Catching up with a Kasson-Mantorville athlete

Heidi (Ludvigsen) Woller grew up in Kasson with her sister, Heather and they are Kasson-Mantorville grads. She recalls going to the skating rink after school quite often, where the library is now located, and playing kickball on the playground at the old Kasson school.
During the summer months she walked to the pool many days plus being on the swim team, and she would swim laps with the adults early in the morning. Her mother, Mary Ann Ludvigsen, contracted polio when she was young, and was confined to a wheelchair. Heidi and Heather would push their mom in her wheelchair to Erdmans to get groceries and she would buy them a bag of M&M’s. The girls started doing laundry when they were quite young since the washing machine was located in the basement and their mother could not get down the steps.
Her father Paul, would connect Mary Ann’s wheelchair to his bike, and then they would ride around town. Her mother would get after them with a fly swatter if they were doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing, but they would jump onto the bed and stay out of her reach! The family car was set up with hand controls so their mother would sometimes drive, and they would carry and place her into the car.
Heidi was involved with activities at St John’s Lutheran for many years. A special highlight while at K-M was going to Spain with K-M Spanish instructor, Lynette Huppler’s class, and she feels that class was very beneficial for her.
Heidi was involved with cross country and track while at K-M plus she played the drums in the band. The cross country races were held at the local golf course, and that was a hard course with some of the deep gullies and hills they would need to run. She participated in the 4 x 800, the 1600, and 3200 events. Heidi never qualified for the state track meet and one year just missed going to state by one place!
The cross country team would TP their KM coach Lance Peterson’s house each year. One time she was at a friend’s house and they were starting to TP a house, but the cops were waiting nearby and surprised the group. She took off and ran away so didn’t get caught, but then she felt guilty and turned herself in, and confessed that she was part of the group.
Her sister Heather, attended Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, and that is where Heidi then attended. Her father Paul, passed away shortly after she graduated from high school, and they would be their mothers caretaker while they were in college. The sisters would come home quite often during the school year, and their mother died while they were in college a couple of years after Paul.
Heidi ran cross country and track at Wartburg, and was the leader on the track team for three years. She would run the 5K and 10K races, and still holds one of the school records in an event. During college in the summer she would work at TGIF restaurant, and would come home and run the streets in Kasson at 11 p.m. at night. She also worked at Leutholds in Kasson, and a financial company in Rochester. Heidi spent one month in Mexico while in college. She earned her BS degree in Business Administration and Economics and a minor in Spanish.
After college she started with Hormel Foods and was assigned a sales area in Kansas for a couple of months traveling the backroads to stores across the state. She was promoted and transferred to Minneapolis. She then moved to Willmar, with the JENNIE-O company.
She met Jay at a church in Rosemount, when they ended up sitting in the same pew during the service. The pastor knew Jay and introduced her to Jay after the service. Jay grew up on a farm near Upsala, Minn., about 40 miles northwest of St.Cloud. He graduated from St. Cloud State and was a special education teacher at a school in Eagan. Heidi and Jay were married in 2001.
Heidi and Jay moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., for the next five years, and Jay worked in the school system there. While there Heidi earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Arizona State, and Jay received his principal certification. Their two sons Parker and Payton, were born while they lived there.
She worked with a finance company and also for Cold Stone Creamery and with research and development at their headquarters. Heidi said they would have stayed in Arizona but since they had no other relatives living there, they decided to move back to Minnesota to be closer to family members.
After some time in St. Louis Park, Jay took a principal position at the La Crescent-Hokah elementary school for five years. Heidi worked with Organic Valley with the marketing of their dairy products. Jay then got a principal position at a Chaska school so they moved to the Twin Cities for the next five years. Heidi worked with the CWT leading global marketing and travel campaigns with many Fortune 10 companies.
They enjoyed the Minneapolis area they lived in as they got to know their neighbors and they would meet people they knew when going to places in the area.They only lived a couple of miles from the area where the George Floyd incident occurred so they started to see more crime and issues coming closer to their home. Some of the break ins started coming much closer and their home was broken in while they were sleeping and they had some things stolen.
Jay was offered a principal position in Winona so they moved back down to La Crescent once again. The Woller’s started a men’s skincare product company three years ago and Heidi developed and marketed the product to companies in several areas. Last year they sold the company to a person living out on the east coast. Heidi worked for the CWT company until it was recently sold
Their oldest son, Parker, is a senior at La Crescent, and plans to attend St. Cloud State University this fall. He enjoys skateboarding, putting background music together, biking, and buys clothes from Goodwill and he will sell them on the internet as he knows what fashions people will buy. Payson is a sophomore, and involved with cross country, hockey and track at La Crescent plus being a very good student.
Heidi continues to enjoy running, and has completed four marathons. She wonders if she might be able to break three hours in a marathon race as she has run a 3:18 time), plus many half marathons. She also enjoys biking, but going shopping is fun for her! She takes their golden doodle dog out for a walk each day in their neighborhood so both of them get some exercise. She keeps involved and attends their boy’s school activities.
Jay is a very competitive race biker and participates in the tough Class A races. He has four styles of road bikes so Heidi said their garage is full of bikes for the family. They both have motorcycles. Heidi said she wanted to prove to herself that she could ride a cycle but doesn’t use it much, however their son likes to ride the motorcycle much faster than her.
When they lived in La Crescent the first time, she started a Bible Study in their town. It continued on while they were gone, and now they are back to that and their church once again after their move a couple of years ago.
The Woller’s have been able to travel to many places including Mexico, California, New Mexico, Florida, Utah, five countries in Europe during a 10-day trip, and last summer to New York. She has been on business trips to London, England, and Tel Aviv, Israel.
Her sister Heather is married and lives in Rochester. Her brother Tim lives in Kasson, and his children attended K-M, and she has a sister Tammy who lives in northern Minnesota.
Heidi had many great experiences growing up in Kasson and she has moved eight times during her work career. The first time they lived in La Crescent, Heidi wasn’t that excited about living there and she missed being in the Twin Cities. Now that they are back there again, she really enjoys living there as they have a big yard, a nice house, and have gotten to know people living in their community and it feels like home.