Bob Swearingen, a time to be born: 10/23/1924; a time to die: 4/16/2021. I first met Bob when he and his wife, Marj, lived on a farm across the road from my parents when I was a student at Steele County School District #53. They would play cards with my parents and neighbor back and forth.
I finished high school at New Richland, enlisted in the US Navy, graduated from college in Mankato, got married to Genie, had two children and became an Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL) agent. Part of my territory was First Lutheran Church of Ellendale, where Bob and Marj were members, thus becoming their AAL agent. (They had moved to a farm just south of Beaver Lake.)
I jokingly referred to Bob as the patriarch of the Swearingen clan as I was the agent for about 40 of his relatives.
Bob, many thanks for the years of coffee and conversations. I enjoyed your words of, “Come again,” as I left your place. I know you and Marj are enjoying your new farm home.
Congrats to Eli as new owner of the Star Eagle newspaper. I let him know I would like to continue writing this column as a volunteer or at the same wage or if he wanted to, he could double my wage (mathematically, two times zero is still zero).
If you’re concerned about all the dead fish in Fountain Lake, contact the DNR at 1-800-766-6000. (There are lots of huge carp, even five nice walleyes on the grate at the dam under Bridge Avenue in Albert Lea.) Thanks for your concern.
As I’m walking across the bridge between Fountain Lake and Albert Lea Lake, I notice someone had pulled the sign down warning of the force of the water coming over the grate. With just my fingers I put the sign back, held by two of four bolts. (I could only find two of the four bolts.)
About then an employee of the Albert Lea Park and Rec department stops and looks at all the dead fish on the grate. He tells me he reported the dead fish to the Albert Lea Watershed.
I let him know about the sign I put back up, but couldn’t properly secure with just my fingers. His reply, “I’ll take care of it.”
I ask if it’s okay to give him credit in this column for the two good deeds – reporting the fish and putting the warning sign back up. His answer was a definite “no,” so I won’t tell you who this great Albert Lea Park and Rec employee is.
I will tell you the great longtime Hy-Vee employee, Sonya, is the boss in his family. I will tell you his parents, Larry and Judy, raised a good son.
Short shorts:
A.) Try to say this: “She sells seashells by the seashore” three times correctly.
B.) My neighbor across the street believes in fertilizing his lawn. I don’t believe in fertilizing the lawn because then I have to mow more often. My lawn sign reads, “Before fertilizing.” His reads, “After fertilizing.”
C.) A great Albert Lea Zoom school teacher found out I wasn’t a Zoom fan. She put a big, readable sign in her lake view window that reads, “Bob, have a great no-Zoom day.”
D.) The battery-driven electric car will reduce the need for gasoline with car owners having a plug-in system for their car in their garage. My question is, how will this affect utility electric producing companies?
E.) Many thanks to Kathleen at Hy-Vee in Des Moines for correcting our negative balance on the Fuel Savers Program. (The negative balance meant that for every gallon of Hy-Vee gas we purchased, we owed Hy-Vee money over and above the total purchase of the gas. My reaction—uffda!
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in New York. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.