HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED Plan a visit to the Veterans & Emergency Services Museum Community News C
W ith a mission to honor and educate, it’s fitting to visit the Veterans & Emergency Services Museum especially as Memorial Day approaches. Recently, the community celebrated their grand opening with a ribbon cutting (pictured below). Afterwards, we spoke with the museum to learn more about their beginnings and the curation of their exhibits. Q: How did the VESM begin? A: The Minnesota Veterans & Emergency Services Museum was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) – not for profit – organization in August of 2011. The idea for the museum grew out of a roundtable started by Tom Hosier and his son Scott to share the stories of World War II veterans. Tom continued the roundtable after the death of his son. Sadly, Tom passed away in October, 2015, and a few months later the roundtable was discontinued, but the
museum effort has moved forward. Sometime later, the roundtable was brought back as the Veterans and Emergency Services Roundtable, but covid brought an end to it again and it has not resumed. The Articles of Incorporation state that the “corporation is organized and shall be operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, ...in particular, to honor veterans, men and women, and the institutions who protect our way of life, and to preserve and interpret their histories.” We continue to honor this pledge. In 2016, the organization dropped the word “Minnesota” and became the Veterans & Emergency Services Museum to promote the idea that the museum is more than a Southeast Minnesota institution. We do not want the stories
Richard Krom, executive director of the VESM cutting the ribbon at the grand opening celebration.
| Advantage Magazine 26
May 2023
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