The Children of Hendricks Minnesota

	Walter F. Mondale Walter Frederick ("Fritz") Mondale was the son of Reverend Theodore Sigvaard Mondale and Claribel Cowan Mondale. Soon after he was born on Jan. 5, 1928 in Ceylon, Minnesota, his father began pastoring at Methodist Church in Hendricks. On Nov. 2, 1976, Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale were elected President and Vice President of the United States. Walter was also a U.S. Army corporal, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Minnesota's senator for 12 years, and was the 1984 Democratic Party's nominee for United States President.

	Brian Mueller Brian Mueller is a R&D manager in the chemical mechanical polishing field and holds 23 patents with 13 additional patents in review. Brian, and his team of scientists, develop and produce new products for the multiple polishing steps required by semiconductor manufacturers. Brian's products help create transistors 1/250th the width of a human hair with speeds in excess of 1GHz. He has authored or co-authored 40 technical publications and presentations. Brian is also the most dominant player when he makes it back for our summer volleyball tournaments!

	Dwight Buller In 1977, Dwight Buller beat our over 450,000 other members to be named FFA's National Star Farmer of America. This award recognizes a member's potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success. Future Farmers of America is a national organization that prepares it's members for careers in science, business, and technology of agriculture.

	John Stone The Hendricks High School class of 1959 produced our most successful football star. John Stone was a tri-captain for SDSU and went on to play professionally for an NFL team.

	Melanie Oerter Melanie Oerter is a senior trainer at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, the world's largest indoor aquarium. Melanie cares for and trains Pacific white-sided dolphins, beluga whales, harbor seals, sea otters and penguins. Several times a day at the Shedd Aquarium, Melanie hosts presentations where you'll see some of these mammal's amazing natural behaviors such as diving, spy-hopping, and tail-walking. Opened in 1929, Shedd is also one of the oldest public aquariums in the world.

	Donnie Kanz Donny Kanz was a fixture around his dad's welding shop since age 2, and owned his own welder and bench by age 5. At that age, Donny began manufacturing and marketing his own hammers which he sold around town for $.50. It wasn't long before Donny was an instant media sensation, being interviewed by National Geographic, American Trail, many TV stations, and the show "Real People". Over 100 orders rolled in from all over the U.S. Now many people are using Donny's hammers, including former president Jimmy Carter!

	Kent Horgan Yes, Hendricks even has it's own resident child movie star! Our Kent Horgan starred in the 2000 film Class President about fifth grade politics run amok. Kent plays the part of Russ Thoreau (a parody of Ross Perot), a rich Texan kid with big ears running as a third-party candidate. With Kent's help, the film received rave reviews and was billed as "Li'l Rascals meets All The President's Men".

	Tommy Olson If you or your child has ever enjoyed playing on an inflatable game or ride, there is a good chance you were playing on something created by Tommy Olson. Tommy's company has created some of the most imaginative and unique inflatable games on the market. Quite often at special events, Tommy will bring the games back home to Hendricks for the area children to enjoy!