Oak Hills request

Thumbs Up: Oak Hills Living Center has received — and has earned! — tremendous community support over the years. Thanks to generous donations from the community, New Ulm has a tremendous facility for taking care of our aging population. Over the years it has been responsive to their needs, converting itself when needed into a more homelike community.

Today Oak Hills is seeking to convert itself once again into a facility that provides the housing and care that people want and need, so they can stay close to families and friends in New Ulm.

Oak Hills once again needs generous donations from the community to make this happen. We are sure people will find it in their hearts to support this fine facility.

Losing old friends

Thumbs Down: We mentioned last week the loss that the closing of Nicklasson Athletic will have on New Ulm. It as an odd coincidence that the Nicklasson announcement came so closely after Ben Pieser announced the closing of another old friend, New Ulm Furniture.

Ben’s father and mother, Richard and Sarah Pieser, founded the store in August 1945, and it has been a family business ever since.

In the times after World War II, when so many new families were starting families and buying homes, New Ulm Furniture was there to help furnish them. How many families have been able to live in comfort, thanks to New Ulm Furniture and Richard’s generous credit policies?

Like Nicklasson’s, New Ulm Furniture has had a great impact on life in New Ulm and the area, and will be greatly missed.

Tragedy in Nicollet

Thumbs Down: Nicollet firefighters were called out early Wednesday morning and faced a firefighter’s worst nightmare. In the frigid cold at 4:30 a.m. they were called out to a house out in the country that was fully engulfed in flames. As they fought the fire, inside they found the body of the house’s owner, John C. Soost, 77, who lived there alone.

Such tragedies serve to remind us of the absolute heroism of firefighters and other first responders who turn out in the worst conditions at times and face great dangers to save lives, where they can, and to grieve when they can’t.