Posted: 12/12/07
Outstanding Citizen Kermit McRae giving something back
By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Kermit McRae had a smile on his face, as he sat in the audience during the Caledonia Winter Wonderland Snow Queen/Princess Pageant held Sunday, Dec. 2. The naming of the Founder's Day Outstanding Citizen was about to occur.
McRae thought the plot he and his wife Audrey had been working on to make sure long-time friend Ann Emery was at the pageant was successful.
"I thought Ann was going to be honored, and that's why my wife had been encouraging Ann to attend the pageant. I figured she was bringing me along to make it look better."
McRae thought that this year's other honoree, Lois Stemper, was also a great choice. "She's done so much for Caledonia." After Stemper was honored, McRae was waiting to hear about all of Emery's accomplishments and service to her community. Instead, master of ceremonies Bob Burns began reading a long list of groups and organizations McRae had been involved with.
"That's when I knew I'd been had," McRae said Thursday morning with a big smile. "I thought we'd really pulled one over on Ann, but in fact, my wife and Ann had pulled one over on me!"
While not a Caledonia native, McRae has spent the better portion of the past two decades spending countless hours donating his talents and endless energy to a myriad of organizations, boards, commissioners, and worthy causes.
McRae was born and raised in Chatfield. His father was involved in the building trades, and encouraged his son to work with him during the summer months.
"I acquired my interest in construction and building things from my father," McRae recalled. "But I thought I'd enjoy the planning and designing areas more, and decided I wanted to be a civil engineer."
McRae earned a general science degree from Macalester College in St. Paul and his civil engineering degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago in 1958.
The building of President Eisenhower's interstate highway system was in full swing in the late 1950s when McRae graduated from college with his civil engineering degree. So he went to work for the highway department.
"I spent my entire professional career with the highway department. I enjoyed those 40 years. I worked up the ladder and with each promotion, it was a new and challenging job."
McRae was somewhat familiar with Caledonia. Back in the 1950s, his hometown Chatfield and Caledonia were both in the old District One for high school extra curriculars. During his high school career, he traveled to Caledonia on numerous occasions to play ball.
Serving as district highway engineer, McRae become even more acquainted with Caledonia and Houston County. So in 1987 when one of his co-workers in the Twin Cities told him about an abandoned farmstead near Beaver Creek Valley State Park that was for sale, McRae and his wife decided to take a look.
"No one had lived on the farm for 20 years. It was really run down. There were boxelder trees growing up all over the place. The barn was about shot, so was the farmhouse," McRae said.
McRae restored the barn. "We really didn't need a barn, but it's the principal of the thing. People need to restore old barns."
Kermit and Audrey were told the existing farm house had been built around the original log structure, which was built in the 1870s. They removed the various additions that had been built around the log house and then took the log house apart log by log. The log structure was rebuilt and used as a weekend cabin until their home was built.
McRae retired from Mn/DOT 10 years ago. The barn had been restored, the log cabin rebuilt, and their country home completed. "I looked around shortly after I retired and said, ëwhat do I do now?'"
The first organization McRae joined was the Caledonia Lions Club. "There's no end to the number of projects the Lions undertake. We support Camp Winnebago, helped with the new city park, the ticket and concession stand at the fairgrounds, supported the Four Seasons Community Center, and helped sponsor many local benefits. The Lions Club is a very active group."
McRae felt life had been good to him and during his 40 years with Mn/DOT he had made many friends throughout the state, and possibly some contacts who could now be beneficial to him and his new neighbors. So he decided to run for an opening on the Caledonia Township Board.
"I think that took some people by surprise, that someone would not only agree to run, but actually campaign for the township board," McRae said chuckling. "Most of the time, they have to beg someone to get on the board."
McRae has been very active on the township board since his election in 2000. The 17 townships in Houston County have a township association, on which McRae serves as vice president. To try to bring more interest to the annual township meetings, McRae puts together a newsletter in January, letting all the residents know what the town board had down in the past year and what would be brought up at the annual meeting.
McRae was asked to be part of the county tax abatement committee. He agreed and served as chairman of the committee. That group evolved into the Houston County EDA, which McRae served as president as well.
McRae volunteered to serve on the Houston County Fair Board for three years. "Most folks don't know just how much time and effort goes into the county fair each year. If you take the big county fairs out of the mix, I feel Houston County has the top county fair in the state."
When Caledonia's sesquicentennial rolled around in 2004, McRae was there offering his help. "I love parades and agreed to be parade chairman. We had quite a parade, but again, I don't think most people know how much work goes into something like that. I know I didn't.
"We had to raise quite a bit of money," McRae continued. "Some of the parade units charged quite a bit. It rained three days before the parade and two days after the parade, but not during the parade. I guess it didn't rain on our parade!"
McRae has also served on the Balloon Rally committee and credits Randy Weibel with perpetuating this unique event for Caledonia over the years.
Two other events, which took place this past weekend during the community's Winter Wonderland celebration are the Santa Breakfast and Euchre card tournament.
"There's a lot of euchre players out there and quite a few tournaments. But many of the players don't like driving at night and in bad weather. So some of us Lions who like to play, decided to start a tournament and hold it during the winter celebration. Vern Inglett is chairman of the event. Lester Wiegrefe, Roland Bolduan, and Norman Oseth all help organize it. We get about 100 players each year. Many of the participants are women. They keep telling me we should organize euchre tournaments every Saturday during the winter. I don't think we'll be doing that."
Being of Scottish heritage, McRae got involved with the city's Scottish Heritage Fest, which is held each year in March.
An avid outdoorsman, McRae have been very active in the local chapter of the National Turkey Federation and was a charter member of the Bluffland Whitetail Association. Both organizations have worked very hard to improve wildlife habitat and herd management.
One other commission McRae serves on is the Caledonia Rural Fire Association. The rural first district, which McRae serves as president, covers all or parts of 10 different townships in Houston County.
"The rural association works hand-in-hand with the city of Caledonia to provide excellent fire protection to area residents. I was so happy when I learned the Caledonia Fire Department members were named Grand Marshals for the Winter Wonderland parade. This is an excellent way to honor and thank a great group of men who do so much for their community."
When asked why he has been so active with his volunteer work, McRae replied, "I grew up in a smalltown environment, and enjoy the Caledonia area very much. My parents taught me it is important to help others. Life has been good to me, and I just want to give something back."
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com