For nearly 70 years, the Ankeny family business has served the Blue Earth community in the same building, located at 230 Main Street. Started by Clayton Ankeny in 1946, it was passed on to Wayne Ankeny and eventually Bruce Ankeny, who still runs it today.
When Mark Beito decided to open his own funeral supply business—Mark Thomas Co.—in 1990, he had no idea it would spring to life as quickly as it did. In fact, by 1993, he had outgrown his rented quarters in the back of the local bank and needed to expand—fast.
Jeff Traxler glanced out of the lodge window and his eyes lit up as he saw two young hunters posing with their grandfather outside of the Club House. “Families frequently pose for pictures,” he said, “several generations, each person holding a pheasant.”
If you heard Tim Schwanke’s life story, you would probably sum up his career in one word: evolution. The Springfield auto shop owner entered the automotive industry 36 years ago straight out of college, offering diesel and transmission services to local customers out of an old Oldsmobile dealer shop he rented for $200 a month.
It’s been a long time since Dale Brenke counted the precise number of leaves on each stalk of corn as he did for the research and development staff of Green Giant in Le Sueur, Minnesota; but he seized something almost magical from that summer job in the ‘60s, something hard to beat.
Chad Surprenant was born to be an engineer, according to his mother, Mary Jo. What he’s doing today as CEO and president of ISG (formerly I+S Group) is engineering the future, not only of the company, but also Greater Mankato.
Daryle Pomranke’s heart is in welding, but his eyes are on the future of his business, Winnebago Manufacturing Company in Blue Earth. The refocus from welding torch to financial statements began 37 years ago, after Pomranke was diagnosed with an astigmatism that prevented him from forging a career as a professional welder.
Photo: Kris Kathmann Hometown Smile Fairmont native leaves and returns to help lead real estate business through trying times. Wendy
In the 1980s, Richard Berry’s pallet business was a part-time venture out of his garage while he spent his days working at his full-time job. Now, 25 years later, Berry Pallets has grown large enough to warrant its own assembly building and offices. Berry oversees 36 employees and turns out 8-10,000 pallets a week, offering about 30 types of pallets to clients across the state.
