Retirees from all across Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio and even California came to Albert Lea this week to learn more about farming, past and present.

Saturday, October 16, 1999

Retirees from all across Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio and even California came to Albert Lea this week to learn more about farming, past and present.

The 28 guests were part of the sixth Elderhostel, which is coordinated through Riverland Community College and the Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau. Topics studied were: &uot;From the One-Horse Plow to Modern Agricultural Technology,&uot; &uot;From the Country Doctor to Mayo Technology,&uot; and &uot;Vanishing Villages of Freeborn County.&uot;

The participants arrived Sunday afternoon and were able to take in special presentation by award-winning journalist John Hockenberry at the L.J. &uot;Cap&uot; Emmons Auditorium. They were then able to check into the Days Inn, have dinner and meet their fellow Elderhostelers.

Monday’s activities included a video on &uot;When We Farmed With Horses,&uot; a bus tour to Clarks Grove and its elevator, the Shell Rock Gardens, and the EXOL ethanol plant.

Tuesday brought a bus tour to the Hollandale area’s farms and Hollandale Ag Research, a traditional Dutch lunch, and tours of hog farms in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, the Elderhostel heard from Dr. Thoburn Thompson, &uot;Country Doctor to Modern Medicine,&uot; and Patti Hareid of Albert Lea Medical Center. Bidney Bergie gave a pictorial history of the Albert Lea Medical Center before the group had a bus tour of the facility.

Thursday took the Elderhostelers to the Freeborn County Historical Society and Village, Riverland Community College, Jensales in Manchester and a tour of the northwestern portion of the county.

On Friday, the group saw the county’s vanishing villages and the Bohemian Hall before departure time.

There was also entertainment each evening, including comedy film classics with Jim Pilgrim; &uot;I’m Herbert&uot; with Nancy Hockenberry and Jim Drummond; humor by Al Batt; and music by the Goskesons.

Participants said they chose this particular Elderhostel program because of its agricultural focus.

Sister Dorothy Zahler of St. Paul said she chose it because she grew up on a farm and is still interested.

&uot;I’m enjoying it more than I expected,&uot; she said. &uot;Farming is so different now. It’s really a business.&uot;

Beatrice Hahn of Brookfield, Wis., agreed. &uot;I grew up on a farm, but I hadn’t seen modern farming. It’s interesting.

Gene and Frieda Davis of Vinton, Iowa, had another reason for choosing Albert Lea’s offering. Their son, Denis, is a physician’s assistant at Albert Lea Medical Center, and they were able to spend some time with him.

But the topics also interested Gene Davis. &uot;It’s tied in with the demise of the family farm,&uot; he said. &uot;We’re finding out about that.&uot;

This is the Davises’ ninth Elderhostel.

&uot;We love them,&uot; Frieda said. &uot;There’s such a variety of choose from. Sometimes we learn a craft, and other times we just increase our knowledge. We have to find our own transportation there, but once we’re there, everything’s taken care of.&uot;

It was only David Gilbert’s first Elderhostel, but the Fridley man vowed it would not be his last.

&uot;We’re old farmers,&uot; he said. &uot;This has been a dream. They spoiled me. We’re going on another one.&uot;