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Holstrom among the greatest generation [UPDATED]
Published 8:01am Monday, April 9, 2012 Updated 10:03am Monday, April 9, 2012If ever there was a man who fit the term, salt of the earth, that person would be Bob Holstrom. It was a sad day when those us who knew him heard about Bob’s passing on April 2 at the age of 86.
This World War II Navy veteran and City Café and Bakery owner defined what it meant to be part of the greatest generation of Americans. Bob was a hard working and upstanding citizen, who always spoke from the heart.
As a kid growing up in the early 1960s, I had the privilege of working for Bob at the Pebble Lake Trapgrounds, where Bob was manager at the shooting range. He treated us like men and, in turn, we always wanted to do a good job for Bob. We placed clay pigeons on firing arms in what we called bunkers.
We had some really fun and well-attended Memorial Day trapshooting competition. Weekly trapshooting at Pebble Lake also was popular.
Since Bob’s day as a baker started much earlier than the average worker, he could get to the Pebble Lake trapshooting clubhouse long before anyone else, and make sure that everything was in order for the trapshooters on any given day.
The Pebble Lake Trapgrounds was used until 1996. This ended a 55-year run. And what a run it was.
The present club was reestablished two miles north of Fergus Falls along County Highway 27 and one mile west on 250th street as Lakes Area Shooting.
Knowing Bob’s love of country, it wasn’t a surprise to read that Bob enlisted in the U.S. Navy, just after the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
He served his country during the World War II and Korean War eras. Bob gave moral support when his nephew, Tony Silbernagel, headed off to serve with the U.S. military in Vietnam.
Bob purchased City Café and Bakery in 1973. Never once have I gone in there and not thought about Bob.
Thanks, Bob. It was great to know you. Rest in peace.
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Kudos to Dean Nielsen for keeping Fergus Falls High School basketball records, dating back over 100 years. Basketball history is at the forefront this year, with the Minnesota State High School League noting 100 years of the Minnesota high school basketball tournaments.
Among those appreciating his basketball history book, which was featured with Dean this past Wednesday in the Daily Journal, is Otter coach Dave Rund.
Current Otter boys basketball coach, Rund coached the Fergus Falls Otter girls to state in 2008, the first time that a girls team has advanced to state.
“What I’ll always remember about the 2007-08 team is a hard working and close knit group of young ladies,” said Rund.
High School girls basketball came on the scene during the 1970s in the state of Minnesota.
“The last comment I made before hitting the floor was, ‘Ladies, we have 36 minutes to find a way to win but are guaranteed a lifetime of memories, so play hard and have fun.’ They did just that.”
Rund said that anytime a team can make a tournament run and gain a state berth, players and coaches always will be linked together with a special bond.
“When it’s the first time in school history making it to state, such as in 2008, the event is even more special,” he said. “In the moment I don’t think you always realize how special the situation is. But as time passes you have time to reflect.”
