Charter member Lynn Tharaldson presented his Classification Talk this week at Rotary. Lynn shared that in the late 80’s he was a member of many organizations, Lakeville Chamber of Commerce, Burnsville YMCA, Community Action Council (now 360 Communities), St Paul GAMA (General Agents and Managers Associations) and Tentmakers Ministry. In 1986 he was approached by two Northfield Rotarians, Don Pautzke, Malt-O-Meal, and Al Johnson, Northwest Airlines Pilot, to form a new club. The process took 6 months and on March 18, 1987 Lakeville Rotary received their Charter. Our sponsoring club was Farmington Rotary and we had 23 charter members, which four remain in membership today, Steve Aaker, Tony McDonald, Lynn Tharaldson, and Carl Wahlstrom.
Lynn shared that the club had several meeting locations over the years including: The Buckboard, The Old Station, Babes, Super 8, Chart House, and Brackett’s.
Lynn was one of 11 children from a farming family in Northwestern MN. He was taught to work hard and contribute to the family at a young age. He shared about attending school in a one room schoolhouse until high school. He excelled at sports and music and was drafted to attend Concordia College, Moorhead where he played football and basketball.
Lynn taught at the Northwest School of Agriculture, Un of MN, Crookston, MN, where he worked with Ed Frederick, Rotary District Governor 1982-1983. Lynn had several careers including selling cookware and in 1976 opened an insurance agency in Lakeville.
Lynn is currently working on two books “Pitching Manure” How to handle the Yuck in life and “Performing Beyond Human” Working on a concept to help lesser paid.
Lynn ended by sharing that next to the church, Rotary is the next best thing! He values the Four-way Test and the “Service Above Self” moto. He set a challenge to club members to share Rotary and encouraged us all to continue to grow the club by setting a goal to bring in one new member to the club this year.
