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Brian “Buddy” Flaherty, son of Bill and Adair Flaherty of Victoria and a senior at Southwest Christian High School in Chaska, was inducted May 16th into the school’s sports Hall of Fame for his baseball career. Buddy is a four-year starter on the team and has made 1st Team All Conference, as a shortstop and pitcher, for the last three seasons. All time leader for hits, stolen bases, and strike-outs, Buddy has contributed to his team’s success. Team camaraderie and connection are of the utmost importance to him.

Buddy also plays for the Chaska Senior American Legion Team during the summer and enjoys building lasting relationships outside of his high school team. He is looking forward to attending the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh this fall and playing baseball with the nationally ranked Titans.

We are excited and proud of our son Buddy.

Bill Flaherty

Victoria, Minnesota

Bill Holm and Editor Sue. The McKnight Foundation has named Minnesota author Bill Holm as the 2008 McKnight Distinguished Artist in recognition of artistic excellence spanning more than three decades. The annual honor, now in its 11th year, includes a $50,000 cash award and recognizes individual Minnesota artists who have made significant contributions to the quality of the state’s cultural life.

At once a poet, an essayist, and a musician, Bill is a self-proclaimed outsider who comfortably invites readers and listeners into his world. He was named a Bush Foundation Arts Fellow in 1982 and 1995, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in 1987. He received Minnesota Book Awards in 1991 and 1997, the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik’s Cobb Award in 2003, and an honorary doctorate from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2002. He graduated from Gustavus in 1965 and received his Master’s in English from the University of Kansas. He is the author of ten books including Coming Home Crazy, Eccentric Islands, and Playing the Black Piano. Garrison Keillor has called him a “truthful and graceful writer.”

Bill was born in Minneota, MN, in 1943, taught Literature and Creative Writing for 27 years at Southwest MN State University in Marshall. He spends his summers in Iceland where, since 1998, he has owned a fisherman’s cottage in the village of Brimnes. In 1979 and 1980, he was a Fulbright lecturer in American Literature at the University of Iceland in Rekjavik. He was also a lecturer in American and British Literature at Xian Jiaotong University in China.

David Kennedy Logan, Community Production Manager

The McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota

EDITOR’S NOTE: Bill Holm has at least two Victoria Connections. He graduated from Minneota High School in Minneota, Mn, just a few years before Editor Sue and husband Allan Orsen. In fact, Bill and Al rode the same school bus together.