South St. Paul native Glenn Boche was drafted into the army in March 1969.  Once he finished boot camp at Fort Campbell, KY, he went onto Fort Polk, LA, for Advanced Individual Training (AIT) which included weapons instruction, hand-to-hand combat, and jungle warfare. At the end of Aug. 1969, Boche’s orders for Vietnam came through. He was a part of Co. A, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division that was stationed in Tay Ninh, about 55 miles northwest of Saigon. Within a month of arriving at this base camp, Boche started going out on patrol missions in the surrounding …

While attending North Dakota State University in the ‘60s, Glenn Solberg participated in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for four years. After graduation, he held the rank of 2nd lieutenant with a commitment to the Army of two years of active duty and four years of reserve duty. Solberg was assigned to the Military Police Corps (MP), the law enforcement branch of the U. S. Army, and attended advanced MP Officer’s training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, in July 1968 for eight weeks.  Solberg’s first year of service was spent with the Berlin Brigade at the Army base in Berlin, Germany. As…

Bruce McRae, a 1970 graduate of the Air Force Academy, joined the 8th Airlift Squadron at McChord Air Force Base (AFB) in Washington after completing navigator and C-141 training at Air Force bases in California and Oklahoma. McRae was trained to operate a C-141 Starlifter, a large 4-engine aircraft designed to transport war material, equipment and personnel. Once in Vietnam, the cargo would be unloaded and the aircraft reloaded, often with damaged trucks and aircraft parts, and sometimes wounded or deceased personnel.  In the spring of 1975, there was a growing concern for orphaned and …

There is a sizable population of individuals of Romanian descent concentrated in South St. Paul. Their immigration stories detail a complex culture and the struggle of families to acclimate to the United States. A great many never intended to stay here, but to earn $1,000, a small fortune, and then return to Romania The following is excerpted from an August 2009 article by Vicki Young Albu originally published in the Dakota County Historical Society’s magazine, "Over the Years."       The decisions of Romanian women to emigrate to join men in South St. Paul marked a turning point for two …

“The whole country is finally awakening to the desperate need for conservation, control of water and air pollution, and the need to teach tomorrow’s voters who will determine the fate of our natural environment.” It was 1967 and Olivia Irvine Dodge was taking action to address what she felt was a core need—for young people to understand and get close to nature. In that year Dodge established the Thomas Irvine Dodge Nature Center (named after her son), donating land and funds to start the nascent center. She founded another nature center, the Irvine Nature Center, in Maryland in 1975. Olivia …

Nellie Stone Johnson was born Dec. 17, 1905 in Lakeville. Johnson’s career in activism began at the University of Minnesota during the 1920s. While a college student, Johnson was a member of the Young Communist League, the Young Socialists and the Socialist-Labor Party. From a young age Johnson considered herself a radical, someone she defined as “not satisfied with the status quo.”  Johnson’s activism encompassed all points of American culture including politics, civil rights, labor, and education. Along with Hubert Humphrey, Johnson was of paramount importance to the establishment of the …

Harold Stassen was born in West St. Paul on April 13, 1907.  By the age of 22, Stassen had already received both bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Minnesota. Always the upstart, Stassen organized the law firm of Stassen, Ryan & Olson in South St. Paul in 1929. Just one year later, Stassen was elected to be Dakota County attorney. Following two terms as county attorney, Stassen was elected the 25th governor of Minnesota in 1937, becoming the youngest governor in the nation at age 31.  Minnesotans re-elected Stassen in 1939 and again in 1941, even after Stassen told voters he …

Pierce Butler was born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1866, the son of Irish parents—Patrick and Mary Butler—in Dakota County’s Waterford Township. At the age of 21, Butler graduated from Northfield’s Carleton College. He then traveled to St. Paul to study law at the firm of Pinch & Twohy. Butler was admitted to the bar in 1888 and was elected to two terms as Ramsey County attorney beginning in 1893. Four years later, he formed his own law firm—How & Butler.  As a lawyer, Butler was regularly involved in railroad-related litigation.  He often defended railroad baron James J. Hill in his legal …

Harold LeVander was born Oct. 10, 1910, in Swede Home, Neb., to Swedish immigrants. LeVander’s father, Peter, was a clergyman for the Lutheran church assigned to a parish in St. Paul in 1912.  As a young child, Harold and his family moved frequently before settling in Watertown, Minn., in 1926. After graduating from Watertown High School in 1928, LeVander attended Gustavus Adolphus and excelled on the college’s track team.   LeVander then earned a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1935, and was admitted to the bar in the same year.  Harold Stassen recruited LeVander to practice …

Charles Berkey was born in Goshen, IN in 1866. Peter and Lydia Berkey moved their ten children to Dakota County in 1878. After graduating from Farmington High School in 1887, Berkey attended the University of Minnesota and became the first person to receive a doctorate in geology from the school. Berkey stayed at his alma mater as a professor of geology from 1893-1902. In 1903, Berkey accepted a position at Columbia University where he became America’s premier geologist. Berkey gained recognition for the fieldwork he conducted in the United States and all over the world. He was instrumental …

Nick Mamer was born in Hastings in 1898 to Jacob and Mary Weber Mamer. In June 1916, Mamer became Minnesota’s first Army Aviator Corps recruit. After studying aviation and mechanics in San Diego, CA, Mamer served as aerial patrol pilot at the United States/Mexico border during the Pancho Villa raids and as an aerial patrol engineer at the Panama Canal Zone. Mamer was then ordered to attend the school of military aeronautics at Princeton University in 1918. Upon graduation, Mamer served in the Army Reserves for one year.  Mamer returned to Minnesota in 1919 after his discharge and organized …

Henry Sibley was born Feb. 20, 1811 in Detroit, Michigan Territory.  Sibley’s association with the American Fur Company, which began in 1829, would lead him to Minnesota where he became one of the most prominent early leaders in the state. In 1836 Sibley arrived in Mendota (near Fort Snelling) as a sutler for American Fur. The familiarity Sibley gained with the Dakota Indians through the fur trade would become significant during his political career. Sibley became a Congressional delegate in Minnesota Territory in 1849 after having already held public office in Michigan, Iowa Territory, and …

Gratia Countryman was born in Hastings in 1866. She graduated from Hastings High School in 1882 at the age of fifteen and from the University of Minnesota in 1889. Countryman was one of only two women to receive bachelor's degrees from the University of Minnesota in 1889. Immediately after college, Countryman was hired as an assistant librarian at the Minneapolis Public Library. Countryman was influential in helping create the State Library Commission in 1899. After fifteen years as assistant librarian, Countryman was made chief librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library, becoming the first …

Ignatius Donnelly was born Nov. 3, 1831 in Philadelphia, PA. Donnelly grew up and was educated as a lawyer in Philadelphia before moving to St. Paul in 1856. Upon arriving in Minnesota, Donnelly purchased 800 acres of wild land on the west bank of the Mississippi River with the idea of creating a utopian city. Donnelly built his own country estate, a hotel and established a newspaper to promote Nininger, his new city, which was located just Northwest of Hastings. Initial growth was rapid and within a year nearly 1,000 people called Nininger home. Despite a promising start, an anticipated …

Born into slavery in Georgia between 1829 and 1845, George Washington Daniels went on to serve on both sides of the Civil War, work in Minnesota, and become a prominent and respected farmer in South Dakota.  Forced to serve in the Confederate Army, Daniels escaped in the aftermath of a battle by pretending he was dead and then sneaking across the Union army lines.  It was around this time that Daniels first met General William LeDuc, for whom he would work for the remainder of the war. With the conclusion of the war, LeDuc hired Daniels to transport his horses from Washington, D.C. to …

Patty Berg was born February 13, 1918 in Lakeville. Berg took a liking to golf at a young age as her brother and father (a 10-handicap) participated in the sport regularly. Although it took some convincing from Patty, her father bought her a junior membership to Edina’s Interlachen Country Club in 1931.  After only two years of tutelage from Interlachen Country Club head professional Willie Kidd, Jr., Berg won her first of 29 amateur tournaments at age 15. Held at her home course, Interlachen, Berg placed second in the 1935 U.S. Women’s Amateur.  Berg went on to attend the University of …