Community News

Robey Memorial Library in Waukon is honored to celebrate the career of Ellen Thiele, who will retire December 21 of this year after 30 years of service to the library and the Waukon community. In honor of her retirement, Robey Memorial Library will host a reception Saturday, December 21 in its community room from 1-4 p.m. The community is invited to share stories, memories and cake.

When Ellen Thiele began her library career in 1994 she was following in familiar footsteps. Her mother, Mrs. Ellen Thiele, served on Robey Memorial Library’s Board of Trustees for 25 years. During that time, the library moved from City Hall to its current location on First Avenue NW. Thiele’s work as a librarian saw the further expansion of the library in 2014. Her career, alongside her mother’s years of service, has profoundly impacted the Waukon community and made Robey Memorial Library become a leader in cultural and community life.

Waukon High School 2024 graduate Olivia Marti shares her experience, both in Iowa and globally

by Alaina Gebel

Globally, one child dies from hunger-related causes every 10 seconds. One-third of all food on the planet is wasted, and one out of three schools worldwide do not have safe water and sanitation. According to the World Food Prize website, by 2050, there will be at least nine billion people on the planet. Of those nine billion people projected to inhabit the planet, who is willing to solve the world’s global dilemmas?

Saturday, December 14, at 10 a.m., the Allamakee County Veterans Museum will present a program commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II at its museum located at 105 Allamakee Street in Waukon. The program will also be repeated Monday, December 16 at 10 a.m. at the museum.

The German Army’s attack on the Allied front lines in Belgium and Luxembourg in the Ardennes Forest through Bastogne and St. Vith was intended to seize the port of Antwerp in a last ditch effort to stop the Allied attack on the German homeland from the west. The Battle of the Bulge began December 16, 1944.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, December 2 to address a full agenda of matters including a Hazard Mitigation Plan presentation, discussion of the Fiscal-Year 2026 Budget and discussion of downtown signage relating to snow removal and parking.

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Arvid Hatlan with council members Steve Wiedner, Nicholas Engrav and Dave Blocker present in the City Council Chambers. Councilman Kevin Johnson was present via Zoom web-conferencing. There was no Public Comment with the meeting moving into Department Reports.

Again this year, as part of National Rural Health Day, Veterans Memorial Hospital (VMH) in Waukon has announced that it has earned the Performance Leadership Award for excellence in Patient Perspective. Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards recognize top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among rural hospitals in Quality, Outcomes and/or Patient Perspective.

Each year, in honor of Giving Tuesday, Peoples State Bank gives a donation to local community food pantries in the area. In 2024 Peoples State Bank donated a total of $8,000 to local food pantries, including West Grant Lions Club, Clayton County Food Shelf, Coulee Cap Food Pantry, Gays Mills Food Pantry, Lancaster Food Pantry, Living Faith Food Pantry, Allamakee County Food Shelf and Six Rivers Food Pantry.

Pictured above at the donation presentation to the Allamakee County Food Shelf located in Waukon are: Left to right - Front row: Food Shelf volunteer Mary Axmear accepting the donation check from Peoples State Bank Ag Relationship Manager Dennis Lyons; Back row: Peoples State Bank Ag Relationship Manager Reid Mahoney, and Food Shelf volunteers Vicky Thorson, Gary Rumph and Charles Berg.

The Waukon City Council passed a new Winter Parking Ordinance at its November 18 meeting in an effort to better facilitate snow removal in the downtown Waukon area. The new ordinance is scheduled to go into effect from November 15 through April 1 each year, and will become effective immediately as of the publication of the ordinance in this week’s edition of The Standard (see Page 10).

by Julie Berg-Raymond

The Board of Directors of The Learning Tree Childcare Center is launching a capital campaign to bring to fruition its five-year plan to open a permanent childcare center for the Lansing and New Albin communities. After much consideration, the location selected for the Center is the former Lansing Middle School.

“Director Jenny (Cole) did a lot of research for a location and the board members helped brainstorm,” Board President of The Learning Tree Childcare Center Lisa Welsh says. “Finding a large space is very difficult and the old middle school had some challenges; but with brainstorming and Jenny’s hard work, we worked around those problems.”

Robey Memorial Library in Waukon and The Oneota Valley Literary Foundation (OVLF) are partnering to host Main Street Story Walk in Waukon featuring the children’s story, “How to catch a Yeti!” by Adam Wallace. During the months of November and December, families are encouraged to read this story in the windows of various business storefronts as they stroll the downtown area. For this and upcoming Story Walks in Waukon, the OVLF will be providing a free copy of the featured book to every family that stops by Robey Memorial Library with a photo of themselves completing the Story Walk, while supplies last.

by Paul Scott, RSVP volunteer

More than 600 people in Winneshiek, Allamakee and Howard Counties volunteer for non-profit groups in partnership with Northeast Iowa RSVP. That’s why the organization is happy to have added a new Volunteer Coordinator, Michelle McLain-Kruse.

“Our program continues to grow so it is wonderful to have Michelle join the team,” according to RSVP Director Deana Hageman.  “Having her here to assist volunteers in finding opportunities that match their time availability, knowledge and skills is crucial to our program.”