5 years ago

Frazee-Vergas Forum

July 12, 2018

“The shortest distance between two people is through their stories,” said Pastor Amy Strom. The 49-year-old is the new pastor serving the United Methodist Churches of Frazee, Vergas, and Dent. Strom accepted the call to serve towns she’d never been to before and quickly learned they had good reputations. “People from the church I was at all had positive things to say about the area,” she said, adding she learned her hobbies of kayaking, fishing and outdoor activities would still be satisfied.

The sirens were going off in Frazee on Sunday evening as a storm with rotation moved through the area. While there were no reported touchdowns of tornados there was wind damage as a tree toppled over on a trailer house along Fourth Street Southwest. Margaret Myers said she was at her son’s residence on Main Avenue when the sirens went off, but her husband Joe and their two dogs were at their house.

25 years ago

Frazee Forum

July 9, 1998

Gale Dashner had waited for over a week, and on Friday she finally got her phone call. Shortly afterward, she and other Minnesota Conservation Corps (MCC) members were on their way to help fight the fires currently raging in Florida. Previously, Dashner had been notified that her group might be heading south to the fire zone. Going into a fire zone, where as of last Thursday 80 homes had been lost, may not be someone’s typical idea of a rewarding challenge. But then, Dashner isn’t typical. “I had kind of a dream of being a smoke jumper,” Dashner said. As a member of the Minnesota Conservation Corps, she has had training and has worked as a smoke chaser, so now all she’s lacking is a plane and parachute.

Not to be upstaged by his now-under-construction successor, Big Tom the Turkey made a spectacular fiery transformation July 1 from a giant hobbler to something that resembled a burned-out buzzard. Shortly afterwards, Big Tom had disappeared altogether. Big Tom, for the uninformed, was a giant 22-foot-high turkey that served as Frazee’s mascot since 1986. The large pseudo-fowl caught fire while being removed to make room being built in Sparta, Wisc. “We were using a cutting torch,” said Burt Larson, who was on the three-man removal crew. “We cut the front legs off and nothing happened. We cut the wings, and as soon as the torch hit it, the whole thing went (up in fire). It was hollow on the inside. It acted as a chimney.”

50 years ago

Frazee Forum

July 12, 1973

Pioneer Girls, a national organization with headquarters in Wheaton, Ill., has approved the purchase of 280 acres of land just inside Otter Tail County, four miles southwest of Frazee in Candor Township, as a site for a camp. The camp is owned and operated under the auspices of the North Central Camp Cherish, Inc., board of trustees. Pioneer Girls is a weekly club program, meeting in churches throughout the United States and Canada. In July, 1972, camp for 150 junior and senior high girls was held for 3 one-week periods and one 10 day period at this new site.

Bethlehem Lutheran Guild Party will be held Thursday, July 12 at the Highway 10 Rest Area, starting at 2 p.m. This party is for al lGuild members, Ladies Aid and Vesper Society members, and anyone else who wishes to attend. If you need a ride, meet at the church. The lunch is pot-luck.