Ellendale City Council

By SCOTT GROTH

Contributing Writer

The Ellendale City Council met January 26 with Mayor Engel and all council members present. Also attending the meeting was City Attorney Phil Kohl, Clerk Louks and Gwen Reiss, Municipal Liquor Store Consultant.

Mayor Engel opened the public hearing for the purpose of discussing the Anti-Blight Ordinance. The council along with Attorney Kohl have been working on putting together an ordinance that helps the city dictate where a sexually oriented business would be located. As stated in the ordinance, the city is trying to control, through zoning regulations, certain land uses that have a direct and detrimental effect on the character of the city’s residential and commercial neighborhoods. Attorney Kohl answered any questions the council had about the ordinance. With no one from the general public at the hearing, Mayor Engel closed the hearing at 7:20 p.m.

Mayor Engel opened the regular council meeting at 7:30 p.m. The council approved the amended agenda for the evening. 

The first item the council reviewed was the Anti-Blight Ordinance. Having held the public hearing prior to the meeting, the council moved to adopt the Anti-Blight Ordinance 01-26-12-01. The council next approved an ordinance that would amend part of the city’s zoning ordinance. The council amended three parts of Ordinance 80. The council next approved the summary of the Anti-Blight Ordinance. The city will post in its entirety the Anti-Blight Ordinance in the Community Building. 

PROUD CHAMPION — Lillian Bell was all smiles after winning the annual NRHEG Spelling Bee last Wednesday. (Star Eagle photo by Jessica Lutgens)

By JESSICA LUTGENS

Contributing Writer

Every year, 24 fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth-graders compete for the title of NRHEG Spelling Bee champion.

The Ellendale gym was filled with elementary and middle school students, parents and teachers, judges Anne Feist and Geoff Stieglebauer, and announcer Mark Domeier for this year’s event Wednesday, Jan. 25.

This year’s spellers were impressive, with the majority spelling words correctly in the first few rounds. In the first round, only one contestant misspelled a word, leaving 23 students to go onto round two. In the second round, two more students dropped out.

It was obvious after the first two rounds that everyone would be there for a while. The words weren’t too challenging, and the kids were hanging in quite well. After about 45 minutes, about half of the kids who were participating were now warming the bleachers on the side, becoming only spectators.

Arson suspected in Ellendale fires

Sometime last Wednesday, Jan. 25, several large black and orange signs were posted on the outside of the home at 403 5th Ave. West (or Hwy. 30), stating that arson is suspected and listing a hotline number and reward up to $2,500 for information leading to identification of those responsible for the fires.

According to Steele County Sheriff Lon Thiele, the signs were not posted by his department but could have been posted by an insurance company.

Investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing by the State Fire Marshal’s Office and Steele County Sheriff’s Department.

The home is owned by Mark and Sara Misgen.

PTO Community Night Out Saturday

Tickets are still available for the inaugural PTO Community Night Out taking place Saturday, Feb. 4. at the Ellendale School.

Festivities get underway with social hour from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be served at 5:30 and a live auction will follow at 7 p.m. 

Tickets can be purchased for only $15 per person at various locations around the NRHEG communities.

For those not wishing to have dinner but attend the auction, the doors will open at 6:30 p.m.  

You have to be a little older but you no doubt have heard of Kilroy. Kilroy was a figure sort of graffiti that could be found almost everywhere. It was easy to draw because it was like a bald headed man with big eyes and a long nose, peeking over a wall with both hands showing. Inscribed below the picture was "Kilroy Was Here".

He was as popular as any cartoon figure could be. The strange part was he wasn't really a cartoon figure. He was very much real. Recently my favorite cousin, Jim, sent me the real story of Kilroy and it goes like this.

Even if you never heard of Kilroy before, for the WWII generation, this will bring back memories. For the younger folks, it's a bit of trivia that is a part of our American history. Anyone born in the teens, ‘20s, and mid-‘30s, is familiar with Kilroy. People didn't know why, but they had lapel pins with his nose hanging over the label and the top of his face above his nose and his hands hanging over the label. No one knew why he was so well known, but they all joined in!

So who the heck was Kilroy?

In 1946, the American Transit Association, through its radio program, "Speak to America," sponsored a nationwide contest to find the real Kilroy, offering a prize of a real trolley car to the person who could prove himself to be the genuine article. Almost 40 men stepped forward to make that claim, but only James Kilroy from Halifax, Massachusetts had evidence of his identity.

Kilroy was a 46-year old shipyard worker during the war who worked as a checker at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy. His job was to go around and check on the number of rivets completed. Rivets were on piecework and he got paid by the rivet. He would count a block of rivets and put a check mark in semi-waxed lumber chalk, so the rivets wouldn't be counted twice. When Kilroy went off duty, the riveters would erase the mark. Later on, an off-shift inspector would come through and count the rivets a second time, resulting in double pay for the riveters.

One day Kilroy's boss called him into his office. The foreman was upset about all the wages being paid to riveters, and asked him to investigate. It was then he realized what had been going on. The tight spaces he had to crawl in to check the rivets didn't lend themselves to lugging around a paint can and brush, so Kilroy decided to stick with the waxy chalk. 

He continued to put his checkmark on each job he inspected, but added “KILROY WAS HERE” in king-sized letters next to the check, and eventually added the sketch to the chap with the long nose peering over the fence, which became part of the Kilroy message. Once he did that, the riveters stopped trying to wipe away his marks. Ordinarily, the rivets and chalk marks would have been covered up with paint. 

With the war on, however, ships were leaving the Quincy Yard so fast that there wasn't time to paint them. As a result, Kilroy's inspection "trademark" was seen by thousands of servicemen who boarded the troopships the yard produced.

His message apparently rang a bell with the servicemen, because they picked it up and spread it all over Europe and the South Pacific. Before war's end, "Kilroy" had been here, there, and everywhere on the long hauls to Berlin and Tokyo. To the troops outbound in those ships, however, he was a complete mystery. All they knew for sure was that someone named Kilroy had "been there first." As a joke, U.S. servicemen began placing the graffiti wherever they landed, claiming Kilroy was already there when they arrived.

Kilroy became the U.S. super G.I. who had always "already been" wherever "GIs" went. It became a challenge to place the logo in the most unlikely places imaginable (it is said to be atop Mr. Everest, the Statue of Liberty, the underside of I'Arc De Triomphe, and even scrawled in the dust on the moon.

As the war went on, the legend grew. Underwater demolition teams routinely sneaked ashore on Japanese-held islands in the Pacific to map the terrain for coming invasions by U.S. troops (and thus, presumably, were the first GI's there.) On one occasion, however, they reported seeing enemy troops painting over the Kilroy logo!

In 1945, an outhouse was built for the exclusive use of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill at the Potsdam conference. Its first occupant was Stalin, who emerged and asked his aide (in Russian), "Who is Kilroy?"

To help prove his authenticity in 1946, James Kilroy brought along officials from the shipyard and some of the riveters to prove his existence. He won the trolley car, which he gave to his nine children as a Christmas gift and set it up as a playhouse in the Kilroy front yard.

So, now you know the story.

Birthdays and anniversaries:

• Thursday, February 2nd: Kia Jayann Buendorf, her 4th; Matt Davis, Addie Farr, Joey Farr, Michael Farr, Butch Otteson, John Fornberg, Robert Hanson, Jim Motz, Karri Bangert, Lillie Fenney.

• Friday, February 3rd: Bowen Gregory Jensen, his 6th; Lily Neitzel, Julie Hanson, David Johnson, Sherry Misgen, Tara (Stollard) Richards, Francene Pittman, Jeremy Hanson.

• Saturday, February 4th: Aaron Duane Bauers, Tyler Cerney, Tyler Sorenson (1994), Waylen Busho Jr., Billy Glynn, David Newgard, Roy Jensen, John Lent.

• Sunday, February 5th: Lila Long, Crystal Simonson, Blanche Kasper, Darrell Howell, Randy Reese, Ericka Johnson, Kylee Jace Wilson, Wesley Schoenrock.

• Monday, February 6th: Jean Klocek, Carolyn Hanson, Dean Jensen, David Kelly, Martin Bartness, Colleen Borchert, Troy Haddy, Jean Clausen, Sonja Thompson, Megan Stephoni, Todd Nelson, Brooke Burns, Kay Swenson.

• Tuesday, February 7th: Cheryl Boettcher, Ted Pelzl, Kelly Simon, Emma Lorraine Klemmensen, Karissa Dolan, Dorothy Katz

• Wednesday, February 8th: Lainee Ann Krohn, Erin Thompson, Terry Wacek, Dennis & Cheryl Sauke.

Let the good times carry you away on your special day.

Once again, winter has finally made an appearance in our area of the state. Although most of you probably don’t feel that a brown winter is a bad thing, the snowfall brings much needed moisture to the area. This past week was also a reality check and reminded us of what time of the year it is and that we still have a lot of winter weather ahead.  The number of ice fishing houses  sitting on the channel each day is evidence that many Minnesotans actually embrace winter’s bite and look forward to it.

On this note, I need to mention an error in my last week’s column where I had mentioned a nice walleye that my grandson Trevor had caught. I accidently listed it as a 25-1/2 lb. walleye, but it was in reality a 25-1/2 incher. Now, I know that most fishermen are known to stretch the truth a little, but in this case, it was just a matter of thinking one thing and typing another. 

Luckily, my brother-in-law Lynn who lives in Nome, Alaska and seems to have plenty of time on his hands during the winter months was quick to call and point out my error. He went on to ask me if he could see the picture of that “monster” which would be a record for sure. I wish that he could proofread all of my stories before they go to print.

Speaking of Lynn, they have been experiencing some very cold weather this year in Nome. The Nome area had a shortage of fuel because of that tanker that struggled to get into Nome because of the early ice-over in the Bering Sea. About three weeks ago when we were basking in 50 degree weather, he called and said that it was -37 degrees. 

I had to let him know what our high was +52 that day. I look at this as a little payback for summer when he calls and asks if it’s warm here, knowing full well that it is about 98 at the time. It’s all good-natured fun that we both like to participate in.

I have always looked at snow as one of Mother Nature’s ways of making things seem so clean and fresh. Now, shoveling clean and fresh may not be one of my favorite things, but even that has some redeeming exercise qualities alongside the old snow scoop. 

When we bought the snow blower a couple of years back, I thought things would be great. I almost felt like I was losing an old friend when the faithful scoop was put on the inactive list. I had nothing to worry about. 

However, when starting the snow blower a problem arose. A leaky gas tank meant I had to bring the scoop out of retirement. I guess simple is still pretty effective as there are no parts to replace and starting it is as easy as motivating the operator.

The sight of little critter tracks in the snow has always given me a certain feeling that nature is on the right track (pun intended). We have some resident rabbits living in the backyard. And from time to time, I will see one of them sitting in the front yard as if it were checking out the traffic, or lack of it.

To me there is nothing more relaxing than taking a drive in the country as the light of the moon lights up the snow covered landscape. In recent years, we have been seeing increased numbers of coyotes. In fact, sometimes at night my son Brian, who lives in the country, says that he can hear them howling in the woods behind their place. I don’t know what the coyote population is in our area, but I do know that it has been growing each year. The sound of calling coyotes reassures me that there are still parts of nature that man cannot totally control. I also think that their presence has probably been one of the contributors to the decrease in numbers of the pheasant population.

Although I had some serious doubts about it happening this year, the warming houses are finally open at the parks. It just wouldn’t feel like it was winter if I didn’t hear the banging of pucks against the boards or see the lights shining in the night sky a block away from our house. When our boys were young, they spent every spare moment of their winter at Academy Park. I have always felt that the park is where kids really learned to play hockey. 

You could tell that it was a fun time for them when the boys would come home and tell us that they were playing hockey with some of the high school players in a pickup game.  This was a big deal to young aspiring hockey players, as it taught them to love the game where no stats were kept and the only thing that counted was how much fun you had. The one thing about hockey that makes it special is that everyone contributes and everyone touches the puck at one time or another during a game. I guess that is one reason why I still enjoy coaching youth hocke. It is a team sport and while some kids strive to be the best they can be, others play because they love the sport and just want to have the fun of participating. 

Until next time, play safe, watch out for thin ice, good fishin’ and enjoy the Minnesota outdoors experience.

Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers during the holidays and the coming year. They are the reason we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.

It’s good to be back. I enjoyed my three-month hiatus, but all the things I was going to accomplish with my additional time didn’t happen. Although, I think my naps grew in number and length.

There haven’t been a lot of positive things to write about on the Minnesota sports scene until the recent resurgence of the Minnesota Gophers and Timberwolves.

Tubby Smith’s Gophers have won three out of four games recently with freshman Joe Coleman leading the way. Even so, a guy wonders about the future of a 6-4 forward who works best around the basket. Six-four is small for a college forward. Swingman sounds better and it’s possible Coleman will be able to flourish in that role. It would be very helpful for Coleman to develop a longer shooting range which would open up the floor for him. Probably the best example of a very effective short forward is Hall of Famer Charles Barkley who was a great power forward and rebounded at only 6-5.

It’s good the Gophers have started to win a few. The losses were starting to get to Tubby Smith. In a recent press conference, he threw Ralph Sampson III under the bus for not driving to the basket. He did the same thing last year with Blake Hoffarber who was playing out of position and was a spot up shooter. Tubby knew Sampson’s game and it was perfectly acceptable until the Gophers lost a few in a row and Smith needed a scapegoat. Tubby needs to accept responsibility for his team. That’s why he gets the millions. It’s easy to win and be gracious, but it’s more difficult to lose and show grace.

The Timberwolves have captured the attention of Minnesota basketball fans and to a lesser degree the nation. Coach Rick Adelman and point guard Ricky Rubio have transformed the team. They now play defense and look for the open man. Analyst Charles Barkley called Kevin Love the best power forward in the league. That’s quite a statement given the great athletes out there. Love has played extremely well to date and although Minnesota is in a tough division, he and Rubio may lead the Wolves to the playoffs.

There is one caveat concerning Kevin Love. It’s perhaps easier to be a star on a losing team when you are the whole show and it really doesn’t matter much if you win or lose. It is more difficult when you have to subjugate your game to the team’s needs. I believe Love will be a team player. The team’s success is more important to him than individual statistics. In any case, it is fun to watch the Timberwolves and know they have a future. Kevin McHale made the right move when he traded O.J. Mayo for Kevin Love.

Our Minnesota Twins are less than a month away from Spring Training. They are starting three days earlier than last year. After watching last year’s team, they can use all the Spring Training they can get. The best move they made all last year was rehiring Terry Ryan as General Manager. Ryan has done O.K., but I had higher expectations. The current thinking seems to be, if not exactly poor mouthing the team’s available money, at least indicating that there is not much available. The new acquisitions by the Twins seem to follow that thinking. My feeling is that with the new stadium and the money it generates this is not the time to pinch pennies. However, we’ll cross our fingers, look to the future and hope for the best for Ryan and the team.

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

“Did we clean the restroom this year?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Did we clean it last year?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Make a note. We need to clean it next year for sure.’

Driving by the Bruces

I have two wonderful neighbors — both named Bruce — who live across the road from each other. Whenever I pass their driveways, thoughts occur to me, such as: if you try to fail and you succeed, which have you done?

I've learned

1. We hope to have better children than those of our parents.

2. If you want time to pass more slowly, drive the speed limit.

3. A nice thing about living in a small town is that you can walk to the car wash.

A child cracks wise

I was teaching a writing class to third through eighth-graders. I asked the class why they thought school was important. One delightful third-grader named Jasmyne replied, “Because without school, we would be dumb and stuff.”

A former kid

I congratulated a stranger whose parked car carried a bumper sticker proclaiming that her child was an honor student. The proud mother showed me a photo of the child. I am the youngest in my family. There were no bumper stickers congratulating me or any other child. There were few photos of me. As I said, I’m the baby of my family. My parents had apparently satisfied their need for photographs before I was born. My only chance of getting into a photo was if I happened to walk in front of the camera while my mother was taking a photo of a used car my parents had just purchased.

Rural ramblings

It snowed, but I was able to get out of the yard. Being snowed in isn't as bad as being snowed out. Not being able to get home hurts.

I live in the country. Some people live in the city so that they might be close to things. Some people live in the country so that they aren't close to things. There may be a lack of some things in rural areas, but some of the things that are lacking aren’t needed.

In my boyhood years, there were many more farmers than there are today. Things change. They always have. Fewer farmers mean there are fewer farm sites. Some have become fields without evidence they ever existed.

If there are ghosts on farmsteads, they are not only in the neglected houses and crumbling barns, but in the implements as well. The farm equipment, no longer of use and of limited value, mark sites growing robust burdock and ragweed. There is enough iron below ground to make a metal detector sing its battery dead. The past makes itself known in rust.

Lilacs mark the interaction with the past.

Scenes from marriages

They were high school sweethearts. I know because they told me. They had been married for 60 years. I asked if it had been love at first sight.

He answered, “It was for me. Not for her. I wore her down.”

She added, “He’s still wearing me down.”

A friend told me that when he and his wife were first married, she indicated the need for a clothes dryer. He told her, “How can we afford that?”

Not long after that, as he prepared to go on an extended hunting trip with friends, his wife asked, “How can we afford that?”

They got a dryer.

Nature notes

Why do some deciduous trees keep their leaves in winter? I see this exhibited in oak trees, particularly red oaks. Marcescent is the term used for a tree that holds its leaves through the winter. In autumn, the leaves of most deciduous trees develop an abscission layer where the petiole (leaf stalk) meets the branch. This allows the leaves to fall off without leaving an open wound. Dry leaves remain if abscission layers didn’t occur. Marcescence is often a juvenile trait and might disappear as the tree matures. Leaves sometimes persist only on scattered branches. Marcescence is genetic, but weather plays a part. Early frost kills leaves before abscission layers form. Leaves may endure to combat limited fecundity. When a tree sheds it leaves in early spring, they become mulch that provides nourishment during the growing season.

From the mailbag

Ric McArthur of Ontario writes, “If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy man--he will find an easy way to do it.”

Meeting adjourned

Benjamin Franklin said, "Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."

“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” – Unknown

Every time I sit down to write this column, I usually find my mind blank, and I feel very uninspired. The blank white page and the blinking cursor seem to be mocking me, laughing at the fact I have no idea what to write about. My mind is still slightly groggy from sleep. I’ve guzzled down a cup and a half of coffee, and still haven’t gotten very far.

Sometimes I like to look up inspirational quotes in hopes of finding one to spark some creativity, and in my search this morning I stumbled across the aforementioned quote: “The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”

It stood out to me for some reason. I’m pretty sure it’s because of the not-so-ordinary lifestyle I’ve chosen. People who hear about my situation tend to be slightly confused, and with good reason. I’m 18, not graduated from high school yet, have a full-time job and pretty much take care of myself. I chose to grow up fast, and sometimes it’s overwhelming. The responsibility put on me is great, and I’m determined to prove to everyone I can handle it.

I’m sure we’ve all had that something we wanted to do that seemed almost impossible: chasing after your dreams, being the best at something, winning a contest, whatever it may be. Those things you’re so determined to be successful at, you know nothing is going to stop you from achieving it. Even if you’ve failed in the past, or the future doesn’t look very bright, my advice is this: never give up. It’s original, right? However cliché it may be, it’s some of the best advice I’ve ever received.

There’s no better feeling than achieving your goal after putting in long amounts of time working for it while people tell you, “There’s no way you’re going to do this.” My goal of making this whole “living on my own, taking online classes, keeping a full-time job and staying in a happy, year-long relationship,” is something I’m determined to accomplish. I want to prove to everyone the past year and some odd months were just a small bump in the road of a happy, successful life.

Apart from being a struggle, my life has been going pretty great lately. I’m happy, I’ve got my future (kind of) planned out, and I’m going down a road I feel good about. My dad always used to tell me how time flies the older you get, and I hadn’t really noticed until now. But now life is coming at me full force, and I’m ready for it. No matter what, I will succeed, I will come out on top, and I will do what people think I can’t. I promise.

The scurs were right about the temperatures rebounding on Monday. They just weren’t aware that it would take the ball all the way to the hoop for a slam dunk. Will our January temps and relatively sparse precip last into February? Starting Wednesday and Thursday (Groundhog Day), partly cloudy with a high near 40 and a low around 25. Mostly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of snow and/or rain. Highs of 35 and lows around 20. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of snow. Highs again near 35 and lows of 20. Sunday partly cloudy with highs near 35 and lows of 20 – 25. Mostly sunny both Monday and Tuesday with highs of 30 – 35. Lows Monday night near 20 and cooling to 10 – 15 on Tuesday night. The normal high for February 2nd is 24 and the normal low is 5. On the 5th we will be back over 10 hours of daylight for the first time since early November. The scurs will not see their shadow on the 2nd meaning six more weeks of winter just like normal.

The Full Moon for the month falls on the 7th and generally goes by the Full Snow Moon. It was also called the Full Hunger Moon by the tribes of the northeast as the deep snow made hunting difficult. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Sucker Moon as the suckers would be running. The Sioux called this the Raccoon Moon as frequently the raccoons would awaken from their slumber to forage for food during a February thaw. This also coincides with the little fat buddies beginning to forage for goodies after all the Christmas goodies have finally been consumed.

Other happenings in the February evening sky continue to include the nightly show by Venus and Jupiter. Venus continues to stay out a little longer each night and the moon’s recent conjunctions with Jupiter have been beautiful. The distance in the sky between the two planets will become less as the month wears on. Mars is becoming bigger and brighter with each passing night as earth catches up to its orbit. Mars will rise about three hours after sunset in the east on the 1st and by the end of the month, it will appear just after sunset. Saturn is rising just after midnight and by the end of the month, it will rise about 10 p.m. With clear nights predicted it should be a good time for viewing other members of our solar system. The sky will be crowded with all the planetary activity. 

We continued back on our lower than normal precipitation track in January after being close to normal in December. At the ranch we’ve tallied .71” of liquid precip for January and roughly 7.7” of snow. Interestingly enough, last January we only generated about 3.5” of snow. The difference was it stayed cold and blew it around every other day. Compare that to the 30-year normal at the SROC from 1971 – 2000 of 1.39” and 13.1” of snow. What does February look like? So far NOAA’s predictions are for better than even odds of continued above normal temperatures and even odds of above or below normal precipitation. We continue to be classified in a severe drought, one that as of January 19th is predicted to persist through the end of April. That could change however if La Niña decides to disappear prior to planting season. Only time will tell.

A big “thank you” should go out to all those who bought snow blowers and other snow removal equipment this winter. We all owe you. A good percentage of the moisture we have had has likely gone into the ground. While we have lost some to evaporation, the thawing and refreezing has created some room for the snow melt. Along with that, there simply hasn’t been enough moisture for runoff to occur. Streams are not increasing in flow and wetlands are showing no sign of being recharged. The wetting followed by freezing and thawing we have seen should also help break down some of the large clods resulting from last fall’s tillage operations. One negative to all the warm weather has been the short stay on the ice for many of the permanent fish houses. Monday’s warm temps brought a mass exodus from area lakes. Not only can the ice become shaky with water on the ice swirling around the houses, the accesses can become rutted and not easily traversed. Time to get ‘em off while the getting’s good. 

We did actually have some colder weather and snow on the ground this past week for a while, bringing more activity back to the birdfeeders. However, at the ranch we had a sharp-shinned hawk hanging around for a few days. That seemed to dampen the enthusiasm of the smaller feathered friends. Still, there were a half-dozen goldfinches, two white-breasted nuthatches, four of the leghorn-sized blue jays, some downies and hairies as well as a return visit from a couple chickadees. They seemed absolutely delighted by the smorgasbord of sunflower seed, thistle seed and suet, bringing a smile to my face while observing their antics. 

Ruby spent much of the past weekend watching out the window for her squirrel. Just before I was ready to go to town for more tax paperwork work, she began growling loudly and frantically scratching at the sliding glass door to go out. At first glance there was no squirrel out there. Upon closer observation, there was no squirrel evident but suddenly there was a squirrel tail waving fanatically from the tree trunk in an attempt to taunt the little Border Collie. After Ruby made a quick trip out the front door, the squirrel beat it back up into the branches, thankful that small, lightning quick red and white dogs can’t climb trees. 

See you next week…real good then.

The memorial service for Donald Hamilton will be held at Country Neighbors in New Richland, Minnesota on Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 2 p.m. with Reverend Scott Williams officiating. Internment will be at St. Peter Cemetery outside of New Richland with military honors.

Donald, who was 100 years old, died Monday, January 30, 2012 at Country Neighbors, according to his wishes.

Donald was born December 14, 1911 in Parton, England to James and Sarah (Carr) Hamilton.  He immigrated to the United States with his mother and 3 of his siblings in 1920 after his father died at age 52 in a drowning accident. He grew up in Rock Springs, Wyoming and for a few years enjoyed being a cowboy with his good friend, Alec.  Donald later had a job with the Wyoming State Highway Dept shoveling and picking rocks which eventually led into surveying roads going into Yellowstone National Park.  He met the love of his life, Esther S. Michaelis, in Big Piney, Wyoming, where Esther was the superintendent of the school. They were married on May 30, 1936.  Donald started working for the United States Border Patrol in 1941 and continued until his retirement after 30 years of service.  He attended college in Minot, North Dakota & also in Grand Forks, at the University of North Dakota.  Don was a veteran of WW II and was stationed in the Southwest Pacific as a military policeman. He had entered the Army on September 15, 1943 and was honorably discharged as a 1st Lt on June 8, 1945. Over the 70+ years Don & Esther were married they lived in numerous areas of the United States but retired to New Richland to be closer to Esther’s family.  Donald was a member of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in New Richland. Donald was an avid golfer & he spent multitudes of hours reading to keep his mind sharp.  He enjoyed driving his Cadillac to Florida where he and Esther spent many winters.  Donald adored his wife, Esther, and was her devoted caretaker in her later years when her health declined.  Don will be fondly remembered and missed by all the dedicated staff of Country Neighbor’s who cared for him.

Donald is survived by several nieces and nephews.

Donald was preceded in death by his parents, James and Sarah Hamilton; his wife, Esther; and all ten of his siblings, Andrew, Isabelle, Eva, Minnie, Sally, James, Jack, Roger, Ambrose, & Janet.