Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Winter Festival grand marshal: Herb Roufs



Herb Roufs, Winsted’s 2002 Winter Festival grand marshal,
was one of the first persons ever from the community of Winsted to go to
a college, and he remembers it like it was yesterday.

“The gentleman reading my application looked at it
and said, ‘I’ll give you one year, then you will quit,'” Roufs, 90,
recalled.

“I asked him why he thought that, and the answer he
gave me was because I was from a small town,” he said.

“The man looked at the application further and said
‘Wait a minute, I’m sorry, I take that back ­ I give you one quarter
­ you went to a private school,'” he said.

Roufs proved the gentleman wrong, earning his way to the
University of Minnesota’s honor roll, and graduated at the top of his class
in 1935, specializing in the pharmacy industry.

“That put a fire under me, I guess,” Roufs said.
“There were only three of us who graduated with the honors I did.”

He got married a year after graduating college and worked
in Minneapolis for 18 years at three different drug stores.

Finding his way back to Winsted, he bought the drug store
from Leo Schaffer, whose health was failing at the time.

“He (Schaffer) died right after I bought it, so I
started from scratch,” Roufs said. “I had also gotten married
to Helen, and we had our four boys already ­ Donnie who was in the third
grade, David who was in kindergarten, and Dennis and Dick who were not yet
in school.

Roufs and his wife were active members of the community
for many years, including a lot of things at their parish, Holy Trinity.

“I never missed anything in church,” Roufs said.
“My brother Cecil was even a priest.”

Roufs was also instrumental in the building and funding
of St. Mary’s Hospital and Nursing Home in the late ’50s.

He was the financial chairman of the group that raised
the initial funds to get the facility in Winsted.

“It was the largest money drive in the state at that
time,” Roufs said. “I’m not bragging, just real proud of what
we did. I feel bad that the hospital got away. I think they should have
kept that.”

By the time Roufs reached age 63, he knew that he would
eventually have to find someone to sell the pharmacy business in Winsted
down to. His selection was Ken Kremer, who would become Roufs’ first full
time employee, and eventually purchased the store from him.

“I’m not disappointed with anything,” he said
of passing on the reigns of the pharmacy business. “Ken is real good
to the town and church, and has been a great friend of mine to this day.”

Since retiring, Roufs has sold his home in Winsted and
currently lives at the long-term care unit at Glencoe Regional Health Services.

His wife Helen passed away in 1994. They were married for
58 years.

Roufs never regrets leaving Minneapolis and moving back
to his hometown to live his life.

“I’m awful proud of that town,” he said. “I’m
just happy I could do what I did.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.