Flying, fair, family all keep Kelly Caspers busy

Kelly (Thompson) Caspers grew up on a farm south of Hayfield and is the oldest of four children. She was very involved with activities at Hayfield schools with volleyball, basketball, playing the drums in the band, piano, and a member of the SADD group.

Kelly was a 4-H member, and would bring sheep, clothing, and photography to the Dodge County Fair each year. She earned multiple trips to the Minnesota State Fair with her clothes she made for exhibits, but the fair is also the same time as the annual Thompson family fishing trip to Northern Minnesota. This fishing trip has occurred for more than 50 years, and Kelly was only three days old when she was riding in a fishing boat with her folks on the lake!

During her Hayfield senior year, she had the opportunity to travel to Australia to play basketball with a Minnesota team, and they also stopped in Hawaii on the trip. She was involved with the youth group at church and went on a mission trip to Jamaica.

Kelly attended the University of Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa, as they had a flight school program, and she liked the size of the school to give her more opportunities. She earned her bachelor’s degree in aviation operation and aviation management.

She played on the college basketball team for four years, was president of the Aviation Flight Team, and Alpha Phi Omega Service fraternity member. She was able to earn her flight licenses and certificates while she was enrolled in college. Kelly was a flight instructor at the school for two years after she finished college. Kelly and Eric met at college as they were both involved with the aviation program.

Eric Caspers was from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and he played several sports while in high school. He also attended the University of Dubuque and, like Kelly, was in the Aviation Operation and Aviation Management program and played on the college baseball team for three years. Eric was a flight instructor at the school for two years after he earned his degree.

For the next 10 years Kelly was a pilot for American Eagle Airlines, and Eric with Air Wisconsin for 11 years. They decided to come back to Hayfield as it was a convenient site to fly out of Rochester, La Crosse, or Minneapolis for their commuter flights. For several years, Kelly would fly up to 800 hours each year with the maximum limit being 1,000 hours for a plane crew member.

Kelly next flew an airplane for Mayo for six years transporting medical patients. She now is a pilot for Valley Transportation from Grand Meadow and will only fly a few times each month, which fits in better for their family. Eric is a senior captain for Hormel Foods, and flies three or four times each week. During their airline pilot careers they have flown to many cities across the U.S. They receive training and flight simulations for each type of airplane they fly annually.

Kelly has flown in all types of weather conditions such as fog, snow, ice, high winds, storms, hail, and it can be a little nerve racking when you have 50 people on board that were counting on her to get to their destination, she said.

Asked if she ever had any close calls in her flying career. Kelly mentioned when she was a flight instructor, her plane was cleared for landing in Dubuque, but another plane was not on the correct flight pattern. She was able to see the problem just in time and make the correction, but the planes were only a couple of hundred feet from each other!

Kelly joined the Dodge County Fair board in 2017 and is now the fair vice president and her sister Julie is the board secretary. There are 21 members on the board, from each town and township in the county, and they hold monthly meetings.

During the winter months, much planning is done for the upcoming fair such as fair entertainment which she and her sister set up. The vendor contracts are signed, and fair sponsors and advertising and promotions are arranged months before the fair. The fair board and the county commissioners have a great working relationship, and the buildings are kept in very good condition, she said. Last year new water and electrical lines were installed along with a new event center.

This year the beer garden building will have a new roof extended over the patio side of the building. Many of the buildings are rented out for winter storage for boats, RVs, and cars for 6 months. The buildings are also rented during the summer months for graduations and wedding receptions, plus the Kasson-Mantorville schools use three of the barns for their bus garage.

During the fair week, Kelly and Julie spend long days making sure things are going on schedule. Fair board members and many other volunteers put in a lot of hours during that week and the weeks leading up to the fair. This year the Dodge County Fair will be held Wednesday to Sunday, July 16 — 20. 4-H, FFA, and open class building projects are entered on Monday, and livestock will come in on Tuesday before the fair opens.

Kelly, Julie, and their folks really enjoy going to other county fairs to see what they have to offer, and what would work in Dodge County. Kelly said they will try to attend a different county fair each week during the summer months.

Kelly and Eric were married in 2009 and live near Hayfield. They have three children, Natalie, Landon, and Caleb. The two oldest children are involved with activities at school, and Kelly coached her daughter’s basketball team this year. They are 4-H members and have shown projects at the Dodge County Fair. Their youngest son had serious medical challenges, and had an operation in California to help correct the condition before he was born. He was delivered seven weeks early here in Rochester. Their son is less than a year old but continues to make positive progress and is a happy baby.

The family likes to go fishing, camping in local areas, and Halloween trick or treating together in their themed costumes.

Kelly is a deer hunter and hunts with her dad. Eric and Kelly are Viking and Iowa Hawkeye fans, and they will golf at the Hayfield course when it fits into their busy schedule. Eric is a member of the Hayfield Township board.

Kelly has been a Sunday School co-teacher for 1st and 2nd grade students this year at South Zumbro Lutheran Church. A couple of years ago the family was able to attend the annual AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI, with 10,000 airplanes and more than 600,000 visitors.

Kelly has a big garden each summer, and getting her hands in the soil is a good stress reliever, she said. She does a lot of canning garden produce and exhibits in the fair open class each year. She likes to do crafting projects, cross-stitch projects, and take her kids on day trip adventures. Kelly said, “we do eat Spam and Eric will “Bring home the bacon” at times for the family meals.”

Kelly said she really likes living in the Hayfield area as that is where she grew up, she is a small-town girl, and the people are nice. She does not need to commute to a big city, but she has flown into many of them during her aviation career.