Dennis, Marilyn Aarsvold 3rd generation farm owners

Dennis and Marilyn Aarsvold both grew up south of Kasson. They live on the farm that Dennis’s grandfather bought in 1923 which his parents later bought and now Dennis and Marilyn are the third-generation owners.

Dennis said when the weather would cooperate, he would walk to the country school when he was in first grade about two miles away. Their family had a couple of foster boys staying with them at the time so his dad told them to walk along the fence line to keep their bearings.

When Dennis was in fourth grade he went to the Kasson school which for years had all 12 grades at that building. When he was in fifth grade the 7 — 12 grade students moved to the new KM school building so that was a big change when the older students were no longer there. Marilyn also attended a country school for one year and then attended school in Kasson. Her family moved to Rochester when she was in the third grade along with her four brothers and two sisters. She attended John Marshall High School and took part in the band.

She went to RCTC for two years and worked for Saint Marys Hospital for five years. After that, she worked for IBM for 33 years in the procurement department and she would do some traveling for her job.

Dennis said they milked 20 cows, along with hogs, 300 chickens, and 100 roosters besides the crops. They had beef cattle on their other farm place so a couple of times each week during the winter, Dennis and his dad would ski to that place to chop holes in the creek for water for the cattle and also put out hay and feed.