Jennifer Smith to enter Miss USA pageant

April 2, 1964 – Roger Bruhn and Gwen Pladson, Boy and Girl Staters from Glenwood High School, were planning to attend the annual event. Alternatives selected were James Vollrath and Anna Louise Stivland. Pladson’s older sister, Carol, had been named Girl Stater in 1961. 

The 40-voice senior choir of Glenwood Lutheran Church was to present an Easter cantata. The choir was under the direction of Richard Gandrud and accompanied by Margot Wells. Soloists were Mrs. Warren Hovren, Mrs. Orvald Fordbord, Harold Skilbred and James Kinney. 

Bob O’Fallon accepted the post as admiral of the annual Waterama celebration. He succeeded Wayne Haanstad who had functioned in the position before leaving for Kansas City, Mo.

Several area residents were concerned about family members in Alaska, following a major earthquake there. Others had relatives in Hawaii who were in danger of the tidal wave which hit there following the quake. Local Red Cross efforts were beginning as a part of national assistance efforts. 

April 4, 1974 – The Pope County Planning Commission gave its approval to a revised Shoreland Management Ordinance designed to protect the county’s waters and sent the ordinance to the county commission for its approval.

Veteran Glenwood High School teacher, Ted Schmeckpeper, announced that he would retire at the close of the school year. He had taught math, was the computer coordinator and coached golf as part of his 30-year service to the school district. 

New Jaycee and Mrs. Jaycee officers were announced at the groups’ annual banquet. They included Butch Taschner, Bruce Wagner, Jerry Sagen, Tom Winter, Dick Ofstedal, Bill Davids, Jerry Maher, Dave Tostenson, Roger Salonen, Mike Howe, Larry Zavadil, Leslie Smith, Vicki Obenland, Annette Gasser, Kay Peterson, Terri Wagner, Lois Maher and Lonnie Danielson. 

April 5, 1984 – Alfred Krapes, one of the county’s oldest residents, died at the age of 101. He was born in Grove Lake Township in 1882 and was a longtime township farmer. He had said at the time of his 100th birthday that the most amazing thing he ever saw was the first car he witnessed – a Hoyt Steamer and “it was really something.” He had been deer hunting as close to his death as two years. Funeral services were held in Villard.

The Glenwood City Commission was trying to decide if it was throwing good money after bad if it tried to patch up the city’s street sweeper. Many repairs were determined to be necessary as the sweeper came out of mothballs for its annual spring work. 

Top Jaycee and Jaycee Women were honored at the groups’ annual awards banquet. Top couple award went to Dennis and Pam Jones. Other winners were Deb Yackel and DeeAnn Gross, Phil Stumpf and Willy Rajdl.

April 4, 1994 – Parkview Court, the modified assisted living center built by Glenwood Retirement Village, was to open to the public with an open house. The new facility was a three-story structure which was to have 32 units for rent to people on an “ala carte” basis in terms of nursing home services.

The seventh-grade Odyssey of the Mind team from Minnewaska Area High School placed fifth at the regional contest held in Moorhead. Team members were Kaleb Sargent, Erin Noss, Erika Pederson, Jenny Forte, Carrie Onerheim and Morgan Domier. The coach was Jim Elsey.

The Starbuck Elementary School was selected to host “A Celebration of Young Musicians,” a music festival sponsored by the Minnesota Music Educators’ Association. A total of 136 fourth, fifth and sixth-grade students from 13 schools in West Central Minnesota attended the event. Working with the students were Shirley Hanson, music instructor at Starbuck and the festival coordinator;
Liz Shepley, teacher at the House of Hope Community Music School in St. Paul; Susan Ennen, accompanist; Holly Fischer, music teacher in the Northfield Public School District; and Marie Espeland, music teacher at Mounds Park Academy.

March 29, 2004 – A bright spring morning turned stormy inside the Pope County Courthouse March 23 as a group of about 50 local farmers, bankers, business owners and concerned citizens filled the community room to express their objection to a county board action. Pope County was the winning bidder, at $400,000, at the auction of the Consolidated Ag Services building in Glenwood March 17. The county board met in a special session to authorize the bid earlier that day. The vote to bid for the property was passed by a 3-to-2 vote. The county’s intended use for the property was to house the joint highway maintenance facility. The new facility would be shared by the county, possibly the city of Glenwood, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation.   

Jennifer Smith, a 1995 graduate of Minnewaska Area High School, would soon enter into competition in the Miss USA Pageant. Smith, who lives in Fargo N.D., stopped in Glenwood as part of a tour through the area before heading to the West Coast. Smith starts rehearsal soon in Los Angeles, Calif., for the April 12 live broadcast of the pageant from the Kodak Theatre on NBC.

Glenwood firefighter Chuck Petersen was pictured in the Tribune. He had fried hundreds of fish for the group’s annual fundraising event, which was attended by over 500 people. 

March 31, 2014 – Pope County Commissioner Gordy Wagner of Glenwood announced at the Pope County DFL convention in Glenwood Sunday that he is likely to seek the DFL endorsement for state representative in District 12B. The district includes most of Pope County and portions of Douglas and Stearns Counties.

It seems this winter season started last November and will likely linger well into April of this year. That’s a full six months – half of the calendar year. As we near the end of one of the coldest winters on record in Minnesota, most area residents are tired of what has been a very long season.

Glacial Printing & Office Supply is now Palmer Creations, LLC. The printing business was purchased by Jim and Karna Palmer of Glenwood last October. Since then, both the building and business have gone through some changes.