Wright/Cromwell news

It’s been nearly a month of quarantine for most of us, and it’s starting to feel normal to be staying at home most of the time. I guess this slower pace of life is a blessing for many, but it must be difficult for our senior citizens in area nursing homes and assisted living facilities. So please keep those phone calls, cards and letters coming to our elders — and any others, for that matter. I’ve spent a considerable amount of my time picking out “Thinking of You” greeting cards to send to my friends and family. And this news column keeps me busy gathering the most up-to-date news and getting it emailed to the newspapers. Thanks to so many of you who have emailed me telling me how much you appreciate reading this column every week.

The school is continuing its delivery of dropping off and picking up homework for the students. We have asked families to put a box, cooler, bin or tub at the end of driveways to help us to be more efficient with this process. So if you see these at the end of the driveway, please do not take them, thinking someone is giving them away. McGregor is also having families do this and we have heard McGregor has had trouble with the boxes disappearing. The school also delivers meals Monday through Friday to those who have requested them. Homework pickup and dropoff is happening every Monday morning.

Emaleigh Olesiak, daughter of Justin and Tonya Olesiak, qualified for the state science fair, but due to COVID-19 changes she had to give a virtual presentation. The school was shut down, so she didn’t even get a pep rally. But science teacher Lori Wester didn’t forget. She made Emaleigh a special state gift bag for the last day school was in session. The state science fair was virtual. That meant she had to submit a filmed presentation. She knocked it out of the park and ended up with a Silver award. The top 5 percent of projects earn Gold and the next 10 percent earn the Silver.

Our sympathy to the family of Mamie Katherine Seppanen, 86, who died on March 19 at St. Luke’s Hospice in Duluth. She and her husband, Robert “Bob” Seppanen, resided in Kettle River, Proctor, Cromwell and Esko over their 58 years of marriage.

Douglas David Mingus, 91, of Deerwood died Feb. 9 at the Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby. He grew up in Cromwell. He married Betty Lou Bryant in 1949; they moved to Deerwood in the 1970s.

Congratulations to John and Mary Dahlman, and to Doug and Bonnie Suhonen.

The Farmers Co-op in Wright is open and waiting for you to shop there, or give them a call at 218-357-2251 to pick up an order or have it delivered on Thursdays. Orders can also be emailed to [email protected]

The Area Clothing Depot has closed for the time being. I will let you know when it will reopen. Save up your donations.

The Lake Country Power 2020 annual meeting has been postponed.

All area churches have had to suspend regular worship and Lenten services. Pastors have had to get creative and lead worship via the internet. Let’s continue supporting our area churches by sending donations.

Here’s an email I got from Linda Kalli: “I thought I should touch base with everyone involved with Wrong Days in Wright to get your thoughts for this year’s event. As far as I’m concerned, we will still have our Wrong Days celebration and I think we should plan as such. We will not be able to meet in person but can keep in touch via emails and texts. There won’t be much cost with just planning things at this point. We will need to come up with a slogan and picture for the buttons … It is my hope we will be up and running by Memorial Day but that is TBD. If we want to have a band again on Saturday night at the Big Top, we should start looking for that as well, with the stipulation that we may need to cancel. Also, we need to start looking for additional people to help this year.”

This will be the 55th annual celebration. If you have ideas or want to help out, call Linda at 218-878-7876, or me at 218-357-2385. I thought a good saying on the buttons this year would be: “55 and Still Alive!”

So, how are you handling this stay-at-home order? I’d love to hear from you so I can share your thoughts in this column.

That’s all the news from the Edge of Wright. Be careful and stay safe.