NEW ULM – Ivan and Janine Enter of rural Nicollet graciously accepted the Service to Agriculture Award at the New Ulm Farm-City Hub Club Awards Banquet on Monday at the New Ulm Country Club.

Jim Bartels, KNUJ Radio general manager, said “faith, church and family were always a big deal to this family. … They’re always a couple of lovebirds. It’s touching. Employers, you know the value of a supportive spouse. They’re quite a deal. They were in a head-on car accident and could’ve died, but they didn’t.”

Bartels said Janine Enter was the top sales representative in a 19-station market and managed the KNUJ Farmers Market during her 30-years of full-time work there. She continues to work part-time at KNUJ.

“My parents taught me a lot of things, to be very involved with your life and the fact that hard work pays off. If you work hard, you can play hard,” said Enters’ daughter Rachel. “Do what you love, love what you do. Surround yourself with people you love.”

The Enters’ son Shawn of Eden Prairie, a regional surgical training specialist at Cochlear, talked of his parents’ devotion to family, farm and field.

“We always took a long family vacation,” Shawn Enter said. “I remember riding 3,000 miles in a Pontiac 6000, through Yellowstone Park when (the park) was on fire in 1987. There was fire on one side of the road and exploding tree trunks on the other. I remember my dad saying if we drove into a fire, he would drive into the river. I can’t wait to take my family on vacations like those.”

Janine Enter called her husband her high school and “old woman” sweetheart.

“We’ve been blessed with good jobs and farming,” said Ivan Enter, president of Enter’s Liquid Fertilizer. “Thanks for this award. It’s really unbelievable.”

Farm-City Hub Club Scholarship recipients Russell Hoffman, Kristin Mohr and Nathan Palmer of New Ulm Cathedral and Allison Bastian, Ashley Kohn and Megan Struss of New Ulm High School were introduced.

New Ulm High School ag instructor Jeff Nelson said industrial technology and an additional instructor are being added to the high school ag program. “We appreciate working so closely with you. I feel it’s important to let you know what we’re doing,” Nelson added.

(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).