Long-time Traverse Township farmer was big supporter of Saints programs

A generous gift from the estate of the late Lyle “Bud” Gilbertson is going to help expand co-curricular opportunities for Saint Peter Public School students.

Gilbertson passed away on July 7, 2018, at the age of 97, and, in his will, left a donation of $86,282 to Saint Peter Public Schools with directions that it be used to ensure students continue to have access to and the opportunity to participate in the variety of co-curricular programs offered by the district.

According to his nephew, Mark Schaefer of Fairfax, Gilbertson (a 1938 SPHS graduate) was a big sports fan and a long-time supporter of Saint Peter High School sports teams. Towards the end of his life, he lived on Washington Avenue, near the St. Peter Community Center, and Schaefer said his uncle enjoyed looking out to see the flurry of activity going on at the facility throughout the year.

“A while back, my uncle was reading a story in a newspaper about how expensive it was getting for kids to participate in sports and how some were having a hard time affording it and that really bothered him,” Schaefer said. “His donation will help those students and families offset some of those costs so they have a chance to participate in these activities.”

SPHS Activities Director Jordan Paula said the school district is honored to accept this generous donation from Gilbertson’s estate and he is excited about the benefit it will provide for District 508 students.

“The beauty of public education is the ability to provide opportunities for kids who may not otherwise be able to participate or get involved,” SPHS Activities Director Jordan Paula said. “We, as a school, do not turn students away from participating because of financial need, but the burden is still present for families within our community.

“The incredibly generous gift from the Lyle ‘Bud’ Gilbertson Estate will allow our students to continue to participate in our wide-ranging assortment of activities, which we as a district believe will help them in the classroom and become leaders in the community.

The vision for this gift, according to Paula, is to break down barriers of entry which prevent kids from participating in co-curricular activities. This will primarily be done through scholarships and equipment for students in need.

“The long and short-term success of co-curricular programming within Saint Peter Public Schools is dependent on the support of the stakeholders within our community,” Paula said. “Without it, our students wouldn’t have the ability to do what they love. We’re very fortunate and very thankful for the generosity of Mr. Gilbertson and his family.”

After graduating from SPHS, Gilbertson later served in the U.S. Army in Korea (1946-47) and returned home to farm for many years in Traverse Township. He married later in life to Gayle (Jan. 1969) and had no children of his own, but did gain a stepson, Bill Groebner, from his marriage.

He and Gayle retired from farming in 1982 and moved to Lake Ida near Alexandria and also wintered in South Padre Island for 35 years. After Gayle passed away in 1999, Gilbertson moved to St. Peter where he lived the rest of his life.

Seventh graders at Saint Peter Middle School hosted their annual History Day event on Thursday, Jan. 17, at the school’s media center.

The interior of the media center was filled with colorful cardboard tri-fold exhibits depicting significant people or events in American history. Students from Erick Boe’s, Dustin Sharstrom’s, and Sean O’Brien’s U.S. History classes participated in the event. Each of the exhibits is judged by Middle School staff, other volunteers, as well as some of the eighth grade students.

“This is a social studies project, with a little bit of an English component to it with the writing the students need to do,” Sharstrom said. “The students started on these projects around the second week of December (2018) and this is final presentation for most of them.”

The top 15 to 20 projects at this year’s event will advance to the South Central Regional History Day competition at Minnesota State University-Mankato on March 19 with a chance to go all the way to the state competition later this year.

Saint Peter Middle School students literally collected more than a ton of food during this year’s recent annual Canned Food Drive with the final total being 2,161 pounds that was donated to the St. Peter Area Food Shelf.

The SPMS Student Council sponsored this year’s drive in which students in all four grades (5-8) collected food and non-perishable items during the week of December 10-14. A total of 2,125 items were collected during the drive.

SPMS Student Council advisor Courtney Shey and eight members of the Student Council’s executive team transported all of the donated items to the Food Shelf personally, with Saints Bus Service providing the mode of transportation.

“The amazing thing is that our food drive was short and sweet, only three days, and the student council wrapped the collection boxes in wrapping paper and created a slideshow for advisories detailing the food drive,” Shey said. “This was their first ‘event’ that they did as a student council, and they wanted to be something that contributed to the community.  It is obvious by how much we collected that the student body and the staff at St Peter Middle School wanted to contribute to their community as well. A big thank you to all the students, their parents/guardians, and to the staff!”

School board officially accepts $42,000 gift to be used for French immersion experiences

A gift from the estate of the late Jeffrey Rosoff, a former math professor at Gustavus Adolphus College, will help ensure students from Saint Peter Public Schools will continue to benefit, from experiences at the Lac Du Bois French immersion camps at Concordia Language Villages, long into the future.

The Saint Peter School Board officially accepted the gift of $41,957.80 from Rosoff’s estate at their November 19 meeting, and, according to Saint Peter High School French teacher Mary Behrends, this gift will pay $100 for each French camp weekend participant moving forward. Additional support is planned for students interested in CLV’s summer Lac du Bois programs.  Rosoff, who was a professor at Gustavus since 1981, passed away on May 16, 2018. During all these years, the Rosoff and Behrends families maintained a close friendship.

Rosoff, whose son David was a 2004 SPHS graduate and very active in the school’s French program, was a strong supporter of Behrends’ program during his son’s time as a student at Saint Peter Public Schools. David Rosoff died in the summer of 2004 from injuries sustained in a car accident, and his father continued to honor his memory by continuing to support the SPHS French program financially as well as endowing the David C. Rosoff Memorial Scholarship given annually to an SPHS graduating senior.

This school year alone, more than 60 students have already benefited from his legacy grants by attending weekend French camps at Lac Du Bois.

“Jeff was a mathematician and a bit of a renaissance man who loved speaking French, and it was a big part of his life,” Behrends said “He loved music as well as woodworking, and was an amazing conversationalist.

“David was a very smart student who was very active with our (SPHS) French department, and Jeff got very involved as well and remained that way long after David passed away and this gift will continue that support probably long past I’m retired.”

Colleen Jacks, who was Jeff’s long-time partner and is currently a biology professor at Gustavus, saw first-hand how much of a supporter he was of the SPHS French program.

 “Jeff was a strong supporter of language study and believed that the earlier it was started, the stronger the outcomes were for students,” Jacks said. “Jeff studied several languages himself (German, a little Italian and Spanish), but was always drawn to French, a language he continued to study and speak as an adult - he was a true Francophile.

“He appreciated the cultural and language immersion experience that Lac du Bois of the Concordia Language Villages provided students, including his son David. Jeff appreciated all that Mary Behrends did/does to encourage French study at all levels, including taking groups of students from North, the middle school and high school for weekend immersion camps at Lac du Bois during the school year.  

“He was very aware that the cost of this experience was beyond the reach of many families, and he didn't want financial constraints to rob St. Peter students of an experience that he believed would expand their worlds.  For a number of years he made an annual donation to the school district to assist students with the tuition for the weekend experiences. His high regard for Mary and her willingness to make these opportunities available to so many students led him to include this bequest to help continue funding students at Lac du Bois in his estate plan.”