Herald Sauk Centre
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2023
NUMBER 14 • VOLUME 157
WWW.STAR-PUB.COM
Drafting
a legacy
Visiting
brothers in arms
Robert “Bob” Polipnick
Polipnick remembered as mentor who helped craft a vibrant community BY MARIA BICHLER STAFF WRITER
A cluster of crinkling papers and rulers with their definitive lines. Inkfilled pens and piercing pencils. All were arranged on the kitchen table and used to draft the homes to house residents of Sauk Centre. While the precise lines built the foundation on which an eventual home erupted from, as the author of those drafts, the late Robert “Bob” Polipnick’s foundation was anchored in the city he called home, and his very life was invested in the residents who comprise the whole. Indeed, Polipnick was known under many titles: mayor, councilman, board member, business owner and firefighter. But more so, he was known as husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend. “From T-ball and everything from way back when, he never missed his grandchildren’s activities,” Mickey Welle said. “That was one reason he said that he resigned as mayor, because he didn’t want to miss any of the grandchildren’s things.”
Polipnick page 2
Nest Fest 2023 features Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall BY BEN SONNEK STAFF WRITER
David Drager, of Little Sauk, came to Sauk Centre Aug. 24 with a list of names, including Roger Holler, Gary Hedin, Francis Toenyan and Anthony Mensen. He found all of them on the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall, brought to Eagle’s Healing Nest for their annual Nest Fest. Drager was one of the Vietnam veterans who came home; Holler, Hedin, Toenyan and Mensen did not. “What this is doing is honoring the ones who were killed,” Drager said. Drager knew Holler when they both attended school in Long Prairie. Holler was two years older than Drager, in the same grade with Drager’s older brother, LaMarr. Drager knew Holler as a nice person on the quiet side. “When you’re in a small town, you know kids whether they’re in your grade or not,” Drager said. “I still talk to a lot
PHOTOS BY BEN SONNEK
(Above) The Traveling Vietnam Memorial stretches across the grounds of Eagle’s Healing Nest Aug. 24 in Sauk Centre. The wall arrived Aug. 23, with the dedication ceremony taking place Aug. 25. (Inset) David Drager, of Little Sauk, looks for Gary Hedin’s name on the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall Aug. 24 at Eagle’s Healing Nest in Sauk Centre. Drager, a Vietnam veteran, visits the memorial wall any chance he can.
of Roger’s close buddies.” Holler was drafted two years before Drager and was killed May 5, 1970, right before Drager joined the Army. “He would’ve been getting pretty close to the end of his tour in Vietnam,” Drager said. “I don’t remember if my folks sent me a letter (about his death) or if I saw it someplace. I was in Fort Leavenworth, Missouri, at the time.” Hedin was another schoolmate of Drager’s. He was deployed with the Army to
Vietnam and killed Jan. 10, 1968, in the province of Phuoc Tuy. Toenyan was one of Drager’s neighbors who came from a large family. He was deployed to Vietnam as a Marine and was killed June 29, 1967, in the province of Quang Nam. “He was killed when he was supposed to be coming home,” Drager said. “They were short of guys on a mission, so they sent him out, and he got killed on one of his last days in Vietnam.”
Drager himself was shipped to Vietnam in July 1970 and came home in October 1971. As he was discharged, Anthony Mensen from Sauk Centre, serving in the Army, was killed Oct. 22, 1971, in the province of Quang Ngai; Drager knew of Mensen through working with his brothers. “I was one of the pallbearers at his funeral,” Drager said.
Nest Fest page 2
A decade of ministry Paffel marks 10 years as area pastor BY BEN SONNEK | STAFF WRITER
It has been 10 years since the Rev. Greg Paffel, the newly installed pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Sauk Centre, rode into town on his orange Honda Goldwing motorcycle. That motorcycle and its rider have since become familiar sights in the community, and while Paffel has had to navigate difficult times for the area’s Catholic churches, he maintains his joyful optimism as he ministers to parishioners and learns from them as they learn from him. “I have been in Sauk Centre longer than anywhere else in my life since graduating high school,” Paffel said. “I was just telling a friend how good it feels to have deeper and stronger relationships than I’ve been able to have in the past.” Raised in Otsego, Paffel attended Elk River High School where he lettered in
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football, weightlifting, track and choir. He served as the school’s mascot and won a state title in the discus throw in 1986, his senior year. After graduation, he attended the University of Minnesota-Morris and then the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, where he first considered becoming a priest. Paffel spent several years traveling with different ministries, including National Evangelization Teams and St. Paul’s Outreach. He then joined the seminary and was ordained a priest in 2001, first serving as assistant priest at St. Anthony’s Church in St. Cloud and then as pastor at St. John’s Church in Foley. Paffel received his assignment to St. Paul’s Church in Sauk Centre right before Easter 2013. He had been to Sauk Centre a few times before, helping the previous pastor, the Rev. Todd Schneider, with Divine Mercy Sunday confessions, and Paffel’s fraternity of priests also held healing Masses in the area. After a 30-day silent retreat, Paffel arrived in Sauk Centre in early July 2013.
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Paffel page 3
PHOTO BY BEN SONNEK EK
(Above) The Rev. Greg Paffel, Aug. 25 at St. Paul’s ’s Church in Sauk Centre, brings out the Hondaa Goldwing motorcycle he had when he was assigned d to the Sauk Centre Church just before Easter 2013. 3. e He has been in Sauk Centre longer than anywhere else in his life since graduating from high school. PHOTO BY BRYAN ZOLLMAN N
(Right) The Rev. Greg Paffel sits on his motorcycle e in front of St. Paul’s Church in August 2013 in Saukk Centre. He was previously the pastor at St. John’ss Church in Foley.
OBITUARIES
PUBLIC NOTICES ES
Rosalie A. Ecker Richard Engle Susan M. Shulze Eugene M. Theisen
• Assumed Name - Kicker Gremlin Supply Company - pg. 7 • Assumed Name - BeeYou Wax & Skin - pg. 7 • Stearns County Board of Adjustment Hearing - pg. 7 • Notice to Creditors and Claimants - pg. 7 • City of Sauk Centre Ord. No. 825 - pg. 7 • Mortgage Foreclosures (7) - pg. 7 & 8 • City of Sauk Centre Interim Use Permit Public Hearings (2) - pg. 7 & 8 • Sauk Centre Township Notice to Residents (2) - pg. 8
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