Prairie Five offers tablet lending library to help after pandemic

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Prairie Five recognized the need to find a way to make contact more available for older community members who were suffering from a loss of face-to-face contact. “We saw how many activities moved online - church services, medical appointments, presentations, and more and wanted to be sure that the older adults in our five-county service area would be able to stay connected with these opportunities, as well as with family and friends,” says Laura Thomas, Prairie Five Community Action Council’s Director of Aging Well.

Yellow Medicine County and surrounding townships celebrate 150th anniversary

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the conception of Yellow Medicine County, Yellow Medicine City, Minnesota Falls, Granite Falls, and the 25 townships. In 1803, Minnesota became part of what was then the Louisiana Purchase. By spring of 1849, what would be called the Minnesota Territory (including the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana) was formed from what was then Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. That summer, the northern tier of townships in Yellow Medicine County was a part of what was then “Dahkota” County and the southern tier of townships in Yellow Medicine County were a part of what was them “Waubashaw” County. These were two of nine counties forming what was then Minnesota Territory. The western boundary of the State of Minnesota was set at the Red River of the North, Lake Travers, Big Stone Lake, and the Corteau des Prairie boundary between Minnesota and South Dakota. Everything to the east of this boundary was in the state of Minnesota and everything to the west was in the newly formed “Dakota Territory.”

A tradition of storytelling

Storytelling has always been a part of Walter LaBatte Jr.’s life. Growing up in the Upper Sioux Community, Walter says that there were many childhood evenings spent listening to his father’s stories. “When I grew up, we didn’t have electricity, and so the only entertainment we had was my dad telling us stories,” Walter recalls. “We have a mythical creature called Unktomi, which means spider, and he’s a trickster. There are tons and tons of stories and he would tell us those Unktomi stories at night. These stories had morals in them. Because he was a trickster, he would do bad things, and through telling those stories they were sending a message how to act, how to behave.”

George Hoffman

GRANITE FALLS - George Hoffman, 89, of Granite Falls passed away on Tuesday, December 28, 2021, at the Clara City Care Center. Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, January 4th at 11:00 am at St. Andrew Catholic Church. Visitation will be held Monday evening from 5 to 7 pm at the Wing-Bain Funeral Home in Granite Falls and continue one hour prior to services at the church on Tuesday. Arrangements with Wing-Bain Funeral Home

Lars Oakland

HECTOR - Lars M. Oakland, age 84, of Hector, Minnesota, passed away on Monday, December 20, 2021, at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St.

Ellayne Tolora Velde-Conyers

EDINA, MN - Ellayne Tolora Velde-Conyers passed away peacefully at Brookdale Assisted Living Edina, MN on December 18, 2021. She was born on January 16, 1935 on the family farm near Hanley Falls, MN. She attended Augsburg College then married LeRoy Conyers on January 21, 1956. Besides being a wife and busy mother, Ellayne worked as a para-professional at Marshall’s first Middle School for 10 years, then for another 10 years with the Minnesota Extension Services. For part of that time she was transferred to the U of M Campus 4-H office where she was assistant to the director and supervised the Civil Service staff. Upon returning to Marshall, Ellayne became the executive director of the Lyon County History Museum for the next 21 years. During that time she also served on the Marshall Area YMCA Founding Board of Directors, served two terms as Marshall Police Commissioner, conducted after-school homework sessions for new-immigrant Middle School Students, co-chaired the Marshall 125th Five-day Celebration, served as Area Representative of the Minnesota Sesquicentennial, and supported the creation of the Arts and Entertainment District in Marshall which includes the downtown wall murals and the statue of Mrs. Whitney who named the town. She served as a member of the Marshall City Council where she sat on the Marshall Community Services Advisory Board, Area Senior Commission, the City Legislative & Ordinance Committee, the Public Improvement/Transportation Committee, and served as the City Council representative to the “Act on Alzheimer’s” Task Force. She wrote a weekly article for the Marshall Independent Newspaper for 21 years, later publishing all in five volumes of Our Rural Roots, and hosted the “Marshall News and Views Show”, a weekly cable access television program. In retirement she served on the Resident Council at Brookdale Senior Living.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

This week we enter the first days of new ownership under CherryRoad Media. It's an exciting time with a lot to accomplish, and probably the most proper way to start a new year. I, myself, have become rather accustomed to January being a quiet month, with not a lot going on, and a lot of focus on the temperatures and snowfall. I find myself creatively stunted and usually start to dream of traveling to new places. However, this year there's a lot to do and it will be a busy month full of activity and new challenges.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come.” (Isaiah 60:1a)

January 6th is Epiphany. Epiphany is when Christians celebrate the revealing of God to humanity in human form through Jesus. One of the definitions is the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as symbolized by the Magi in Matthew 2:1–12.

More negative temperatures on the way through the week

It was a bitterly cold weekend across the state of Minnesota. We had the coldest air of the season to ring in the New Year. High temperatures on Saturday ranged from -8 to -18 F for most of Greater Minnesota. Overnight low temperatures early Saturday were from -15 to -25!