John Thomas Bartusek, age 77, of Le Center, passed away after a short battle with cancer on the evening of Monday, June 13 at Methodist Hospital in Rochester surrounded by his family. 
 A visitation will be held at the Le Center Funeral Home on Sunday June 19 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.  Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Monday, June 20 at 10:00 am with a visitation an hour before the service in the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred.

Robert Thomas Snorek passed away on Saturday, June 11, 2022, in the early hours of the morning, surrounded by his family, God brought Robert home. Robert was 90 years old.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, June 18 from 9 am-11 am at the St. Patrick’s Church in Shieldsville with Memorial Mass of Christian Burial at 11 am with Fr. Tom Niehaus officiating. Interment will be held in St. John Catholic Cemetery in Montgomery.

James (Brad) Bradley Kline passed away with his wife, Ann Berry-Kline (Kratochvil), by his side on May 31, 2022. Born on June 13, 1953 to John and Betty (La Follette) Kline, Brad was the youngest of three boys. He lived most of the first 18 years of his life in Viroqua, Wisconsin spending his youth near the lake doing what he loved - fishing, hunting, water skiing, boating, and enjoying the company at the Leaky Fleet Club. After high school, Brad left Viroqua and worked his way into the high-performance computing industry.

Barbara J. Everson, 73, lifelong resident of New Prague, passed away on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in their hospice care unit in Shakopee, MN. She was born on September 23, 1948, in New Prague, MN, to Edward and Evelyn Kohout.

John Joseph “Jack” Skluzacek, age 76, passed away on June 5, 2022 at his farm home near Lonsdale, MN.
John was born to John T. and Celia (Malecha) Skluzacek on January 21,1946 at the Northfield Hospital. John was the youngest of eight children and was loved by his siblings, Jeanette, Norbert, Loretta, Bernadine, Adrian, Valeria, and Sr. Marilyn OP.

The New Prague boys track and field team tied for sixth place in the Section 2AA Meet Wednesday, June 1 and Friday, June 3. They also had one relay and one individual advance to the Class AA State Meet.
The Trojans scored 68 points in a very competitive Section Meet, tying Belle Plaine for sixth place. Worthington was the boys team champion with 99 points. They were followed by Mankato East (86), Jordan (77), Mankato West (77), and St. Peter (74).

Brady Alan Aune, age 20, of Elko New Market, passed away June 3, 2022. Preceded in death by his grandfather, Herbert Barrett Aune and his uncle, Stephen Alan Mueller.
Brady Alan Aune was born April 2, 2002 in Burnsville, the beloved son of Dina and Bill Aune. He grew up in Burnsville then Elko New Market. As a boy, he was on the gymnastics trampoline team. He graduated from New Prague High School. While in high school he played football, studied Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, and enjoyed snowboarding.

A number of New Prague boys tennis players earned post-season honors following the 2022 season.
The Trojans earned the Team Academic Silver award. Academic All-State honors went to Henry Cox, Max Deluca, Jeffrey Price, and Jonathan Sayler.
Jonathan Sayler and Morgan Masberg received First Team All-Metro West Conference honors. Sayler finished the season with an 8-12 record playing No. 1 singles. Masberg had an 8-11 record playing No. 2 singles.

After 45 years teaching Math, Sue Westegaard is using her love of precision to create intricate quilts.
Westegaard, who taught Montgomery-Lonsdale students from 1971 until 1996 and went on to finish her career in Hopkins, is now retired. She lives in Shakopee and enjoys hunting for unique fabrics and piecing them together to create quilts, using her keen mathematician’s eye.
“There’s satisfaction in getting things to work out,” she stated. “In math, you get an answer. With quilting, you get a beautiful, complete design.”

I think many of us sometimes feel we have the weight of our own part of the world on our shoulders. For some of us it’s at work, whether you’re a manager of a certain department, or you own a business and are dealing with the issues of having to get supplies or products to sell. Others have to deal with being parents and trying to find something to keep the children interested in, besides what’s on TV or the internet, for the next few months of summer vacation.

In fairness to multiple parties interested in purchasing a parcel of land from the city of Lonsdale, the council has voted to put the parcel up for public bid instead of accepting any purchase agreement at this time.
Over the last month, the council was presented with ideas by two parties interested in purchasing the land located at Outlot A of the Willow Creek Commons 2nd Addition, near Dollar General.

A Bohemian Bible from the 1800s, or earlier, was recently donated to the New Prague Area Historical Society (NPAHS) by Don Sirek along with his sisters; Betty Birnstiel, Mary Lou Harvey, Peg Raber, and Donna Giesen.

Norma Jean Howe, 85, passed away peacefully Friday, June 3, 2022. Many family members visited Norma over the last few weeks and days to share memories and wish her peace. Norma was born April 18, 1937, to John and Marian (Wharton) Campbell in Rochester, Minn. She graduated from Rochester High School in 1955.
In 1963, Norma met her husband, Roy Edward Howe. They were married on February 24, 1964, at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minn. From this union, Roy adopted Julie Lynn. Roy and Norma also had two other children from this union: Johanna Rose and Josh Charles.

When the Twin Cities Squadron of the Naval Sea Cadets acted as the color guard for the commissioning of the USS MinneapolisSaint Paul (LCS 21) in Duluth on Saturday, May 21, members of the Jirik family of New Prague were present. Joseph W. Jirik, son of Duane and Amy Jirik, was part of the color guard that opened the ceremony and his mom was beaming with pride.

St. Patrick and Webster are climbing the DRS amateur baseball standings after a week with no losses.
St. Patrick has won three straight games and Webster is on a five game winning streak after losing their first three in league play.
Montgomery leads the league with a 7-3 record, St. Patrick (4-2), Webster (5- 3), St. Benedict (4-4), New Prague (4-4), and Union Hill, (3-3) are close behind.

Melvin R. Busch, age 85, of Jordan, died peacefully at his home with his family at his side on Monday, June 6, 2022.  He was born on November 9, 1936 in New Prague to Arthur O. and Adeline S. (Wolf) Busch.  He graduated with the New Prague High School class of 1955 and then completed his education at the Utilities Engineering Institute.