Back row: Sharol Merical Williams, Linda Lynam Jordan, Doris Gibson, Nancy Whitver Steele, Mike Moylan, Ron Tryon, Larry Anderson and Jim Vandevanter. Front row: Marie Jenkins Pennington, Connie Reynolds Richey, Ronda Easley Hafner, Cindy Godwin Love, Rexanna Marchant Ketelsen and Nyal Hodges.

By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

Members of the Panora-Linden class of 1966 met Sunday, Aug. 2 at Crafty’s Coffee Shop in Panora for their reunion. The group reminisced, laughed and enjoyed food catered by Cafe on the Hill.  

The group honored their classmates who have passed, including Jeanette Pote, Tom Berkley, Richard Mills, Bill Curry, Jack Stonehocker, Murray Williams, Alan Ketelsen, Dennis Bullard and Ron Van Pelt.

By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

During the Aug. 27 meeting of the Guthrie County Hospital’s board of trustees, progress on construction in Stuart and Guthrie Center was reviewed. Chief Operations Officers Travis Martin reported on the projects the hospital has ongoing in the county.

“In Stuart, the temporary parking lot was completed last Monday,” he said. “On our main campus, obviously, we have a lot going on. Right now, we’re tracking a completion of phase one June 11 of next year.”

Foundation Director Dennis Flanery provided an update on the hospital’s plans for a celebration of its 75^th anniversary.

“There’s a committee that’s working on an event. It will probably be somewhere in the Dec. 3 area, because that’s when we actually opened, Dec. 3, 1951,” he said.

CEO Chris Stipe gave kudos to all who helped with RAGBRAI in Guthrie County, including the planning beforehand.

“RAGBRAI was kind of a big deal,” Stipe said. “Dennis (Flanery) and Danielle (Lauzon) got recognized as employees of the month for everything they did, the planning and leadership. It really went off well. Our community showed up and showed out. We’re small but mighty.”

The board went into closed session as allowed by law, to discuss the CEO’s evaluation and another matter. The next regular meeting of the trustees is set for Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. The public is welcome.

By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

The city of Guthrie Center released usage data on the Guthrie Center Aquatic Center for the 2026 season.

There were 20 participants for the first session of swim lessons and 44 participants for the second session, which is the most ever. Weekday early morning swim had 159 paying entrances. Family passes were used 5,434 times and single passes were used 128 times.

There were 130 admissions of toddlers/babies aged two and younger. Individual admissions totaled 2,460 swimmers. A total of 130 family passes and 13 single passes were sold.

City Administrator Kris Arrasmith summarized the 2026 season.

“All in all, it was a great year for the pool,” she said.

By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

The Guthrie Center Friends of the Library presented the newly updated book sculpture on the west side of the Mary J. Barnett Memorial Library. The sculpture was painted by Elizabeth Baughman, ACGC graduate and Guthrie Center resident. Elizabeth is a two-time Iowa All-State Art Award winner and four-time Conference Art Fair First Place winner.

Friends group president Diane Flanery commented on the artist’s work.

“Her creativity brought the sculpture to life and perfectly captures what our library is all about — more than just books,” Flanery said.