Covering the communities of Farnhamville , Callender , Somers , Moorland , Harcourt , Paton and Dayton since 1889

Wednesday , December 30 , 2020 GOWRIE , WEBSTER COUNTY , IOWA VOL . 131 NO . 53

By Shari Everhart

As of January 1 , 2021 , Greg Benson will step away from serving as Fire Chief of the Gowrie Fire Department . He has logged 47 years of service with the department doing something he obviously loves . Retiring at the end of the year , a replacement is needed . Brett Calrson has been voted in by the firemen as the new Fire Chief . He will still need to be ratified by the Fire Board at the next meeting .

As a dedicated 47-year member of the squad , Greg has served as Fire Chief the past 12 years . During his tenure he has also held the position of Assistant Chief and before that , Captain . Of his service with the department and initially beginning his long association as a member , Greg noted , “ Don Borgan was Fire Chief ( then ) and talked me into joining . I was 20 years old . I did not get on the roll right away although I attended meetings until I was 21 . I was too young to join at 20 years old .”

He became a certified Firefighter I in 2003 and a certified Firefighter II in 2004 . He shared that he wanted to be a fireman since he was a little boy and responded to a fire with his Grandpa Royal Boles in Grand River , Iowa . During his time with the local fire department , he has seen many changes take place . For instance , “ We used to just fight fires . Now we are trained in many areas such as vehicle extractions ,” Greg said in giving this one example .

Since he has been self-employed most of his life , it hasn ’ t been an issue as far as his employer or business supporting his being a part of the fire department . “ I greatly

By Shari Everhart

Santa Claus arrived in Gowrie a little ahead of schedule , in an unusual and unexpected way on Christmas Eve last week .

Instead of coming via his sleigh and reindeer , he drove into town with one “ deer ”, a John Deere tractor festively decked out for the holiday with Christmas lights to distribute candy canes to approximately a dozen places specified on his list . An elf helped Santa with a few ideas of places to stop by and the spirit of the holiday took over from there .

Naturally , many porch lights were turned on like magic when hearing and seeing him , which prompted Santa to stop . Adults were surprised and children were so excited to see Santa at their door ! He even ‘ performed ’ on the tractor by

Santa Comes to Gowrie Continued on page 3 ...

Greg Benson Retires Continued on page 3 ...

Brett Carlson and Greg Benson

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