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The Waukon boys basketball team had both its regular season and overall season brought to a close this past week with a busy four-game slate that included a single win in three final regular season games and a season-ending loss in the opening round of Class 2A District Tournament play. The Indians began the week with an 80-63 handling of South Winneshiek on the road Monday, February 6 before falling in back-to-back home games to end the regular season, 70-59 against Decorah Tuesday, February 7 and 78-67 against New Hampton Friday, February 10. The Tribe’s postseason also ended as its regular season did, as the Indians fell by a 57-39 count in a Monday, February 13 first-round match-up with Monticello that took place at MFL/MarMac High School.

That busy final week wrapped up the Indians’ 2016-2017 campaign with an overall season record of 6-15, including a mark of 2-10 that placed the Tribe sixth in front of winless Oelwein in Northeast Iowa Conference play.

The Kee boys basketball team brought its regular season to a close this past week, falling in a pair of final non-conference road games but still being able to celebrate something notable. The Hawks suffered a 60-41 loss at Houston, MN Thursday, February 9 and also fell at Coulee Christian by a 68-60 final result Friday, February 10, but it was in that final loss that Kee senior guard Danny Brennan reached the 1,000 career point milestone to etch himself even more firmly among Kee’s basketball elite. The final shot Brennan put through the nylon before the halftime break of Friday’s game placed him in that Kee boys basketball 1,000 point club, a group that includes just four other Hawk hoopsters, Ric Zarwell, Pat Heiderscheit, Gabe Schultz and Quinn Schultz.

Olive B. Grinna, 90, of Waukon died Sunday, February 12, 2017 at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services will be held Thursday, February 16 at 11 a.m. at Glenwood Lutheran Church in rural Decorah with Pastor Stacey Nalean-Carlson officiating. Burial will be at Glenwood West Cemetery, rural Decorah. Friends may call from 9:30 a.m. until time of services Thursday at the church. Martin Funeral Home in Waukon is handling the arrangements.

Olive Bernell Grinna was born January 22, 1927 in Decorah, the daughter of Alfred and Helen (Engen) Ramstad. She was baptized February 13, 1927 and confirmed May 25, 1941 at Madison Lutheran Church in rural Decorah. Olive attended Madison Township country schools and Decorah High School. Later, she received her GED from Northeast Iowa Community College.

Christa L. Parker, 42, of Waukon died Thursday, February 9, 2017 at her home. Funeral services were held Monday, February 13 at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon, with Pastor Steve Oden officiating. Burial was at Postville Cemetery, Postville.

Christa Lynn Parker was born August 12, 1974 in Postville, the daughter of Dean and Shirley (Sampson) Foels. She was baptized and confirmed at Postville Presbyterian Church in Postville. Christa graduated from Postville High School, where she was active in FFA. She also attended Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Christa worked at a horse stable and screen print and embroidery shop in Cedar Rapids. She loved working with horses and fixing things.

Survivors include her brother, Karsten (Beth) Foels of Luana; two nephews: Jackson and Tristan Foels; an aunt, Sharon (Byron) Zeisler of Fish Creek, WI; and an uncle, Calvin (Betty) Foels of Monona. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Terry D. Shefelbine, age 62, of Waukon passed away December 27, 2016. He was born July 22, 1954 at the hospital in Spring Grove, MN; his parents were Malcolm and Stella Shefelbine of Dorchester.

Terry graduated form Dorchester Elementary School and Waukon High School. He loved the outdoors, fishing and hunting with his friends. In 1999, he moved to Waukon.

Terry is survived by his daughter, Kristine, and her family living in Boone; three brothers: Ronnie of Waukon, Rick of Garnavillo and Randy of Spokane, WA; two sisters: Priscilla Nuehrling and Brandy Marquez Shefelbine, both of Denver, CO; and his long-time girlfriend, Jackie Johnson. He is preceded in death by his father and mother.
 

The third time was the charm for Waukon wrestling 182-pound senior Blain Swenson, as he knocked off Decorah senior Daniel Ott for the first time in the past three Saturdays in their Class 2A District 1 championship match Saturday, February 11 at Decorah, earning qualification for the Class 2A State Tournament. Swenson opened the District Tournament with a 6-0 win over Independence senior Peyton Nolting to earn a championship rematch with Ott, who had defeated Swenson in their previous two meetings in the championship match of both the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament two weekends earlier and also in the Class 2A Sectional 2 Tournament just a week earlier. In this rematch, however, Swenson took Ott down repeatedly to post a convincing, 11-5 triumph and earn his first-ever qualification for the Class 2A State Wrestling Tournament that will be held in Des Moines this Thursday through Saturday, February 16-18.

Darrell F. Snitker, 75, of Waukon died Tuesday, February 7, 2017 at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Funeral services were held Saturday, February 11 at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon with Pastor Grant VanderVelden officiating. Burial with military honors was at Oakland Cemetery, Waukon.

Darrell Francis Snitker was born March 10, 1941 in Waukon, the son of Lawrence Elmer and Helen Minnie (Goeke) Snitker. He was baptized and confirmed at Zion United Church of Christ in Waukon. Darrell graduated from Waukon High School, where he was a conference champion wrestler. From 1960-64, Darrell served in the Air Force and fought in Vietnam from 1963-64.

Glenn O. Thorsen, 90, of Waterville died Monday, February 6, 2017 at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services were held Friday, February 10 at Old East Paint Creek Lutheran Church in rural Waterville with Pastor Ken Kimball officiating. Burial with military honors was at Waterville Lutheran Cemetery, Waterville.

Glenn Oliver Thorsen was born August 24, 1926 in Chicago, IL, the son of Emil M. and Agnes (Larson) Thorsen. He was baptized at Old East Paint Creek Lutheran Church in rural Waterville and confirmed at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in St. Paul, MN.

Veterans Memorial Hospital nurses received a surprise visit from Loretta Schafer’s fourth grade class from St. Patrick School Wednesday, February 1. The class delivered two generous “random acts of kindness” baskets with goodies to their local nursing ‘heroes’. Pictured above is the fourth grade class with the nursing staff that were working at the hospital when the students made their surprise delivery. Submitted photo.
 

Veterans Memorial Hospital has announced it plans to transition to a new electronic medical record system the end of February. This new system will now link to all departments, encompassing all areas of the hospital, including the billing department.

With this change, patients will see a new statement following any hospital service which will be a completely different look from what they are used to receiving due to the use of a new vendor. In addition, patients’ account balances will also be handled by a new system that will be unfamiliar to current patients. For example, a patient may have a test performed in February and it will be processed through the current company, MedPay, and after March 1, self pay statements and phone calls will come from the new vendor instead.