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Favorite subjects in school? “I liked social studies,” she said. “I really liked geography in college. I study the maps quite carefully when we go on our trips.” Joan graduated from Chaska High School in 1950 and enrolled at Mankato State College, finishing up her teaching degree at the University of Minnesota. She taught elementary school in Red Wing and then in Hopkins. “I taught elementary education for a total of 39 years,” she stated. “I really liked fourth grade the best. They were past the clinging stage and didn’t know everything yet.” *** Before Kieth graduated from high school in 1952 he worked for the State Tree Nursery in Savage and for American Crystal in Chaska during their annual campaign. Then he worked for the Farmhand Company in Hopkins, handling materials and equipment and wrestling steel. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, where he had volunteered for the draft, he returned to Farmhand. Next he worked as relief driver for G & K Cleaners and Launderers out of Minneapolis until they gave him a route of his own. His route took him as far west as Gaylord and Hutchinson and to every town between them and Minneapolis. While working that route, he and Joan, who was teaching at Hopkins, reconnected and began dating. They were married by Pastor Lawrence Adam at the Lake Auburn Moravian Church on June 19th, 1971. It’s interesting, they said, that after all these years, Pastor Adam and his wife are now members of the Lake Auburn congregation. Shortly after a honeymoon trip to Jacksonhole, Wyoming, they moved to the Hartwood neighborhood of Victoria where Marv Hartman Construction had built a brand new home for them. About that time, Kieth stepped the wrong way onto a curb at the Colonial Square Shopping Center in Wayzata while on his cleaning route and broke his foot. In some ways the break was fortuitous, for Kieth then answered an ad to work in the executive leasing department at Anderson Cadillac in Golden Valley. “Then I went to new and used car sales, then only new car sales -- for twenty years!” he declared. “I was scared to death at first. I was a country kid on a cleaning route, talking to all the biggies.” Why did Kieth come to do so well at Anderson Cadillac? “I often say I didn’t know any better,” he replied. “I was so honest. And I called on my customers and asked how they were doing and if they had any questions. I brought a lot of new business to the place because of all that personal service. I got to know a lot of people and many of them became good friends.” Kieth met Joseph Fleischhacker, president of Lake Region Manufacturing, the largest employer in Chaska, and his wife Victoria. He met Clem Haskins, the former Minnesota Gophers Basketball coach and his wife Yvette. He met Ralph Sampson III, center for the Golden Gophers Basketball team. He met Tubby Smith, head basketball coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
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November 2010 |
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Joan and Kieth enjoy traveling together, both short or long distances, by land, sea, and air! Here they are photographed at the Bearskin Lodge on the Gunflint Trail out of Grand Marais, Minnesota. |