St. Joseph Annual Spring Auction
An instrumental aspect of a good auction is the auctioneer. St. Joseph has been blessed to have an auctioneer that is professional, crowd pleasing, and a whole lot of fun! Pam Cwikla of Thief River Falls enjoys coming back to her hometown of Middle River to provide leadership for the St. Joseph Auction. Her parents were Alfred, Manager of Midland Coop, and Alvina Hanson. She attended school in Middle River until her parents moved to Hayfield when she was in 6th grade. They moved to Thief River Falls when she was in 9th grade and she graduated from Lincoln High School in 1965. She and Maryel Anderson were partners in Auction-2-Sell for 24 years from 1983 to 2007 and they did the St. Joe auction as a duo several times.No one seems to remember the exact year Pam began her appearance at the St. Joe Auction but an estimate would be in the early 2000s. Thoughts from Pam: My late husband Allan grew up at St. Joseph’s Church and his family has been members there for many years. He, his parents, John & Ann Cwikla, his sister, Carol, brother Jim, and nephew are all buried at St. Joseph cemetery. We were married in 1992 and he passed away in 2015. Every time I have done the auction, some of his family has been in attendance. Part of the reason I enjoy doing the auction is in memory of Allan. Middle River holds many special memories for me. The years of doing this auction have added many more. Special friendships have been added to my life! There are so many great people who have supported this wonderful event. I do have to give credit to my sidekicks, Carol Kukowski, who was a perfect “Vanna White” and Bonnie Bengtson who was a great ring person! I am so thankful for the wonderful memories!
2024-04-12 11:00 PM
