Friday, March 29, 2024
Kasson native Ron Unger has watched Kasson grow as resident, Park & Rec. supervisor.

Park & Rec supervisor has watched Kasson grow

Ron Unger grew up in Kasson in the 1960’s and 70’s, along Mantorville Avenue two blocks north of Main Street, “downtown” as he called it, with an older sister, Paula and a younger brother, Jerry. His parents, Bud and Rosie lived in their 100-year-old house since 1958 up until two years ago when they moved to Pine Island.

Ron thought Kasson back then, had every store or business that a family would need in those years. Three car dealerships, six gas stations, three hardware stores, two grocery stores, a clothing store, shoe and boot store, restaurants, Kasson State Bank, Ron’s Barbershop, Friendly Tavern and Millers Used Mercantile to name a few.

Ron said he remembers going “downtown” to the Ben Franklin Variety Store to purchase packs of Topps Baseball cards, 5 cents for 5 cards and a piece of flat (not great tasting) bubble gum. He would collect these cards, keeping the “good players” and putting the other cards on his bicycle spoke rims, held on with clothespins, to make that noise he just loved to hear riding his red Schwinn bike around town.

He would go to the bakery and coffee shop (located in the vacant lot across from the old city hall that burned down 30 years ago) and for 50 cents could get a glass of Coca Cola and a maple long john. What a fond memory!

On some Saturdays, he would meet his friends to go to the bowling alley (located where the Buffet King is today on Main Street) to bowl. They could buy a burger, fries, rent shoes and the ball for under $5, he said.

On Friday nights he would go to St. Johns Lutheran Church where they had “Back Door Night.” They had a pool table, foosball and ping pong tables, music (8 track) and the church sold hot dogs, chips, pop and candy to the kids who came there for a fun time. Of course, all of the kids who owned cars, would cruise main street making a U-turn by State Theater and back down to the fire hall station area, plus they would hang out at the Boston Café (located on Main Street) after all the KM games. What great times, he said!

 During the summer, when he was playing T-ball at the time, his coach Tink Larsen who lived just down the block, would pick him up and take him to the ball field (where the Kasson Library is located) to practice and to play games. Later, it was Bob Rose (Kasson’s Rec Director at the time and former teacher) who would coach the Peewee and Midget Programs that he would compete in all summer long. He said he was blessed to learned the game of baseball from two great coaches!

In the winter months, he was ice skating on the location of the current Mayo Family Clinic which later moved to the site of the present Kasson Library when the infield and outfield was flooded for ice skating. What great broom ball games were held there, he said!

Ron remembers walking to the Kasson Grade School to catch the bus to Mantorville when he was in

kindergarten and his teacher was Phyllis Sands. He walked to the Kasson Grade School during first through fourth grade and played on the playground by the stone water tower. He rode the bus to the Mantorville Grade School during fifth and sixth grade and said it was special for him as his grandmother was one of the cooks. He said he always wanted to be at the end of the lunch line as she would give him that extra helping! When he got home from school it was time to put on his “play clothes” and head back up to the playground at the Kasson Grade School to play basketball with his buddies until the 5:30 p.m. whistle would blow. That was the signal to be home as 10 minutes later it was time for supper and to do homework.

He also remembers during the winter months his brother and himself would walk all the way out to the KM Senior High School to play “open gym” basketball for the three hour time frame on Saturday afternoons. Cold or snow was not going to stop them from playing the game of basketball!

During his KM Junior and Senior high school days he loved playing football, basketball and baseball for which he earned HVL All Conference in those sports.

In 2020 was elected to the Kasson – Mantorville Athletic Hall of Fame and said he was very honored to be selected with all those other great athletes from KM High. He thanks all of his great KM teachers for his classes plus coaches such as: Terry Vatland, Jim Turner, Phil Johnson, Dennis Yell, Steve Dubois, Jerry Sylvester, Bill Heitkamp, Kris Gulsvig and also athletic director Jim Sands who he says he will always remember out on the football field with Bob Rose lining and preparing the football field for games.

Ron also enjoyed singing tenor in the high school choir and attending music festivals and workshops at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He said he had so many great memories of his classmates and all the school activities such as his Junior and Senior Proms, all of the Homecoming festivities during his high school days and his fond memory of his graduation day. He got his first job during his sophomore year as a “bus boy” at the Hubbell House in Mantorville and his first car – a yellow 1974 Pontiac four door Catalina.

Ron is a 1978 KM graduate and was really in style wearing bell bottom pants, silk style shirts and having a much different hair style than he does now!

After high school he went to Concordia College in Moorhead for less than a year, with thoughts of maybe becoming a teacher, but became homesick and was ready to return home. He thought about attending the Rochester Community College but the “huge” tuition bill came in the mail and that changed things as he needed a job to pay for it. He started working at Telex Communications in Rochester, installing motors on eight-track tape players for Ford Pickups for five years. He finally decided he did not want to work on an assembly line for the rest of his life so he took a job at SL Contracting for Scott Lampland. For three years he dug basements and installed water and sewer services for new homes in the community.

He then got an opportunity to be the building superintendent at St Johns Lutheran Church in Kasson. He worked for Pastor Curtis Johnson, the Church Council and the congregation until December 1988. That’s when he found out there was a job opening at the time as a rec supervisor for the City of Kasson.

Ron said it was a nervous feeling being interviewed by the Kasson Mayor and City Council, but he was hired for the job and started working for the City of Kasson in the Parks Department and he just knew, that this would be his ultimate job for his career.

Ron also became a member of the Kasson Volunteer Fire Department in 1985 and retired from the department in 2009 after 24 years of service. He had many experiences but also mentioned he was on the call during the fire at the Dennis and Sue Yell home (one of his former coaches) on Fifth Street NW trying to put out the fire. He said the fire department men and women were and are a great bunch of heros that sacrifice themselves every day to help us keep safe and healthy. Ron also coached ninth grade football for three years at KM High and also refereed Junior High basketball at KM for 18 years. He said he really has enjoyed being a servant to our Kasson Community over the years.In 2021, Ron started his 33rdyear in the Kasson Park and Recreation Department as he became the Park and Recreation supervisor in 1997. He said he has seen a lot of changes and mentioned he wishes he had taken more photos of the changes that have happen through the years.

There are eight parks in Kasson and they mow 75-80 acres of grass plus the area around the city maintenance shop. This summer they will contract out some of the mowing to a lawn service to give the park staff more time to do more repairs plus other needed improvements to the parks that should be done. They have built two great picnic shelters at Veterans Memorial Park and another at Lions and Meadowland Parks. Five playground modulars, a football field, a soccer field, three softball fields, a baseball field, a skate park, Frisbee golf course, outdoor hockey rink, gazebo, park maintenance building, a basketball court, sand volleyball court, parking lots and walk and bike paths within the city limits have been built since he has been at the city of Kasson.

He said at one time there were four tennis courts and an archery range up to Veterans Memorial Park. Over time the Archery Range and two tennis courts were eliminated. The two existing courts are in need of repairs or even replacement. Those two courts have been there since the late 60’s!

The Park Board is looking into the CIP Plan to have new courts constructed at some given time in the future, he said. They also would like to implement Pickle Ball Courts in the future, Ron said. One thing Ron mentioned that has not changed over the years is the giant swing set at Veterans Memorial Park that has been there for decades and generations of children have made good use of it.

The WPA Stone Wall at the park is another project that has been looked at by the department and a fund raising effort has been going on for repairs, plus replacing the sidewalk and curb in front of the wall, the price would be in the $60,000.00 range to complete the job, he said.

Of course, the Aquatic Center, completed in 2013, is really a highlight for the community. The old pool was built in 1938, and remodeled in 1982, but was losing thousands of gallons of water on a regular basis. The new Aquatic Center has been named the Rochester Post Bulletins “Best of the Best” pool for the last three years. Communities from Mankato, Rochester, Austin, Albert Lea, Byron and Pine Island bring bus loads of swimmers to our pool each year.

Ron said he has a staff of 60 – 70 kids employed each year working two different shifts each day. One thing that is really stressed up to the pool, Ron says, is “if you keep the facility clean, safe and organized, the people will continue to come back to our pool”.

Kasson has also been named Tree City USA since 1980 and promotes the care and importance of trees in urban areas. Since 1988, 1,700 trees have been planted by the Park Department on city boulevards and park areas. Ron said they normally plant around 40 – 50 trees each year for the Model Street Planting Program in early spring.

Back in the early 70’s the city had to deal with the Dutch Elm disease problem and had to remove nearly 300 Elm trees, Ron mentioned. He said now, the city has another issue with the Emerald Ash Borer which will kill all ash trees within the entire city limits. The Park Department conducted an inventory list in 2017 of ash trees on all city boulevards and came back with a number of 255 trees. As of today, he said we have removed around 200 of the boulevard ash trees. Ron said that one of the big issues that Kasson will have to deal with is that he estimates another 200-250 ash trees are located in peoples’ back yards and that those trees will also have to be removed at the home owner’s expense. If the Park Department finds these backyard trees are dying and have become a hazard, they will send a letter to the homeowner and give them 30 days to have it removed or the city will hire a contractor to remove the tree(s) and the owner will be assessed the full removal cost. Tree trimming and tree removal maintenance is done during the winter months here in Kasson.

Besides tree maintenance in the winter, Ron said another job he and his staff are involved in is helping the Street Department plow and remove snow from the streets each winter. This year so far has been easier as compared to a couple of years ago when the snow banks covered the street corners which made it very hard to see at the intersections of all the streets. They have seven snow plow units that plow snow and work six to seven hours each to plow the streets after a snowfall. They used to be able to pile snow on the fairground property but now they use areas in Lions Park, Prairieview Park and behind the current fire hall. It can take up to two to three days to get the snow totally removed from the streets and haul the temporary piles of snow behind the Kasson Liquor Store, the American Legion and all of the cul-de-sacs in town.

Ron’s plans are to retire in late 2022.  He currently lives in Waseca, with his significant other, Tammy. He said he lives next to Clear Lake in Waseca and plans on doing a lot of fishing on the lake. Ron likes to play cards and dominoes and recently purchased a guitar that he hopes to continue improving to combine his love of singing and playing music. He also enjoys watching sports such as the Vikings, Twins, Gophers and Wild. He plans on doing some traveling also once he retires.

Ron has two daughters, Jessica and Heather, five granddaughters (three who live in Kasson and two who live in Hartland, Wis.).

Ron said he really loves the Kasson community that has been a part of all of his life and enjoys each day working with his staff to keep our parks and our city looking great!

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Dodge County Independent

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301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

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301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

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