For more than three decades a familiar sight in Albert Lea was a man wearing striped bib overalls walking briskly near the curbs of the city streets or on the sidewalks carrying a rake or snow shovel.

Tuesday, July 13, 1999

For more than three decades a familiar sight in Albert Lea was a man wearing striped bib overalls walking briskly near the curbs of the city streets or on the sidewalks carrying a rake or snow shovel.

His name is Harvey Bendorf and he can still be seen walking around the city almost every day. Yet, the rake and snow shovel have just about been retired from active use.

Nicknames can be both descriptive and complementary. For Bendorf this is certainly true. Thus, using the label of “Harvey the Raker” certainly helps to identify this quiet and very polite man for many local residents.

“I was born northeast of Owatonna by the Rice Lake Creamery on the Mineral Springs Road,” he explained. His birth date is June 23, 1909, and he’s of German and Austrian ancestry.

“I did a lot of farm work growing up, and I’ve kept busy all my life right up to now,” Bendorf said.

At the age of 21, he moved to Charles City, Iowa, and worked for several years in the implement manufacturing plant of the Oliver Hart-Parr firm. Then he said this was followed with employment by the Standard Oil Co. for seven years, also in Charles City.

After living in several communities, Bendorf came to Albert Lea about 35 years ago.

“I mowed lawns and raked leaves for people,” he said. During the winter he shoveled snow off the sidewalks for three banks, plus several stores.

“I kept busy all winter long,” he added.

And as soon as the ground warmed up in the spring he spaded garden plots for many home owners. All this, plus work on area farms, gave him the sources of income needed to maintain an independent lifestyle.

For more than 20 years, Bendorf said he lived at the Dorman Hotel, located on East Clark Street across from the Albert Lea Public Library. Now he’s a resident of the Golden Age Rest Home, which has been his address for the past four years.

The 90-year-old bachelor says, “I enjoy life as long as I can stay busy.”

Yet, he has curtailed his work activities around the city, except for taking care of the lawn and raking up the leaves in the fall at the rest home.

Bendorf said he likes living at the rest home and does a lot of reading and television watching.

However, “Harvey the Raker” is still walking around Albert lea nearly every day, minus the rake or shovel. Bendorf’s favorite destination seems to be McDonald’s on East Main Street where he can enjoy drinking a cup or two of coffee.

One person who knows Bendorf well and can confirm some of the local legends about the hustling worker in the bib overalls is Junior Dorman at Hanson Tire.

Junior’s parents operated the Dorman Hotel and he said they considered Harvey to be one of their best guests. He added that Bendorf is “extremely honest” and a person with an “amazing memory.”

The man with the rake did yard work for many people in the Shoreland Heights neighborhood. Bendorf would either walk there, or be given a ride by the homeowner.

On one of these work assignments, Bendorf completed the yard raking, He knocked on the door, and according to Junior, told the homeowner, “I’m done, and here’s a dollar bill I found out in the hedge.”

Another example of this honesty cited by Junior is based on a large ashtray sitting on a table in the hotel’s hallway. Many times when Bendorf returned from one of his walks or from the jobs he’d place anything found along the way in this ashtray. These items included coins, trinkets, pens and pencils, and other odds and ends. He said Harvey would always comment that those items belonged to someone else.

Steve Nelson of Fleet Farm Supply on Main Court confirms another local legend about Bendorf.

“We gave him a snow shovel with our name on it which could be used as an advertisement as he did his work uptown,” Nelson said. “He wore out that shovel, so we gave him a new one. I guess we ended up giving him four or five shovels through the years.”