Kenyon Historical Society Hosts Cemetery Walk
The public is invited to take a stroll through the Kenyon Cemetery to learn about interesting people who impacted Kenyon's past.
This event will take place on Saturday, October 9, 2021 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
The Kenyon Area Historical Society (KAHS) has done research on nine people who will be featured on the walk.
Everyone in every cemetery has a story. If we just take the time to do a little research it's amazing what can be learned.
I asked Kevin Anderson from the KAHS to share some of the information obtained on the people who lived and breathed in Kenyon over the years.
For example Enoch Thune was born in 1898, at the age of 20 in 1918 he bought the Lyric Music Theater where movies were shown in Kenyon.
Thune played drums in the orchestra pit of the theater and was introduced at conventions as the youngest owner of a movie theater in the U.S.A.
He met Warner Brothers brass and famous actress Mary Pickford. In the 1920's he also started the Kenyon Ventilator Company with his brother. They sold barn ventilators all over the world before electricity doomed their business.
After the movie theater closed in 1938 the brothers had a painting business. Enoch ran for the First District U.S. Congressional seat in 1944.
Tillie Clark came to Kenyon to visit her sister in 1901 and ended up working for her brother-in-law Dr. Gates who owned the local telephone company. She was a phone operator for many years. Tillie passed away in 1978 just 5 months short of her 100th birthday.
Floyd and Vera Schwasinger came to Kenyon in the early 1930's so he could run the Goodhue Canning Company. Vera owned a cafe downtown called the Coffee Cup although most people simply called it Vera's.
Jay Held was the late Howard Held's Grandfather. He was a guard on Kenyon High School's first football team in 1905.
Magdelene Stolee was a teacher in Kenyon during the 1940's then became a school board member for over 20 years.
Vernon Reko grew up on Second Street in Kenyon. He worked and then owned the Picha Shoe Store which started in 1902 and closed in 1986.
Peter Dyrdahl had a grocery store in Kenyon in the 1970's.
Clara Clausen was an artist, poet, justice of the peace and women's rights advocate. Her painting entitled "1949 Corn Show Waiting for Cedric" hangs in the Kenyon Public Library.
There is no charge to attend the event. Free-will donations supporting the Kenyon Area Historical Society will be accepted.
Rain will force cancellation of the event.
We are all part of history. Every single one of us.
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