By SCOTT GROTH

Contributing Writer

The Ellendale City Council met April 14, 2011 with Councilmen Helland, Reiter, Goebel and Groth present. Mayor Engel was out of town. Also in attendance for the evening were Clerk Louks, Maintenance Supervisor Swearingen, City Engineer Wes Brown and Jeremy Reese.

Acting Mayor Scott Groth called the meeting to order. The council approved the amended agenda for the evening.

The first item of business was to appoint a chief for the Ellendale Fire Department. Clerk Louks told the council that the department had recently held an election and would recommend the appointment of Jeremy Reese as the new chief. Jeremy has lived in the area most of his life and has been on the department for the last 15 years. Jeremy told the council he felt he was up to the task of running the department. The council moved to make the appointment and congratulated Reese on his appointment. Reese said he would try and come once a month with Sec. Johnson.

By RACHEL RIETSEMA

Staff Writer

All members of the Geneva City Council united to discuss town matters on April 12. Once Mayor Steve Bailey called the meeting to order, councilman Janell Tufte made a motion to accept minutes, the financial report and bills payable. Returning councilman Rich Weckwerth seconded, and it carried.

The council then invited Kory Kress to the table for his plans of a deck addition to his house. Kress pitched his ideas to the council, saying the home project would involve 500 square feet, with its widest point tallying 16 feet. He went on to explain that the cost will be around $2700, and that he’ll purchase the necessary materials in town.

Tufte made a motion to grant the building permit, and councilmen Taff Worrell seconded. The motion carried, so city clerk Nancy Cornelius requested Kress with an amount of $20 to make the matter final. The money will go directly to the City of Geneva.

Andy Bernau then stepped forward to annotate this year’s audit report. The general fund originally budgeted for $132,300, but disbursements totaled $201,901. So Bernau recommended the council to readjust the budget for more accuracy.

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Antarctica. Charles Schultz.

One can only imagine how difficult times were during the Great Depression because most of us didn't experience it first-hand, but in some ways we did, because it left a mark on our parents and grandparents. When I think about it I realize it influenced their lives and ours in turn.

I know I always turn to my grandmother when I am thinking about stories, but in her I saw the effect of some of that extreme poverty.

She never bought anything unless she had the money to pay for it. She paid bills immediately and she saved for a rainy day. She didn't buy things she could do without. That is not to say she led a frugal life. She just knew the value of thinking ahead and doing without. It may have been second nature to her because she had already gone through some of those same problems coming from Denmark as a child. We could say maybe she didn't realize any difference, but that wasn't true. There were stories she told of other people’s wealth or possessions, but there was never any envy — just the fact that she could live without them. I remember in particular her talking about being invited to a birthday party as a school-age child at the biggest and fanciest house in town. It was like Cinderella at the ball. The house was so impressive to her. The house was well over 125 years old and still stands, and to me is still impressive despite its age.

When the liquor store in Geneva was built, my parents bought the house that stood on the piece of property that the city planned to build the new liquor store on. They had the house moved to its present location, just west of the park. It is part of the family today. But I am getting away from my original thinking.

There was no electricity in my grandparents’ farm home until my grandmother felt they could pay for it. The same was true of the refrigerator and the stove. She used the old cook stove. She never had a microwave or air conditioner, in fact, not even a fan. She did allow us to give her an electric frying pan and she was not a miser. She led a good life. She just had been brought up to know that though money isn't everything, without it is not easy.

The Great Depression of 1929 and the ‘30s taught thrift and conservation.  Rural families traditionally had stronger family, marriage, and relationships, possibly because they worked together and their marriages survived hard times better. It was not hard to understand that people had become afraid of the future. To our elders it meant taking no chances. Paying one’s debts, putting some aside, and be prepared was their way of life. The fear is always there having lived it. It not only made it a permanent part of our lives, but many of its effects were handed down to our generation.

Children learned that waste was taboo. Respecting one’s resources was the rule.  Wise parents instilled their virtues in their children as a way of life. Weather played a devastating part. A killing frost back on August 19th, 1929 destroyed the crops and gardens. The early ‘30s were hot and dry. The fields and hay burned brown. By 1932, wheat sold for 35 cents per bushel with field harvest at 4 bushels an acre. Fat beef sold for 2 1/2 cents a pound, lean for 1 cent a pound.  Eggs dropped to 3 cents a dozen and stamps went from 2 to 3 cents.

The CCC, Civil Conservation Corps, took young men off the streets and gave them meaningful work conserving our natural resources. The CWA put 400 million men to work on highways and dams. Public works by the WPA can still be viewed by the monogram. My mother can remember the old high school in Albert Lea had a moniker that proclaimed it was built by the WPA and the date. It was in the east end of the entrance to the main auditorium. Such evidence is also stamped on other public buildings, bridges, and dams like the dam on the south side of St. Olaf Lake.

School text books had to be conserved and reused. Businesses cut work hours to the bone. It was often said that the big depression was won in the ladies kitchen because of their ingenuity in using wisely what little was to be had. Heating fuel was a constant worry. Trees were cut and again ingenuity made broken down cars into valuable trailers to haul the wood in alloted amounts. There was also bartering with items one needed for something another didn't have.

Scams and stealing was rampant. House parties were in vogue, games like croquet were played with rocks, and sticks were made into stilts. Popcorn was a special treat.

Families were committed and men were made from boys. "Dumpster diving" provided creative materials and children grew up fast learning to sew, cook and clean, darn socks and pick up coal from the ground. They hunted pigeon, rabbit and squirrel. It was not unusual to walk 5 miles further if it saved a family or two. Many children and adults that had money in banks that was never returned were left with a lifelong distrust of saving institutions.

Toothbrushes were a luxury and baking soda or salt was used as a dentifrice.

Veterans who returned from the war faced a country robbed of everything a land should have. They needed time to adjust and there was work to be done, but for many it was too much and their spirits and bodies lost hope.

For those who made it, the strength and character they developed became their most valuable resource. The vegetable garden provided any number of old and new ideas. Did the Depression save us from heart disease? Could we use the same ingenuity today to solve some of the economic-problems we are facing?

Some of our Star Eagle readers have commented that they like to read about the local happenings and family events such as family & school reunions, birthday & anniversary celebrations, and birth & wedding announcements.

In order to read about these important things we need our faithful readers to pass along the information to us, so we can then pass along the news to you. If you have news to share, please contact me.

Also, if our NRHEG Star Eagle readers would like to share birthdays and anniversaries of your family and friends, or you know of some that should be deleted, or names have changed, please contact me via e-mail, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; by postal mail, P.O. Box 192, Geneva, MN 56035 or telephone, 507-256-4405.

Birthdays and anniversaries:

• Thursday, April 21st: Helen Pierce, Michael Foster, Veronica Graif, Adrian Kilian, Marilyn Reistad, Elmer Vanden Heuvel

• Friday, April 22nd: Noah Lowell Swearingen, his 8th; Rollie Johnson, David Purdy, Gregory Swearingen, Stacy Thostenson Harold, James Van Riper, Marilyne Dodge, Mike & Sarah Collins, Rodger & Sue Hill

• Saturday, April 23rd: Jayne Miller, Buffy Bergland, Alan Edwardson, Jackie Johnson Miller

• Sunday, April 24th: Madison Kae Wagner, Marnie Ray Wagner, Dak Sorenson, Gladys Burr, Marilyn Cuden, Audrey Paulson, Lowell Wichmann, Scott Brandt, Kara Vangen

• Monday, April 25th: Ed Deml, Nicole Langlie La Tourneau, Nicole Nielson, Evie Toft, Christine Davidson, Jeff Kunkel, Janice Morreim, Stan Reichl

• Tuesday, April 26th: Jim Arends, Lester Casterton, Teresa Deml Sisler, Beverly Harpel, Jean Larson, Pat Motl, Ashley Bangert, Mary Peterson, Pat Pichner, Steve & Judy Christensen, Bob & Gerry Flim, Allan & Darline Jensen

• Wednesday, April 27th: Brian Schember, Norma Robertson, Heidi & Christopher Olson

• Thursday, April 28th: Martin Rossing, Rodney Peterson, Mildred Flugum, Jamie Cameron,  Jean & Chuck Groth

• Friday, April 29th: Derek Anthony Kubicek, his 5th; Jane Brocker, Roberta Dettman, Angie Hall, Mitchell Jensen, Pat & Linda Goodnature, Jennifer & Steve Schultz

May your special day be filled with warm wishes and fond memories.

Over the years I have found that at times although I have been quite obsessed with buying fishing lures I am not in this thing alone. There are many forms of addiction; alcohol, drugs and Robert Palmer even had a song about being addicted to love. I on the other hand suspect that I may be addicted to lures. In talking with a friend at coffee the other day I found out that he too is quite a lure collector. In fact, after a little conversation I began to feel like small potatoes compared to him.

It seems that as each fishing season opener draws nearer I find myself feeling a void, sort of like I am missing something. Once I diagnose the problem I begin to realize that I just don’t have the necessary tackle to start another fishing season. There is new line to be bought, jigs and plastic bodies that need to be replaced and, of course, there is that “new and improved” lure that just hit the market and not having it would be the only thing standing between me and a season of fishing success.

Over the years I have become much more discreet with my purchases or maybe it’s just that my wife has learned to accept the fact that I will always be buying at least one new lure at this time of year. When the boys were still living at home and we were going on our family vacations to Spider Lake she must have finally felt enough was enough and decided on an intervention. She just asked me: why are you buying all those artificial lures when most of our fishing involves live bait? It was a question for which I had no reasonable explanation. I didn’t purposely quit buying lures but every time I would pick up one of the latest “sure fire” lures her words of wisdom would pop into my head.

I must admit that although I’ve not quit buying new lures I have been limiting my purchases. I do think that some of these new lures we see advertised on fishing shows are designed to catch the biggest fish of all – the fisherman! I have to admit I have bought a couple of muskie lures after watching a guy on TV hammering the fish with his latest “Hawg Chaser” or whatever it was named. I bought one lure that I think was called Pig in the Poke or something like that. This guy was just raking in the muskies with that lure so I had to have it. I think that the thing must weigh about 4 lbs. because it is one heavy lure. I know I must have pumped up my casting arm by quite a bit when using it. I have more than my share of lures that have escaped unscathed from the jaws of numerous muskies.

I can still justify the purchasing of a new lure if one has been lost to a “giant” fish. This is a free pass to the candy land of fishermen. I know that the lure should be replaced because didn’t it just get taken by a monster fish that I didn’t see but just knew would have been my own personal record. While I’m at it I may just have to buy another of a little different color.

Fishing has been heating up

Fishing in two Albert Lea area lakes has been picking up. There are perch being caught from the Front Street Bridge or off the fishing pier in the channel by Frank Hall Park. Crappies and sunnies have been biting in Edgewater Bay. Crappies are being caught along the shore on Hwy. 13 and sunnies can be had off of the fishing pier in the park itself. There have also been some crappies being caught in Dane Bay. Now is a just a great time to fish the early season panfish and perch and you should be able to find them almost anywhere along the shore of Fountain Lake.

A couple of other area lakes that may be worth a look are St. Olaf Lake by New Richland, which has some quality size crappies both white and black. St. Olaf also has some nice northern in it but there is are some size restrictions that you can find posted at the access. Beaver Lake near Ellendale has both black crappie and bluegill but the size range for both is relatively small. It also has a good walleye population with a nice size range. Both lakes offer fishing piers if you don’t have a boat or just don’t want to drop your boat in. Both lakes could be a great place for a family outing with picnic areas available.

Until next time; it’s time to do a little fishing and get out and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors!

Remember our brothers and sisters who are proudly serving our country so that we can keep enjoying the freedoms we have today.

When a team wins, many flaws are covered up. Conversely, when they lose, flaws are readily noticeable. That’s true of most everything. Think back a couple of decades to when the Twins won the ‘87 and ‘91 World Series, the Metrodome was looked upon affectionately. But during the down years and losing seasons, it became a dirty place smelling of old hot dogs.

It is true of the current Minnesota Twins that while winning, flaws are overlooked and even accepted as part of the make-up of the team. Not so when they’re losing, particularly when the flaws contribute to the losses and the losses begin to mount up.

DicknBert, Twins’ announcers, contribute to our surprise when the flaws become evident by their not mentioning them previously. I don’t blame them, for they are obviously following the party line. To give an example; in a recent Tampa Bay game there was a pop fly ball to shallow right field and the fly was not caught by right fielder Cuddyer and, because of the misplay, Joe Nathan then had a runner on second with one out instead of two outs with nobody on base. The inning then unraveled and Tampa won the game. They never explained that Cuddyer lost the fly in the ceiling and that it should have been the second out and Nathan was not to blame. It rested with the outfielder.

The Twins haven’t changed. They started the season with concerns. Their outfield has less range than any other in the Central Division. Delmon Young has limited coverage in left field. That is also true of Michael Cuddyer in right field who has difficulty going back on fly balls. When he picks up the ball he does have a good arm. Denard Span is an average center fielder when the Twins need a Kirby Puckett or Torii Hunter, given the mobility of the fielders flanking him. The need is especially evident when flyball pitchers Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey are on the mound.

Fans were concerned with the middle infield and with the injury to Nishioka, those concerns have come home to roost. The other day anager Ron Gardenhire had Cuddyer playing second base with Matt Tolbert at shortstop. Not a pennant-winning combination.

To sum up, we’re talking about the outfield range, the middle infield and the inability of Joe Nathan to close. The flaws are there, but the good news is they were always there, and we all thought they could be overcome. And they will be through hard work, injury recovery and good planning. We do have a first-rate closer available in Matt Capps. Joe Mauer will be back and the good news is that his problems may have been closely related to intestinal flu. Nishioka will be back and the infield has a good chance of being solid again. That will help immensely. For example, the fly ball that Cuddyer missed would have been caught by the speedy Nishioka if he was playing second.

If the Twins can play .500 ball until Mauer and Nishioka get back, the Twins will do well the rest of the season. They, along with Gardenhire, will combat the flaws as mentioned above. Kubel has played well in the outfield. Delmon Young looks to be improved from last year as he made a couple of fine plays coming in on sinking liners. Cuddyer may become the most versatile player in the majors and while he won’t win many Golden Gloves, he is a good guy to have on your side.

The Twins may have an early rough patch, but they will handle their problems and when they do, they will be a better team.

Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

“I hear someone stole gas from your place?”

“Yes.”

“You should have put a lock on the gas pump. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Maybe so, but I’m still blaming the thief.”

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: gratitude is what makes what I have into what I love.

Things I’ve learned

1. I can save money by using a facial tissue twice — first to clean my glasses and then to blow my nose. It must be in that order.

2. If I’m doing something that requires me to be on my hands and knees, I should find something else that needs doing while I’m down there.

3. If I can think of it, there is a Web site dedicated to it.

From the family files

My two-year-old grandson has acquired, through no effort of his own, the nickname Bubba. It made for interesting conversation at the restaurant as his one-year-older sister, Everly, said, “Why does Bubba have a knife?”

 Don’t let the library burn

I was visiting a 98-year-old friend in her nursing home room. I was writing down some things she was telling me. She asked me why I was scribbling away. I told her that she knew things that nobody else knew and each time a person dies, it’s as if a library had burned to the ground. Some things need to be written down. She admitted to knowing about things that few alive had experienced. Then she added, “But I could tell you anything. Who is going to call me a liar?”

Our changing landscape

I drive about the countryside and remember farm places that are no longer there, small farms that have become part of large farms. I recall families and names that lived on farms that have disappeared without a trace. I come by such recollections naturally. I can remember riding in an old Pontiac with my father as he waved a hand toward a shopping mall or housing development and said, “I remember when all of this was nothing but farmland.”

I remember old farmhouses that made way for more farmland. 

From the neighborhood

My neighbor Marcus Absent teaches Political Science 101 at the local community college. He covers the two-party system like so, “There once were two cats of Kilkenny. Each thought there was one cat too many. So they fought and they fit, and they scratched and they bit, till excepting their nails, and the tips of their tails, instead of two cats, there weren't any.”

I want patience and I want it now

I wanted things I didn’t have. That was because I didn’t always want the things I had. I didn’t just want things, I wanted instant gratification. Bertrand Russell wrote, “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.”

We were without things, but we had plastic silverware. We had the good plastic silverware when I was a boy. It came with purchased dinners and my mother thought the plastic utensils too good to throw away. She washed and reused them until better silverware appeared. She had perfected deferred gratification.

Walter Mischel is a psychologist who offered a marshmallow to each of a group of preschoolers. If a child could resist eating the marshmallow, he or she was given two marshmallows instead of one. Mischel discovered a correlation between the marshmallow experiment and the children’s future achievements. A child who waited for the second marshmallow was more successful in school and career.

I’m going to wait for the second marshmallow and eat it with the good plastic silverware.

The café chronicles

Old Man McGinty, the youngest Old Man McGinty ever, was having a heated argument with his best friend, Ripe Richard. As Old Man McGinty left the café, he said to Ripe Richard, “I'm so mad, I'm taking you off my pallbearer list!”

Nature notes

“Is it a good idea to burn a tick off my body?” No. Removing the tick promptly is crucial, since the likelihood of contracting a disease or infection rises sharply after 24 hours. Traumatizing the tick with heat carries a risk of making it regurgitate, increasing the chance of infection. Squeezing or crushing the tick and smothering it with Vaseline or nail polish are no better. The proper method is to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible with tweezers and pull it gently straight up. Then clean the area with a disinfectant.

Meeting adjourned

Don’t waste your time being unkind.

Looks like the scurs will be out of the running for Miss Congeniality if they continue to deliver forecasts predicting crummy weather. Such is life. Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a chance of snow in the morning and early afternoon. Highs near 40 and lows of 25 - 30. Thursday, partly cloudy with highs climbing to a balmy 45 and lows dropping to 35. Chance of a rain/snow mix by evening. Cloudy on Friday with highs once again near 45 and lows of 35. A chance of rain and/or snow in the morning, a chance of rain in the afternoon and a slight chance of snow in the evening. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of afternoon showers. Highs of 50 – 55 and lows around 35. Partly cloudy on Easter Sunday with highs of 60 and lows of 45. Monday, mostly cloudy with a chance of rain. Highs of 60 and lows of 45 – 50. Mostly cloudy Tuesday with a slight chance of a rain shower. Highs near 70 and lows around 50. The normal high for April 23 is 61 and the normal low is 37. We continue to add daylight at just a little under 3 minutes per day and on the 27th, we will have achieved 14 hours of sunshine, except for the fact of course that the sun only shines about 2 out of 5 days! The scurs will be eating the remains of their headless chocolate bunnies left over from Easter Sunday.

The weather continues to be stuck on the March cycle. There is a chance that we may actually register more snow at the ranch in April than we did in March, something that usually doesn’t happen. It has made fieldwork a bit of a challenge as the ground is not quite fit to plant especially as one moves north. The weekend snow/rain has also made life miserable with the sun shining only occasionally and temperatures remaining well below normal. Last Saturday’s high was typical for what we’d see the second week in March. Snow always makes for a special problem as it takes time to melt when it’s cool, thus keeping the soil surface wet and slimy for additional time versus the same moisture equivalent of a rainfall event with warmer temperatures following. All in all, this is shaping up to be a later spring than we’ve become accustomed to the past several years. We have been pretty fortunate.

Ruby got to ride along to the kindly neighbor’s pasture as it was getting time to work on the fence there. Winter had not been kind to the fence and as luck would have it, with the cool spring the grass has not grown rapidly enough to stock the sheep just yet. While I mended the fence, Ruby was having a blast with the resident standard sable collie Sophie. Last fall when Ruby came along she was intimidated and not real friendly towards her. After playing hard several times since then with Fudgie, this time it was a no brainer. Sophie and Ruby were immediately running at full speed and spent the whole time while there rolling, wrestling and romping. When it came time to go home, Ruby was almost reluctant to get in the truck, not unlike some kids I recall who were playing at someone’s farm while their Dad was in the house conducting business.

There were plenty of bird sightings this past week. Monday night the backyard ash trees were crawling with woodpeckers and the like. They were host to four downies, a couple hairies, a white breasted nuthatch, and a male red-bellied woodpecker while a red-headed woodpecker was nearby in an aging silver maple. At the kindly neighbor’s pasture, the calling of male cardinals was present from many points and the chickadees kept a close eye on the dogs as the fence mending proceeded. 

The entire town lost a great farmer, friend and public servant this past week. Davey Swenson unexpectedly passed away last Tuesday. He had made his morning breakfast excursion to the café and from there had stopped at the Mall for Men for coffee just as he’d done so many, many times over the years. There was paperwork to do and I didn’t get a chance to go back to the training table to be with the little fat buddies, gleaning the kind of wisdom and knowledge that only comes with experience. About 9:45 as I was on the phone I saw Davey wave at me and smile as he was heading for the door. I waved back and went back to my phone call. About a half hour later the sirens went off and emergency vehicles left town heading north. Not long after that there was a call trying to determine what time he’d left the Mall for Men. It was confusing to try to piece together details of what had happened, but it was apparent after a few hours that he’d suffered a fatal heart attack.

I kicked myself that I hadn’t taken the time to go back to have coffee that morning. After all, it went against the grain of one of the most important lessons he taught me. Davey always took the time to take a break and visit and encouraged others to do the same. I can’t recall a time over the years when planting or harvesting plots at his place when we didn’t stop to have something to eat and visit for a bit. Sure, he usually had lots of crop left to harvest, but he always said not to worry, it would get done. And he was right. This was always a man who I could count on to pick me up when I was having a bad day too. He’d sense it and before I knew it we were having coffee and conversing. The next thing I knew the problems suddenly didn’t seem so significant. Perhaps his practice of taking time to care drove some area workaholics nuts, but I’d contend that the results were reflected in the huge crowds present for the visitation and funeral. And perhaps it was meant to be that I was among the last people to see him alive. It served as a reminder of the lesson he taught me, and like Davey himself, one I won’t soon forget.

See you next week…real good then.

Leslie Knudsen, 93, died on Sunday, April 10, 2011 at Pathstone Living on Sibley Park in Mankato.

He was born October 20, 1917 in Geneva, MN the son of Carl and Sofie (Johansen) Knudsen. He attended school in Geneva and graduated from Ellendale High School in 1934. He was united in marraige to Mildred Anderson on August 31, 1940. He was a veteran of WWII.

Leslie worked in the grocery business, road construction, and the greenhouse/floral business. He also operated a root beer stand, sold insurance, and was a building supervisor. After retirement, he worked as a courier for travel agencies. 

His hobbies and interests included gardening, music, sports, scouting, stamp collecting and was a volunteer greeter at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. He was recognized in a New York Times article as the “Mayor of the Mall.”

He is survived by his children Stephen (Gail) Knudsen, Bella Vista, AR; Frederick (Eileen) Knudsen, Owatonna; Jane (Philip) Wold, Mankato; and Juliann Knudsen, Eden Prairie; six grandchldren and 11 great-grandchikdren.

He was preceded in death by both parents; his wife Mildred (2005); and siblings Ege Knudsen, Luella Gurvin and Sonja Olson.

Graveside services will be conducted on Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at Geneva Cemetery with Rev. Carrie McElfresh officiating. The Cremation Society of Minnesota is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be sent to the Alzheimer’s Association or Pathstone Living in Mankato, MN.

The funeral service for Hazel J. Christenson will be at 10 a.m. Monday, April 18, 2011 at Bonnerup Funeral Service Chapel, Albert Lea. Visitation will be one hour before service at the chapel. Captain James Brickson and Pastor Kent Otterman will officiate.

Hazel died Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at Good Samaritan Center, Albert Lea, MN. She was 93 years old.

Hazel Julia Sward was born November 3, 1917 in Ida Grove, Iowa, one of 11 children of John and Anna Sward. As a young child, Hazel came to the Clarks Grove area and she was raised by her grandmother and her two uncles. When she was 16, she met her husband Raymond M. Christenson at the Freeborn County Fair. They were united in marriage on June 6, 1935 at the Clarks Grove Baptist Church Parish. They lived in Freeborn County their 56 years of married life.

The funeral service for David Eddie Swenson of rural New Richland, Minnesota will be held 11 a.m. Friday, April 15, 2011 at Faith United Methodist Church, Waseca, MN. Reverend Debra Collum will officiate. Interment will be in Vista Covenant Church Cemetery, rural New Richland. Visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. Thursday at Friedrich Funeral Home, New Richland, MN and one hour before the service at the church.

David died suddenly, Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at his home. He was 74 years old.