Travels to Waseca

Todd J. Mann, age 45 of Waseca, died on Monday, December 7, 2009 at his home, surrounded by his family.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, December 11th at 1:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Waseca with Fr. Martin Schaefer, Celebrant. Interment will be in the Woodville Cemetery.

Visitation will be held on Thursday from 3 to 8 p.m. at McRaith Funeral Home in Waseca. There will be no reviewal at church on Friday. In lieu of flowers, memorials will used to establish a Bluejay Scholarship Fund in Todd’s name.

Todd James was born on October 14, 1964 in Bismark, North Dakota to James and Diane (Berger) Mann. He graduated from Waseca High School in 1983. Todd attended Des Moines Area Community College in Boone, IA, where he played baseball for 2 years. He went on to play baseball at the Univ. of Southern Mississippi, while earning his bachelor’s degree.

Todd began his career with Sagedahl Sports in Minneapolis. He returned to Waseca where he served as the Community Ed. Recreation Director, then later Waseca High School Athletic Director and coach of the Waseca Bluejay Baseball Team. Most recently Todd was in sales with Nicklasson Athletic Co. of New Ulm, and served at assistant coach of the Bethany Lutheran College Baseball Team in Mankato. He was inducted into the Waseca High School Hall of Fame in 2008. Todd loved time spent with his family, especially his son Ty.

He is survived by his son, Ty; by his parents James and Diane Mann, his sister Sherri (Dave) Ulfers, and his nieces and nephew, Amanda, Lexie and Cody Ulfers, all of Waseca; by his former wife Cristeen Schumacher.

He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents John and Elizabeth Mann, and his maternal grandparents John and Helen Berger, and by his aunts and uncles.

Casketbearers are: Ryan Kragh, Mike Larson, Tink Larson, Clint Larson, Adam Christ, Steve Christ, Dale Kugath, Tony Becker, Todd Miller, Henry Lewer Jr., Peter Madel III, Joel Hayford, Jeff Sjoberg, and Kyle Collins.

See also http://www.wasecacountynews.com/news.php?viewStory=4347, http://www.mankatofreepress.com/sports/local_story_342005105.htmland http://www.wasecaalums.com/public/397.cfm

http://www.asimas.com/ASIMAS/kohlmcraith/obituaryDescription.jsp?domain_id=322&deceased_id=213086

I was recently informed that Mary Hinderlie Ager passed away in April. Mary attended Waseca Central with my class of 1959 from 1st grade through junior high school when her father, a Lutheran minister, transfered to another parrish. Mary was a very special person when we knew her and she obviously distinguished herself as an adult. The following is her obituary provided me by her family.

Mary Hinderlie Ager – May 14, 1941 – April 23, 2008

Mary Hinderlie Ager of Palo Alto, California, died peacefully in her home on April 23, 2008. She was 66 years old.

Born in Tyler, Minnesota in 1941, she grew up in Waseca, Minnesota; Midway, Washington; and West Seattle, Washington. In 1963 she graduated Cum Laude from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at Brown University in 1964, and was awarded a PhD in English in 1973 from the University of Pittsburgh. She married Tryg Ager of Eau Claire, Wisconsin in1964. They lived in Pittsburgh until 1967, then in Binghamton, New York until they moved to Palo Alto in 1978.

Her life reflected a pursuit of excellence through friendships. She is remembered by friends from high school in Washington, where she produced musicals and plays, and by classmates from college, where she sang with the St. Olaf College Choir for four years. This provided a foundation for a lifelong commitment to excellence in choral music, including several years with the Binghamton Symphony Chorus in New York, and more than 20 years with the Peninsula Women’s Chorus in Palo Alto. In recent years she, with about a dozen friends, formed the JewelTones ensemble to perform barbershop and popular music for numerous audiences in the Palo Alto area.

She believed that her musical groups were best thought of as communities of friends, and that bonds of friendship and a sense of community could raise the delight, the joy, and the spiritual quality of music for both performers and audiences. She articulated this belief in her co-editorship with Frank Farris of a volume, Take up the Song, that commemorated Patricia Farris Hennings, who conducted the Peninsula Women’s Chorus for many years.

As her children grew up, she shared in the founding of two nursery schools in Binghamton: one for disadvantaged children in 1967, and another, Growing Grounds, in 1972. In Palo Alto she was active in Parents Nursery School for many years. In each case she believed bonds of friendship brought parents and providers together to create excellence in care and a richer opportunity for the children..

Professionally she was a technical editor for Computer Curriculum Corporation and Aspect Communications, where colleagues fondly remember her good humor, her editing skills, and her ability to form friendships that were conducive to excellence into the workplace. Her writing and editing extended beyond work to development and publication of personal memoirs of several Holocaust survivors and veterans of World War II. She participated in the production of books, films, presentations, and performances related to the Song of Survival project – the story of how women imprisoned during World War II in Sumatra survived physically and spiritually through bonds of friendship and a remarkable body of music where these imprisoned women arranged, practiced, and performed classical pieces as a “vocal orchestra.”

Her positive outlook and friendships helped her to survive three different primary cancers over the past 20 years, until a fourth episode finally proved to be overwhelming.

She is survived by her husband of 44 years, Tryg; her son Andrew, his wife Laura, and their son Isaac; her daughter Emily; her brothers John and Mark; her sisters Lois and Anne; her nieces and nephews: Sasha, Paul, Charles, Keith, Kara, Keri, Peter, Eric, Trina and Martin and their children; her extended family; and a vast and diverse community of friends.

A family service and visitation were held on April 27th.

Memorials may be made to the Barbara and Richard Tobias Fund at the University of Pittsburgh, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Parents Nursery School in Palo Alto, or the Peninsula Women’s Chorus.

Paul Andrejewski, a long-time Waseca High School teacher and coach died this past week. Other than having Mr. Adrejewski as a homeroom teacher in junior high, I didn’t have a class with him but I did have him as a wrestling and tennis coach. To say he didn’t know much about wrestling or tennis would be an understatement but, in spite of that, some great wrestlers and tennis players emerged from his programs.

We had invited him to attend our WHS 1959 50 year class reunion later this summer. He will be missed.

Here’s a link to his obituary: http://www.asimas.com/ASIMAS/kohlmcraith/obituaryDescription.jsp?domain_id=322&deceased_id=197666

I remember Don well, and I remember his baked goods, too. Especially in the spring we’d skip lunch at the school and walk to the Preuss Bakery and buy a filled bismark and a maple-glazed long john with our lunch money. And brother Dale worked at the bakery during his high school years before school and during the summer. I also remember Don showing us his tricks for growing his early tomatoes after he retired.

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DONALD “FUZZY” PREUSS, age 84 of Waterville, formerly of Waseca, died Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at Waterville Good Samaritan Center.

Born in Waterville, Minnesota on May 7, 1924, he was the son of Otto and Lena (Kastner) Preuss. He was baptized and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Waterville and graduated from Waterville High School.  He entered the U.S. Army during WWII serving from 1943-1945.  Don married Marcaline Ruth Wees on May 16, 1948 at the 1st Evangelical Brethren Church in Rochester.  He owned and operated Preuss Bake Shop in Waseca for many years.  He enjoyed gardening, fishing trips and going on trips in their motor home.  Don also served as the first “Frosty the Snowman” during the Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Festival.  He was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Lions Club, VFW, American Legion and gardening club all in Waseca.

He is survived by three children, Richard (Carol) Preuss, Timothy Preuss and Julianne (Bruce) Bock all of Waseca; eight grandchildren; ten great grandchildren; sisters-in law, Molly Preuss of Waterville, Marilyn Dallman of Albany, OR, Joanne McClure of Gresham OR; brother-in-law, Merrill Holmes of Waialua, HI;  brother and sister-in-law, John S. (Donna) Wees, Jr. of Rochester; and many nieces and nephews.  He was preceded in death by his parents, step-mother-Lydia (Saemrow) Preuss, wife, infant son-David, one brother-Glenn, brothers-in-law-James McClure and Stanley Dallman, sister-in-law-Leone Holmes. 

Visitation will be held at Kinder-Dennis Home for Funerals in Waseca on Monday, December 22, 2008 from 4-8 PM and continue on Tuesday one hour before services at the church.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 10:30 A.M. at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Waseca with Rev. Terry Quick officiating.  Burial will follow at Woodville Cemetery in Waseca. 

I received the following note from Emily Westphal concerning her grandfather, John Spillane, SHHS 1936: 

John J. Spillane was my maternal granfather.  I was doing a search on his father, actually, and found my grandfather’s name on a list of missing Waseca alums.  The reason the attempt to contact him came back to you is because my grandparents weren’t living at the listed address at the time of your letter.  My grandfather died a number of years ago, in February of 2002.  It’s a shame because he would have loved coming to the reunion.  Those were good times in his life.
-Emily Westphal

  Anita Torbert McCabe, age 66, died Monday, February 11, 2008, at the Traverse Care Center, Wheaton, MN, of resiratory problems. Our condolences to the family. The care center staff contacted me last week and provided me contact information for Anita. I called and talked to Anita on Saturday. Anita was only able to talk for a few minutes because she was losing her breath.   Anita said she’d been transferred to the nursing home/care center about 3 weeks ago from an assisted living facility in Graceville near her daughter and that she hadn’t been able to attend her mother’s recent funeral because of her respiratory condition. She was looking forward to composing an email to send to me to send to her WHS 1959 classmates but she apparently didn’t have the strength and time to do that. She did tell me to say ‘Hi’ to everyone for her – she knew she wasn’t going to be able to make it to the upcoming reunions. 

Please inform people who may be interested of Anita’s passing. Here’s a link to her online obituary at the Morris Tribune.  

Chuck 

A memorial service will be held tomorrow, Friday, February 1^st at 11:00 a.m. at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Janesville for Marcella ‘Sally’ (Santo) Blasing. I went to school with her son, Bob. I barely remember Mrs. Blasing (in case you’ve forgotten, we always addressed our friends’ parents as Mr. or Mrs. – I don’t know that I ever knew her first name). I do remember that Bob had a party at the farm on east Hwy 14 that I attended and that she, of course, was there. I remember her as an attractive, dark-haired woman. Bob’s dad died in 1956 while Bob was still in school and Bob, his brother Larry, and most of all, I suppose, Mrs. Blasing, ran the farm after that. Our condolences to the Blasing family.

Chuck

The passing of Russ Clayton this week reminds me of why homecoming and reunions are important – we never know if we’re going to be able to make it to the next one and there are people we’d like to see again.

The Waseca High School class of 1957 is holding their 50th reunion this weekend in conjunction with homecoming. There are plans to honor the 1957 football team at halftime of the homecoming game with St. Peter. I understand it’s a rather new tradition to invite the class of 50 years ago to be honored during homecoming. I think it’s a good tradition, and I hope they take a little time to remember Russ.

  Elizabeth Panzram Noetzel, a former resident of Waseca, passed away July 18, 2007, in Bloomington MN at age 100. She was the mother of a large family. I knew her son Steve (WHS 1958) and daughters Mary Noetzel Giese (WHS 1960) and Tina Noetzel Madson (WHS 1962), the younger siblings, well from school and church. I had recently learned from Tina that Mrs. Noetzel was still living in a Bloomington MN nursing home and I had discussed visiting her to have her tell me some of the early stories of Waseca and school life. Regretably, I wasn’t able to visit her before she died. 

Elizabeth must have been one of the earliest living graduates of Waseca Central School, if not the earliest (are there others who graduated in 1923 or before?), although I know she wasn’t the oldest living graduate (Archie Lortis – WHS 1925 - turned 102 in March). She attended the old Central School before it burned in 1923, her senior year. After the school burned, students attended classes in local churches and halls and the 1923 senior class graduation exercises were held in the Palace Theatre.

Kennard Kanne died July 17, 2007, in Faribault. I remember Kennard especially as the Waseca distributor of the Minneapolis papers in the 1940s and 1950s because I was a paper boy. We picked up our papers from his garage at his place across from Trowbridge Park. Kennard’s obituary is posted at WasecaAlums.com.

  Kent Knauss, a former classmate of mine, died July 18, 2007, in Waseca. Kent didn’t graduate with me but he attended Waseca High School with me through about the 10th grade. He was the nephew of our math teacher, Miss Ruth Knauss. The photo is from 1957, our sophomore year. Here are links to his obituary: Dennis Funeral Homes and Waseca County News. 

I’m sorry to note the passing of Lyle Nelemans, the father of classmate Helen Nelemans Carlson (WHS 1959) of Eden Prairie, Vernita (Bruce) Wiesner (WHS 1965) of New Ulm, and Paul (Dawn) Nelemans (WHS 1973) of Waseca. Our condolences to the family. Lyle Nelemans obituary

  Joel Henkensiefken died in a motorcycle accident in Morriston last night (Wednesday). Funeral services will be held next Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 11:00 AM at the Faith United Methodist Church in Waseca. Our condolences to his family. Joel’s complete obituary is available online at the Dennis Funeral Homes web site.

  My first contact with Verne (Earl LaVerne Austin) was when he and his wife, Irene, owned and operated our neighborhood store on 6th Avenue NE in the 1940s (remember the neighborhood stores in Waseca?). We Lucas kids went there to buy penney candy and nickel ice cream cones and pushups. A special seasonal treat that I especially remember was the maple sugar candy molded into maple leaves. They came packed without a wrapper in a box or tin separated by sheets of wax paper. Verne sold them for 2 cents a piece as I recall.

Later, while I was going to high school I worked at Stucky’s Rexall Drug Store afternoons after school and Saturdays and Verne worked there, too. After I graduated from high school, I didn’t see much of Verne except at the funerals of parents of friends as he was a loyal funeral usher at the St. Paul Lutheran Church.

I remember Verne as a friendly, kind and gentle man. Our condolences to his family - son Gary and daughters Aileen, Janet, and Christine.

Read Verne’s complete obituary at the Dennis Funeral Home web site.

  I just heard from Larry Lutgens that Cleone Bauman Sutlief (WHS 1962) died today, Tuesday, March 13th, in Waseca. She had been living in Dublin GA with her husband, Rollie Sutlief (WHS 1961).

Update: Cleone’s obituary is available at the McRaith Funeral Home web site and has been published in the Waseca County News. Cleone’s memorial visitation will be held at the McRaith Funeral Home in Waseca on Friday, March 16, 2007, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. I’ve posted Cleone’s complete obituary in the In Remembrance department at Waseca Alums. Our sincere condolances to the family. Chuck