Notice to Lovilia Residents:
Consumer Confidence Report (Water quality report) will not be mailed. The report may be viewed online at http://iowaccr.org/Lovilia
Copies are available at City Hall ,1613 E Avenue South or Lovilia Water Department at 606 West 17th Street as reported by Leonard Geery, Water Superintendent of City of Lovilia, Iowa.
June 9th, Sunday, the reunion was held at the Lovilia Community building in downtown Lovilia just below the water tower.
Between the meal count and the registration desk count it was determined that about 175 alumni with spouses or other relatives attended this year.
In 1963 Ellie Sofranko and others planned the first all school reunion. Over 900 graduates were mailed invitations. For the 2013 reunion 380 letters were sent.
A noon meal of pulled pork or steamed hamburger sandwiches, cole slaw, potato salad, cookies, and beverages was served to the guests by the Lovilia Community Betterment committee. Many Lovilia bakers donated a wide variety of delicious homemade cookies for the meal.
Sandy Winegardner opened the program by welcoming everyone and introducing the 2013 alumni committee. Committee members were:
Marilyn Sterling Vandenberg, class of 1951
Ruth Bunch Belzer, class of 1951
Ilene Smith Pottorff , class of 1952
Kae Wells Morgan , class of 1957
Margaret Crumley Vittetoe, class of 1957
Gayle Baker Hastings, class of 1958
Mary Lou Sims Bingamon, class of 1958
These women help plan the reunion, keep the address list of alumni updated, and save obituaries of those alumni who have died since the previous reunion.
Bob Crumley was master of ceremonies and introduced the 2013 class honorees. From the class of 1933, Kathryn Welsh Ballalatak, was honored and her son, Dean, read Kathryn’s memories of school and growing up in rural Lovilia.
Betty Henderson Baker, class of 1943, was honored and her story was read by her brother, Larry Henderson.
Gerald Sofranko, class of 1948, wrote specifically about Lovilia men who we honor for their military service and his words were read by Bob Crumley.
Alumni who could not attend due to health reasons sent letters which were read.
Bonneitta Martin Sonnenburg, class of 1935, letter read by Ruth Belzer. She lives at The Village in Indianola, Iowa.
Wendell Nedderman, class of 1939, who lives in Arlington, Texas sent a letter ready by Bob Crumley.
Lowell Findley, class of 1954, currently residing in Dolores, Colorado sent a letter read by Fred Kraber.
Beverly Tucker Sampson, class of 1957, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia sent a letter read by Sandy Winegardner.
It was enjoyable to hear of Lovilia’s earlier days and what these graduates have experienced in their colorful lives.
Some alumni traveled miles upon miles to join the reunion guests. Listed are some of those travelers:
Katherine Peach Owens Stevens, class of 1953, California
Charles Williams, class of 1958, Arizona
Jeanne Barnes Long, class of 1960, Minnesota
Jr. Monk, class of 1960, Georgia
Kenneth Nedderman, class of 1941, Texas
Lorena Gardner Blanchard, class of 1941, Colorado
Jack Clark, class of 1949, California
Ted Ferguson, class of 1958, Missouri
Rosemary Waters Ostby, class of 1953, Colorado
Larry Henderson,class of 1955, Florida
David Johnson, class of 1949, Illinois
In closing the program, Bob Crumley, read the names of the 68 Lovilia graduates who had passed away since the June 2008 reunion. We hold their memories dear and pray they rest in peace.
The next all school reunion will be held in five years in June 2018. Hope to see you there!
Marion Durbala was born in Albia on March 8, 1934 to Frank and Margaret (Bins) Durbala. His youth was spent on a farm with his family west of Lovilia. After graduating from Albia High School he spent two years int the U.S. Army. He continued his education at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa where he earned an accounting degree. His working years in accounting were all in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Marion was an avid golfer, bridge player, and history buff.
He has two sisters, one brother, and two in-laws surviving him as well as three children and five grandchildren. One sister, Jean( Joe) Hollinrake is a local resident of rural Lovilia
Mr. Durbala died May 18, 2013 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
A graveside service was held May 24 at St. Peter’s Cemetery (Catholic) in Lovilia.
Storm Damage to Local Home
We have been having frequent rains and thunderstorms here in the last few weeks. Ilene Pottoroff had a large tree split and half came down on her house’s roof causing real damage. A tree trimming company cleaned up the tree the next day. Tarps still cover the roof until repair work can be done. She was not bodily harmed and we are thankful for that.
United Methodist Church of Lovilia Update
New shingles were recently nailed on the church roof by a local roofing company who made quick work of it even though it is a very steep roof. Looks very nice and should give many years of service.
Update to Lovilia Community Building
The building was painted this week by Josh Chance’s painting firm. It was white with dark brown trim and is now tan with deep tan trim. The new sign is over the awning now which says Lovilia Community Building. The sign was done in the old school colors of purple and gold and a lion’s head is on the sign to honor the old school mascot. The inside big room and hall had recently received a new coat of paint and the floors are waxed and shiny clean.
All is ready for the all Lovilia School reunion which will be held Sunday, June 9th at the freshened up building. We can be proud of our community meeting place. Thanks to the Comm. Betterment Committee and all who helped with planning and arrangements and labor.
June 8 Recycling Promotion in Lovilia
Lovilia was chosen for the pilot site for recycling promotion in Monroe County. With cooperation between the city of Lovilia and Monroe County Supervisors the lot was cleaned and prepared on the corner of North E Avenue and 19th Street. Special thanks to the Monroe County Supervisors for moving road graders to the old county home site so the Lovilia space could be used for the recycling trailer. Also, special thanks to city works director, Leonard Geery, for removing the trees, having the locator check the lot, and arranging for grading out the lot , as well as weeding and mowing the lot. Placed there today was a trailer that will be left there seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day for persons to leave their recycling items.
We are very excited to have the benefit of doing this daily as before we had only one Saturday a month for two hours and then the trailer returned to Albia. This was a very small window of opportunity for people to bring items to recycle.
Susan Beary and David Beary of Lovilia, Monroe County coordinators for recycling are thrilled to expand the opportunity in Lovilia and so are local citizens who said , ” This is going to be awesome!”
From 8-10am Saturday, June 8th, householders who brought items to the trailer were shown where to put them according to type: tin cans, plastic, glass jars, newspapers, magazines, books, mixed paper, bags of shredded paper and cardboard.
Thank you gifts for recycling were handed out to each householder of a cloth green shopping bag, green bracelet and washable tattoos for kids, and Casey’s store helped our promotion by giving coupons for donuts/cookies.
Twenty-six household participated. Twenty were long time faithful recyclers and six were new to it in Lovilia. We are grateful for everyone who participates and who continues to do so month after month to help our environment.
Door hangers were passed out to every home this past week to educate everyone about the new trailer and its location and use. Also, ads were placed on Albia radio and one news interview.
Susan wants to thank Sara Bixby the director at the landfill at Tracy that is used by Monroe County and three other counties. Sara helped with the promotion, education materials, and the funding for the promotion. We could not have done it with out her. Thanks, Sara!
Thank you to Casey’s for the treats to thank people for recycling. Those coupons brought big smiles.
Wind Power to Boom in Iowa
Good news for Iowans. MidAmerican Energy has announced they plan to spend nearly 2 billion dollars by 2015 in Iowa. This will translate to about 656 new wind turbines. The location for the turbines is yet to be chosen. The company said no new utility rate hikes will be needed as federal wind tax credits will off fset the cost over the next 30 years. Gov. Branstad said no state tax credits or incentives will be offered for the project.
When completed this wind “farm” will produce 40% of all electricity now used by customers in Iowa is the company projection.
These wind turbines are so high tech now. Not at all like grandpa’s.
Turbines latest version is connected to the internet where it monitors constantly: weather, grid system info., supply/demand patterns and then use that data to adjust electronics and turbine blade positions constantly. This along with changes in tower size, etc. created the newer models that are able to be as much as 25% more efficient.
Can you even imagine power production in 20 years? This is very exciting news.
Powered by WordPress