.

Westbrook-Walnut Grove High School sophomore Samantha Baker won championship honors at the National FFA Agri-science Fair for her project that tested the effectiveness of antibacterial soap.

The annual Southwest Conference Choral Festival took place at Redwood Valley High School.

10 years ago

Citizens of Little Rock, Iowa, were mourning the loss of the town’s only grocery store, Little Rock Foods.

On sale at Worthington’s Hy-Vee store this week: a 15-lb. bag of russet potatoes, $1.88; a deli rotisserie chicken, $3.99; a half-gallon of Blue Bunny orange juice, 88 cents; two six-packs of 24-ounce bottles of Pepsi/Mountain Dew products for $4; and a “Super Mega Pack” of Luvs diapers for $16.97.

Tim Pawlenty won the Minnesota gubernatorial race, while Slayton-area farmer Doug Magnus, a Republican, led incumbent Democrat Ted Winter by more than eight percentage points in the race for the District 22A seat. In other local election results, the District 518-proposed, $394.93 per pupil-unit operating levy passed, with 55.72 percent of voters in favor of it and 44.28 percent opposed.

Playing this week at Worthington’s Northland Cinema 5 were “Abandon,” starring Katie Holmes and Benjamin Bratt, “The Santa Clause 2,” “The Ring” and “I Spy” with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson.

25 years ago

Out of 100 finalists named in the FarmFutures magazine 1987 Best Managed Farms contest, Bart DeBoer of Bigelow ranked 64th. Farmers competed and were ranked on the basis of financial performance and management. DeBoer said his Tandy 1000 computer helped him with record-keeping and also with keeping an eye on the commodity markets. DeBoer wasn’t the only finalist with a computer; according to the magazine, almost half of the top 100 had them.

Worthington Regional Hospital’s employee of the month was Gunny Mahlberg, R.N. Gunny was the Patient Care Coordinator R.N. for the hospital; she planned to retire in 1988.

Playing at Worthington’s Northland Cinema this week were “The Principal,” “Hell Raiser” and “The Pick-Up Artist.”

Two 18-year-old men — one of Worthington and one of Mountain Lake —were charged with several offenses following two apparent burglaries of Worthington residences on Oct. 29.

Melvin W. Moret was named plant manager at the Worthington Campbell Soup plant. Moret had joined the company 30 years earlier as a line worker and had served as interim plant manager since Nov. 1, 1986, when then-plant manager Thomas Von Holtum was transferred to Campbell’s corporate office at Camden, N.J.

50 years ago

Three Worthington youths and a girl from Austin sustained minor injuries in an accident late Wednesday night at the intersection of the “Fox Farm road” and County Road 9. The eastbound car failed to make a turn, skidded broadside for 100 yards, and flipped end over end. The car came to rest upside down in Vogt Park.

Weary law enforcement officers in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa said the recent Halloween night was for the most part quiet —but there were some serious incidents all throughout the area. The most serious case of vandalism reported was at a gravel pit three miles northeast of Wilmont where someone cut supporting bands around a 4,000 gallon water storage tank, collapsing the structure and flooding nearby pumps. Nobles County sheriff’s officers were investigating. In Worthington, Police Chief A. W. Shelquist said Halloween was marked by an unusually large number of youths throwing eggs at cars and overturning garbage cans. A manhole cover was stolen, and the hole was then covered with straw in an attempt to trap an unwary motorist. Also, a fire was set at the high school athletic field.

75 years ago

A fire that broke out in the basement of Lismore’s St. Anthony’s Church late Saturday night seriously damaged the basement itself, and invaded the sacristy of the building before being brought under control. Heavy damage was done to the vestments and other sacred objects housed in that part of the church, and smoke damage was forcing a thorough cleanup and redecoration throughout. The loss was fully covered by insurance.

A rarely encountered circumstance marked the birth of Nancy Bofenkamp, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Bofenkamp, on Oct. 28. The child was born on the birthday of her uncle, Dr. F. W. Bofenkamp, Luverne, who was also the doctor in charge of her delivery. A further coincidence was that Oct. 28 was also the birthday of Mrs. Bofenkamp’s sister, Louise. Nancy was the third child in the Ellsworth mayor’s family, following two brothers, Richard and Robert.

An injury necessitating the removal of the nail from the finger was suffered this week by Verna Ailts, daughter of Georgy Ailts, in a farm accident. The finger was pinched in the elevator while a load of corn was being removed. Medical treatment was required.

Specials this week at Worthington’s Silverbergs included six seedless Texas grapefruit for 19 cents, three pounds of yellow ripe bananas for 17 cents, a 49-pound bag of Pillsbury’s Best flour for $1.85, a dozen California Valencia oranges for 29 cents, and 10 pounds of Jonathan apples for 19 cents.

Tags: looking back, lifestyle, columns, reminiscing