THREE RECEIVE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO DAIRY INDUSTRY AWARDS

Cletus Sommer is a native of Waukon, married to Sandy, has two children, and one grandchild. He graduated in 1962 from Waukon High School. He hauled cattle for his dad, Charles, until 1968 when he bought his brother Jerry's Milk route. Routes included farms around Waukon, Waterville, Harpers Ferry, Lansing, Postville, Castalia, Decorah and Dorchester. He had 45 patrons and had 2 straight trucks with the capacity of 18,000 pounds of milk and shipping out 40,000 pounds each day.

In 1976 he bought his first tandem truck with the capacity of 30,000 pounds of milk, shipping out 456,000 pounds of milk each day with three full time drivers. Within ten years he had increased to 125 patrons. All his milk as delivered to Calhoun Creamery in Churchtown.

As of July 1, 1999, he sold his milk route to Jim Miller of Waukon.


Lee Gruenhaupt has been a true leader for the Dairy Promotion Board. Lee retired in April as the Allamakee County Extension Education Director.

He was an employeee of Iowa State University Extension for 40 years, 34 of those in Allamakee County. during those years he and his staff have been a vital part of the activities of the Dairy Promotion Board. He has impacted the lives of numerous dairy farm families through 4-H, educational events and farm visits.

When he wrote his last newspaper column, he expresed a concern about the loss of contact with people he served for so many years. Hilmen Christianson has been a DHIA tester for the last 20 years and retired in January 2000. Hilmen quit farming in 1980 and moved to town. When considering his options for employment, he realized how much he would miss the everyday operations of the farm and accepted the position with Allamakee DHIA. Hilmen started with 42 herds on test. This kept him very busy every day and night of the week including most Sundays. As the years went on the number of active herds continued to decline, allowing Hilmen more free time. He actually was able to have weekends off and spend more time with Lillian and his four grandchildren. He now enjoys spending time on his woodworking hobby and spending time with his sons, Dick and Bob of Waukon and Steve of LaCrosse.