Stephen A. Swenson, age 81, of New Prague, Minnesota, passed away peacefully on July 13, 2025. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Steve lived a life marked by love, service, and quiet determination.

He met the love of his life, Jean, on a blind date at the circus—an unforgettable beginning to a 57-year marriage. They were married on June 15, 1968. After living in the Twin Cities for several years, Steve and Jean followed their dream of country life and moved to a hobby farm in New Prague in 1977, where they raised their family and built a life full of meaningful work and community.

Thomas Duane (Lynch) Wegleitner, age 42, of Lonsdale, died tragically on Saturday, June 21, 2025, as a result of a motor vehicle accident in Nebraska, while returning from his daughter’s pageant.  The actions he took to avoid the oncoming vehicle saved his family’s life.

With the July 4 holiday in the rearview mirror, many area town baseball teams are turning their focus to being in top form for the stretch drive and a spot in the Minnesota Baseball Association postseason tournaments.
In District 3B, Jordan, Union Hill, Webster and New Prague hold the top four spots. Eagle Lake was fifth in the standings last updated June 29. The top five teams receive a first-round bye in the playoffs. The fifththrough 11th-place teams will play a best-of-three series.

Elko New Market honored Jim Marsh, who helped found the city’s volunteer fire department and was one of its assistant fire chiefs, as Marsh was named grand marshal of Fire Rescue Days’ Community Parade, Saturday, June 28.
“That was one heck of a surprise,” said Marsh, who now lives with his wife in Savage. “I never expected that in any way, shape or form.”

St. Wenceslaus Catholic Parish, based in New Prague, welcomed Rev. Timothy Norris to its staff beginning Tuesday, July 1.
Norris has been a priest for 31 years, most recently at Church of Saint Stephen-Holy Rosary in Minneapolis.
“I’ve known of him for a number of years,” said Rev. Eugene Theisen, pastor of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Parish. “He’s a good, holy, but quiet priest.”
“So far, it has been a lot of moving in,” Rev. Norris said. “I’ve received a warm welcome.”

Thomas R. Walther, age 89, passed away on July 9, 2025, at Mala Strana in New Prague after a long battle with metastatic prostate cancer.  He is survived by his son, John (Brenda) and daughter, Janice; granddaughters, Arianna, Maya, Renata; sister-in-law, Nancy.
   Tom grew up in Minneapolis and was the youngest of four children.  He attended Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Minnesota.  After college, he served as a Specialist in the Army.

During the June 23 school board meeting, directors Carrie Cuff and Dan Call cast two votes in opposition to the school board’s plans to ask New Prague School District voters to approve in a single question an increase in the amount of property taxes it can use to fund daily operations. One of the votes was far more interesting than the other.

‘I’m lucky. I’m alive. I get to be here’
She recalls being told it was not common for women her age to develop cancer. Twenty-two years later, Shauna Swanepoel wants to do whatever she can to help any person, regardless of their age, receive that diagnosis.

Joyce Mary Denzer, age 77, of Blaine, formerly of Montgomery, died following a three-year courageous battle with cancer on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at her home.

New Prague city staff has received complaints this month about the dog park at 701 12th St. NE, specifically about the tall grass, estimated by some residents to be three-feet high, in the large dog area. City staff is considering how best to deal with the situation.

Franciscan nun worked at St. Wenceslaus for nine years
Her close friends describe Virginia Heldorfer as someone who with compassion and will unconditionally accept people wherever they are on life’s expedition. She enjoys funny stories and good conversations over a cup of coffee.

Tomorrow, Friday, July 4, we’ll celebrate the nation’s 249th birthday. It’s quite a feat, celebrating so many birthdays until you think about how young a country we are compared to some of the other great democracies around the world.

For Jacob Bongers and his family, Home Town Bats’ ninth annual benefit home run derby was a grand slam of an evening.
A crowd estimated at 600 attended the Saturday, June 28, event at Don Giesen Field in Union Hill. Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted the crowd who came out to raise funds for the Bongers family and watch local town ball players hit 193 home runs during the evening.
“It’s surreal, with all these people, many who we don’t even know, coming out to help our kid,” said Paul Bongers, Jacob’s dad. “It’s a position in life we never knew we would be in.”

Riding a wave of four wins in its last five games, one of the smallest teams in the Dakota-Rice-Scott League is atop the standings heading into the holiday weekend.
Class C Veseli sits atop the DRS at 9-5 with 27½. The Warriors are the beneficiaries of wins over bigger teams, wins garnering greater points than a win over another Class C. The Warriors have two wins over Class B Shakopee and a win over Faribault, a Class A team under the Minnesota Baseball Association’s class system.

Gary James Rutt, age 80, of St. Thomas, passed away suddenly at All Saints Senior Living in Shakopee, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.  Gary was born on June 17, 1945, in New Prague, to Frank and Mary (Velishek) Rutt. He attended Holy Redeemer Catholic School and Montgomery High School.  He met the love of his life, Shirley E. Keough, at her “sweet 16th” birthday party and they married on October 2, 1965, at St.

Shirley Ann Budin, age 81, of Montgomery, died peacefully at her home on June 30, 2025, after spending two weeks under hospice care.
She was born at home on the farm in Union Hill, MN, to Norbert and Viola Weiers on May 31, 1944. She was the oldest of 12 children. She graduated from New Prague High School in 1962. She went to beauty school in Minneapolis and got a job at Southdale Mall at Doll House Beauty.