The Golden Link Senior Center’s Experience American for September is Bob Kresl. The Golden Link will have a reception for Kresl Friday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., with a short program and award at 2:00 p.m.
Kresl grew up just outside of Tabor was just starting school at North Dakota State when he had to return home to help on the farm before being drafted. “I originally from the Tabor area, our home farm is three miles southwest of Tabor,” said Kresl. “I went to a one-room country school and after graduating the eighth-grade I went to the Northwest School in Crookston for four years. I enjoyed that school, it taught us a little of everything. After that, I started at North Dakota State in Fargo. In the middle of my first-year dad said he’ll need help in the spring. So, I had to quit, and then I got drafted.”
Kresl said he was proud and honored to have served his country. “After being drafted in the Army – I’m actually a Korean Veteran – I spent two years in the service,” said Kresl. “I was quite fortunate I didn’t have much basic training. Only about two weeks I did so well on the rifle range I ended up on the Army rifle team while the other guys were in basic training. After coming back I joined the various veterans’ organizations. I’m a member of the VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and American Sniper Association.”
A businessman, Kresl and his partners just celebrated 40 years of making pizza with Happy Joe’s. “I moved to Crookston in the early 60s and was a pail man for Land O’Lakes and Grade A Milk for a couple of years,” said Kresl. “Then I heard about this property that was for sale in Crookston – it was an old truck stop type restaurant and gas station. After the highway was finished, I bought the business for about half a year and a fire in the service station portion. At that time, I decided I had to do something better, the building wasn’t worth repairing. My dad, uncle and I formed a corporation and I opened up Robert’s Restaurant. I had the restaurant for about 11 years and did very well. But after that amount of time I was a single parent raising five children, I had 60 employees at the restaurant, plus a trucking company, and the load got too heavy. Pizza was getting popular at the time so I got some partners, we went with Happy Joe’s Pizza and we just completed our 40th year in the pizza business.”
Kresl raised five children as a single parent, once being named Single Parent of the Year for the western half of the United States. “When I was raising my kids my three daughters were the oldest and I had two sons, it was hard to for a male to find things to do with their daughters,” said Kresl. “The sons, we were involved in sports and gone all the time. So, I joined Parents Without Partners in Grand Forks and belonged to that for a few years. I ended up being Single Parent of the Year for the western half of the United States, which I was quite honored to receive. I was very fortunate over the years my children have all done quite well in various businesses. My oldest daughter is the head of the accounting department at the bank in Erskine. My next daughter, Becky, lives just out of East Grand Forks on the home farm and works at the school system in East Grand Forks. Karen lives in Iowa. She’s been teaching school, in fact, she was Teacher of the Year in the state of Iowa. My son Bill is the fourth in line. He has Kresl Properties, he’s done quite well. They’ve all received degrees, all completed college. Bill works almost harder than he really should, but he keeps an eye on everything. And Joe works for the University of Minnesota in Crookston. He’s a Head Custodian.”
Kresl has also been involved in various organizations and commissions throughout the community. “I belonged to a few organizations,” said Kresl. “I was on the planning commission for a few years. I was also one of the ones that originated where the Polk County Historical Society is at. Bruno Jurchen was president and Glendenning had just left town. I told Bruno I thought I knew of a good spot for the museum. Within two weeks Bruno contacted the Polk County Commissioners and we purchased the property. After that, I gifted four acres of land to the Historical Society, so they have room for all the outbuildings now. I was on the Board of Directors for close to 35 years.”
Kresl said he’s been happy living in Crookston and outside of a knee replacement this year there isn’t much he would change. “I’ve been very happy living in Crookston,” said Kresl. “It’s a smaller town, smaller community. You get to know almost all the people although at my age I’ve kind of lost track of the younger generation. But it’s still home to me. I’ve been going to Arizona for 5-6 months during the winter and the rest of the time in Crookston. I was still working up until this year when I had a knee replacement and was pretty well grounded this summer. Other than that, I don’t think there is much that I’d want to change.”
