Barb Mrotz of Ellendale and H. Peter Baxter of Owatonna have been named Steele County Senior Citizens of the Year for 2016.
They will be honored by the Steele County Exchange Club and the SCFF on Thursday night, August 18 at 6:30 p.m. in Fair Square Park.
Barb Mrotz
Barb’s volunteer work centers around the Ellendale Area Heritage Society. She has served as president of the organization since 1989. She centers her work on preserving the history of the Ellendale area for today’s citizens and for future generations. She makes Ellendale history come alive. She is a contributing editor for the Star Eagle newspaper.
Barb also is a member of the Steele County Emergency Response team.
Under her leadership, the Gus’s Gas Station project at the Village of Yesteryear was first begun by contacting former Ellendale High School class members asking for their commitment to contribute to the project of moving the gas station from its Ellendale location to the Village of Yesteryear.
For 19 and a half years, Barb was a school bus driver for pre-school and handicapped children. When her mother, Helen Langlie, broadcast Ellendale news on KRFO, she substituted for her when she was away.
H. Peter Baxter
H. Peter Baxter is the Curator of the Antique Print Shop at the Steele County Historical Society Village of Yesteryear. He acquired most of the antique equipment in the historical print shop. He developed the Interpretor Program and delivered it to the public. Thousands of grade school children are given new insights into the historical significance of the printer in American society at the time the shop represents.
One of his nominators wrote, “Pete is a humble man. He doesn’t want credit or to be in the limelight when events are happening. He lives out his life by the principles he has established and rarely deviates from them.