WINONA, Minn. (AP) — A plate of cookies and binders full of town history sat between Bennett Onsrud and Cletus Casey.

The homemade and store-bought cookies were arranged in perfect lines, reflecting the tidiness of the kitchen they sat in, while piles of town history and news compiled by a friend and history buff flanked them. The quietness of a small town in autumn seeped into the home Onsrud shared with his wife for more than 50 years.

"He kept the station just as the house is," Casey told the Winona Daily News .

"I had a good teacher," Onsrud said with a wholesome smile. "She was fussy."

"T...