Category Archives: News

Lorna Whiting, a laundry aide at Winner Regional Healthcare Center, was selected as the star of the quarter for the second quarter of 2017.

The Star of the Quarter award is an honor meant to recognize outstanding employees who exemplify Winner Regional Healthcare Center’s commitment to quality.

Whiting has been employed at Winner Regional since March of 2015.

The Winner American Legion will meet on May 22 at 7 p.m. at the post home.

Among the items discussed will be plans for Memorial Day.

The Legion auxiliary will meet in the afternoon on May 22.

Winner School District has been awarded a South Dakota Workforce Education Grant.

The grant is to develop an agriscience learning center.

Five South Dakota Workforce grants totaling $1,040,000 have been awarded to four South Dakota school districts and one private nonprofit

In 2013, the South Dakota Legislature established the workforce education fund. Part of that fund was designated to provide grants for career and technical education programs in secondary schools.

The purpose of the grant program is to provide the opportunity to make change in career and technical education programs. High quality CTE programs give students the knowledge, skills and experiences to be prepared for postsecondary education and the workforce.

“These grants help ensure that career and technical education programs across the state offer students up to date training that leads to postsecondary education or entry into the workforce,” said Tiffany Sanderson, the South Dakota Department of Education’s director of career and technical education. “Strong relationships among high schools, postsecondary and businesses lay the foundation for growing tomorrow’s workforce.”

After careful consideration of construction bids, the timeline for Winner Regional Healthcare Center’s expansion and renovation project will alter slightly. While recent bids came in higher than hoped for and expected, the board of directors remains committed to moving forward with the project, albeit with slightly altered timelines. “We are as committed as ever to moving forward with our building project, but we are not okay with simply raising the total cost of the project,” said Brian Schaeffer, board president. “It is our responsibility to make financially responsible decisions and although we’re disappointed to delay construction, it is the right thing to do.”

The board is also committed to not cutting corners or scaling back on the magnitude of the project. Their plan is to deliver the originally planned for project, within budget, by advertising for bids a second time. This delays the start date for construction, but the hope is that bid amounts will be more within reason. Winner Regional CEO Kevin Coffey added, “There is a lot of building going on right now in both Winner and surrounding communities. While that’s great from a development perspective, it’s not so good for those who are building, as it raises prices.”

The project’s architects have been working to clarify construction plan details that should help bring in more accurate, lower bids. Local contractors are strongly encouraged to submit bids on the project and to reach out with any questions they may have that would assist them in submitting a bid. The goal is to still break ground sometime this year and fundraising efforts will continue to ramp up. Initial fundraising efforts have brought in over $1.2 million in pledges and donations.

If you would like to make a donation or have questions on the building project, please contact Foundation Director Jody Engel at (605) 842-7231.

By Dan Bechtold, Editor

Love. Patience. Respect. These are the three guiding principals that have helped Bill and Evelynne Moses through 70 years of marriage.

The Winner couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on Sunday, May 21, with an open house at the Winner Methodist Church from 2-4 p.m. The public and all of their friends are invited to attend to wish this Winner couple a happy anniversary.

The actual anniversary is on May 20 but due to Winner and Gregory High School graduations on that date, they moved their celebration to Sunday.

They were married one year from the date of their high school graduation in 1946.

The couple were married on May 20, 1947, at the old Methodist Church. Rev. D.W. Nankivel officiated at the ceremony. Attendants were Bill’s brother, Bob and Evelynne’s sister, Phyllis.

Bill has lived his entire life in Winner and came from a family of 10 children—5 boys and 5 girls.

Evelynne Wickstrom was raised in Hamill and when she entered her freshman year of high school the family moved to Winner.

Though they were in the same high school class, their first date was not until baccalaureate and their second date was on graduation.

Their love for each other grew and in December of 1946 Bill gave his sweetheart an engagement ring and asked her to marry him. Evelynne said “yes.”

The first two months the newlyweds lived with her parents.

Bill continued to work at the Coop, a job he started in high school. In 1948, Bill went to work for Walt Schramm at Schramm Furniture and remained there for 45 ½ years. In 1993, Bill retired but for several years would come in to help when asked.

Evelynne had several jobs. She worked as a bookkeeper for Paul Blomstrom. Then, she stayed at home to raise her children and did not go back to work until her youngest, Debbie was in grade school. She went back to work for Blomstrom.

From 1969-1977 she worked at Farmers State Bank and then worked as a secretary at the Methodist church for nine years. When she was 62, Evelynne retired.

The couple have lived in their same house on 8th street for 55 years. They moved into the home in 1961. At first they rented for six years and then bought the home. They are proud of the fact they are still able to live in their own home.

They did not have a big celebration for their 50th or 60th wedding anniversaries so their kids felt it was time to celebrate with an open house on their 70th anniversary.

Bill said on their 50th wedding anniversary they went on a two week trip to the East Coast and on their 60th anniversary they went to Kansas City for the weekend.

When asked what has been the key to their long marriage they were quick to add it is love, patience and respect.

They added when problems arose they worked things out and that made their love that much stronger.

“We never had a lot of problems,” said Evelynne. She added their kids were good and the joy of their life.

The Moses have three grown children: Steve and wife, Cathy, Ft. Pierre; Sally Miller and husband, Nels of Gregory and Debbie Ochsner and husband, Scott of St. Paul, Minn. The couple have nine grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

From that very first date at baccalaureate to now, you can see in this couple that their love for each other has never wavered.

By Dan Bechtold, Editor

Greg Sherman told the Colome High School graduates he was honored and humbled to be asked to be the commencement speaker.  Sherman retired at the end of this school year after teaching in Colome for 43 years.
He explained graduation from high school is a big deal, it is an important milestone in a student’s life.

He said this group of seniors is a talented group and that came through during the senior experience display night. “It was incredible,” he said.

Sherman said this is a strong academic class as nine of the members took the ACT test. The average test score in South Dakota is 21 and the Colome average was 23, two points higher than the state average.  Two of the seniors had a score of 29.

Sherman was impressed that eight seniors were graduating with honor.

The teacher noted that the class is also very athletic and have set some track records in the shot put, discus and 400 relay.  He noted the Colome boys basketball team won the Jones County Tournament, only the second time is school history.  Also, the Colome football team won the Class 9B state championship.  And the Winner/Colome club baseball team won the state title last year.

Sherman mixed in some humorous stories of students.

Sherman said this class is prepared for life after high school. “All have worked hard to be successful in life,” he said.

Honored as valedictorians were a tie between Adrianna Larson and Isaac Kortan.