I am Maple Grove: Don Kisch

NAME Don Kisch

HOMETOWN Maple Grove

OCCUPATION Retired

 

He's involved.  As a charter member of the Rotary club and a 50-year member of Maple Grove Lions, he's been in many a parade.  "I've got kind of a car collection, five Model T cars and gas trucks.  We run all that in the parades."

 

He's reflective.  "It's amazing visiting the old-timers and see what has happened.  Maple Grove used to be just what you called a suburb of Osseo; that was a big city at the time."

 

He keeps his word.  "Pat (my wife) and I have been married 55 years.  The night we got married, her dad came up to me and said, 'I have a couple things to tell you'.  He said to me, "First, we do not believe in divorce in our family.  Second, we do not want her back either.' So that's why I've kept her all these years."

 

He cherishes future generations.  "I live on the same ground I was born and raised on.  My parents were on this ground before me.  I farmed 300 acres out my back door.  Now my oldest son and three grandkids live here.  The house was built in 1863.

 

He's a hard worker.  "After the farm was sold, I went into the oil business back in the 60s after I got out of the Navy."

 

I am Maple Grove.  "It used to be a gravel road out in front of the houses and when a car went down, we either knew who they were or they were lost.  Now we have all these people in the backyard.  In my lifespan, the growth [of Maple Grove] has been amazing."

 

-- Julia Egesdal