Don Hofstad wears many hats in community

Don Hofstad grew up on a small farm west of Pine Island in the Roscoe area with a sister
21 years older and a brother 14 years older. He graduated from Pine Island in 1985 and during his school years was involved  FFA and football and he played trumpet in the band.
His father was a WWII vet, who had earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze star, so several times the Pine Island Legion would have Don get out of school to play taps at local funerals for veterans and he also earned a little gas money for doing this, he said.
While growing up his family did not have running water or indoor plumbing so they
would get water for washing dishes in a pan and a bath tub by bringing water in cream
cans from the milk house and Don would get cleaned up in the milk house room. When
his parents refinanced the farm they were able to add a small addition to the house so they
finally got running water and indoor plumbing with a septic tank rather than the
outhouse.
He said he was in the third grade when he could finally take a shower in the house so he
sometimes would take up to three showers each day and then used the hair dryer so much it
was hard on his hair. Once they had the house addition it seemed like his parents were
more willing to invite friends and neighbors to come to their place.
In time, he said, the old farm house was really showing its age so a mobile home was scheduled to be moved onto their place but unfortunately that was the same day of his dad’s funeral so dad never got a chance to live in it.
Don worked for area farmers and also at the Pizza Coop in Pine Island becoming the
store manager at age 19. At 20 he became the general manager of the Pizza Coops in Pine
Island and Byron.
He later worked for different companies in the area including Cannon Equipment in Cannon Falls, which was really a warm job at the metal plating company. He then worked for DMC Plumbing and Heating, owned by Dean Cocker in Pine Island, who almost became a second father to him after his father died. While working for him, Don became a plumbers’ apprentice and also sold spas for this business.
Don joined the Pine Island Jaycees and held many positions in his club and at the district and
the state level. Even though he did not enjoy his high school speech class, he signed up
for a Jaycee Speak Up Competition with a speech on the benefits of being a Jaycee, winning
the state competition and representing Minnesota at the national competition in Memphis.
Don said he felt his involvement with the Jaycee organization helped him gain confidence and
leadership skills. He became the club president at age 22 and was recognized as the number two
Jaycee Chapter President of Minnesota during the state convention held at the Mayo Civic and was first greeted by his boss Dean.
He finally had to make a choice if he was going to take on more leadership roles on the state level, which would mean traveling around the state or spending more time with his young family. He made a good choice to put his family first, he said.
His family moved to Mantorville in 2002, building a new home and by that time he had
worked for DMC plumbing for 10 years. When the economy took a downturn, he was laid
off so he worked for various companies in the area to support his family and be able to keep
up the payments on his new home.
In 2010, friends convinced him to start his own plumbing business and the name Zumbro
Valley Plumbing was suggested. He now has one full time and one part time employee.
Last year, when the Zumbro River flooded, he lost a lot of his plumbing supplies that were stored in the building near the river in Mantorville, but he has now moved his inventory to a new
shop location in rural Kasson. When asked if he has seen some interesting things
on service calls he mentioned finding such things as false teeth, lost toys, shavers and broken pipes when getting their toilets operating again.
He said it’s much nicer to see people smiling rather than crying, after he has fixed the problem. He also gets to see the interaction and disagreements on ideas and costs between spouses when they are looking at remodeling bathrooms.
Don said he doesn’t like to take sides when these issues occur so many times will offer them another alternative to see if they can come to an agreement. He feels if you can’t trust your plumber who can you trust!
Don said he wears a lot of hats and recently when going through a closet he realized he
literally has a lot of different hats. He has been a member of the Mantorville Fire
Department for 18 years and it started when his family attended a Fire Prevention Night
at the Mantorville Fire Hall and someone filled out an application for him and turned it
in. He was surprised when Fire Chief Dale Brannan and Secretary Gene Lushinsky
asked Don if he was interested in joining the department, so that is how he became a
member.
Don has been the training officer, fire marshal, the pumper captain (the pumper
brings the water for firefighting calls) and is an EMR (similar to a first responder). He
said that when the pager goes off it means something bad has happened.
“Even though there might be gloom and sadness when answering a call, just being there means we tried to do what we could rather than not being there at all,” he said. Don has seen his share of death during calls, which is hard, but he has also experienced the joy of people surviving and
seeing them later living life in the community, he said.
He mentioned an incident where three local students were involved in a car accident which
he suddenly came upon when driving so he quickly grabbed his medical bags from his vehicle
and started to help. Don called for emergency vehicles and helped to stabilize the
medical condition of the people involved. He said it was really fulfilling when the youths
reached out to him after they learned that he had helped them and how much they
appreciated it.
Don has been a member of the Mantorville City Council for six years as he feels he listens
and cares about the people in his community. It can be a thankless job, he said, but he likes to
take pride in giving back to the residents. Even though some people will disagree with
the decision of connecting the sewage from Mantorville to Kasson, they were able to
obtain a state grant to help pay for a large portion of the project. A big concern is keeping
the city streets in good shape, but also trying to not over burden the taxpayers to get the
improvements done.
Don has been a coach for T-ball, youth football and baseball, and a leader for Cub and
Boy Scouts. One of the fun things he has enjoyed is announcing the lineups at the Kasson-Mantorville home wrestling matches.
When he was growing up he would watch All Star TV wrestling with his dad. He said he can almost imagine himself at K-M wrestling matches like TV announcer “Mean” Gene Okerlund, did for many years, announcing pro wrestling legends such as the Crusher, Vern Gagne and Hulk Hogan.
Don said he was really overwhelmed how the community responded when his oldest son Anthony suffered a stroke and was hospitalized for a month during recovery. He is now a student
at Mankato in law enforcement and hopes to work in the correction area for people to find
their way and stay on the right path.
His son, Alex, is also a student at Mankato studying in the area of finance and investments. His daughter, Annika, is a K-M student involved with golf and is a wrestling and football cheerleader.
All three of his kids have been involved with the Fire Department Explorer program. One of the things they enjoyed was riding on the fire trucks in local parades and throwing candy to the waiting kids along the route.
He said he has tried to encourage his kids that they need to give back and how this can really make a difference in their lives by helping others and making it a stronger community.
Don loves to bowl and hunt and especially enjoys fishing and watching high school sports plus
hopefully announcing home K-M baseball games when the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
One of the things Don has done many times, when making service calls, is talking to
customers that are sharing some of their life struggles, he said. He has given many of them a
small wooden pocket cross, he gets from a friend, telling them how he himself has felt
comfort during his low times when clutching the cross. Perhaps Don should be
called the “plumbing preacher.”
For a guy who in his younger days, missed some the modern conveniences most of us take
for granted, Don tries to go the extra mile to take care of his customers problems. He
feels Mantorville is really his home and plans to stay in the community as long as he can so he can continue to give back whenever possible.