The Minnesota River Conference, which is disbanding at the end of the 2024 season, names outstanding coaches each year.
This year they honored four coaches who have been coaching for more than 110 years combined.
Bruce Davis of Tri-City United, Joe Scoblic of Lester Prairie, Chip Wolverton of Sibley East, and Jon Wroge of Norwood-Young America were the honorees this season. They were named during the MRC Coaches Social earlier this fall.

Between Halloween and the 2020 Presidential Election, my family moved from West Virginia to rural Minnesota. It was during the height of the pandemic and my wife had lost her job because of it. She found a new position in Appleton, Minn., and we decided to leave the Appalachian Mountains for the first time.
As a lifelong West Virginian, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Minnesota felt like such a foreign place. Cold, flat and in a different time zone from all our friends and family.

Joan M. Jirik, age 82, of New Prague, died peacefully on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at Mala Strana Health and Rehabilitation Center. Joan was born on May 20, 1941, in Mankato to Ludwig and Marcella (Sieberg) Schimek. She attended parochial schools including Loyola High School and graduated from Mankato West High School. She met and married William J. Jirik, Jr. on February 10, 1962 at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in North Mankato. Joan had a penchant for numbers and started out working as a bookkeeper and would use that talent the remainder of her career.

“The best way to honor your veterans, not just today but every day, is to live life the best you can every day,” said guest veteran speaker, Honorably Discharged US Army Specialist Derek Farwell as he addressed the performing arts center crowd at the high school at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10.

Timothy Bolton, age 62, of Montgomery, died surrounded by family at Mayo Clinic Systems, New Prague on Nov. 10, 2023. He was born Nov. 16, 1960, in Mankato to Harvey and Trulie Bolton.  
 Tim enjoyed working on cars in his younger years, often making them as fast as he could.
 Tim graduated from Mankato West High School in 1979. He married his first wife Becky a few years later.  
 They moved to Colorado in 1989. There, he fell in love with the mountains, enjoyed taking his family up jeep trails with friends, dirt biking and hunting.

A four quarter turnover led to the only touchdown of the game for Luverne in their 6-2 win over Tri-City United in the Section Quarterfinals played Oct. 24.
“We are disappointed to have the season end abruptly in the playoffs as we had our sights set on a playoff run. Unfortunately, we couldn't get enough going on offense to pull out the win despite a great defensive effort,” head coach Matt Collins said.

House of Insurance in Montgomery remains open as usual despite an automobile accident damaging their front office Monday morning.
Montgomery Police Department was called to 103 Oak Avenue at 10:37 a.m., where a vehicle had driven into the building, damaging one of the offices inside and out.
The incident report says the driver, Andrew Kucera, 86, of Montgomery was delivering a payment to the insurance office when he pushed the gas pedal instead of the brake. The 2013 Dodge Grand Caravan drove into the front wall, breaking concrete blocks and large glass windows.

The Tri-City United girls tennis team finished up their 2023 season with a 2-13 overall record. Of those matches, five were lost by the score of 4-3.
Eighth grader Ellie Adams was named to the All-Minnesota Conference First Team and junior Anne Cooper was named to the All-MRC Honorable Mention Team.
Cooper, Addie Houn, and Avery Lerfald were named the Titan Most Valuable Players.
Alice Schroeder and Lily Martin earned...
To see more on this story pick up the print edition of the November 9, 2023 Montgomery Messenger.

Living on a farm, we have some farm cats. Yes, feral cats that come and go as they please. Sometimes they eat and stay at the neighbors. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they fight. Sometimes they like each other.
All of the cats seem to like each other in the winter time, but not always. I am guessing that is a deep-seated animal-hatred when it is -10˚ Fahrenheit out and a cat doesn’t want to cuddle with their fellow farm neighborhood cats.

The Le Sueur County Government Center will be illuminated green Nov. 6-12 as part of Operation Green Light to show support for military veterans, as well as raise awareness about the unique challenges faced by many veterans and the resources that are available at the county, state, and federal level to assist Veterans and their families.
By shining a green light, we let our Veterans know that they are seen, appreciated, and supported.
Rice County
Rice County will light its Government Services Building green through Nov. 13 as part of Operation Green

Veteran’s Day is Saturday, Nov. 11, but Montgomery will be honoring their veterans on Friday, Nov. 10 this year.
The first event is a public veteran’s mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church at 8:30 a.m. Following the service, guests will be treated to coffee and rolls, and VFW Post 5340 and Auxiliary will present awards to the top three Most Holy Redeemer School winners in the VFW Patriot’s Pen Contest.

Member’s of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce and Molter’s Fresh Market gather while owner Mark Molter cuts the ribbon to celebrate the opening of his first Minnesota store in Montgomery. A grand opening celebration is planned for this Saturday, Nov. 4, with free food, special discounts, a prize drawing at 5 p.m. and more. See the insert in this week’s issue.

Many families of Most Holy Redeemer School celebrated Halloween early on Friday, Oct. 27. They were greeted with various games with prizes, goodie bags, activities and a very popular dinner — hot dogs!
Some of the games included a homemade ring toss and a magnetic dart board. The prizes vary from small things like pencils to sought after larger bags of snacks and candy. Every child went home with something though from their goodie bags, which included plastic wearable vampire teeth, some snacks and some essentials like pencils.

My name is Mike Mallow, and I have joined the staff of the Montgomery Messenger and the LifeEnterprise as a part-time reporter.
I am a West Virginia native and a 22-year veteran of the newspaper industry. My career began in 2001 at my hometown newspaper, The Pendleton Times, in Franklin, W.Va. Even though the digital age was well underway, the newspaper was still assembled by pasting the elements to a large sheet with hot wax until 2005.

In a press release from the Cannon River Drug and Violent Offender Task Force (CRDVOTF) on Oct. 27, agents were said to be conducting a narcotics investigation over several weeks on a residence at 203 Boulevard Avenue NE in Montgomery. The residence is within a block to the north side of Tri-City United Elementary and Middle School.
The release says that the investigation involved the sales of methamphetamine and cocaine by Benjamin Birk, a 24-yearold resident of that address. Agents said they received several citizen tips in regard to Birk’s activity.

Sitting around a u-shaped table set-up at Montgomery City Hall on an average Wednesday, Oct. 25, were a group of humble, happy, kind and welcoming people meeting as members of the Degree of Honor. The celebration this month — acknowledging the members that have made it to 50 years with the organization.
Members Mark Richter, Mary (Ruhland) Tupy and Stacey (Pan) Brown all received a special pin from Degree of Honor from the Montgomery chapter president, JoAnn Petricka, in commemoration of their milestone.