By Robert Williams

Editor

Dave and Roxann Daggett were named the 2025 Turkey Days Legacy Leaders Grand Marshals, joining Community Champion Daneele Shipman in the first year of recognizing multiple marshals.

Dave (Class of 1961) and Roxann (Class of 1965) were recognized for their long-standing influence, hard work, and heartfelt volunteerism that have helped shape the Frazee residents know and love today. The pair both embody the spirit, traditions, and lasting values that make our community strong, the planning committee said in its formal announcement.

The Daggetts credit family for instilling the willingness and desire to be a boost to the community.

“We had parents that did things in the town; it was just built into us,” Roxann said. “That was a good lesson.”

“Both our parents, our mothers especially, were active in Bethlehem Lutheran Church,” said Dave. 

Dave and Roxann’s parents were friends and they spent a lot of time together as families.

“I taught her how to water ski,” Dave said.

“Dave is four years older than I am so I always thought he was fabulous when I was young and I still do,” said Roxann.

The couple’s first date was during Turkey Days.

“It wasn’t really a date, but we ended up meeting friends at the Hilltop (Spanky’s) and Dave asked me if I wanted to go for coffee,” said Roxann. “I didn’t care if I had coffee or not, but I thought it was a good idea.”

The meeting was two weeks before Roxann began her undergraduate studies at Concordia College in Moorhead, while Dave was beginning law school at the University of North Dakota.

Dave had completed undergraduate studies at UND and was in Grand Forks from 1961-1968.

“In the summertime, I’d come home and work at the truck line and slid behind the wheel sometimes,” Dave said. 

Roxann transferred to UND and via summer school finished her degree in three years to time it with Dave finishing law school.

After finishing law school, Dave was off to Germany, as he had seven years of military deferments. 

“I knew the minute I got out of school to be a lawyer in the JAG corp was going to be five years and I wasn’t that excited about doing that,” he said.

Dave discussed the situation with an Army recruiter and became a special agent in Nuremberg, Germany for two years and four months. A year into his stay, Roxann joined him and their daughter Missy was born while overseas to make the family four with their son Steve.

Living overseas provided plenty of new opportunities and according to Dave got them away from Frazee for three years, which allowed them to ponder if they wanted to return or go somewhere else.

“We made the best of the opportunity there and did a lot of traveling,” he said.

Nuremberg was a rather flat area with a lot of agricultural land and no lakes. A trip to southwestern Germany into the mountains provided a trip with a lake and that sparked thoughts of home.

“I miss the lake,” Roxann said.

“Let’s go back to Frazee,” Dave said.

Upon their return to the states, both Dave and Roxann were heavily involved with the Jaycees. Dave went on to become a district director, while Roxann became the state president.

During her presidency, Roxann’s theme was, “Make the world a better place if you can.”

Roxann would take her positive messages all the way to the state legislature where she represented her district from 1994-2002, but she got an early start on community service through the Burlington Cubs 4-H program when she was nine years old. 

“I think standing up in 4-H is the reason I was able to stand up in the legislature,” she said. “I was doing presentations before I knew you were supposed to be afraid to stand up and talk to people.”

She also advocated for Frazee and the couple opened up their home when needed for visiting politicians to get a taste of small town life. Roxann would call up the state commissioners and the lieutenant governor and invite them to Frazee.

“We’ve always been so thankful that we come from Frazee and also so proud of our town,” Roxann said. 

She also spread that message to all the little towns she represented.

“I made sure when we did our town meetings we went to every town; we went to Dent and Sebeka and I thought that was important for every town to be represented. That just comes from the fact that I was proud of where I was from and I felt that they were as important as any other town,” Roxann said.

The sawmill brought the Daggett family to Frazee from Ohio. The Daggetts were a farming family. Dave’s grandfather had a farm in Evergreen Township. Dave’s father Vernon helped with the books and showed that the farm was not profitable. Grandpa had a livery stable D.W. Daggett in Frazee and he hauled supplies to the mill and the lumber camps. 

Later he began building roads using only horsepower, according to the history of Daggett Truck Line (daggetttruck.com). Trucks became a natural evolution in his business and were first used for hauling gravel for the roadwork. The first motor trucks, three dump trucks, were bought in 1920.

D.W. Daggett also is responsible for using a team of horses to complete a task from the Mill to haul a log out to Wymer Lake, where many mill workers resided and now many Daggetts live. The log is still there outside Dave and Roxann’s home. Pat Daggett Martin helped celebrate the log’s 100th birthday with a special column in the Forum in 2022.

The Daggett family holds a unique standing when it comes to city government as one of the only towns to have four generations serve on the same city council. Dave’s dad Vernon was on the council and mayor; Dave’s brother Marvin was on the council and the mayor; Marvin’s son Fred Daggett held both positions and currently Drew Daggett serves on the city council.

Delta started the Frazee Jaycees and along with Dave both served as President. Marvin and Dave both served as Rotary President. All three, and Fred Daggett, were also involved with the Minnesota Trucking Association, moving through the chairs to eventually serve as Chairman of the Board. Delta did the same in North Dakota.

Vernon Daggett did well in the stock market after World War II and he always had a soft spot for the Frazee Fire Department.

“If they needed a new truck, he would go and buy it,” said Dave. “They would have fundraisers and they would pay him, of course no interest. When he died, the city council had to figure out how to buy things.”

Vernon bought the two old houses and property that sat where the fire hall currently sits.

According to Albert Doll’s History of the Frazee Fire Department, the new fire hall was brought about by the generosity of the Frazee Lions Club and Vernon Daggett. The Frazee Fire Department was in desperate need of a new facility and could not afford one. Many discussions were held on the matter and it was determined that neither the fire department nor the city could afford one. Up stepped the Lions Club and said that they would set aside money from their charitable gaming. They were still a long way from building when one day Chief Russ Vicksland received a call from Vernon Daggett. Vern had been a long and generous supporter of the fire department, so much so that when the department needed to purchase a new truck or equipment they always went to Vern who would give a loan at “no interest” and “pay me back when you can” arrangements.  When Russ arrived at Vern’s house and inquired as to the nature of his summons Vern asked “how much will the new hall cost?”  Russ replied that the hall they would really want would cost $300,000 but realizes that it is only a dream. Vern then asked, “How much are the lions going to give you?” Russ replied that the lions had saved some money, but had committed to go as high as $150,000. Vern smiled and said, “you tell the Lions when they get to $150,000, I’ll match it!”

In 1990 the Frazee Fire Department moved into its present location.  

Roxann’s legacy is from the ground up. From carrying fenders during cleanup after the Turkey Days demo derby to leading the town’s centennial celebration in 1991.

“It was fun; we had such good camaraderie,” said Roxann. “Everybody volunteered. We had a great chapter. The Frazee Jaycees was the No. 1 chapter.”

The Centennial was like no other. It lasted an entire year with at least one monthly event.

“Jay Estenson, Jan Lindsley and myself worked like a team on making decisions and we’d always meet at the Yak Shack because Jay didn’t have time to meet elsewhere and everybody in a chair got to have an opinion,” Roxann said.

The group went all out hosting a large event each month that began with an all-school reunion and ended during Turkey Days.

“What made it so great; we had a barn dance and there were people who loved barn dances so they took care of that,” she said. “We had a birthday party at the high school gym. We had cake and coffee for 1,400 people there. Everybody took it and wanted it to be the best.”

Opening with the school reunion was key to making the centennial year celebrations successful.

“When you have a big success like that it sets the tone for the balance of the year,” said Dave.”

The centennial year brought visitors and media to Frazee.

“We had TV stations come to two or three of our events because it was kind of novel for a little town to have so many events,” Roxann said. “I was just so proud of the opportunity to lead it and it was tons of work but we had fun and it was all volunteer.”