January 2023

Eleanor “Ellie” Marguerite (Stone) Appelwick

Our beloved mother and grandmother passed away peacefully on Sunday, January 15, 2023, at age 94 at Chapel View Health Care Center of Hopkins due to complications of COVID and dementia. A funeral service will be held on Friday, January 27, 2023, at 11 a.m. at J.H. Lynner Funeral Home in Clarkfield with visitation one hour prior to the service. Interment will be next to husband, Elden, in Israel Lutheran Cemetery. The oldest of five daughters, Ellie was born to T. Peter and Bernice (Buethe) Stone on February 24, 1928, in Swede Prairie Township, Yellow Medicine County. She attended country school until the eighth grade, then transferred to Clarkfield Public School to complete high school. After completing her certification in general office management at the Minnesota School of Business in Minneapolis, she worked at the Clarkfield Bank until her marriage. She was united in marriage to Elden Appelwick on March 24, 1951, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Minneota. Their marriage lasted nearly 65 years until Elden’s death in 2016. They had three children. Ellie was active in the community and at Israel Lutheran Church until its closing. She took to homemaking with gusto and always had bars, cookies, and coffee ready for those who stopped by. There was nothing better than her homemade bread. In 2012, Ellie fell and broke her hip. She recovered from that but then had a stroke a few years later that left her in a wheelchair, but her spirit was still strong. She moved to Augustana Chapel View in 2017 to be closer to “the girls.” Ellie was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Elden; sisters, (Gladys) Maxine Korman, Mary Gorski, and Patricia Kane; nephews, Robert Korman and Glenn Korman, and son-in-law Gregory O’Konski. She is survived by sister, Joan Konigson; daughters, Dianne O’Konski, Sharon Sauer, and Shirley Appelwick; grandchildren, Georgia, Josephine, and Henry Brott, and many nieces and nephews. The family thanks the staff at the former Minneota Manor

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Party held for retirement of Budger’s Dinner House owners

Bill and Lorri Beasley, the owners of the iconic Budger’s Dinner House located in Maynard, recently held a retirement party to celebrate all the years in business after they officially closed the steakhouse’s doors. The decision to close the doors of Budger’s was not one that came easy to the Beasleys, who bought the restaurant from Bill’s father in 1980.

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Granite Falls Area Community Foundation memorials and in-honor tributes

The GFACF would like to recognize the following memorials and in honor tributes received by the GFACF endowment fund from July1-December 31, 2022. These gifts to the endowment fund help the Foundation provide grants to local non-profit organizations for special projects that benefit the community. Thank you! Thrivent Choice dollars are gratefully accepted. Memorial and Tribute gifts may be sent to The Granite Falls Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 143, Granite Falls, MN 56241or donated online: www.granitefallsfoundation.org.

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Minnesota West Bluejay team won “Best in Show Award: Evaluation of Results” in the global science experiment, Plant the Moon Challenge

Plant the Moon Challenge, a program of the Institute of Competition Sciences, is a global science experiment conducted to grow plants in conditions similar to what is on the moon. As NASA makes strides for sending astronauts to the moon, a large part is survival in space.

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Eleanor Sandquist

 Eleanor Sandquist, 92, originally from Granite Falls, passed away peacefully at Folkestone Assisted Living facility in Wayzata on January 23, 2023, while surrounded by family. Memorial service held Saturday, January…

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Russell Flaata

 Russell Flaata of Granite Falls unexpectedly passed away Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar at the age of 58. Celebration of life services will be held Tuesday,…

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