Excerpts from past Tracy newspapers
March 29, 1956 — Thirteen boy scouts hiked six miles to Garvin park Monday to meet second class hiking and cooking requirements. Nothing unusual happened, they got “lost” and wandered a couple miles more in the wooden area, one fell waistdeep in the river and there was some cold soup for supper. After the long trek to the park, the boys cleaned the area near the cabin. Making the hike were: John Vahle, Allen Bengtson, Dennis and David Peterson, Bill Mair, Bill Swanson, Bob Warren, Wayne and Raymond Cronin, Jim Keul, Dick Lenzen, Billy Mitchell and Russell Shoeman. Russ Brewster and Elmer Peterson picked up the scouts in early evening.
Obituaries: Ethel Rosen, Charles Van Duesen, Mrs. Albert Kass
March 24, 1966 — The $2 million bond issue to finance a new junior-senior high school for students of District 417 was defeated by a margin of 334 votes in a special election Tuesday. A total of 1,992 citizens of the district voted. Only in Tracy did the voters favor the proposition, but a margin of 36 votes.
Obituaries: George Morey
March 25, 1976 — A 32-year-old man who was born in South Dakota and raised on a farm was hired Tuesday afternoon as the eighth superintendent of the Tracy Public Schools. Meeting in special session at the high school, the Tracy School Board voted unanimously to hire Darrold C. Williams, now superintendent of the 710-student school system at Atwater, located about 12 miles east of Willmar. Williams was telephoned shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday by board chairman Curt Reinert at which time Williams accepted the job. “He accepted eagerly,” Reinert said.
Obituaries: Mrs. Fred Widboom, Mrs. William Olson, Mary Ewen
April 3, 1986 — Two Tracy High School students will be spending a year in Europe through a foreign exchange program. A third student, who moved from Tracy to Apple Valley this winter, will spend a year in Denmark. Going to West Germany this summer are Luanne Hicks and Tom Ruppert, both juniors at THS. Andy Schmidt, who moved from Tracy to Apple Valley in December, will be traveling to Denmark. Schmidt will be going to Scandinavia through the American Skandinavia Student Exchange.
Obituaries: Mable Johnson, Edla Bjorkman, Justin Maas, William Mohr, Delores Sieve
March 27, 1996 — Jeff and Sandy Carpenter had unexpected house guests over the weekend. They opened their home to nine young people and their adult chaperone from Fergus Falls on Sunday night. “The ironic part is that the group arrived on Friday for a two-day weekend at the United Methodist Church called “Grow and Bloom.” Well, it wasn’t exactly grow and bloom weather when it was time to return home on Sunday!” said Sandy Carpenter. Other members of the weekend retreat were to return home to homes to the east of Tracy.
March 29, 2006 — Jim Keul, Ron McDaniel, and Dennis Morgan are this year’s Wall of Fame inductees. The American Education Banquet recognizes the achievements of students, teachers and alumni. Highlights will be the announcement of high school and elementary “teachers of the year” the induction of three former students into District 417’s “Wall of Fame.”
Obituaries: Dorothy Canfield, Madeline Verstraete, Lydia Mensjes, Dena Pemble
March 20, 2016 — Beginning Friday, the City of Tracy will no longer own a municipal hospital and clinic. Documents are scheduled to be signed Thursday, March 31, to finalize the long-planned transfer of the hospital and clinic property to the Sanford Health. City council members, hospital board members, and Sanford Health officials have been invited to an 11:30 a.m. signing ceremony in the hospital’s board room. The basics of the transfer had been hammered out in 2014. The change of ownership agreement calls for the City of Tracy to give $1,269,655 in two hospital-reserve funds to Sanford. E Obituaries: Viola Knott, Winston “Wimpy” Peterson
