Judy Cecelia Miller, 71, passed away Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023 surrounded by loved ones at her home in Kilkenny, Minn, after a courageous battle with cancer. Visitation will be Thursday, Sept. 7, at Le Center Funeral Home from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. and beginning at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the church. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 8, at St. Canice Catholic Church in Kilkenny, Minn.  Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery in Kilkenny, Minn.

William R. “Bill” Duede, age 61, of New Prague, died peacefully after a lengthy health journey with his loving family at his side on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023 at Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester.   

Roselma (Rose) Soller, age 88, of Eagan, Minn., passed away peacefully with family by her side on Sept. 3, 2023.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church (4030 Pilot Knob Road) in Eagan, Minn..   Visitation from 8:30 to 10 a.m. with Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m.   Lunch to follow.  Private family burial.

Viola M. Michel, age 91, of New Prague, died peacefully with her family at her side on Monday, Sept. 4, 2023, at Mala Strana Health and Rehabilitation Center.  

Charles E. “Chuck” Holen , age 82, of Webster, died peacefully with his family at his side on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023 at Mayo System Health Care Hospital Mankato. 
Charles was born on June 14, 1941 in Havana, North Dakota to John “Chris” and Alice (Udelhofen) Holen.  He was raised and attended public schools in Forman, N.D.  He met and married Diann Resler on Oct. 27, 1962 and they were blessed with 57 years of marriage and five children and several grandchildren.  

Charles K. (Chuck) Anderson age 78 of Savage, Minn., passed away peacefully at his home on Aug. 26, 2023.
Charles (Chuck) was born Sept. 25, 1944, to parents, Hartvig and Lydia (Johnson) Anderson. He is survived by Joyce, his loving wife and life-partner of 59 years, sons Reed (Jennifer) and Wade; grandchildren Kelsey, Haaken (Eryn), Lily and Emily, and several nieces and nephews. Chuck is preceded in death by his parents, five siblings: Lorraine Heider, Joanne Hawver, Edwin, James, and David; and his in-laws, Manford and Myrtle Amundson and brother-in-law Wayne Amundson.

Be it improbable or expected, St. Patrick is one of the final eight teams remaining in the Minnesota Baseball Association’s Class B state tournament after a 5-3 win Saturday, Aug. 26, in the round of 16.
The Irish topped Baseball 365, 5-3, in Delano. They’ll face the Minnetonka Millers Saturday, Sept. 2, 11 a.m., in Litchfield. Minnetonka. The Millers won Saturday, 8-0, over the Metro Knights. They took advantage of a dozen walks, four hits and three Knights' errors in the win.

The Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously August 15 to discontinue the county’s Home Health Care, citing a number of issues. The program will be phased out and is scheduled to end by November 1.
Home Care Supervisor Laura Guddal said, “Our commissioners decided that it’s time to close. There are six counties offering home care practitioners in the state now and there were nine at the beginning of the year.”

Certain members of the Minnesota Legislature no doubt thought they crafted a piece of historic legislation earlier this year when they legalized the recreational use of cannabis. They did not.

There were several potential stops on Joseph Gifford’s career path to his most recent stop at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague. He pondered several paths along the way – nursing and singing opera are just a few of the options he considered.
As the new associate pastor assigned to St. Wenceslaus earlier this month, the Rev. Joseph Gifford will minister to parishioners at St. John the Evangelist in Union Hill, St. Scholastica in Heidelberg as well as St. Wenceslaus. He’ll also teach in the elementary school.

On Friday, Sept. 1, there will be two events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of New Prague High School’s 1973- ’74 football team and its winning the Minnesota State High School League Class B state championship.

After two days of assessment at the New Prague Area School District’s three elementary schools, students returned to school en masse this morning, Wednesday, Aug 30. Yesterday, Tuesday, Aug. 29, students in ninth through 12th grades returned to school for the 2023-24 school year. The district has 165 school days on its calendar for kindergarten through elementary school students are scheduled for in-person learning, 173 days for sixth- through 12th-graders.

Between Monday, Aug. 14, through Wednesday, Aug. 16, a crew was busy removing two fuel tanks, pipes and other items from the former Crawford’s Standard Service, at the southwest corner of the intersection of New Prague’s E Main Street and SE First Avenue.
“The tanks have to be out of the ground before I sell it,” said Kevin Crawford, who ran the business for 40 years before closing it March 25, 2022.
Crawford plans to sell the property to his son Nick Crawford and Ronnie Bastyr who own New Prague Auto Repair at 205 Fourth Ave. SW in New Prague.

Allie Meyer and Matthew Stensrud were recently chosen to be co-directors for New Prague High School’s fall musical. The two wanted to co-direct the upcoming production as they both have the experience and can coordinate together.
“I heard there was an opening for director, so I went to Matt and I asked him if he wanted to do this together,” said Meyer, who will begin her ninth year as a social studies teacher at the high school this fall.

The Minnesota Baseball Association recognized the services of Eric Brever and Pat Goggins last month in St. Patrick with a pregame ceremony before the Irish faced Union Hill.

Next week, over 4,000 New Prague Area School District students will return to their classrooms for the start of the 2023-2024 academic year. With any luck, it will be a good, really good, school year.
The school district has spent the year working to make this school year the best year possible. It has a team of elementary, middle school, junior high and senior high school teachers ready to put a curriculum into place intended to prepare students for college, vocational school and life in the working world.