Y’s Women

Y’s Women of the Hormel Historic Home began their 26th season on Sept. 12.  Members toured St. Augustine’s Church and saw the very beautiful restoration of the church.

We then went to the Mower County Fairgrounds and viewed the new exhibit featuring the Chert Quarry and the collection of Maynard Green. Sharon Wagner from the church and Randy Forstner, executive director of the Mower County Historical Society, gave very interesting and informative presentations.  It was a fun day and we ended with supper at the Legion.

Dues were collected and a short meeting was held.

Jean Hastings was welcomed as a new member. Officers for the coming year are President and Treasurer Anita Ulwelling, Vice President Sharon Jensen, Secretary Donna Maas and Historian Char Plantikow.  Holly Johnson, director of the HHH is the club advisor.  Callers are Louise Anderson and Georgiann Simonson.

The next meeting will be  Oct. 10. We will meet at the Hormel Historic Home at 5:30 p.m. for a mystery outing.  Callers will call with information.

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Brownsdale Study Club

The Brownsdale Study Club met Sept. 18 at the home of Leone Peterson. Jane Hartson brought the meeting to order with the reading of the Collect. The minutes and treasurer’s reports were approved as read. Nine ladies answered roll call to “favorite place you’ve lived”.

Old business: Alternatives to our planned outing to Stewartville were discussed. A motion was made and passed to eat at the Kernel and visit the Owatonna Art Center on Oct. 8. Jane will contact a potential new member.

New business: Hosting months were decided upon for the coming year. New booklets will be prepared before the next meeting. A motion was made by Sharon Willis, seconded by Mary Moritz and passed to donate $25 to the Brownsdale Library as payment and thank you for using the copier there.

“Happy Birthday” was sung to LaVonne. The meeting was adjourned.

Shelley Vogel gave the outside reading on a Forest Giant. The President, a giant sequoia, is the second largest tree to have ever been measured. This tree lives in the Sequoia National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada. It is 27 feet in diameter at the base, holds nearly two billion leaves, and is around 3,200 years old. Giant sequoias prefer severely wintry habitat, so they must be strong while frozen. It was discovered that the rate of growth, not just the height or total volume of these trees, can increase during old age.

For main topic, Sharon presented the Notorious Blizzard of 1949. The blizzard started on Jan. 2, 1949. Within hours, roads were impassable. Many abandoned their cars to seek shelter among strangers. More storms and wind piled more snow through February. Some drifts up to 20 feet were packed so hard that dynamite was use to break them up. Planes were used to deliver food and medicine, as well as hay for stranded cattle. Two months of snow and bitter cold caused at least 76 deaths in the South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas region.

A delicious snack was served by Leone.