“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• THE CONGREGATION OF WILLOW LAKE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN THIS YEAR WILL BE ABLE TO SAY THEY’VE WORSHIPED TOGETHER FOR CENTURIES.
On July 11, the country church will celebrate a special anniversary. Native son Pastor Paul Erbcs of Gillette, WY, will speak at a two o’clock service. Pastor Erbes is a graduate of Tracy High School and was ordained eight years after high school. Special music at the anniversary celebration will be provided by former pastors: Pastor Gail Klavetter, Pastor Sarah Lutter and lay pastor David Rupp.
According to church secretary Muriel Campbell, other former pastors will also be attending and sharing remembrances of their years at Willow Lake.
Willow Lake Lutheran Church was organized July 1, 1874, by Pastor Lund of the Norwegian Danish Conference. A history of Murray County recounts how the pastor from Old Westbrook served an area as large as 10 townships, driving his team of oxen to scattered sites where faithful worshipers gathered.
A building was constructed on two acres of land given to the church by Paul Mickelson, one of the first settlers in the area. The church cost $2,000. A constitution was adopted, naming the congregation the Willow Lake Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation.
The membership roster that year listed 23 families; there were four Oles and four Ivers. Tliree men were named Hans and two Syver.
The church still stands, as tribute to its pioneer builders. Struck by lightning shortly after the turn of the century, the church was repaired and has weathered many a prairie storm in the years since.
“It looks like an upside down ark,” says Herb Dahl of the amazing cross-bracing of the rafters.
• Last week’s answer: Amy Barstad was named CEO of Sanford Tracy in 2009.
