Last year, we created a little blog project called “Morrison County Influentials” with the goal of naming 150 historically influential people with a connection to Morrison County. We picked 150 because last year was the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the State of Minnesota. We knew at the time that there very well could be people we missed, and, of course, we did. Here are 5 more influentials to add to the list:
151. Gustav Valdemar “G.W.” Karlsson (October 16, 1880-?) – Founder of the Little Falls Granite Works in 1911. This business continues on to this day, just shy of 100 years of operation.
152. Becky Savage Lourey (b. September 24, 1943) – Daughter of Everett & Alice Savage. Graduated from Little Falls High School in 1961. Has served several terms as both a Minnesota State Representative and as a Minnesota Senator. Ran for Governor of Minnesota for 2006 elections. Founder of the Wedge Co-Op in Minneapolis in the 1970s.
153. Judith Savage Ulug – Daughter of Everett & Alice Savage. Graduated from high school in 1958. Professional musician (concert pianist), received degrees from the University of Minnesota and Julliard School of Music, moved to Turkey with her husband, taught at the University of Istanbul.
154. Dr. Kenneth J. Flolid (January 31, 1926-May 30, 1982) – Lifelong resident of Little Falls, the son of Dr. John H. and Alice Flolid. Served as Mayor of Little Falls from 1958 to 1978. During his tenure as Mayor, he led many changes in city operations, including the move of City Hall into the water treatment plant (the current location of City Hall.) “He is also credited with preventing substantial property losses during the 1972 floods, when he made the decision to cut through a section of Highway 371 to allow the flood waters of Fletcher Creek to flow through to the river on the northeast side of the city.” (Little Falls Daily Transcript, June 1, 1982)
155. Ben Hanowski – Hockey player, set the all-time career scoring record for high school hockey with a total of 405 goals during the 2008/2009 season.
If you want to find the blog posts related to the rest of our list, enter “Morrison County Influentials” in the search box at the top of the page.