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Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Number 28 • Volume 134
ATKINSON TO TALK ABOUT SPACE MISSIONS BOOK AT MELROSE LIBRARY
Melrose researching policing options ... pg. 3 Hiltner happy to carry on legacy ... pg. 7 ‘A Team’ has first baby boy in 2017 ... pg. 16 Gymnasts scoring with the best ... pg. 10
pg. 6
PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN
Mary and Jerry Mayers stand on the porch of their Freeport home July 6. The geraniums Jerry planted and cares for are flourishing, and Mary tends to the other flowers around their property.
A life laughing together COMMUNITY COVERAGE 127 YEARS
Mayers honored as Freeport festival grand marshals
400 Block update The beast, played by Luke Rentschler, hands the beauty, played by Maria Warhol, a mirror so she can locate her father during the July 6 rehearsal for “Beauty and the Beast” at the PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN
Marit Elliott Performing Arts Center in Melrose. Rentschler, from Albany, has been in 25 productions since his first one as a seventh grader.
A theatre family
Rentschler, Schneider live for life on the stage
at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, in productions like “Shrek,” Commercial “Jesus Christ Superstar” As the sun was starting to rise Monday, and “Godspell.” uke Rentschler has Contractors Company workers from Melrose were in“I found a group of people I his Main niche building – the- working side the found Lisa’s On securing belonged on with. I had tried other atre. theThis west wall. PHOTO BY CAROL MOORMAN 2021 Albany High things, like baseball, but that was School graduate is preparing to not my thing,” he said. “I knew I hit the Melrose stage in his 25th liked theatre. Then I started and production. He has also performed never stopped.” Rentschler is the beast in Melon stages in Albany, Cold Spring and St. Cloud, at the Long Prairie rose Stages, Inc., “Beauty and the Drive-In with a Little Falls theatre Beast,” July 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and group and while attending college 23 at the Marit Elliott Performing BY CAROL MOORMAN STAFF WRITER
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Proud to be an American
Arts Center in Melrose. The beast is a part Rentschler played in 2021 when he was a senior at Albany Area High School. Initially, he was cast for the 2020 production, but COVID-19 hit and the show was postponed. “That was a dream part for me. I was over the moon,” Rentschler said.
BY CAROL MOORMAN | STAFF WRITER
Flowers adorn the outside of Jerry and Mary Mayers’ Freeport home. Jerry takes care of the geraniums and Mary the rest. Some are gifted to them by their children. “The geraniums are my favorite, and as you can see, they look pretty good,” Jerry said proudly. “I’m learning to like flowers.” Jerry placed a moisture tester in the dirt of the planters and pots July 6 to determine if they need watering; some do and some do not. The gauge he received as a gift is one of the best tools in his gardening toolbox. For close to 55 years the Mayers have been working – and laughing – together. That is evident as they talk about their life together, living in the same house in Freeport where Mary was raised. Among the topics are the volunteering both have done in the community. Mary said Jerry volunteers at Sacred Heart School and Sacred Heart Church. “I helped put in new windows at the school and pour the ribbons in the cemetery, and when they built the gym, I helped with whatever they needed,” said Jerry, mentioning just a few of the projects he continues to help with. Mary is Grandma Mary at Sacred Heart School, which she attended growing up in Freeport.
Theatre page 3
Mayers page 3
Heritage in
at Holdingford Daze
hair care
Utsch opens Modern Rose Salon in Melrose BY HERMAN LENSING STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING
Colin Marstein rings a replica of the Liberty Bell, on the Holdingford Historical Society float, July 8 during the Holdingford Daze Parade in Holdingford. The theme was Proud to be An American.
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When Liz Utsch first walked into the former Steam Brew building in Melrose, it felt familiar – even though she had never been there before. “From the fixtures to everything, it was meant to be a salon,” she said June 27 in the Modern Rose Salon, her hair dressing establishment. “The paint and everything. We didn’t have to really do anything.” The familiar feeling was not entirely accidental. Utsch comes from a family of hair dressers. “My grandfather, Mike to START or RENEW your subscription!
Opatz, started a barbershop/hairdressing business with his father in 1926 in Sauk Rapids. At one time they had businesses in Eden Valley and Sartell,” she said. A framed copy of a 1985 Escape to the Minnesota Good Times article, says the Opatz Barber and Styling Shop was started in 1925, and includes photos of its interior. Growing up, Utsch made more than one visit to the shop. She never worked there but has memories of seeing her grandfather, and other relatives, serving customers.
PUBLIC NOTICES
Probate Notice - Casey.............................................pg. 10 Probate Notice - Woodruff.......................................pg. 10 Mortgage Foreclosure Postponement......................pg. 8 Albany Area Schools Meeting Agenda, July 12.........pg. 8 Albany Area Schools Work Session, June 28.............pg. 8 Albany Area Schools Reg. Board Meeting, June 14...pg. 9 City of Albany Ord. No. 60 Amendment....................pg. 8 Avon Township Public Hearing.................................pg. 8 City of Melrose Planning and Zoning Commission
Public Hearing..........................................................pg. 8 City of Melrose Advertisement for Bids................pg. 9 Holdingford School Notice of Filing for Election School Board........................................................pg. 10 Melrose School Notice of Filing for Election School Board........................................................pg. 8 Avon Township Notice of Rescheduled Meeting...pg. 10 Assumed Names ..................................pgs. 8, 9 and 10
“His sister did all the girls’ hair, but he (her grandfather), his brother and his dad ran the barber shop,” she said. “I just sat there and ate the suckers he offered us. My grandfather passed away 16 years ago. His brother, Bill, and his sister, Lisa, still run the shop in Sauk Rapids.”
PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING
Liz Utsch treats her sister Kylie’s hair June 27 at Modern Rose Salon in Melrose. Utsch’s grandfather, Mike Opatz, started a barbershop and hair dressing business with his father in 1926 in Sauk Rapids.
Modern Rose Salon page 4 BIRTHS page 3 Tatum Joseph Engelmeyer Garrison James Wenninger
OBITUARIES page 4 David L. Kleve Thomas E. Kostreba Roger Van Dorn Phillips Fred B. Schlangen
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