Donnelly
Minn. Christmas 2015
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come” with the words of
this familiar hymn I greet you once again with my annual Christmas letter
Weather news: The ’14-‘15 winter season arrived early,
with a major snowfall about the middle of Nov thankfully we only had a few
major snowstorms after that. Much of the
winter was cold, few nice days sprinkled in, late Mar. brought some
unseasonably nice weather, but hopes for an early spring were dashed by a late
season snowstorm, it was not until mid
to late Apr., that the snow finally all melted and spring arrived. Some farmers
got going in late Apr. favorable weather meant that by early May most farmers had
their crops in, some timely rains made them come up in good time. Timely rains,
and warm weather continued throughout the summer, allowing crops to progress
nicely, by the harvest time rolled around all crops yielded good. Most harvest
was completed with few delays, and by the time snow arrived in early Dec. most
farmers had their crops harvested and fall fieldwork done. We finally got some
snow in early Dec, but some mild temps meant that much of it melted, however
mid Dec has brought the return of winter with several inches of snow again
Church news: after serving as our interim pastor at St.
John’s /Kongsvinger for 11 months Deaconess Deb Robinson resigned to return
home to the St. Cloud area, her last day here was Nov. 1st; we had a
farewell dinner for her after services at St. John’s that day. On Oct 4th
a special meeting was held at both congregations for the purpose of hearing from
the call committee on their recommendation for a new pastor for our parish. We
voted to call Rev Mike Nelson from Cokato to be our new pastor, he accepted the
call in early Nov, and in mid Nov, he and his wife Sue moved here, his 1st
Sun was Nov. 22nd. They have a daughter and son-in law that have a
baby ,and live in the Elbow Lake area, unsure how many other children they have,
she is a music teacher back where they came from and plans to continue until
the end of the school year. Other events include ss program, Lenten services, and
4th of July celebration, fall festival, mid-week services during the summer at
St John’s, community vbs, several joint services and the usual assortment of
pot luck meals. Although I am still a member of Kongsvinger, I usually go to
church at GSLC here in rural Morris where I am associate member. Since our conception we have had sort of an
informal “parish” arrangement with St John’s Lutheran, Starbuck. In late summer
Rev Angel Scott moved to Morris to complete her internship by serving as the pastor
there, and also serves part-time at GS, leading bible studies and occasionally
preaching. She and her husband have two small children; she is being supervised
by Pr Mike Hanson. Other events include weekly bible study, advent and Lenten
services ,ss program, joint vbs with Zion Morris, several interesting
presentations by various speakers during adult Ed .At a special meeting held earlier
this year it was decided to put cement in the parking lot ,but due to the busyness
of contractors, it will have to wait until next year. At the annual meeting in
Nov. discussion was also held on putting a steeple on it and adding a car port,
it was decided to gather more info and revisit the issue next year. Other
church events included all-state Lutheran choir concert in Alex, Living
nativity at faith –Morris, ordination service for Rev Chris Richards at first-Morris,
centennial service for trinity –Alberta, mission fest at Trinity Cyrus, a
variety of other church meals, festivals, events, etc. in the area, several
concerts by musical groups in the area.
Community events: Well as I have done for many years I
spent my summer on the road attending many community festivals, parades, fairs,
threshing shows, farm shows and other events in the area. If often affords me an opportunity to see
some different things, and see people I have not seen in a long time. Our
threshing bee this year celebrated its 50th anniversary with a queen
reunion among other things. A number of former royalty, and their families,
former residents, etc. returned for it. As a result we had one of the best bees
we have had in many years. The next bee is Aug. 27th & 28th the
feature will be John Deere. This yr. it was decided to combine the annual ice
cream social and block party into one event which proved to be very successful.
Our threshing bee royalty had another busy year partaking in about 2 dozen
parades and other actives (i.e. Halloween and Christmas parties) over the year.
In late Aug. the MHS class of ’55 had their 60th class reunion at the
hotel 200 (prairie inn> in Morris. Since
some of the Donnelly area kids had had my Mom as a teacher I was invited to
represent her at some of the reunion activities
“Pr Buttons” and I are still living here in my house in
Morris and plan to do as long my health and other factors permit, however given
the all the health issues I have been dealing with during the past year I
unsure how much longer I can do that. When people ask me how I am doing, I say “plugging
along one day at a time as long, as I can get up in the morning and put two
feet in front of each other, I am good for another day”. Well that is true, I
do have a lot of health issues that I have been dealing with the past year,
thankfully some of the issues are getting better. I have been hospitalized
twice this year and had many weeks of outpatient treatment for a variety of
issues. I also cut my foot on a can lid this fall ,that required a trip to the
ER for stiches, and additional follow up trips to the dr., there was concern
for a while that I might lose my foot, thankfully staying of it for a while
made a difference and it now mostly healed. Due to my diabetes everything is
slow to heal and my dr. told me he thought I should move into an assisted
living place, something I do not really want to do. It was hard enough to
downsize and move 4 yrs. ago and the idea of doing it again so soon does not
appeal to me. I would probably have to sell the house and get rid of my cat etc.
It was hard enough saying goodbye to my dog,
I hate to think about not having any other pets. After I got home from the hosp. the first
time I made arrangements to have a HHA & nurse come over weekly (she now
comes bi-weekly) to clean house, set up my medicine, take my vitals etc.,
however he feels that I really need somebody on a daily basis, but other than
that I do not really see any benefit to it ,never been much for eating at
prescribed times, I can take care of my basic needs, so doubtful there would be
any help finically with it. So a lot of thought, prayer, and conversations, with
a lot of people will be ongoing in the days, weeks and months ahead. Thankfully
many of health issues are getting better. A
lot of people continue to ask me
how my friend Mark Koepke doing, he is doing much better after his eye
surgery , his checkups since then have been good, his skin condition is about
the same, but with medication and other treatments he is able to keep it under
control. Since we have a lot of different interests, I do not run into him too much,
when I am out and about, however I do stop over there on occasion to visit, and
if I need help he is willing to come over here and do that. His uncle passed
away in Aug., so he & I traveled to his foster mother’s home area of Garnder
ND for the funeral, meeting some of the family he had not seen for a long time
and others he had never met. In Sept. we
returned for the lutefisk dinner at their church, hoping to visit with his
uncle & aunt, unfortunately they were too ill to attend. His sister Linda,
and her sister in law Sue were back in Mn for a visit this year, she and her
brothers decided not to come back for the all –school reunion in Herman, I did
stop up there for a while saw a few people I knew. He does not live too far from
me but there is no direct access from my place to his so we have to zig and sag
to get to & from our homes. He does not have a car, so he either walks, or
takes the transit to get to where he wants, or relies on me and/or other people
to take him places. People also ask me how I like living in town my reply is
that like a lot of things there are good and bad aspects of it. I do enjoy the
perks of living in town being able to be out and about every day, attending events,
seeing people, getting things I want/need when I need/want them, being close to
the dr. and hosp. etc. It is also in a quiet area, not much traffic mainly
because my street does not connect to main street, however I do miss the countryside
esp. in the summer time, being able to step outside ,breath the fresh air take
a look around at what the neighbors are doing. I do like living in town in the
winter time no more having to get up to scoop/ shovel snow b/4 I go someplace or worry
about sliding in the ditch on my way out or in , having to worry about getting
home etc. Last year I traded my old gas golf cart for an electric one and have made
extensive use of that for getting around Morris this year. I also purchased a
good used snow blower to save on my back. I am still a member of the Donnelly
community club, st co gen soc. and st co rep party enjoy attending there
meetings and helping with some of their events. I am still writing my weekly
column for the Morris sun-tribune get a lot of compliments for it otherwise
just basically enjoying my life. My ad is 11 e 9th st Morris mn 56267;
e-mail ad is aeanders@fedtel.net,
website donnellyminn.blogspot.com, ph. 320-585-6435 (h) 320-288-8692 (c). I am
also on Facebook. the rest of my family is status quo, my cousin Carl (Billy)
his wife Pat and his sister Elnora are still living in South Carolina, my
cousin Jan and her husband Dennis still live and work in the Alex area, my aunt
Pearl Anderson is still living in the sunrise apts. here in Morris I stop over
to see her on occasion and sometime take her for a ride in my golf cart.
One of the things I do more of then I like, is attend
many visitations and/or funerals in the area often times it gives me an
opportunity to see people I have not seen for a long time and I personally know
how much it means to the family when you make that effort. Happier times were attending
anniversary and birthday parties for friends
Now, may the God of Christmas, go before you during the
upcoming year.
The Anderson’s
Allen & “Pr. Buttons”
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