The social news or gossip columns in the old newspapers are always fascinating to read. A special section in the newspaper was devoted to the social media of the day. The whereabouts of local people and events were often featured in these columns. Here are a few from the Minneota Mascot on July 12, 1940:

Kermit Lyslo was host to ten of his playmates at the park Tuesday afternoon.The occasion was his tenth birthday.

The Social Neighbors club met Wednesday, July 10 at the home of Mrs. Knute Dovre. Mrs. Dovre had charge of the program, and discussed the subject of flour milling.

Blue Delphinium and snapdragons, arranged with ferns and baby’s breath in white tulle-tied baskets, decorated the Icelandic Lutheran Church Saturday afternoon for the wedding of Miss Josephine Erickson and Wayne Cockrell. The bride graduated from Minneota High School with the class of 1935.

Mr. and Mrs. Thorvald Thomas are the parents of a boy born on the Fourth of July.

H.J. Tillemans and Edward Amundson returned to Minneota on Wednesday after a two weeks’ trip to Quebec, Canada and New York.

Sunday visitors at the H.C. Brown home were Mrs. Brown’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Harris, Hanley Falls, Minnesota and Mr. and Mrs. Roy Lee and daughter Nancy of Pipestone.

Mrs. Nick Mootz accompanied by Mrs. Art Hanson and daughter, Arlene, Misses Ardietta Johnson, Lorraine Falk and Alta Glasser spent Friday at Green Lake near Spicer, Minnesota.

The Hope Ladies Aid will meet on Thursday, July 18 at three o’clock. Mrs. B.O. Lyslo will have charge of the program, “China to Madagascar.” Hostesses will be Mesdames Pete Geiwitz, John Westdal, Bjorn Strand, Matt Peterson and Hans Haugen.

Joseph Hoff of St. Paul was home over the Fourth, visiting his mother, Mrs. Petrine Hoff.

The photograph featured this week from the museum’s collection is Joseph Hoff and his mother, Petrine (Petrina) (Petra) (Petrea) Sigurdson Hoff in 1928. The spelling of Petrea is on her headstone at St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in Minneota. The Lyon County Historical Society is a non-profit, member-supported organization. For more information on membership, research, volunteering, or the museum’s collection, please contact us at 537-6580 or director@lyoncomuseum.org. Like our page and follow us on Facebook.