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Emails for February 2015
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Rutland Cemetery Association Annual Meeting March 9th | FHS MARCHING KNIGHTS ANNUAL SPRING FUNDRAISER | Yearbooks | City Water Leak Fixed | Bryce McKay | Wenona Rotary Distributes Dictionaries to Fieldcrest 4th Graders | Looking for information on the Duden family | Looking for information on Duden family | An important decision | Fieldcrest Cuts |

FHS MARCHING KNIGHTS ANNUAL SPRING FUNDRAISER

CHEESECAKE SALES:
Traditional $14.50, Chocolate Chip $14.50, Cookies N Creme $15.50, Key Lime $15.50, Turtle $ 15.50, Strawberry $15.50, Raspberry $15.50, Traditional $21.00

Feb. 18 - March 4 Sale Dates
March 9 - order due.
March 18 - delivery 2:15

Christy Kline


City Water Leak Fixed

The City would like to thank you for your cooperation during this last week. We are happy to inform the community that the water line issue has been located and has been fixed. Water treatment levels are back to normal and conservation is no longer needed.

Sincerely,

Gary W. Brennan
Minonk City Administrator

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Wenona Rotary Distributes Dictionaries to Fieldcrest 4th Graders

Roger Gabrielse of the Wenona Rotary had the pleasure of distributing dictionaries to the 86 - 4th graders in the Fieldcrest school district. In this age of electronics and PADS we get a lot of comments back from high school students who still use their dictionaries. The Wenona Rotary has been giving dictionaries to 4th graders for over 20 years. One of Rotaries 6 areas of focus is education and literacy. For the literacy program Wenona Rotary gives out the dictionaries and does reading with 2nd graders. Roger and Bob Kurrle, before he moved to Iowa, would go in and listen to 2nd graders read to them from their books.

Our "outbound" exchange student, Shay Sullivan, has learned that she is going to be living in Germany next year as our Rotary Youth Exchange ambassador to the world. We have not learned where in Germany she will be living yet. Where ever it is she will be bringing a little bit of central Illinois to that part of Germany. We are all very excited for Shay as she prepares for this exciting next step in her life. If you know of anyone that may be interested in going out on exchange next year please contact Roger Gabrielse at 815-343-8100 or David Busken at 309-212-5600 or any Rotary member. We are looking for families to host an "inbound" student that will be coming to our club from somewhere in the world.

The 6 areas of Focus for Rotary International are:
Peace / Conflict Prevention / Resolution – this is what the Youth Exchange is part of, by learning about each other's cultures through exchange we learn that there are other ways to resolve differences and that the differences are not as great as people think.

Disease prevention / Treatment: This is what the Polio Plus / End Polio Now campaign is about. We are always accepting donations for this cause. All donations are tax deductible and matched 2 to 1 by the Gates Foundation. Donate $50 and $150 goes to the effort to End Polio once and for all.

Water / Sanitation: Clean water is a huge factor in staying healthy, but many parts of the world do not have access to clean water. There are several programs going on in Rotary for this. Pat Sloan of Lacon is involved with a program, Hands Helping Haiti Water Project (www.haitiwaterproject.org) supported by a Global Grant from Rotary International to distribute and install simple sand filters in Haiti.

Maternal / Child Health Rotary international supports several initiatives in the United States and around the world.

Basic Education / Literacy: This is where our dictionary distribution and reading program come in.

Economic / Community Development: This one of the Areas of Focus Chad Anderson's, from Wenona, who has done a lot of work in Africa falls under. He is currently in South Africa studying for his Masters as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

If you would like to get involved with Rotary, Wenona Rotary meets every 1st and 3rd Monday of the month in Wenona at noon for lunch at the Bicentennial room.

Wenona rotary


Looking for information on Duden family

Greetings,
My name is Marilyn Snyder and I'm from Bismarck, ND. My roots on my mother's side lie in the Flanagan-Minonk area. I'm hoping you can help me with some information as I'm working on our family tree. My great-great grandfather was Jurgen Franzen. He had a farm close to Windtown (where he is buried) but his address was Minonk. He was one of the founding fathers of St Petri's Church. I have been unable to locate the exact section of his farm. I also have ties to Blocks, Kalkwarfs, Janssens, Alberts and many more. Any information you might have would be tremendous. We have spent time at St Petri's and have that history.

I am also trying to locate my great-great aunt who was the first wife of Edo Duden. I have been to the cemetery and know Edo and his second wife and family are buried in the Minonk Township Cemetery, but we can't locate my aunt's grave. Her name was Gebke Willms Alberts and probably died in childbirth in 1857. Edo and she were living in the western part of Livingston County at the time. With the Duden family fairly prominent in your county, I'm hoping something might be known about her. We think she died in childbirth, and the child's name was Betty Duden.

Thank you for any information you may be able to provide. We have three great-great aunts we are trying to find and make sure their graves are marked so I would love to find out where Gebke was laid to rest.

Marilyn Snyder
Bismarck ND

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Fieldcrest Cuts

I agree with Dave Uphoff & John Welch regarding new school construction. We have lived in this town for over 45 years, and our home is over 100 years old. We certainly don't enjoy investing money in the home every year to maintain it, but it is still cheaper than tearing it down & building a new home. I read about what new construction may cost, but what will it cost to tear down the old, existing properties? If the buildings aren't torn down, they become eye sores with broken windows, etc. And how does that affect property values in that neighborhood?

I also agree with Richard Stillwell about not cutting the art, music, language & ag programs. Nobody enjoyed sports more than I did when I was young. I played and coached all sports, but I, also, played musical instruments. I wasn't able to play sports after the age of 40, but I can still sing & play my musical instruments; and I'm almost 80 years old.

I don't want to see any of the school programs cut, but let's take a look at the percentage of students who are involved with extra curricular activities and compare that to the percentage of students involved with art, music, etc.

Jack Marcoline


Rutland Cemetery Association Annual Meeting March 9th

RUTLAND CEMETERY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING is Monday, March 9 at 6PM in the Rutland Village Hall. This is the time to address any concerns, questions, bids concerning the Rutland Cemetery.

Christy Kline


Yearbooks

This is a nice addition to Minonk Talk! Thank you.

Pam Palmer Goy


Bryce McKay

I have been so touched by the out pouring of support for the McKay family by the people of Minonk at the very difficult time this family has faced. Only in a small town would this type of total support be found. I know the twins received the finest care available at this time at St. Jude.

Susan Salmon


Looking for information on the Duden family

Dear Marilyn, I am not sure I can help you locate the farm but I found it very interesting to know that we have the same Great Great Grandfather!

My Grandfather, Henry Block was the son of Johann Block and Trientje Jurgens Franzen. She was the daughter of Juergen Harms Franzen and his first wife, Antje Jacobs Beckman. Juergen was born in Holtrop and came to America in 1854 and settled near Golden,Illinois. They had a large family before she died in childbirth in 1862. She is buried in Golden. Juergen and the children moved to Flanagan in 1862. He married Geshe Frerichs Block and expanded their family. They are buried at Windtown.

Juergen was the only son of Harm Hinrich Janssen Franzen and Trienke Juergens Boerjes. She died shortly after Juergens birth. Harm then married Antje Gerjets.She died in childbirth. He then married Ancke Zimmerman. She is the mother of his many children. They immigrated to Golden and are buried there.

Harm was in the German army and fought against Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo in 1815. There is a large headstone that honors his participation in the Battle.

Juergen's half sister Margarethat married H.H. Emminga who, in 1850, built the windmill that is still in Golden today.

I was told the old farm place was two miles south of Windtown on the north side of the road.

Hope this helps you a bit. I'd like to know how we are related and hear your stories. My email is kleindonis@gmail.com

Donis Block Klein


An important decision

Thanks for the information Dave. As a parent and employee of the Fieldcrest District, I want to gather as much information as I can about the choices available for our District. By no means do I think we need to jump to the conclusion that rebuilding will fix all of the problems. It's unfortunate that the repairs on our buildings are so costly and never ending. Our students and staff deserve to have safe, comfortable buildings that they can learn and teach in. It seems like one way or another, we the taxpayers, are going to pay. One positive point to rebuilding is hopefully drawing new families to the area. There are pros and cons to both aspects, so I urge our community to start talking and gathering the facts. I really want what is best for the Future of Fieldcrest, do you?

Amy Rossman