Personally, I think it’s an exciting time to be in healthcare. Hear me out. Work used to be almost monotonous. Routine. Ear infection? Chest pain? Appendicitis? Go through the system. Whatever the issue was, be it medical or surgical, there’s usually a pathway. Go here. Follow-up there. If this, then that. ER. Admit to the hospital. Discharge. Physical therapy. Go through the system.

Without substantial snow in the forecast, it looks as though 2020 will be a brown Christmas. While flurries emerged late Tuesday evening, Dec. 15, they didn't amount to anything. This photo was taken on the west side of the Freeman Public School complex.

Joy Janssen, 87, of Marion, S.D., passed away on Dec. 8, 2020 at Freeman Medical Center. A private family graveside service was held on Dec. 12 at Greenwood Cemetery in Marion. Joy was born June 13, 1933 in Salem, S.D. to Melba and Lewis Keysor. She had two older siblings, Lester and Audrey. She was named Dagmar Joy after a girl who stayed at their house while she attended high school, she said to call the baby Joy.

V. Joyce Behl, 85, of Menno, S.D., died Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020 at Menno-Olivet Care Center. A private family graveside service was to be held at Farwell Cemetery in rural Mitchell, S.D. Arrangements by Bittner Funeral Chapel.

These returning letter winners will lead the Freeman Academy/Marion boys in their season-opener tonight in Centerville. The game will be played as a part of a doubleheader with the girls, who opened their season last week with a win over Sunshine Bible Academy. The Freeman High School girls are home tonight against McCook Central/Montrose while the Menno girls are in Scotland. Pictured are, from left: Donte Butler, Dylan Johansen, Thalen Schroeder, Payton Arbach, Connor Epp and Quincy Blue.

That was the temperature as area residents awoke to a new work week Monday morning. It's going to be a chilly few days, with a slight chance of precipitation, as the second half of December unfolds.

This photo was taken this past week on a sunny, crisp morning in Freeman. A tree and the city's water tower are pictured looking west on Fourth Street. The tree stands next to the property that was formerly Vision Eye Care and Kaufman Eye Care before that.

Gregg Uecker, a custodian at Freeman Public Schools, dry mops the court at halftime of the girls basketball game between Freeman and Viborg-Hurley. Friday's doubleheader was the first time high school basketball teams took to the new court at the local public school, which was refurbished as part of a gym facelift over the summer. The Freeman boys and the girls both lost to the Cougars to start their seasons 0-1.

These seniors/returning letter winners on this year's Freeman High School boys basketball team will take to the court tonight, Friday, Dec. 11 for the season opener — a home doubleheader with the girls against Viborg-Hurley. Pictured are, from left: Tegan Derry, Evan Scharberg, Ethan Balvin, Brady Kaufman, Blake Rumlehart, Collin Helma and Jacob Swensen. Tonight's action begins with the girls JV game at 5 p.m. The Menno boys and girls open their seasons in a Dec. 12 doubleheader at Armour against Tripp-Delmont/Armour, with the girls beginning at 2 p.m.

This is Scott Brewer and his police dog, Lexi, who will be moving to Freeman with the family early next year. Brewer, who works for the state police in Maryland, has been hired as Freeman's new police chief — a job he hopes to start the second or third week of January. Scott will be joined in Freeman by his wife and their 14-year-old daughter.