BP Ed Foundation honors four at banquet

From tears of gratitude for 39 years’ worth of students to belly laughs about a clumsy – yet incredibly talented – athlete, the annual Blooming Prairie Education Foundation’s “Blossoms Forever” banquet had something for everyone.

Since 2008, the Alumni Committee has selected nominated graduates and educators as the honorees.

This year, L. Dean Christianson received the Distinctive Service award for his contributions to the Blooming Prairie community.

A 1954 graduate of BP High School, he turned 90 last month – but seems to have no intention of slowing down. In fact, before the night was over, Christianson had volunteered to fill the vacant agriculture/industrial technology teaching position at BPHS.

He and his wife Sharon operated the buses for the school district for 32 years; they also owned the town laundromat and car wash. Christianson also farmed; worked locally as a mechanic; sold and repaired snowmobiles; served 12 years as a Steele County Commissioner and 20 years as a volunteer firefighter, six of them as fire chief.

Christianson attended Country School 111, a one-room schoolhouse south of town, before coming to Blooming Prairie for high school.

By the time he was a junior, he had his own car, enabling him to participate in sports. He went out for wrestling, the first year it was offered in Blooming Prairie.

“For our uniform, we had long underwear,” Christianson said, “and we had to wear swimming trunks over them.”

He spoke proudly of the woman who proclaimed she would never drive a bus – ever, only to present her with an engraved gold watch when she reached 40 years … of driving a bus. She ended her career with 42 years, Christianson said.

What always baffles him, he said, is when people tell him they used to ride his bus.

“I say, ‘I don’t remember anybody with a gray beard,’ and that happens all the time,” he laughed.

After their retirement, the Christiansons “went north in the summer, south in the winter,” he said, and did a lot of traveling.

“Then we got to be old … in our 80s,” he said, and decided “maybe we better cut back.”

The couple sold everything and moved back to Blooming Prairie.

“I enjoy it, Christianson said, “and I’m really proud of this community … with an excellent school system, better than any around,” as well as a great fire department, city police, churches …

“We’ve got everything we need in this town, except for two things,” he said. “We don’t have a stoplight or a round-about.”

Karen Pesch Inwards, a 1987 graduate of BPHS, received the Athletic Hall of Fame award for her leadership on the volleyball, basketball and softball teams, serving as captain of all three in her senior year.

“Just as Karen was an incredible athlete, she now is an incredible mother, grandmother, Sunday school superintendent, paraprofessional at BPPS, adaptive bowling coach and volunteer at volleyball games,” said Janet Pesch, her sister.

“Blooming Prairie athletics has been a big part of making Karen the person she is today,” Pesch said. “It’s a joy to watch her give back to her community and support the next generation of Blossoms.”

Inwards spoke of the excitement of winning the conference championship in 1986, and being the runner-up for a district championship in 1987.

“It was always very nostalgic to watch my own girls play on the same courts that I played on,” she said. “I revel in watching how far women’s sports have come, and how talented all the student athletes are.

“The game has really evolved, and it’s just fun, watching where women’s basketball and women’s sports in general have gone … since I graduated,” Inwards said.

“Every student athlete who calls themselves a Blossom should be extremely proud of the sports legacy we are all part of,” she said. “I hope they can look back on their years in sports and have as many wonderful memories as I have.”

Rod Koster, a 1975 graduate of BPHS, certainly can – and so can many of his teammates from the basketball, football and baseball teams on which he played.

Several were in attendance as he received the Athletic Hall of Fame award for his success in all three sports.

Ron Thorson, a classmate and friend, introduced Koster by sharing how other classmates described him.

Vince Krell: “Super athlete; he was even great at dodgeball.”

Greg Carlson: “Versatile; he could play any position in the football field and be great.”

Pat Sheedy: “Superstar, multi-talented, phenomenal. Stud.”

Laird Pogones: “He couldn’t walk down the hallway without tripping on his own two feet … but had him a football and he becomes an Adrian Peterson.”

Koster received WCCO All-State basketball honors twice, was team MVP as a junior and a senior, and earned all-conference recognition in multiple sports. He helped bring home the first conference basketball championship for BPHS since 1967 – a team that went to state.

Koster helped the football team reach its first state championship playoff game, “and on top of all that, the high school crowned him our homecoming King,” Thorson said. Koster scored three touchdowns that week.

“Rod came very close to making Blossom school history,” Thorson said, in a game against New Richland.

The Blossoms were down by a run in the eighth inning, with two on base. Koster connected, sending a towering fly ball to deep center field – with plenty of distance to clear the fence.

“But out of nowhere, the New Richland center fielder leaped up and reached over the fence to rob Rod of a three-run homer,” Thorson said. “Apparently, they had a ‘Rod’ on their team, too.”

Had the fielder missed and the baseball team gone on to win the conference, “the Blossoms would have won conference championships in football, basketball, baseball and girls’ volleyball, all the same year,” Thorson said.

It’s still never been accomplished, he said, “but we came oh, so close.”

Koster told the crowd – straying from his scripted speech – that Thoreson was the first friend he made in Blooming Prairie.

His childhood was challenging: Koster’s father was killed in a car crash when Rod was six months old; his mother raised five children on a farm, bringing three stepfathers into the picture.

“None of them, not one of them, were athletes,” Koster said of the men, “or watched any sports. In fact, my mom came to one basketball game my whole career. One. She didn’t even come when I was homecoming king.

“No, I had no family, but right here – you guys are awesome,” he said. “This town is great. I’m proud to be a Blossom, I really am. And I get to watch all my grandkids play sports in Blooming Prairie.”

Following high school and a year at Austin Community College, Koster ran the summer Park and Rec program, organized Little League and fastpitch teams, coached and was a referee.

He has donated cars, money and vacations to auctions for the BP Cancer Group, the BP Youth Club and the Ed Foundation.

“The confidence that made him great,” Thorson said of Koster, “he built himself.”

The Outstanding Educator award was presented to Ann Stephenson, who spent 39 years teaching in classrooms at Blooming Prairie Public Schools.

She spent seven years in the elementary school special education department, then was moved to a general education third-grade classroom, where she spent another five years.

When Stephenson was approached to move back to special ed, she was hesitant, said retired BPHS Principal John Worke.

“He did not want to go,” he said. “But because Ann is who she is, even though reluctant, she did it – and gave it her best shot.

“And if I’m correct with my years, she didn’t leave for 27 years,” Worke said. “She stayed in special education for 27 more years, even though she had numerous opportunities to return to the regular classroom. Ann knew she belonged to the special education students.”

Stephenson could have retired five years before her eventual retirement in 2023.

“As Ann’s principal, I knew we had no worries with the Special Education Department,” Worke said. “She would mentor the new sped teachers,” and helped “develop a culture that is one of the best special education programs in the area.”

Stephenson agreed with Worke’s assessment that she prefers to fly under the radar.

“Put me in front of children, I’m fine, but adults – not so much,” she said.

“When I came to Blooming Prairie in 1985, a brand-new teacher fresh out of college, I had no idea what the future held,” Stephenson said. “But quickly, I learned that I had landed in a wonderful community and a wonderful place to be.”

She thanked the “fantastic teachers” she worked with, as well as “paraprofessionals that always gave their all, and a very supportive administration.”

In closing, an emotional Stephenson thanked the families “who trusted me with their children, and most importantly, all the students that gave me so many happy memories.”