DCI History: Week 39

50 years ago: September 12, 1973
Folmer Carlsen, Publisher
Awana Club To Start Sept. 26
The Awana Club for girls and boys will hold its first meeting of the new season on Wednesday, September 26, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., at the First Baptist Church of Kasson. The Awana Club is an interdenominational youth organization with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. The main goal of the club is the reaching of girls and boys with the gospel message of faith in Christ as a Savior and Lord. The heart of the program is the memorization of verses from the Bible. Over a six year period that a child can attend Awana, over five hundred verses are to be memorized, as well as many portions of the Bible to be read. The club is open to all girls and boys in grades three through eight, and will be meting regularly on Wednesday nights from 7-8:30, until next May. Bus and auto transportation will be provided once again, as in the past, and arrangements can be made by calling either 775-2260 or 634-4021. Parents are always welcome to visit the club and observe the program.
 
 
30 years ago: September 8, 1993
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Two more physicians go on staff at Kasson-Mayo Family Practice Clinic
Dr. Matt Bernard and Dr. Halina Woroncow are now on staff as fulltime family physicians at the Kasson-Mayo Family Practice Clinic. Both completed their residency program at Mayo. Dr. Bernard is a native of Chatfield and graduate of Chosen Valley High School. He received his B.A. degree from Carleton College in Northfield and attended the University of Minnesota Medical School. His B.A. major was in psychology. August 2 he came on staff fulltime. He and his wife Maureen and four-month-old child Joe, moved to Kasson a month ago. Being from a small town, Dr. Bernard said this opportunity at Kasson-Mayo turned out to be the ideal situation for him. “I wanted to be involved in family medicine and settle down in a small town,” he said. Dr Woroncow is a native of New Jersey and received her B.A. degree from Oberlin, Ohio. She majored in music and Russian. She entered pre-med at Columbia University in New York City and is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Woroncow is married to Raymond Ostfeld and they have a five-month-old daughter. The family resides in Rochester. She came on staff full-time July 19. When Dr. Woroncow came from out east to work in the Mayo residency program she said she was impressed with the program and people. “It was our intent to stay out here because this is a little different lifestyle,” she said. “I also enjoy the primary care and continuity that goes along with practicing here. You get to know your patients and establish a good physician/patient relationship.” In the three year residency program a resident spends one half day a week at the Kasson clinic. The time working here increases the second year and in the third year residents spend anywhere from three to five half days a week in Kasson. Dr. David Agerter is the resident program director. This year the Kasson-Mayo Family Practice Clinic will see over 32,000 patients. The clinic has seven full-time physicians now on staff, 24 residents and some 30 support staff. Kasson-Mayo Family Practice Clinic opened in 1977.
 
20 years ago: September 10, 2003
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Glenn Boyum aces par 3 at ZVRC
Glenn Boyum of Kasson had a stroke of bad luck two weeks ago at the Zumbro Valley Golf Course. He showed up to play golf one afternoon and his riding golf cart and clubs were gone. Clubhouse management looked all over the entire area, including the woods around the course. No cart was found. Since, Boyum has offered a reward for the recovery of his cart and clubs. In the meantime, Glenn used a rental cart and rental clubs from the course. The left handed set consisted of four clubs and a putter, which is far less clubs than in a regulation bag. Last week, playing a round of golf with the rental cart and clubs, Boyum aced the par three fifth hole using the driver. He was playing by himself and knew he had hit a good shot. He saw the ball disappear. There were two individuals right behind him and he asked if they would ride with him in the cart across the bridge to check the hole. Sure enough, the ball was in the hole and Boyum became the fourth person to fire a hole-in-one on the par three hole at Zumbro Valley this year. Would Boyum have realized every golfers dream with his own set of clubs? Nobody knows for sure. One thing that cab be said is that something good did come out of something bad for this ZVRC golf member.
**will have a photo
 
10 years ago: September 11, 2013
Randy Carlsen, Publisher
Kasson Auto Repair & T & K Towing benefit from local support
When Tim and Marie O’Marro moved T & K Towing to a highly visible location on Mantorville Avenue in Kasson two years ago they figured the move would benefit them with more walk in traffic and get more of the locals for customers. They were right. Tim O’Marro has worked in the towing business since 1977 when he was 13 years old. He helped a business in heavy duty recovery, hauling chains and doing a lot of the grunt work related to towing. He attended college for law enforcement and worked in corrections. All that time though Tim still kept towing. Tim and his brother Kevin started T & K Towing in 2003. His brother never did get actively involved. He worked at IBM in Rochester and was more interested in restoring Mustangs, MGs and GTOs, which is what he does more of now that he is retired from IBM. Ten years ago Tim and Marie moved to Mantorville and the business came with them. Two years ago they purchased the present building at 19 North Mantorville Avenue. Since the shop was in place it was a natural fit for them to add Kasson Auto Repair to T & K Towing. T & K Towing has three flatbeds and two tow trucks. Tim recently hired Hayfield native Derek Severson as a mechanic and insists that is one of the better moves he has made. What impressed Tim the most is the fact Derek has a lot of knowledge on foreign as well as domestic cars. “We ramped up the shop with new equipment so we could work on all domestic and foreign cars. We really needed to do that,” said Tim. The central location was necessary so the business could be on call for the county and state patrol. Location has also helped to draw local traffic. Tim believes people feel more comfortable coming to local people, people they know. “The local people have been good to us,” said Tim. “We do what it takes to take care of them-give them a ride home or get a loaner car to them. If someone has a bad experience with their car we want to make it a little less stressful for them.” Treat people fairly and offer competitive pricing. That is what Tim believes keeps people coming back. The locals tend to stay with a barber or family dentist. Tim O’Marro would like to think their business fits that same category when it comes to loyalty with servicing a vehicle. Location and the local people have not left Tim O’Marro with any regrets since he bought the Kasson building two years ago. There’s little doubt they could survive without that local support.