Anderson a champion of local news, history

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

McGregor lost an invaluable asset when Lucy Rodenberg Anderson passed in late February. Although a Wisconsin native, Lucy later moved to the Mar-Mac area, where she connected with the communities through her writing, volunteerism and love of history.

According to the introduction in her book “Our Town McGregor,” Lucy’s interest in writing came after her children were grown. She began penning freelance history and human interest articles for several local newspapers, including the North Iowa Times, in the early 1980s.

That later led to writing press releases for the McGregor-Marquette Chamber of Commerce, and eventually becoming its executive director. Lucy credited Louise White, co-owner of Paper Moon bookstore, for the encouragement.

“[Her] telephone call years ago requesting me to do press releases for the McGregor Chamber of Commerce opened the doors to my writing career and community involvement,” said Lucy.

Lucy served as the chamber’s executive director for three years, starting in 1989. She was also honored by the organization several times, according to her obituary. That included two annual “Volunteer of the Year” awards and a “Superior Volunteer Service Award” in 2010. She received the Lena D. Myers Award twice for her work in promoting and preserving McGregor’s history through her writing and other volunteer work. Additionally, Lucy was honored by the chamber as grand marshal of one of its parades.

In 1991, during her time as chamber executive director, Lucy became editor of the North Iowa Times. It was a role she continued for several years, before returning to freelance feature work for another two decades. Lucy’s dog, Odie, even had a column at one point.

Around that same time, Lucy also started writing books, with her interest in history leading to the publication of two volumes of “Echoes of McGregor’s Past,” first in 1993 and then in 1994.

“Echoes of McGregor’s Past” was published by Stone Balloon (the former name of Paper Moon), in response to requests from tourists who were hungry for historical information about the area.

Louise White said she first met Lucy in the late 1980s, during a McGregor anniversary celebration.

“We decided to do a play of historic vignettes in Triangle Park,” she recalled. “We later talked about doing a book.”

At Lucy’s passing, Louise said customers have shown renewed interest in the books as well as Lucy’s later work, “Our Town McGregor,” published in 2010. Like the others, it was filled with historical stories and information about McGregor and the surrounding communities—all researched by Lucy with help from area sources and people.

In 2012, at age 72, Lucy published her first fictional piece, “Stormy Skies over Coulee de Sioux.” She also began working on part two of “Our Town McGregor.” Living in an area so rich in history, Lucy realized there was much more to tell.

“I started and had quite a bit of it done,” she shared during a 2017 interview. “Then, I started working, I got married and my health wasn’t well personally and with my family.”

She set the book aside, and, at one point, even considered throwing away her research. But Lucy’s husband, Al Anderson, encouraged her not to give up. In the summer of 2017, following the McGregor tornado, she began writing again.

Said Lucy of writing, “It takes a lot of time—hours and hours, and months and months. But it gets in your blood.”

History was especially important to her.

“I started writing because I like history,” she remarked. “This is an old town, and it’s got a lot of history. A lot of people didn’t know about it. I want to help people learn more about the history of the town.” 

“I like to relate things to how they are now,” Lucy added, “show how things have changed.”

Thanks to Lucy’s efforts, we’ve all learned more.