The Wagner Rotary Club gathered on Wednesday, October 7th to begin its second quarter of the Rotary year. Rotarian Jeff Doom substituted for President Bryan Slaba and demonstrated that he had not forgotten how to ring the bell. Nice job Jeff. Pastor Bill Heermann offered up a prayer for the gorgeous weather we are having for harvesting and asked for guidance for our club members to serve our Wagner Community.

We recited the Pledge of Allegiance and in lieu of the fact that we are not singing during this pandemic Rotarian Doom asked us to recite the “Smile” song as it is a staple of our Rotary songbook and a favorite for Rotary worldwide.

Sergeant at Arms Becky Brunsing again asked for help with levying fines as the only fine she noticed in the club was that Ken Cotton was coming back for our meetings and that cost him $3.00

Scott McAdaragh offered up a $1 fine for his phone infraction Jeff Doom offered up a Happy fine of $10.00 for his three daughters, one is married and the other two are committed

Becky Brunsing offered up a Happy Fine of $2 in the hopes that the kids will be going back to school next week, Laura Wright and Amanda Bechen offered up the same

Linda Soukup offered up a Happy Fine of $2 as she noticed yesterday that the Department of Transportation was finally putting asphalt on the new mile from Highway 46 to Highway 281

Ken Cotton offered up $2 for having one of his secretaries back in town, both have been out on medical leave and his wife has been acting as his secretary

Patty Frei offered up a Happy Fine of $5 because her son has been able to help with the farming and harvesting by doing online learning from his college

Jeff Doom offered up another $5 for the fact that he and Becky Brunsing are getting along well working together on a building project

Brunsing announced the football winners from Monday night and they were Erik Cimpl sold by Jamie Soukup, and Delores Kotab sold by Bill Frei (aka Patty Frei)

Patty drew the lucky ticket and tried for the Queen of Hearts but wound up with a 6 of Clubs. She announced that there were 12 members present for the meeting and $12 was collected to raise the Queen winnings to $453.00

She reported that Rotarian Francis Doom recently took a slightly lighter load of aluminum cans to Mitchell and with the price of aluminum down to 21 cents we received $221.00 for our scholarship funds. The Rotary Club would like to thank the public for their donations of aluminum cans in the container on the west side of the Rotary Building. These funds are used to sponsor scholarships for our Seniors every year and other youth projects. Please continue to donate your cans for this worthy project!

Program Chairman for the Day was Ken Cotton, and he presented his autobiography which was written up by his wife Mary, who is presently his office secretary.

Ken was born on January 30,1953 to Don and Adeline (Sommer) Cotton He’s the eldest of four children including: Beckie Hobbs, who lies in Alabama, Deb Cotton in Yankton and Jeff Cotton, who has recently moved from Minneapolis to Yankton.

Ken grew up in Miler, SD surrounded by extended family on both his Mother and Father’s side. The family moved to Brandon when he was in the 6th grade. He liked Brandon, played football, and excelled in band including stage, orchestral and marching band, playing on the trumpet. He excelled at extemporaneous speaking in high school debate. He had a pickle patch and worked for his uncle at a lumber yard during these six years. He also gave guitar lessons. When he visited in Miller, he like to go work with his Grandpa and uncles on the farm in St. Lawrence.

His parents moved to Yankton after he graduated from high school. He started his college life at USD with a major in pre-med. He had been gently pushed into mortuary science, but soon switched to a political science major. He worked at Rentschler’s Truck Stop during his freshman year at USD. After that, he worked, full-time, at the Human Service Center, through his remaining college years.

It was while he worked at HSC that he developed his compassion for the mentally ill. He has never forgotten how important it is that society care for those who need help. He has served on the Board of Directors of Lewis and Clark Mental Health for twelve years.

He graduated from USD and began working on a master’s degree in Political Science when he was accepted to USD School of Law. He graduated in December of 1980 and moved to Wagner to begin practice with Owen Ray Wipf in January of 1981.

The move to Wagner to practice law came about when he started doing research at the law library for writing briefs for classwork. He liked spending time in the library and was asked if he would consider researching for lawyers who did not have the time to drive to Vermillion. He began sending legal briefs to Ray Wipf and they struck up a friendship in time.

He married Mary Vetter in Salem on June 7, 1975. They lived in Gayville while he attended USD and she worked as an RN at Sacred Heart Hospital. They have four sons: JD is married to Rita and they have two boys, Brock 8, and Drake 5. He is a Doctor of Chiropractic in Sioux Falls. Nick is married to Jill Kuhlman. They have two daughters, Camlyn, 11 and Harper, 7. They live in Brandon and Nick works at EROS. Steven married Olivia this past July and lives in Wagner. He is the States Attorney for Charles Mix County. John is an RN at Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls and is currently pursuing his Nurse Practitioner’s License through Mount Marty University Campus in Sioux Falls. His wife is Alicia, and they have a 19-monthold daughter, Charlotte.

Ken has been involved in many activities in Wagner through the years: Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, Labor Day Committee, SD Centennial Committee, Scouting, Knights of Columbus, Wagner Area Growth, Wagner Area Foundation, and Sons of the American Legion. He is a member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and has taught CCD for several years. He taught Hunter Safety for several years and is a member of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever.

Ken has also had professional involvement in many areas of the Wagner Community acting as attorney for many organizations and entities. Five of his friends from law school are all located within about a 100-mile radius of Wagner and they get together about twice a year with their spouses and enjoy visiting. They all have remained in their smaller communities and do not regret it a bit.

Wagner was fortunate that Ken and Mary came to Wagner and stayed in Wagner. They have been generous with their time and have contributed greatly to its development as a friendly and safe community. Ken says they have no intention of leaving. He is looking ahead at trying to secure another young attorney just like he was recruited to come and practice law in Wagner.