Margaret Weaver, age 85 of Waterville, died on Thursday, March 9, 2023. 
Born on September 9, 1937 in St. Peter, Minnesota, she was the daughter of Anthony “Tony” and Esther (Flowers) Schabert.  Margaret graduated from St. Peter High School in 1955 and then began working at the First National Bank in St. Peter.  She married George Weaver on November 29, 1961 in St. Peter. Together, George and Margaret lived on their farm located three miles north of Waterville. They continued to farm and expand their operations for over 50 years before retiring from active farming in 2006.

The names, faces, and stories of all the people I’ve met and interviewed over the course of the last 20 years are flooding back to me as I sit down to write this column.
This will be my final column.
After almost two decades working as a writer for the local newspapers, I’ve decided it’s time for a career change.
Thank you to all of you who have welcomed me into your lives and homes and trusted me to share your stories. It has been an honor.

Bonnie Mae Stangler, age 97, of Waterville passed away on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at Benedictine Living Community in St. Peter.
Born on October 18, 1925 in Mankato, Minnesota she was the daughter of Albert and Delma (Biehn) Schuenemann. She graduated from Janesville High School with the class of 1943.  Bonnie was united in marriage to Clayton Stangler on January 17, 1946 at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Elysian. Together they raised two daughters, Kathryn Ann (Walz) and Patricia Kay (Mariska).

The Amber Alert for Leon is canceled. The child has been found safe. Below is the message from the City of Lakeville. 

They’re “beeping buddies.”
They are also amateur history junkies and treasure hunters.
Armed with metal detectors Dan Smith of Kilkenny and his son, Josh, who resides in Warsaw, spend hours scouring the local area in search of long-lost, forgotten historical items. When they come across a metal item on or under the ground, their detectors beep.

Joan Helen (Bokelmann) Reineke, age 77, of Owatonna, MN, passed away on February 20, 2023 at the Homestead Hospice House in Owatonna, surrounded by her family, after a long journey with Sjogren’s disease and brief battle with Lymphoma.
Funeral services will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church, Owatonna on Friday, March 10, 2023 at 11 a.m. The Reverend Todd Buegler will officiate. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery, Morristown. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service at the church.

The Section 2A Quarterfinal wrestling match between No. 4 seed WEM/ JWP and No. 5 seed Westfield came down to the final bout of the evening Thursday, Feb. 16.
Heavyweight Max Davis pinned Vincent Hernandez in 4:33 to give the Grizzlies a 40-38 win over Westfield and move them into the Section Semifinals Saturday, Feb. 18 at St. Clair.
No. 1 seed Medford ended the Grizzly season with a 59-24 win. They went on to claim the Section 2A Championship with a 33-30 win over Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial.

Impending inclement weather has changed the National FFA Week/WEM Snow Week activities. But not the coronation of royalty.
Emma Woratschka, daughter of Mike and Jennifer Woratschka was crowned Snow Queen and Ethan Greenwald, son of Ron and Kris Greenwald, was crowned Snow King during the coronation held Tuesday morning in Waterville.
All other events scheduled for the week will be postponed until the week of February 27 due to the projected snow storm.
Snow Prince and Snow Princesses were also crowned from the freshman, sophomore and junior classes.

It’s science-fair season, and my fifth grader, Ellen, is testing if the width of a cat’s whiskers truly alerts them to whether or not they will fit through a hole.
Her project is titled: Whisker widths.
Fortunately, she has enough at-home test subjects with our three felines, Rocky, Honey, and Penelope.
Unfortunately, Ellen is a procrastinator, and cats don’t tend to cooperate.

There will be no local mail delivery today, Thursday, February 23.
Due to the weather, the transfer trucks for the U.S. Postal Service mail were pulled off the roads on Wednesday, February 22 and Thursday,February 23. 
The delivery of this weeks newspapers will be delayed.

Elizabeth Kay (Hrdlicka) Nelson, age 63 of Waterville, passed away Friday, February 10, 2023, at Methodist Hospital, Rochester, MN.

Upperclassmen at Waterville-Elysian-Morristown High School walked into a Realty Check, Wednesday morning, Feb. 8.
The event, which mimicked the popular board game, Game of Life, challenged students to juggle theoretical future expenses while maintaining a budget.

The final regular season WEM/JWP wrestling match of the 2022-2023 season was held Thursday, Feb. 9 in Waterville.
The Grizzlies won two of the three matches in this quadrangular which featured 19-win Cannon Falls, and two opponents from Section 2A, NRHEG and Blue Earth Area.
Cannon Falls defeated WEM/JWP, 44-32. The Grizzlies defeated Blue Earth Area, 39-36 and Gopher Conference rival NRHEG, 38-29.

Lawrence “Chuck” Stangler, age 87, of Scottsdale, AZ, and retired pharmacist formerly of Northfield, passed away Sunday, February 12, 2023, with his family at his side and under the care of hospice at his daughter’s home.

Donald Rolland Peach, age 85 of Waterville died on Monday, February 13, 2023 at Mayo Clinic-Methodist Campus in Rochester.

Robert Joseph Weber of Waterville died February 8, 2023 at St. Mary’s Hospital, Rochester, MN. He was 75 years old.