This photo of South Dakota's 1941 license plate may seem random, but there is some context behind it. You can find out what that context is in the Menno history section published in the Dec. 3 issue of The Courier — online later today and in print Thursday.

A number of local student-athletes have earned postseason accolades for their efforts during the 2020 fall sports season. Those players include, for volleyball: Rijjy Peterson, Odalite Pankratz and Kate Miller from Freeman Public; Alivea Weber and Maria Cortes from Freeman Academy/Marion and Jesse Munkvold, Kaylie Schempp and Kylie Harriman from Menno. For football, they include Tyce Ortman, Clayton Smith, Cole Papendick, Logan Katzer, Isiah Robertson and Blake Anderson from Canistota/Freeman and Treyton Sayler and Logan Langrock from Menno/Marion.

The pile of toys being donated for the Toy Box Toy Drive at The Courier office has been growing the past few days for delivery to the Bethany Food Pantry later this week. The public is invited to purchase and drop off their donation by Thursday, Dec. 3.

Doc’s Bar, which has operated as such from the 200 block of Freeman’s Main Street since the spring of 2019, has announced on Facebook it will be closing on Jan. 2, 2020, with a liquidation sale beginning today, Monday, Nov. 30.

Lon Lemme, 66 of Freeman, S.D., passed away on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020 at Avera McKennan Hospital.

‘Zeke’ Bittner Sichard “Zeke” Bittner died Saturday, November 21, 2020 at Ava’s Hospice House in Sioux Falls, S.D. Zeke was born Sieghard Bittner in Harxbuttel Germany on May 2, 1948.

Violet (Vi) Engbrecht, daughter of Dr. Edward. D. Tieszen and Linda Thomas Tieszen, was born in Marion, Turner County, S.D. and spent her entire life in Marion. She passed on Nov. 20, 2020 at the age of 89. On March 28, 1948 she was baptized in the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church and was a current member. She received her education at Marion Elementary and High School with additional credits from USD.

The Sunday morning sun lights up a school bus parked in the Freeman Middle School/High School parking lot. Freeman Public announced on Friday its plan to gradually return to in-person instruction after a week of suspended learning. All students in grades K-5 will report to school next week while while students in grades 6-8 will attend Monday, Wednesday and Friday and students in grades 9-12 Tuesday and Thursday. Students are highly encouraged to attend school in person but may also choose remote learning if so desired.

Nicole Schnabel works with a decorative snowman outside her Freeman home on what turned out to be a beautiful late-November day. Nicole and her husband, Travis, took advantage of the nice Nov, 28 weather to decorate for Christmas in front of their Relanto Street home. With the Dec. 25 holiday up next, more and more will be lighting up their homes for the season.

This was what the Freeman clinic looked like prior to 1994, when a major capital project taken on by what was then known as Freeman Community Hospital and Nursing Home altered the entrance. Pre-1994, patients entering the clinic did so through the door near the intersection of Eighth Street and Walnut; the waiting room was located on the north side of the clinic, which included the large windows shown here.