Rose Mary Nelson of Annandale passed away on Jan. 25, 2019, at the age of 71 following a courageous battle with cancer.
A wake was held Wednesday, Jan. 30 at Dingmann Funeral Care Chapel in Annandale. Mass of Christian Burial was held on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 3 p.m. at St. Ignatius Catholic Church. There was a Celebration of Life reception after the funeral at Classic Hall Event Center in Annandale.

Duane Wayne Wohl, age 76 of Blooming Prairie, formerly of South Dakota, passed away Monday, Jan. 28, 2019 at his home.

Over the past few years,social media has become a very important tool for educators.
 
Through platforms like Facebook,Twitter,Pinterest and other platforms teachers are able to collaborate and get ideas from one and other.
 
One idea that formed recently for some Kasson-Mantorville Elementary School classrooms,is collecting donations,so they can provide a free book to each student every month.
 

 
On Wednesday afternoon, K-M Superintendent, Mark Matuska,announced that there will be no school for the school district on Thursday.
 
One of the main reasons for the decision is because one of the two middle school boilers are currently not working correctly.

Gretchen Jensen Erickson, 104, of Kasson passed away Wednesday, Jan. 9 at her residence at Prairie Meadows Senior Living in Kasson.  
Gretchen was born Sept. 17, 1914 to Merton A. and Edith M. Bartholomew Jensen in Bowbells, N.D.  She graduated from Wabasha High School in 1932 and from Hamline University in 1936.

Michael Wilmes is well suited to reflect on small towns and the impact of agriculture on them.
The West Concord resident is a former editor of the Agri News who grew up in a small community similar to West Concord and spent his career writing about agriculture. He reminisced about his experiences last week at a discussion at the West Concord Library sponsored by the city’s Study Club.
“Really, ag is about community,” he said.

On January 21, Peyton Suess sat with many of the best high school athletes in the area. As part of the Rochester Area Sports Commission Banquet. She was up for the Female High School Athlete
of the year award, many of her friends and family were on hand for the occasion and she even had a live television interview with KAAL prior to the banquet.

As I accepted seven journalistic awards of excellence on behalf of this newspaper last week during the Minnesota Newspaper Convention in the Twin Cities, I couldn’t help but get excited for our readers.

This past weekend our publisher, Rick Bussler, our county writer, Karen Jorgensen and myself, were at the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s annual convention in the Twin Cities.
The convention was the first one I was given the opportunity to attend and it definitely didn’t disappoint.