We have been learning about David Hansvick, who grew up in Vesta during the 1950s and ’60s. Dave enjoyed his high school years as he had friends, greater mobility, and some teachers he respected.

“The social studies teachers, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Duxstad, were always good. Mrs. Sales was an English teacher and her husband, Virgil, was the wrestling coach. You didn’t mess with Virgil Sales and you really didn’t mess with Mrs. Sales. She was strict, but a good teacher. Our senior English teacher, Dorothy Lorenz, was a different soul. (Dave chuckled) She was a good teacher, but looked like the old lady librarian with her hair in a bun. She once told the senior boys we should shave our wrists because her husband shaved his and it was nice. Mrs. Lorenz was memorable.”

Dave and his brother, Vernon, continued doing summer work for farmers before beginning a more specialized trade.

“We’d still do work like baling, but one of our main jobs was painting buildings. We painted the Vesta doctor’s office, the Presbyterian Church, and we’d paint barns, outbuildings, and houses out by Echo.”

They were in demand and some painting gigs were demanding.

“We would get our jobs lined up before school let out. (Dave chuckled) We had some interesting experiences. Once I was painting high in a barn’s peak, when all of the sudden my ladder started shaking. A cow was scratching his neck between the ladder’s rungs. I’m sitting up on top, hanging on, and yelling at Vern to get over and get this cow out of there.”

Dave and his brother used extraordinary means to paint a very high barn.

“We had our 40-foot ladder all the way out, but it did not reach the top. So, my dad brought his gas truck. We got the ladder on top of the truck to give us eight extra feet and we could get that peak done. (Dave chuckled) We flipped a coin because neither one of us wanted to go up there. I won, so he had to go up.”

The winter of Dave’s junior year brought a serious challenge.

“I had a skiing accident and ended up with a slipped disk. Instead of going tobogganing down Mayflower Hill, we tried going down on skis. I took a bad fall and rolled down the hill. So, they put me in traction and I was on heavy medication. I ended up missing the last six weeks of junior year. A friend of mine, Don Helger, brought my homework all the time, so I moved up to senior status with my class, but that took a lot of friends (helping). I had back surgery that summer.”

Those six weeks in traction brought some embarrassing moments.

“One of my hospital roommates was Dale Mummert and his daughter was in my class. I’m laid up in bed in my jammies with traction and some of the girls in my class visited her father. I hardly knew them, but that was a little embarrassing. I could have done without that.”

Dave’s last couple high school years included a growing awareness of the Vietnam War.

“The war was going full-tilt. There were differences among students and some arguments. I think there was a political tension that you had never thought about when you grew up.”

Dave explained the Redwood Falls seniors had a finals week tradition.

“You’d have a final at 8:30 a.m. and you might not have another until 12:30. You’d have nothing to do and you couldn’t go home, so we’d walk to (Ramsey Park) for a couple hours. It makes no sense now, but sometimes we used to jump off Ramsey Falls into the pool below during finals week.”

After graduation, Dave followed his older sister, Christine, to Southwest Minnesota State College, although he did not follow her direct course through college.

“I worked there at the physical plant before I started school. I helped hauling freight for all the new buildings. When I was going to college I was on that 7-year plan to get your 4-year degree. I would take off on trips to California or Florida for the winter.”

Dave met his spouse, Ann, via his brother, Vernon, as the two were classmates at SMSC.

“I played softball for Vesta and we were sponsoring an old-time dance. My brother came with two friends and Ann and her roommate came with them. I was helping at the dance and had had a couple of drinks. My brother went to Ann and her roommate and said, ‘Just go right up to my brother because he’s really shy.’ So, they came to me and I wrapped my arms around them and said, ‘Well, hi! How are you girls doin’?’ (Dave chuckled) I decided to come back to college and we ended up on the same intramural, co-ed volleyball team. So, that was when I got to know Ann.”

Dave and Ann married and he completed his degree. He worked for 30 years in the college’s business office. He and Ann have three adult children; Eric, Sara, and Matthew.

He reflected on the significance of growing up in Vesta.

“I think you got an idea of who you were. I felt like I mattered to people in Vesta. (Dave chuckled) You didn’t get lost in the shuffle living in Vesta because you knew all the guys in the barber shop and they knew you. Part of it was family and extended family, but it wasn’t just that. You had an identity and you identified with that community, too.”

©2026 William D. Palmer.