The Wagner Rotary Club held its last meeting of the year 2025 last Wednesday. There were several members absent with the year winding down and Christmas approaching soon. There were two guests present, courtesy of Amanda Bechen. She brought Judean Irvine and Isaac Wunder to the meeting. Everyone joined in reciting the Rotary Prayer followed by singing two verses of Jingle Bells with Rotarian Rachel Woods as the leader.

The membership minute was given by Rotarian Patty Frei who read a communication from Bruce Nearhood, the District Governor of #5610. Rotary has always been proactive in sponsoring exchange students. Covid 19 put a screeching half to that a few years back. Our District will be having three outbound students from our District #5610. Three to four families, and not necessarily Rotary members, are needed to host for the year. This is an important activity for our District and one that has lasting benefits for the club as well as the students. Time is short: Host clubs and families must apply by the first part of January.

Happy Fines came from Craig Krsnak of $10 for not calling in ahead of time last week that he would be absent; $10 from Jordan Weber for being able to work for Bryan Slaba the last several years; $1 from Amanda Bechen for bringing guests that several people already knew at her table; Ted Honke volunteered a Happy/Sad fine of $20 for his grandson making it official that he was going to enroll in Dakota Wesleyan University in South Dakota. Jerry Henke offered $11 for working with a Number One Man all these past years-Bryan Slaba; Rachel Woods offered $5 for her son making Junior Varsity and playing a little Varsity and make his first two points; and Bill Frei gave $15.00 for his daughter being accepted to three different colleges for dental schooling.

Rotarian Ted Honke missed the Queen of Hearts by pulling the two of Clubs from the deck of cards. He missed winning $93.00 The attendance race had three misses on each attendance team with totals of 10 to 20. The Christensen team is definitely on the wrong track.

Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak announced two weeks’ worth of football book winners: Book No. 69 was Josh Woods sold by Alison Woods and Kathleen Gilbert sold by Gerrit Juffer. Book #20 was Donna Juffer sold by Kathe Henke and Dale Link sold by Jeannie Crowe.

There will be no more meetings for the Rotary Club as the next two Wednesdays fall on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Rotarian Bryan Slaba gave a heartfelt speech thanking the club members for all the years he spent attending Rotary in Wagner. Bryan has been commuting from Mitchell to Wagner for several years. He was so grateful to have enjoyed the friendships he made and the comradery he felt from all the Wagner Rotarians. We are going to miss you very much, Bryan!

The rest of the meeting was spent playing a friendly game of Christmas Feud supervised by Rotarian Patty Frei. The members were divided into two groups, Naughty and Nice. The questions and answers were fun, and the game was enjoyed by everyone. There were little Kinder chocolates on the tables for all, courtesy of Jerry and Kathe Henke.

We adjourned by wishing each other Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for 2026!