Author Archives: Rita Pravecek

By Dan Bechtold

Editor

Judy Bartels of Winner  enjoyed the experience of an honor flight trip to Washington, D.C.

The mission of Midwest Honor Flight is to transport America’s veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit those memorials dedicated to honor the service and sacrifices of themselves and fellow veterans.

Bartels went on the honor flight on May 16. She served as a guardian for a Navy veteran from the Rapid City area. She had to be at the airport at 3:30 a.m. and the flight left  at 6:30 a.m. and they were back in Sioux Falls at 10:30 p.m.

Friday night before the flight there was a banquet at the Sioux Falls convention center. Bartels could ask any veteran to be her guest. She chose Tyler Sampson and the two enjoyed a delicious meal.

Bartels volunteered do be a guardian. She went to the Tripp County veterans service office in Winner and filled out the paperwork to be a guardian.  Several weeks later she was notified she had been selected and was being paired with a veteran from Piedmont.

The duties of a guardian are to physically assist the veterans at the airport, during the flight and at the memorials. 

The group saw all the memorials in one day.

The South Dakotans met Sen. John Thune and Rep. Dusty Johnson at the Lincoln Memorial.

Bartels said her veteran was very impressed with the Navy memorial. For Bartels, her favorite was the Vietnam Memorial because that was the era in which she was raised.

Bartels noted it was heartening to see the veterans enjoying the memorials.

They also saw the changing of the guard at the Arlington National Cemetery. Bartels said this was awesome.

This was Bartels  first trip to Washington, D.C. and she was glad that she went on the trip.

It had meaning for her since her dad, brothers and uncle all served in the Army.

By Dan Bechtold

Editor

Tony Coffman is getting settled in as the new pastor at Winner Methodist Church.

He started here on Oct. 16 after serving three years at a church in Rugby, N. D. Prior to a stop in North Dakota, he was the pastor of a church in St. Paul, Neb., for four years.

His life was not always in the ministry.

After serving in the Army for six years he went to work in the corporate world. He worked 18 years for Verizon all over the United States. His last job for Verizon was as a regional manager.

He has worked in marketing and advertising since 2002. In fact the first two churches he served he also had  full time job.

Winner is the first church where he does not have another job.

While in North Dakota, he was the marketing manager and foundation director for a hospital.

While working in corporate world in the back of his mind was that call to ministry and he tried to avoid it.

“I have always enjoyed my work but it has never been totally satisfying. Finally in 2017, I gave up and walked into ministry full time.”

Before becoming a minister he served as a lay pastor for many years.

He received his master’s degree from Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Ind. He graduated with honor in ministry studies.

He took the course work on-line. He said it was two very hard years to get his degree.

Coffman did not follow the traditional college path of getting an undergraduate degree and then going on for a master’s.

Two years ago he saw an ad on Facebook that the U.S accrediting agency was allowing a few select seminaries to allow people into a graduate program without an undergrad degree.

“I did not tell my wife.  I just started the application process,” he said.   In May of 2021 he got a letter that he has been accepted into the program.

Early his August, Coffman was talking to the head of pastoral recruiting for the Global Methodist Church.

“After talking to him for a few weeks he asked me if I would be willing to pastor a church in Winner. I looked at what the Global Methodist Church stood for, what they believed in and made a trip to Winner to meet with church representatives,” he said.

The Winner congregation has about 190 in person at Sunday services and another 60-70 watching on line.

“As a group of people in Winner, it is the nicest group of people I have ever pastored. They are caring, very open. Pastoring can be difficult to step into a new church. They have made it easy for my wife and I and have been very kind to us,” said the pastor.

Coffman enjoys serving people. “You get to be the center of focus for people who are hurting, angry or have questions. I love to serve God in this capacity and I love that he has entrusted me the love and care of his people. Originally from Portland, Ore., the minister has had a lot of life experiences. He dropped out of high school his sophomore year. “I did not have a church background and I knew I needed someone to get their hands on me and give me some discipline. I had gotten my GED and went  to the Army recruiter and asked how soon I could join. They told  me as soon as I got a parental signature,” he explained.

The  tour of duty with the Army included stops in Germany and the United States.

When he  got out of the Army around age 24 he gave his life to Christ at a small Baptist church in Vancouver, Wash.

Coffman and his wife, Lisa, have two grown children, a 25 year old girl and a 22 year old boy.

When asked what people should know about the new pastor he said: “I am so very thankful to be in this  community and to be part of this church. It is very humbling to be allowed to be the shepherd of a group of people who are trying to follow Christ. I do not take that for granted. These are great people and I am honored to get to know them.”

The calendar says it is December but the temperature outside on Dec. 6  felt more like a spring day.

The temperature in Winner on Dec. 6 was 68 degrees. This is a new record for this date. The previous record was 60 in 1963.

December 7 was on track to set a new record and possibly be warmer than last Wednesday.

The temperature on Thursday, Dec. 7 was 72 degrees which  shattered the previous record for this date. The old record was 65 set in 1984.

The Tripp County Community Foundation would like to announce that application information for the 2024 scholarships administered by the Tripp County Community Foundation is now available. The applications can be found on the Counselor’s Corner tab of the Winner School Districts website, or you can contact the Guidance Office at Winner High School  There are a few that are also available to students in Colome.  Students can obtain information by contacting their guidance office.

These are the scholarships currently available:

Donald & Fern Jorgensen Scholarship – $750

Antes Family Memorial Scholarship – $500

Winner Rotary/Bailey Scholarship – $500

James & Lawrence Neyens Scholarship (Winner & Colome students) – two $1,000

Ray & Grace Neyens Family Scholarship  (Winner & Colome students) – $1,000

Charles Hellman Memorial Scholarship for Future Educators – $1,000

Harold E. Smith Scholarship – $1,000

Tripp Co. Water User District – Martin & Mary Jorgensen Scholarship – $1,000 and  Tripp Co. Water User District – Lawrence Wagner Scholarship – $1,000 (Applicant must be a child of a member of Tripp County Water User District or a resident in one of TCWUD participating communities.)

Gordon Horgen Memorial Science Scholarship – $1,000

Benson Family Scholarship – $1,000

Dr. Tony & Kay Berg Scholarship – $1,000

Mary Still Memorial Scholarship – two – $1,000

 Currently, the Tripp County Community Foundation Administers 15 scholarship funds that give $13,750 annually to students in our area wishing to continue their education beyond high school. All these scholarships have come from private donors.  These scholarships demonstrate the sincere interest and investment the families and community members are willing to make in the future of our community.

Students and parents in our community can reach out to their school guidance counselors or board members of the Tripp County Community Foundation for additional information on how to apply for these scholarships.

Tripp County Community Foundation current board members include:

Lynnelle Anderson   605-840-0642

Charles Axtell           605-842-3107

Judy Benson             605-842-2240

Dawn Covey             605-840-1334

Gary Fenenga          605-840-1630

Barry Grossenburg  605-840-1305

Chuck Keiser            605-840-2048

Rita Neyens              605-840-0165

Jeff Pinter                  605-842-0119

Eric Pollard               605-321-0339

Jeff Schramm            605-840-1343

Kim Vanneman         605-840-2751

Kara Zeigler              605-530-7406