Morris Minn. Christmas 2012
“Angels we have
heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains and the mountains in reply
Echoing
their joyous strains” With the words of this familiar hymn I greet you once
again with my annual Christmas letter
The winter of 2011-12 was one of the mildest
on record with little snow and there were several record or near record highs
during the winter season. There was one
day of snow and stormy weather but it did not take long before it melted. Spring came early and farmers were able to
get there crops in early and without much delay in fact some held off planting
for a while because it was so early. Crops emerged in a timely matter and some
timely rains contributed to quick growth. Corn was about waist high by the 4th. It was a very dry summer but we had a few
timely rains that helped the crops. It was an early and quick harvest season
that produced a bumper crop. By late Oct
most farmers in the area had their crops harvested and fall field work done. It has been a fairly nice and mild winter
until the weekend of Dec 7th when the “other shoe dropped” as we had
7” of snow and blizzard like conditions on the 9th causing most
services and other events to be canceled. Shovels, scoops, snow blowers etc.
that sat idle most of last winter were pressed into service again
As usual I spent most of my summer attending
various community celebrations in the area, along with many other events; a luxury
living in Morris now affords me. In July I took a trip to DeSmet SD to see some
of the sights, and attend their Wilder pageant. The threshing bee had a very
successful run again this year with the parade and horse/pony pull again being
the big events of the weekend, the ice cream social and Halloween party were
well attended again this year. The community dinner and a visit from Santa were canceled due to the weather.in July the ufmsb celebrated its centennial in
July with an open house at the bank, a picnic supper, a dance, and fireworks in
the eve
Church news: I am still a member of Kong but
I do not attend many services or events there anymore preferring instead to do
so at Good Shepherd in Morris where I am an associate member. The STJ/Kong
parish again coordinated a block party in Donnelly this year it was held on the
threshing bee grounds and featured a sb game between the rod and gun club members
and the fireman, followed by a supper and beanbag tournament. We raised about $1500 for the food
shelf. In Sept the KCLW guest night
featured a program by Wayne and Donna Jo Kopietze of New London entitled
“Angles Among Us” they also presented the program at Faith in Morris in Dec. Other parish events included two
presentations of the ss program, Lenten services and bible study, 4th
of July celebration, rally sun, confirmation, vbs, the Kong fall festival;
Christmas carol sing a long, several joint services, and the usual assortment
of pot luck meals. The highlight of the year at GS was a concert by the 2 x 4
family band, from Grand Rapids MN that I sponsored in memory of my Mom and Dad.
In Feb I represented the church at a mission conference in Watertown SD, PR
Mike and I attended the Augustana district convention in Hutchinson in Apr., in
Nov we voted to proceed with expansion plans for the church, adding some class
rooms and expanding the fellowship hall. PR Mike and PR Martha are expecting
another boy in Jan. Other events at GS
include adult bible studies and forums after coffee hour, advent services, ss
program, Lenten services, joint confirmation with Kensington Lcmc, and a vbs
program for children and adults, the first installment of the ilt course, this
fall, with another being planned for the spring, a summer book club, and weekly
women’s Bible studies. A family from the church donated some trees to the
church, due the drought I and others were kept busy watering them all summer. This
fall some more trees were donated by former Donnelly area resident Dick Goldenstein,
he and his wife were married in the church in 1955 ,I have taken over the gs fb
page keeps me busy updating it. Other church events in the area include a
concert by youth encounter at First Lutheran Morris and Dakota road at Trinity
in Cyrus, the feed my starving children packing event had another successful
stop in Morris ,several habit for humanity fund raisers and the dedication of
remodeled house for a local family, the homecoming performance of new wine at
first Lutheran, the Haineny family in concert in Dalton, the all-state Lutheran
choir in concert in Spicer, a concert by Jim Hendricks at Trinity in Cyrus, a
concert by Luke Fickness and the
faith/first bell choir at umm, the Gunderson harps at Messiah Hoffman ,movies
courageous and Oct baby at the Morris E free church.
Family news: Most of you are aware of this
year’s sad news the death of my cousin Bev Hurlbut on July 29th her
funeral was at Kong on Aug 2nd.
She had been ill for many years, so her death was not a total surprise;
she had been moved to the Barrett care center late last year after the facility
in Morris she had been staying at closed. I completed the sale of my farm this
spring and soon thereafter the new owner cut down most of the tress and demolished
the buildings with the exception of the machine shed that was sold and moved. I
used the proceeds from my farm to upgrade the wiring of my house install a new garage
door, buy another car among other things. I have been a full time resident of
Morris for about a year now and slowly adjusting to life in town .I still miss
the farm at times, but also like the convenience of living in town too. I am able
to attend more events, get groceries and supplies, when I need them etc. I have
a nice house in a nice location in Morris on a quiet street. I finally got my
golf cart fixed and running good this summer so I used that to get around a
lot. I still try and get back to Donnelly for various events and visit some
people. In Apr my former neighbor Mark Koepke informed me that he had moved
from Orlando to West Fargo, so in Aug. he took a bus to Fergus where I picked
him up, and he spent several weeks visiting me, attending the bee and other
events, before returning to his home in Fargo. He enjoyed his stay so much he is considering moving
down here permanently. My aunt Pearl had
an auction in May, and this summer sold her house in Donnelly. In July she fell
and broke her hip spending some time at the WWV recuperating before returning
to her apt in the sunrise apts. I still write the Donnelly news for the Morris
paper which many people tell me they enjoy reading it, I am still a member of
the St Co Genealogical soc. the Donnelly community club, and the St co
Republican party. I was happy to learn
that my dog Duke was adopted by a farm family this year my cat buttons is still
with me. My cousin Carl (Billy) his wife
Pat and sister Elnora still live in S.C., my cousin Jan and husband Dennis
still live and work in Alex. My ad is 11 e9th st Morris ph. 320- 585-6435
e-mail aeanders@fedtel.net
As usual we pause this time of the year to remember
all the friends and acquaintances that have passed away this year, happier
occasions were several birthday parties, a golden wedding celebration, a
retirement party, and graduation open houses.
Sincerely yours
Allen and “Buttons”
The Anderson’s
No comments:
Post a Comment