Wayne Neubarth

Victoria  952-443-1910

CORNERSTONE Insurance Agency

David Barsness * 952-448-5028

Sebenaler Chiropractic Center

Chaska  *  952-448-9908

Christ Victorious Lutheran Church

Just south of Victoria  * 952-443-2993

Custom New Homes

Victoria * 952-443-2740
Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box: Text Box:

Headlines

and bylines

Front Page

Feature Story

From the

Editor

Addie’s

Drawing

Letters

to the Editor

Victoria

Moments

Hook

Line & Sinker

Calendar

of Events

Click here to

Advertise

Email

the Gazette

Return to

Home Page

Order

paper Gazette

Notes and

Quotes

The Scoop

at City Hall

Bertas Funeral Home

Chaska  *  952-448-2137

Home Page

The Victoria

GAZETTE

December 2011

Bob recalls that his mother's first job was, in fact, at the meat market in Chaska, picking turkeys.  After that, she went to the canning factory and then Gedney's Pickles.

***

         In Augusta, where the family had moved in 1945, Kelly Drew first worked as a blacksmith and then started a feedmill in the same building, said Robert.  He used one end for blacksmithing.  Augusta was a little a hamlet located southwest of Victoria.

         As Robert told more about his father, he unfolded a yellow Section B from the Waconia Patriot dated November 29, 1979.  In that issue, Section B featured Augusta, Minnesota, and Kelly Drew.  The largest headline was for a piece written by LaVonne Barac, staff writer, entitled,  "Augusta's 72-year-old Kelly Drew Remembers Hamlet's Golden Era."  Augusta, you see, is not found on a state highway map and was, apparently, moving into obscurity.  A reconstructed Hwy 43 effectively bypassed the place.

         From the Patriot's piece we learn that Kelly Drew's real name is Calvin, that in 1945 the creamery in Augusta closed and Kelly bought the building for his smithy shop, that Kelly retired in the early 1970's, that he developed a talent for weaving rugs on a loom when his feed business in Augusta slowed down.  He came to cut and polish rocks and make desktop penholders for Christmas gifts for his children.  He spent lots of time watching television, saying, "Ma and I, we didn't go out too much."

         Little sister Shirley recalls that her mother wrote the Augusta News for the Waconia and Chaska newspapers.  "We kids would get on our bikes and go out to the neighbors and ask if they had any news.  People were very forthcoming."

***

         Donald Drew summarizes himself and his siblings today:  "We've all been married 50 years or more.  None of us has ever been divorced."

         Don, 81, and his wife Joanne live in Aitkin, Minnesota.  He worked at Dauwalter's in Carver while in high school, graduated Waconia High School in 1948 and attended Dunwoody Institute.  "I've been an autobody man my whole life, from Carver to Aitkin," he said.  "It's the best job I ever had.  You can't beat it."  His brothers said that their eldest sibling was a heck of a good ballplayer, a pitcher for Waconia High School, Carver, Cologne, and Aitkin.  Don and Joanne, married 60 years in April, love to travel mystery tours and count 35 bus trips and four overseas tours.  They have two children, six grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

         Harvey, 80, and his wife Elaine live in Delano where they've farmed all their married life.  Harvet spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, and in his subsequent farming career served as Hennepin County Dairy Herd Improvement supervisor for 17 years.  What is a DHI Supervisor?  "You collect samples of milk from cows and keep records for people and for the county," he said.  Harvey and Elaine have two sons.

         Robert, 77, and his wife Beverly live in Janesville, Wisconsin.  Bob graduated from college and earned an MBA as well as a School Master of Business Administration.  He worked as a school business manager for 18 years, a print pressman, and many years as a financial advisor.  Bob and Beverly have four children and six grandchildren. 

         Shirley, 70, and husband Larry Kamann live in Morrisville, Pennsylvania.  Shirley graduated from college and worked as a nurse at Abbott Hospital in Minneapolis.  Her husband worked at 3M for 31 years.  They have three children and seven grandchildren.

***

 

Click here to continue A Room at the Inn.

Lake Auburn

Moravian

Church

Victoria 952-443-2051

Southwest Christian H.S.  952-556-0040

CLICKSTART

952-902-2014
Text Box: A Room at the Inn Continued

Florence and Kelly Drew, when they lived in Augusta, marking a special occasion, maybe their 40th or 50th wedding anniversary.