News Center newsletter

Beverly S. Bakkum, 62, of Decorah died Thursday, March 20, 2025, at home in Decorah. Memorial services will be held Wednesday, April 2 at 11 a.m. at Old West Paint Creek Lutheran Church in rural Waukon with Pastor Ken Kimball officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends may greet the family from 10 a.m. until the time of services Wednesday at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the family for distribution to causes close to Bev’s heart, or given in her memory to a charity of your choosing. Martin-Grau Funeral Home in Waukon is handling arrangements.

Beverly Sue (Wolfe) Bakkum was born December 17, 1962, in Glendale, CA, to Fred and Sandy (Yochum) Wolfe. After graduating from high school in Ohio, she attended Kent State for a brief time before enlisting in the United States Air Force in 1980. She served honorably for eight years, achieving the rank of Sergeant.

LCDR Dean Allan Engelhardt, U.S. Navy, Retired, 70, of Hertford, NC, died Saturday, March 22, 2025, in his home after a brief battle with sarcoma cancer.

A memorial service was held Monday, March 31 at Cann Memorial Presbyterian Church, Elizabeth City, NC, conducted by his pastor, the Rev. Don Morris. His life will again be celebrated in August at a ceremony at his beloved cabin in Iowa.

The family requests, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to curesarcoma.org or to this Go Fund Me (https://gofund.me/9c19d909) to support a future donation to Future Farmers of America (FFA) at Waukon High School. Online condolences may be made by visiting www.millerfhc.com.

Janice Illene Lunde Treffinger, 78, of Connelly Springs, NC passed away Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at Magnolia Lane Nursing and Rehabilitation in Morgantown, NC. Born March 12, 1947, she was the daughter of the late Arnold Orlando Lunde and Olga Galstad Lunde.

Janice had a true passion for gardening, she could grow just about anything, from flowers and herbs to vegetables and trees. No matter where life took her, she left a little piece of herself behind in the form of a garden or a tree, and chances are, something she planted is still thriving today.

She was also a book lover through and through. Her collection was filled with treasured reads, and she knew each book she owned. Gardening, cookbooks, biographies, and politics were among her favorite topics, and she was always eager to learn something new.

Neilah Alexis Mae Nobles, age 4, daughter of Barry and Breanna Nobles of Waukon, died Sunday, March 23, 2025, at University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center in Iowa City. Funeral services were held Saturday, March 29 at Iron Ridge Church in Waukon with Pastor Bryan Mincks officiating.

Neilah Alexis Mae Nobles was born to Barry and Breanna Nobles November 16, 2020. Neilah had the most beautiful big blue eyes and an infectious smile. She was very social, cheerful, warm spirited, mischievous, energetic, sassy, innocent, joyful, witty, expressive, and curious.

Her favorite activities were swimming, fishing, puddle stomping, boating, walking her dog Zuma, playing with her best friends, going to the park, playing dress-up, reading books, painting nails, playing with Play-Doh, and snuggling.

Kendra Gibbs, daughter of Chris and Kerri Gibbs of Waterville, was crowned the 2025 Allamakee County Dairy Princess at the annual Allamakee County Dairy Banquet held Saturday, March 22 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. Gibbs will now assume the duties that are inherent with being crowned as the Allamakee County Dairy Princess throughout her reign this next year. Additional photos of award winners and other recognition from Saturday’s 2025 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet will appear in a future edition of The Standard. Photo by Paula Enyart.
 

by Joe Moses

A public informational meeting was held Wednesday, March 19 at the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center in Lansing relating to a proposed battery energy storage system to be located at the site of Alliant Energy’s decommissioned Lansing Generating Station, just south of Lansing, with more than two dozen area residents and officials attending the meeting. At the request of Alliant Energy’s Iowa utility Interstate Power and Light (IPL) Company, the meeting was coordinated by the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) with representatives present from that organization including attorneys Cheyenne Whisner and Hunter Fors.

Waukon High School welcomed the newest members into its local chapter of National Honor Society at an annual induction ceremony held Thursday, March 13 at Waukon High School. Starting in January of their junior year, eligible students are invited to complete the application process to gain membership into National Honor Society. Membership is based on the four pillars that National Honor Society represents: Scholarship, Character, Leadership and Service. Pictured above are this year’s new inductees.

Midwest Veterans of America will be hosting a special recognition event this Saturday, March 29 at AJ’s Bar & Grill in Waukon to celebrate National Vietnam War Veterans Day, which is observed March 29 each year honoring the signing of the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act into law in 2017.
An awards presentation will begin at 1 p.m. recognizing 36 U.S. Military Veterans from the local area, with the full menu available to order from as well at the event location. The public is invited to attend the event. Those who have further questions may call 563-568-5275.

Veterans who were nominated by local residents for honoring at this Saturday’s Vietnam Day event include the following (as reported by Midwest Veterans of America):

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in special session Monday, March 24. The council first held a Public Hearing for the Fiscal-Year 2026 Proposed Tax Levy prior to the regular session meeting of the council that had been rescheduled from its original third-Monday date of March 17 to better accommodate the public hearing process on the proposed tax levy.

Teamsters Union Local 238 distributed a press release Monday afternoon, March 24 in regard to an online survey the Teamsters Union conducted this past weekend that was answered by 12 employees of the City of Waukon Police Department and Public Works Department. The release states that the survey consisted of only a single question: “Do you have confidence that Gary Boden can manage the City of Waukon in a manner that is effective and beneficial overall to the residents of the city?”

The release further shares that the results of that survey were reportedly unanimous, stating, “The vote was 12-0 that employees do not have confidence in the City Manager.” In addition to media, the release was also distributed to members of the Waukon City Council and the Waukon Mayor just a couple hours prior to the March 24 Waukon City Council meeting. The matter was not addressed during that March 24 public meeting.