Five past award recipients informed the Schroeders of the honor when they visited Frandsen Bank where Randy is a vice president on Tuesday this week. Carol heard the announcement on speakerphone as the announcement was made. The Service to Agriculture Award recognizes a person or persons who promote agriculture in the community.

The Schroeders will be recognized at the club’s annual banquet and meeting Monday, Jan. 21 at the New Ulm Community Center.

Randy and Carol have been members of the Hub Club for about 30 years. While they were inactive for a few years when Randy’s work took him away from New Ulm, they’ve been very involved in recent years.

Randy has been the club’s membership chairman since 2012 and served a year as club vice president. He’s a current board member. Both Randy and Carol volunteer at the Farm Show and Bavarian Blast and Randy works the Cash Wise Brat Stand. Randy arranges the annual banquet and Carol greets guests with a smile as she checks them in.

Carol Schroeder

After working 24 years with Farm Credit Services–mostly in New Ulm but also in Glencoe, Pipestone, and St. Peter — Randy joined Frandsen Bank and Trust in 2006. He’s Vice President, Ag and Business Lending, working primarily with farmers. His clients include about 60 farmers.

“Ag lending is challenging now–it’s not a great deal of fun,” he admitted. “There are no good answers right now but we try to be as creative as we can to keep people farming.”

Randy grew up on a farm in Eden Township of Brown County, rural Morgan.

“I continue to live on the farm I grew up on, which has been in my family for over 100 years. I am probably the youngest person around who spent much of his childhood on a JD 60 with a two-bottom ground-lift plow, an eight-foot digger, and a four-row cultivator. I still have the tractor and digger,” Schroeder said.

Randy’s brother Gary now runs the home farm. Their parents, Harill and Eileen, live in Sleepy Eye.

After being Star Chapter Farmer and graduating from Morgan High School in 1978, Randy went on to double major in agribusiness and business administration at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. It was there that Randy and Carol met when she worked in food service. She still recalls the “tall, dark, and handsome” student who kept coming back for more food.

They were married in 1983, right after Carol graduated with a business administration/management and computer degree.

Carol grew up in Windom where her dad, Bob Byers, was a pharmacist and her mother Audrey helped out. Carol’s first jobs were pushing brooms and washing windows at the drugstore. Her parents instilled, early on, the importance of offering all people great customer service.

Randy and Carol have two sons. Dan is married to Kristen, daughter of Hub Club members John and Lorna Luepke. Son Kyle is single. All three live in St. Cloud.

Carol works from home, currently holding three part-time remote jobs. She is an account executive for Rauenhorst Recruiting Company, doing research, communications, scheduling, mass mailing, data, and more. She does monthly QuickBooks online bank reconciliations, along with database organizing and research for Machalek Communications, Inc. And, she’s a job developer on-line for Hokeness Consulting LLC.

Until recently, she also held two other positions. She was an account clerk for a CPA in Morgan for 17-plus years–transitioning some clients from green ledger paper to digital–and held a reservation assistant position for seven seasons for an inflatables concession company.

She has done all this in spite of being in a wheelchair since 2007 due to Devic’s Disease (Neuromyelitis Optica), a form of MS. Though she was originally right-handed, she has no dexterity in that hand and now does everything with her left hand.

“None of the positions I hold are for those with disabilities. I didn’t disclose my condition until after I was doing the job. By then my employers knew I could do the work,” Carol said. “I am thankful for all of their trust and the responsibilities they have given me and the confidence they have in my abilities.”

Carol is also thankful for Randy’s abilities to make things easier for her. “He can find a way so I can work here with all the monitors and get my wheelchair under the desk,” she said. “He finds ways for us to live on the farm. The physical therapy people say he should patent some of the things he’s made, like our ramp.”

Randy first made a wooden ramp but when it weathered, he got metal hog flooring to make a new one. With holes in the metal, the snow goes through.

“I’m so thankful for Randy. He has a wonderful sense of humor. He’s hardworking and concerned and has deep roots. He’s the kindest person I’ve ever met. I don’t know if he knows how much I admire and respect him,” Carol said. “He’s problem solver and a doer. He sees it and does it. He got his work ethic and his values from his parents.”

Both Randy and Carol like to bike. When she no longer could, Randy figured out a way to pull Carol’s manual wheelchair behind his bike. They enjoy going on bike trails and have biked all the way from Willmar to New London and back, as well riding other trails.

Both Randy and Carol are active in their church, Zion Lutheran in Morgan. Randy is the endowment committee chair and is on the MVL Foundation Board. Carol has taught Sunday and Bible school and played piano. She just added a new administrative bookkeeping position at church. She also volunteers as remote administration assistant for the Lutheran Chapel Service, communicating with over 40 WELS pastors and Martin Luther College staff.

Randy credits Carol with being the most influential person in his life. He stated, “She continues to have a cheerful disposition in spite of her disabilities.”

Randy is active with the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce Willkommen Committee, the New Ulm Economic Development Corporation, the Professional Referral Organization, and South Central Farm Business Management Advisory Board.

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The Hub Club’s annual meeting and banquet January 21 will begin with a social hour at 6:30 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. A short business meeting and the program will follow. The event is open to all. Tickets will be available after December 1 from Membership Chair Randy Schroeder at 507-233-4797 or at Frandsen Bank in New Ulm. Tickets should be purchased by Friday, January 11. Banquet cost is $20 per person.