After retiring from military Kasson became home to Roger, Janet Sinning

Roger Sinning was born in Eldora, Iowa, and later the family moved to a farm in the Lime Springs—Chester area. He started school in Chester, Iowa and his third-grade class got to ring the school bell the last day the school was open. He then attended school in Lime Springs and then Cresco, Iowa and participated in track, FFA, music, and being in the musical play Oklahoma. There were seven children in his family and Roger showed sheep in 4-H at the Howard county fair. The family had sheep, cows, pigs, chickens and crops.

Janet (Hebrink) Sinning lived on a farm between Cresco and Lime Springs, and they later moved to a farm near Granger, Minn. when she was in fourth grade where she attended Granger Country school. It was for K-6 and she had one classmate in her grade, so she was in the top two in her class! She attended fifth grade through Senior High in Harmony, Minn. (now combined into Fillmore Central) and took part in Glee Club and GRA (Girls Recreation Association) as there were no girls sports at that time.

She has two siblings, and her farm chores were to feed the calves and haul milk to the bulk tank; her dad took care of the hogs. Summers were spent on the tractor raking the hay so it was ready to be baled. She took part in 4-H and showed pigs at the Fillmore County Fair and was active in her church youth group. Janet attended cosmetology school after finishing high school.

Roger enlisted in the Air Force after finishing high school and was sent to Lackland AFB for basic training, then Sheppard AFB for technical school. He worked as a teletype repairman, then a secure communications technician and later as a jet engine scheduler.

Janet and Roger met the summer of her senior year in high school as there were teen dances and roller skating in Harmony. They were married in June, 1974, on a very warm day, and the church did not have air conditioning. Since many of those attending the wedding milked cows, the wedding was held at 7:30 p.m. She joined Roger at his first base at Bergstrom AFB in Texas.

Roger’s next assignment was Shemya AFB in Shemya, Alaska for one year, without his family. Roger did obtain a ham radio license while he was in Shemya, and it was interesting to listen to others all across the world, he said. He has not kept it up as he has not wanted to buy some of the new equipment that would be necessary to continue with the venture. Shemya is a small three x five mile island in the chain of the Aleutian Islands (1,200 miles southwest of Anchorage). He was then transferred to Ellsworth AFB in Rapid City, S.D. for two years. The next assignment was in Wiesbaden, Germany for three years, Minot AFB in Minot, N.D. for two years, four years in Soesterberg, Netherlands, and then one year in Del City, Okla.

The Air Force told Roger there were too many people assigned in his occupation so it was either to be retrained or leave the service, so Roger decided to train into jet engine scheduler. He spent a few months at Chanute AFB in Champagne, Ill. Janet and the girls stayed in Oklahoma and met up with Roger again at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, N.C.

Janet was able to work while they were stationed at some of the bases but since their girls were young she also did some babysitting for other military families. Even though she was licensed to be a beautician those positions were already filled at each military base. Since each state has their own regulations, Janet would have needed to be re-licensed at each move and she did not want to do that. Roger said he can count on one hand the number of times someone else has cut his hair besides Janet since they have been married.

Roger made the choice to retire after 20 years, as their next assignment would have been overseas again, and their daughter would have graduated overseas. They didn’t want that, so they returned to Minnesota.

They lived with Janet’s parents for a short time as they looked for jobs. Janet found a job first in Rochester, and they rented a duplex in Byron for a short time. Roger’s brother lived near Mantorville, and was working at Schmidt Printing in Byron. He told Roger he should check out the job possibilities at this company. Roger applied and started working the second shift, and he was there for the next 27 years working in various departments and ended his career in the IT department.

The Sinning’s moved to Kasson in October 1992, and their two daughters attended K-M Schools and are K-M grads. During all the transfers to different Air Force bases, their daughters attended nine different schools. Since they had been at so many different schools, the girls had not experienced graduation ceremonies as they had never been involved with that at the schools they had attended.

Janet has been a member of the Kasson Park Board for the last six years. She joined the Care and Share Committee, and Save the Wall project at Veterans Park. She has been an area representative for various organizations for 23 years and is currently with Arise USAExchange Program for the past two years. She lines up families willing to host students from other countries, and has placed as many as 15 students one year.

The Sinning family has hosted students from Brazil and Holland plus students on a short term basis several times. She can place students in schools up to 120 miles away, but it is harder to keep in touch with that much distance.

Roger has worked with the websites of two local churches and also some individuals when they are having issues with their computers. They used to do a lot of square dancing, and they visit some of their military friends they got to know when they were stationed together. They do get together for coffee with friends most weeks to help solve the world’s situations during their conversations! They had family dogs for many years but do not now as it is easier to be gone for a few days when they do not have to take care of a pet.

While they were stationed in Germany and the Netherlands, the family did travel to some of the surrounding countries such as East Berlin (before the wall came down), Italy, Switzerland, England, and Crete, Greece when they could. They traveled to Spain in previous years, and recently traveled to Portugal. They will be going to Niagara Falls, Canada and New York City this summer with the children and grandchildren. Since their oldest daughter requested she wants to see Hawaii when she turns 50 next year, that is on the agenda too.

Their daughters live in Rochester and Winthrop, and they both have two children each. They will take in some of their grandchildren’s activities at times.

Janet said they are not sports fans but she will watch the Super Bowl each year especially for the halftime show and the commercials. They have been to Nashville and Branson as they do enjoy country music, and also take in the Freeborn County Fair in Albert Lea with their grandstand shows and attend some music festivals as well.