Pete, the Pelican

Even though the lake is called Pelican Lake, nowadays there aren't too many pelicans that show up.  On occasions there are some that fly through.  The only resident pelican we have is Pete, the Pelican, who arrived at Fair Hills in 2004.  He can be seen at the ice cream social, in the hootenanny, and on occasions, in the dining room.   Most often you will see Pete in the Fair Hills parade with his friend, the dancing elephant.  Pete is usually surrounded by a flock of hugging children who are trying to see which staff member might really be inside.  (News to you kids: Pete is a REAL pelican and NO staff member is inside!!!)

Beth Kaldahl Schupp

Beth is the general manager of Fair Hills.  She grew up here, and even fell in love and married one of the guests, Dan Schupp.  Like her mom and dad, she graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, then moved to Duluth, Minneapolis, and eventually ended up in Mason City, Iowa, before returning to Fair Hills several years ago.  Beth is also big in the "music scene" at Fair Hills.  She's a great sport and game for almost anything.  You can find her playing trombone, singing in the hootenanny, putting photos up on the Fair Hills websites, and doing payroll. She even entered her first bellyflop contest last year!   In the winter her family lives in Detroit Lakes, and in the summer, they are in the famous "Blue House" at the end of the resort.  She and Dan have 6 kids and 2 dogs named Emily 26, Charlie 23, Margaret 21, Nan 19, Carolyn 17, and Andy 1, and Wilson and Penny.

Larry Swenson

Larry started at Fair Hills when he was a junior in high school, and has been coming and going ever since. Larry directs the hootenanny, puts together the talent show, does the family campfire program and is in charge of the recreation programs at the resort. He grew up on a farm just 8 miles from the resort, and graduated from Concordia College. Now he lives between Mexico City, Mexico, and Minnesota.

During the rest of the year he has his own company called Noel International. Larry does training programs for companies in the area of team building, and doing programs in schools as an "Artist in Residence" with music and cultural diversity programs. He has released 3 CDs of kids music (of course, you can find them in the Fair Hills Store). He also does a bit of motivational speaking, too. Anyone ready for the Wide Mouth Frog or Willie Hitt?

Justin Fraase

Justin is the "Newcomer" in 2007. Justin helps to bring in the conference groups in the spring, summer and fall. He's the quiet man in the office, and works with the advertising, marketing, and staff hiring. Originally from Buffalo, North Dakota, he graduated from North Dakota State University in Mass Communication. In addition to his new job at the resort, he is also a newlywed. He and his wife, Megan, live in Fargo. In his spare time, he likes to play golf, hunt, watch movies and spend times with friends.

Dave Kaldahl

Dave has been around Fair Hills all of his life and has seen literally thousands of staff members come and go!  His grampa, Ed, actually bought Fair Hills in 1926, and then Dave's father, Chester, ran the place until Dave took it over.  Dave loves music, especially singing.  He is the "main guy" for all the Barbershop Quartets at the resort, and can sing all 4 of the parts of all of the songs (of course, not at the same time...)  He also can play any of the saxophone parts in the band, too, or sometimes the bass drum!  He and his wife, Barb Burd Kaldahl, spend their springs, summers and falls at the resort, and head southward during the winter, where they canoe and sail (sometimes with the canoe!) and play tennis and spend time with their friends.  He can be seen opening up the lobby at 6 a.m. every day, then going up to cook eggs in the kitchen, putting chairs together, putting in and taking out the docks in spring and fall, remodeling cabins, cutting down trees, repairing anything in sight (and a lot of things out of sight), and playing the tub bass in the hootenanny!  Dave remembers cutting ice out of the lake in the winter to keep the food cold all summer, remembers when the resort had its own ice cream "factory" and its own electrical generator, too.  He and Barb are the parents of Steve, Beth, Lisa and Danny.

Barb Kaldahl

Barb has been at Fair Hills for 53 years.  She is also a Concordia Cobber.  She has done many jobs on the resort including recreation and now is most famous for the 7 a.m. walk and now the "Bobbin' with Barb" water aerobics class.  She is the best critic of the Hoots (because she's seen so many), and is at almost every Talent Show cheering everyone on.  She likes canoeing, playing tennis and loves being where it is warm in the winter.

Debbie Globstad

Debbie lives near Middle Cormorant Lake, just a few miles from the resort.  After retiring from Dakota Clinic Eye Department, her husband, Gary, said that she needs to keep on working part time because she LOVES TO SHOP!!!  So Debbie joined the office and lobby staff here at the resort.  Her mother in law, Irene Globstad, worked here as a housekeeper for many years, and her sisters-in-law, also worked here as staff members in the 1960's.  She and her husband have 5 children and 10 grandchildren.

Garnet Hultgren

A long time resident of Detroit Lakes, Garnet joined the Fair Hills team in 1994. Garnet is our "Reservation Lady" and figures out who is in which of our 100 cabins for all of the spring, summer and fall!  She loves being part of the social activities in Detroit Lakes during the year. Her husband, Red, works in Michigan. Her daughter, Krista, worked at the resort back in the 1980's.  Garnet has 2 children and 3 grandchildren.

Lez Englestad

Lez is our Fair Hills Dining Room Hostess with the Mostest!  She started at Fair Hills in the 1980's and has been coming back every summer since.  If you are up early enough, you might catch this "Motorcycle Mama" riding to work on her motorcycle.   In the winter she lives in Crested Butte, Colorado, working at the ski resorts.  In the summer she is here at Fair Hills making sure everyone is happy in the dining room.  Lez is very active in her church group.  She and her husband, Jeff, have one son named Jace.

Gladys Hovland

Gladys is our resident piano teacher and accompanist.  She works at many places on the resort, including the lobby, and hostessing in the dining room.  You can find her always smiling and playing piano for any and all musical performers for the talent show.  Her son, Nick, is our sailing instructor and garbologist in training, and her daughter, Alaina, works at the golf course and as a fill in waitron.  She teaches at Pelican Rapids High School during the year and lives in Detroit Lakes.  She is in charge of the summer music scheduling at Cormorant Lutheran Church just down the road from Fair Hills.

Susan Deraney

Susan works in our Fair Hills office all year long.  Susan joined the Fair Hills team in 2001 after moving up from Kansas.  Susan pays our bills, and orders everything for the store.  If you like a certain t-shirt or sweatshirt style, or something that you might enjoy in the Fair Hills store in the future, be sure to let Susan know.  Susan is in charge of the staff hiring, and all the paperwork having to do with that, too. She and her husband, Jay, work in Detroit Lakes.  In her spare time, she is the coach for the Detroit Lakes girls tennis team.  The new addition to their family, Cole, was born in January of 2006.

Steve Kaldahl

Steve is the oldest of the Kaldahl "kids."  He started working here (well, if you called it "working") when he was just a wee child doing just about everything from pony rides to cooking (he went to chef school).  Several years ago, he decided to "retire" and then decided that retirement didn't suit him so well, so now he comes back to Fair Hills on occasions to help out. He and his wife, Andrea, live a few miles from the resort.  Steve, who previously was of our "extreme sport" guy, loving skiing and all sorts of other adventures, has now calmed down a little bit and can tell you many stories about Fair Hills life in the 1970's and 1980's.

Cheryl Hoban

Cheryl is the Queen of the Fair Hills Kitchen.  She started here as a teenager in 1975 as a cook and never left.  Her teacher was the famous Loretta Warren, who hired her at Fair Hills, and who trained her to serve us all the delicious, not-so-low calorie Fair Hills food!  When she is not at Fair Hills, she is the head cook at Ogema/Waubun schools.  Cheryl also hosts international exchange students every year, who help on her family's truck farm. They raise the best strawberries in the area, as well as many other fruits and vegetables that they sell at a stand on the highway and at the Farmer's Market in Detroit Lakes.  Cheryl and Larry have 5 children and 4 grandchildren.  She loves Karaoke, and has a few favorite songs that she sings in the Ogema area in her spare time.

Suzy "Ya Ya Baker" Pavlish

Her real last name is Pavlish, but when Suzy started working here in the 1970's, she worked in the bakery department of the resort, so we called her Suzy Baker.  And the name stuck!  And when Cheryl Hoban's real maiden name was Baker, we just continue to call them sisters!  Suzy is from Bejou, Minnesota, and spends winters with her family in Arizona.  She was also one of Loretta Warren's students, and has brought her cooking skills to the resort for many, many years.  She is always smiling, and saying, "Ya Ya," since she agrees to do everything.  She often wakes up about 3 in the morning and heads over to the kitchen to start cooking, just to make sure that "everything is done."

Bill Hensel

The Golf Course guy is brand new on the Fair Hills/Wildflower scene.  He is originally from Wisconsin and was involved in the wood pulp/lumber industry for 25 years before retiring from that and following his true love, the game of golf.  He has a son that has taken over his job as an assistant golf pro in Wisconsin and then they both winter in Sanibel, Florida, where they can been seen frequenting the courses.  Bill enjoys teaching and strategizing the game of golf and would love to teach you!

Patty Stone

Patty is our head housekeeper. She works with a crew of "ladies" who have been around here for years, and lots of our new younger staff, too, showing them how to clean your cabins, make the beds, wash the windows...everything you have to do at home, but what you DON'T have to do at Fair Hills.  (Yes, she is part of the reason that Fair Hills is a vacation for everyone in the family!)  Patty started working here in the 1980's with some of the famous housekeepers of Fair Hills, including Lilian Eidenschink and Hilda Erickson, where she learned from the best!  Patty has actually improved their methods of housekeeping here at Fair Hills.  Some evenings, Patty helps out in the steam line in the kitchen, making sure that the food is served fast and hot for the guests.  Her husband, Randy, works as a dishwasher up in the kitchen.  Between the two of them, they have 17 children, two of whom have worked at Fair Hills.

Hebe Shipp

Hebe and her husband, Jim, live east of Pelican Rapids on Lake Lida. This is her first year as Fair Hills staff, although she has been a guest for 18 years!!! Hebe taught high school French for 30 years in Fargo, and decided to spend part of her retirement keeping everyone happy at Fair Hills. They have a 19 yr. old son named Jacob. In her
spare time she likes to hang out with friends.

Jim Pearson (AKA J.P.)

Jim is the other half of the Shipp team. After 18 years as a guest, he decided to return as Adult Rec Director and all around good guy. In his "real life" he is a real estate agent
in Fargo and in the lakes region. Jim is an avid reader. They spent last winter in the Rio Grande Valley in deep south Texas.

Dan Mohn

Dan is perhaps the only silent type here at the whole resort!  You can see him playing snare drum in the Fair Hills marching band, but most of the times he is behind the scenes making new bathrooms, decks, and fixing whatever might need the work in your cabins and around the resort.  Dan grew up in the Detroit Lakes area.  He lives in Rochert, Minnesota, with his wife, Rhonda.  They started with two sons, and then after a trip to Romania, they adopted two girls.  (Ask him the story if you happen to see him.)  He started at Fair Hills doing part time work, and then became the full time Fair Hills carpenter and contractor around 1989.  He is an avid deer hunter.

Frank Miosek

You'll see Frank most out on the water, as he drives the Big Pelican!  Born and raised in the New York and New Jersey area, you might notice a little tint of an accent, but not much since he has lived in Minnesota for many years.  Before retiring he ran the Pelican Beach Resort for 20 years, and took care of boats and lifts.  He and his wife spend their winters in Texas.  They have 2 children, 10 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.  In 2005 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!

Karen Nelson

Karen is a newcomer to Fair Hills, and probably the one you might just catch fleeting glimpses of, since she works in one of the offices in the lower level of the lobby.  Originally she is a Buckeye from the great state of Ohio, but married a man from Rollag, Minnesota!  Bill and Karen live on Middle Cormorant Lake, where they enjoy all types of nature and wildlife.  She has her own accounting business as well as taking care of the book at Fair Hills, Wildflower Golf Course and Five Lakes.  She loves traveling, hiking, camping, counted cross stitch, and reading.  Karen and Bill have been married "forever" (30+ years!) and they have two married children and three grandsons.  By the way, they own a 1927 steam engine!

The Schupps

Margaret, age 21; Charlie, age 23; Carolyn, age 17; Dan (who celebrated his 50 th birthday in May 2007); Andy, age 14; Beth (younger than Dan); Emily, age 26; Marianna
"Nan", age 19.