Sertoma to honor Dewanzes

Couple to get

Service to

Mankind Award

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- She's that talkative, history-loving lady dressed in clothing from the late 1800s at the Harkin Store spring, summer and fall.

He does the driving while she navigates, and he is her idea sounding-board.

Opal and Donald Dewanz will receive the Service to Mankind Award from the New Ulm Sertoma Club on Tuesday at the New Ulm Country Club.

The winner of last year's Athena Award, Dewanz has been at the Harkin Store -- a general store that dates back to the late 1800s and is a historic site -- since 1977. She doesn't plan to quit anytime soon.

"That's what most people know me by. It's very dear to my heart," said Opal, who is the store's site manager.

It's the people she meets at the store that make the job exciting.

From May to mid-October, Dewanz greets tourists from abroad as well as other visitors to the store.

The great volunteer help keeps the Harkin Store going, she said. (By the way, it opens this weekend. The store is located 8 miles northwest of New Ulm on County Road 21. The first program is May 30 with folk musicians Gail Heil and Bob Bovee of southeastern Minnesota.)

She is always looking for new people interested in volunteering at the site.

The Dewanzes are active in many local organizations -- New Ulm Chamber Tourism Committee, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Brown County Historical Society, Clothing Depot, Emergency Food Shelf Board, Dinners For Shut-Ins, TRIAD, RSVP, a senior transportation service with Heartland Express, veterans organizations and ushering at St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

In TRIAD, they work with law enforcement and area senior citizen groups regarding health and safety issues.

On top of all those duties, she cross stitches.

Donald worked as a dryer operator in New Ulm at Borden's for 37 years and four more years after the company was sold to Firmenich Inc.

The couple enjoys traveling and particularly to historical sites across the country.