President Ryan called our meeting to order and led us in the Pledge and 4-Way Test. John MacFarlane offered the invocation, and a warm welcome was extended to our exchange student Laly, who arrived here earlier this week, and to her host mom, Kim Konikow. From all accounts so far, Laly appears to be a delightful young woman who Kim describes as curious, happy, and excited to be here. Her English is very good, and we are all looking forward to getting to know her better. Ryan also welcomed visiting Rotarian, and former FF Noon Rotarian, Anthony Nordan!
Announcements:
• If anyone still has peach money hand it in to Kathy today or get to Brian ASAP!
• Cody noted that District 5580 Conference registration invitation landed in your inboxes this week. It will be held in Duluth October 24th and 25th. Check out the details online at 2025 District 5580 Conference - Duluth | Rotary District 5580. At least two or three have expressed interest in attending from the club, so let Cody know if you’re interested and we’ll plan a caravan and/or a gathering at the conference.
• September 24th - save the date for 5pm picnic to welcome Laly and no noon meeting that day. More details forthcoming!
• Cody passed around the sign-up sheet for volunteer day at the Lake Region Takes Root Community Garden on September 11th. Harvesting from 9 to 11 and work on the greenhouse in the afternoon. Please let Cody know if you can help for part or all of this service project.
Brags & Fines:
• Deb paid $1 each to brag about Kim and Laly and her granddaughter (whose goat got 4th place at the State Fair).
• Anthony Nordan paid a fine for missing a few meetings (followed by much laughter).
• Dean bragged about his wife Beth accepting her first call as a part time pastor at Grove Lake Lutheran Church north of Pelican Rapids.
Program:
Ryan introduced Dave Lindgren to give his classification talk.
Dave shared that he was born in Parkers Prairie, MN. A self-described typical small-town boy, he played several different sports throughout his school years – baseball, wresting, football, basketball, and track. He played saxophone in band and spent summers mowing lawns, riding bike around town & at the community pool. Hunting & fishing became hobbies in his teen years. At age 14 Dave got his first job at the local grocery store - sweeping floors, stocking shelves, and eventually delivering some groceries. His next job was in a small marine shop where he said the guys he worked with were great mentors, and that he learned lots of great lessons he still uses today about troubleshooting equipment.
During his Senior year of high school Dave got class credit for working at the local telephone company afternoons on school days and this launched his career into telecommunications. He attended college at Northwest Tech in Wadena for telecommunications and in April of 1997 he started working full time at Midwest Telephone in Parkers Prairie. He spent a short time working for Arvig in Perham before starting at Park Region Telephone/Otter Tail Telcom in February of 2001. He started as a technician, then moved into a Sales/Engineer position and about a year ago took a position as the Business Operations Manager. He manages the customer service, sales, marketing, and provisioning departments. Most of his time is spent emailing, meeting with staff and vendors, and doing regulatory reporting and filings. He enjoys working with his staff and others in the industry the most, getting to know the other side of the technical parts of telecom he’s worked on for so many years. Managing the stress of his job is the least favorite, but he described great support from his employer to help him succeed as a big help.
Dave has one sister, Lea, who is 4 years younger. She lives near Parkers Prairie and works at Alexandria Industries. She’s married with four kids. His parents are Rick and Julie, and they are celebrating their 50-year wedding anniversary this year. They still live in Parkers Prairie and are retired. His dad was a carpenter, and they ran a family business for several years called Lindgren Dairy (delivery of dairy products like Quernemoen Dairy was here in town). Dave remembers helping early in the morning, and sometime walking right into people’s houses and putting milk in their fridge. His mom was a medical secretary at the local clinic in Parkers Prairie. He credits his parents with instilling the value of work in him and as a result he truly enjoys his work.
Dave has been married to his wife Marie for 25 years. They were high school sweethearts and started dating when he was a junior. He says they have been dating ever since. Marie went to M State for histology (study of tissues) and she has worked in the lab at Lake Region Healthcare ever since her internship there over 27 years ago. They have four kids:
• Evan is 21 – He went to NDSCS after graduating from Hillcrest. Evan graduated last May and now works full time for Cossette Electric in Fergus Falls. He’s engaged to be married in December to Clarissa Heikes, also from Fergus Falls.
• Ava is 19 – She graduated from Hillcrest last May and is going to M State this fall, pursuing a degree in elementary education. She is planning to transfer to Moorhead State. She is working in the paint department at Home Depot while going to school.
• Amelia is 15 – She is a sophomore at Hillcrest and is active in choir, softball and soccer. Dave thinks she’ll be looking for a job soon.
• Ezra is 11 – He is sixth grader at Hillcrest. Dave says he enjoys baseball, riding bike and being a typical adolescent boy. His older siblings think he is a little spoiled.
The Lindgren family enjoys hanging out together playing games, going on walks, and attending the kids’ activities together.
He joked that he joined Rotary “because Katie made me” but went on to say he thought it would be a great way to meet new people and be involved in an organization that supports our community. He opened the floor up for questions and answered lots of interesting questions from the club members. Thank you, Dave, for a great classification talk and being a valued Noon Rotarian who exemplifies the 4-Way Test and service above self.
