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Herald Sauk Centre
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2803 Clearwater Rd. • St. Cloud, MN
NUMBER 51 • VOLUME 156
THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023 3 | WWW.STAR-PUB.COM
Recovery comes
one moment at a time
PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK
Paul “Frosty” Froseth arrives at the Sauk Centre Public Works garage May 12 in Sauk Centre. Froseth joined SCPW in 1985 and is their longest serving worker.
Variety in the job PHOTO BY MARK KLAPHAKE
The Reitsma family – Mitchell (front, from left), Katie and Joe; (back, from left) Paul and Carolyn, along with Eugene Marthaler – gathers in the Reitsmas’ barn May 7 near Sauk Centre. Katie returned home April 29, almost a year after suffering a traumatic brain injury during a storm that came through the farm.
Reitsma improves daily through strength, community BY JAN LEFEBVRE | STAFF WRITER
Spring storms can bring strong, damaging winds, but Carolyn and Paul Reitsma have seen that faith, family, community and their daughter, Katie, are stronger. One year after Katie suffered a massive brain injury when she was hit by flying debris during a storm that swept through her family’s dairy farm near Sauk Centre, she finally came home to continue her recovery. Katie and her parents, along with brothers, Joe and Mitchell, milk 280 cows with four DeLaval robotic milking systems at Reit-Way Dairy. Katie also works as a paraprofessional at Holy Family Elementary School in Sauk Centre. She had been planning to begin taking evening courses to earn her teacher’s license. When Katie flew home on a medical flight April 29, with her was her childhood
neighbor and boyfriend Eugene Marthaler. The two began dating over two years ago. Marthaler stayed with Katie in Chicago since her first being transferred there in early March to receive therapy at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. “That poor guy slept on a couch that is not even comfortable to sit on, and it’s too short,” Paul said. “I think they (were) both ready to come home. It’s time.” Katie will continue her recovery at Marthaler’s home in Sauk Centre. His house is one level and has easier access than the family’s house on the farm. They have purchased some equipment Katie will need as she keeps her therapy going at an intense pace along with outpatient therapy out of St. Cloud. “I told Eugene that Shirley Ryan would hire him because he does so much,” Paul said. “Eugene’s aunt is an occupational therapist who advises him. He even has
Katie doing pushups. They didn’t believe him (at Shirley Ryan), so Katie showed them.” However, Marthaler said he did not see his efforts as above the ordinary for his relationship with Katie. “If the roles were reversed, I know she’d do the same for me,” Marthaler said. … “You have to stick through the hard times to get to the good times.” It was to Marthaler that Katie first gave a sign that she was still Katie inside even though her brain was not cooperating. That sign came in early August 2022 in the form of the thumbs-up gesture. “That was when I knew we’ve got this,” Marthaler said. “I knew then and there that Katie knew what was going on.” At the time, Katie was at Regency Hospital in Golden Valley, the second facility she had been to. She would stay at two more during her year away from home. For her loved ones, the journey has gone from initial fear to hope and progress, and it all began with one storm.
Froseth is longest serving SCPW worker Editor’s note: May is Older Americans Month, and the Herald is putting the spotlight on older residents in the Sauk Centre community. BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
Having been on the team for nearly 40 years, Paul “Frosty” Froseth is the longest-running member of Sauk Centre Public Works. It has hardly been the same job every day, though; there is always a variety of work that keeps the days interesting. “I like what I do,” Froseth said. “I’m not an office person.” Born and raised in Sauk Centre, Froseth remembers watching the street sweeper going by his home when he was a child. “I told my mom, ‘Someday, I’m going to drive that thing,’” Froseth said. “When I got hired here in ’85, the street sweeper I said I was going to drive was still here, and I got to drive it.” Froseth graduated from Sauk Centre High School in 1982, the same year their baseball team won the school their first state championship. From there, he started going to college, planning to become a hockey player, but he left without a degree. “I didn’t like school that well,” Froseth said. “I was a C student and did OK, but I wanted to do something different.”
Reitsma page 4
Froseth page 3
Swiss sweets and other treats
Robischons buy Main Street bakery BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
The legacy of Sauk Centre’s landmark bakery on Main Street is secure with its new owners, Ryan and Natascha Robischon, whose goal of living closer to their family in the area brought them all the way from Switzerland. “The excitement of the community has been fun already,” Ryan said. “I’m excited to be more involved in the community as well as a local business and see where it brings us.”
The Robischons are looking forward to continuing to offer Sauk Centre’s familiar treats while bringing their European-influenced ideas to the store. “I have so many ideas, so I will never have a dull moment,” Natascha said. “There will always be new things for people to try. I’m excited to be creative, to try out new things.” Ryan was born in Sauk Centre. While he moved around with his family, he graduated from Sauk Centre High
Robischons page 3 PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK
The Robischon family – Louisa (front); (back, from left) Natascha, Leon and Ryan – prepare to fill bakery shelves May 15 at The Beck Bakery in Sauk Centre. The Robischons bought the main street bakery from Bruce and Mary Bartosiewski and have been the owners since May 1.
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OBITUARIES Darlene C. Fix Donald E. Walz
PUBLIC NOTICES • Mortgage Foreclosures (7) - pgs. 7 & 8 • Assumed Names (3) - pg. 7 & 8 • Sauk Centre Township Notices (2) - pg. 7 • Sauk Centre Public Utilities Ad for Bids - pg. 8
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