For 27 years, from the 1960s to the early '90s, Sid Strandemo delivered the Kenyon news Monday through Friday on KDHL.

On Sunday her kids threw her a 90th birthday open house at First Lutheran Church in Kenyon and the turnout was terrific.

I was not a bit surprised with the scores of people going through the line to congratulate her on the milestone birthday.

Sid's children were there, and you can see the love they, their children, and their children's kids have for her.

Sid told me turning 90 was "great" and highly recommended it to me. Hey, she pointed out, "You get a big birthday party thrown for you and you don't even have to clean up."

Sid had a laid-back down-home style that endeared her not only to Kenyon people. She had fans from all over. There was someone from Zumbrota in attendance and someone drove from Alexandria (where she has a lake home) and joined in the observance also.

One of the things I remember most about Sid's Kenyon news, the poems or words of wisdom she would find and share. In fact all guests Sunday were given a card with a couple and a handwritten note of appreciation from Sid at the bottom thanking "you for sharing my birthday with me -- you have made it very special!"

The poem above her note of thanks is titled "Salutation of the Dawn," and the author is unknown.

Look to this day.
For it is life, the very life of life.
In it's brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The glory of action,
The bliss of growth,
The splendor of beauty,
For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.

Inside the card is this written by Louise Dickinson Rich titled "Believe and Adore!"

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG, each one of us, the world was a place of wonder, Almost every hour brought adventure and discovery; so that the diary of a child might read: "On this day I saw a field of daisies, white and gold beneath the sun," or "My baby sister opened her eyes and looked at me this morning. She knew me."

As children, we stood amazed before beauty and natural law and human fellowship, before the miracle of a seed's sprouting, of a snowflake's immutable hexagonal, of being able to read, so that unknown people spoke to us on paper.  Everything was new and astonishing, from the busyness of ants about their hill, to the smile of a friend, to the certainty of God's concern with our well-being.

We could not remain children forever. It was neither possible nor desirable that we should. A part of the marvel of life is growth and development. But in growing up, we never cease to need the world of wonder. I remember a time when my whole existence fell to pieces around me, and I moved in hopeless chaos. Then one day a hummingbird flashed across my vision, a tiny living jewel hovering in the throat of a lily. Suddenly I saw that the sun shone, that a gentle breeze stirred the tops of the trees, that the world of order and wonder was still there.

Somewhere a child laughed, and I found that I too could laugh again, and believe and adore. The stars were again in my sky; and I shall preserve for the rest of my life the rememberance of God's world which I had been shown.

Happy 90th birthday Sid. I love you and hope God blesses you with many healthy more.

                         Sid Strandemo 90 years young.
                         Sid Strandemo 90 years young.
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Sid, I forgot to sign the guest book on the table.

                                             A younger Sid.
                                             A younger Sid.
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