DigElogROCORI

Bette LeClair Kuss DigELife Legacy Stories

In Memory of Willie and Gloria Scheel

If you have been to a parade in Central Minnesota over the past 30 years, you have seen this man driving one of his Cadillac convertibles with three pretty girls sitting in the back.  Yes, Willie Scheel has been escorting the Queens of Paynesville, Minnesota, in local parades since 1976.

After 24 parades together during a single summer, Willie often becomes good friends with the girls he drives from town to town  That's how we met... we were both at the same wedding of a past Paynesville beauty queen.  Willie was there with his Cadillac to escort the queen and her new husband around town after their wedding.

Meet Willie Scheel... he's the kind of guy who likes to make friends... he's the kind of guy you like to call your friend.

The Bette Kuss Benefit campaign

 

Our dear friend, Bette Kuss, longtime resident of Cold Spring, Minnesota; wife to Duane Kuss and mother of high school grads Sam and Lillie Kuss, has been hospitalized in Minneapolis for heart and respiratory failure.

Bette is currently and has been for many years the beloved accompanist at Peace Lutheran Church in Cold Spring. We were deeply saddened when she was first admitted to Abbott Northwestern Heart Hospital in Minneapolis in December. A lung procedure was necessary before surgeons could clear her for Open Heart surgery on December 16. After nearly sixty days in the ICU, she was moved to Regency Hospital in Golden Valley for recovery. She has been a fighter through this long battle.

Many people in Central Minnesota know Bette for her many years of teaching piano and accompanying various church, community, and school concerts and music productions.

Bette’s music history includes Little Falls Middle School where she was a special education teacher from 1979-1992. She enjoyed working with many special needs students over the years. Bette played piano for many school theatre performances and other musical events.

http://BetteKussBenefit.com

She also shared her musical talents in the community while she was a member of First Lutheran Church.

For the past 25 years Bette has accompanied the Cold Spring Area Maennerchor.

And as mentioned earlier, many people in Cold Spring and Central Minnesota know Bette for her many years of teaching piano and accompanying various church, community, and school concerts and music productions.

While her body is recovering, hospital bills have devastated the Kuss Family finances. Bette’s friends and community are organizing various fund raising efforts to help them recover. In particular, a fund-raising Dinner is in the planning for April 30 at ROCORI High School. As well We hope to plan a musical event later in the Spring. Donations will be used to pay medical expenses not covered by insurance.

http://BetteKussBenefit.com

Please help financially in any way that you can to the “Benefit for Bette” fundraising effort, Accounts have been set up at all three Cold Spring banks to receive donations, there is a go fund me page, or call 320-685-7656

We miss her music, her beautiful smile, and we long for her return. Thank-you for taking time to hear about Bette.

10 YEARS AGO TODAY – DigElog ROCORI is Launched!

Tell Them In A Parade

Have you ever had something very exciting to share with an entire community? If you did, how would you do it. We chose to do it in a parade. A simple approach to launching a totally new online media company called DigElogROCORI. It was lots of fun!  Featuring video clips from the 2005 St. Boniface Parade and the ROCORI Band.

Click the picture to the left to see video clip.

*** 2007 FLASHBACK *** Hometown Pride Days- Gluek Soldier Concert

   
Gluek Brewing Company proudly celebrated 150 years of service by hosting a country music concert that was held in honor of all of our service members in the United States military. Jamie O’Neal, Darryl Worley and Lonestar played for the large crowd that gathered on the north side of the Gluek Distribution Center. This story features footage from Darryl Worley’s soldier ceremony as well as an interview with a newly returned veteran of the Iraq War.
   
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Gluek Brewing Company, celebrating their 150th year anniversary, sponsored this story.  The modern day Gluek is now a state of the art brewery, beverage bottling, and production facility in Cold Spring Minnesota.  It is the number one producer of energy specialty drinks and craft beer brands in the country.   Remember good things are brewing here in Cold Spring.
      
Click Here To See Other Gluek Sponsored Stories

*** 2005 FLASHBACK! *** "Anything Goes" production by Great Northern Theatre Company

It was the last night of the six performance show.  The play "Anything Goes", presented by the Great Northern Theatre Company, had been a big success and DigElogROCORI was there to interview the Director.

Chad Middendorf, a long time Great Northern Theatre Company performer, had his first time in the director's chair with "Anything Goes".  "The greatest thing that happened is the cast members who came to try out for the show.  We had so many talented and skilled people who auditioned.  When I saw the 75 talented individuals gathered for a total of 55 parts in the play, I knew we were going to have a great show."

Although the talent was the key element for Middendorf to put together a great performing cast, it also created the most difficult part trying to choose between the many gifted candidates. "The hardest part was also the talent that showed up and having to make the tough choices of who would be best in each of the performing roles.  The good and the not so good in my maiden voyage as a director was tackling the difficult  challenge of reducing the group of 75 talented persons down to the final cast of 55." said Middendorf.

"The great thing is when you see the wonderful product everyone is producing on the stage.  Once we were able to harness all this talent, it all came together to successfully produce a very challenging  "Anything Goes" musical.  Not only does the cast do a fantastic job, but all of the support people, those folks you don't see who are behind the scenes, have done such a terrific job keeping everything running smoothly." commented Director Middendorf.