Starman receives Rotary service award
Wayne Starman, who was in retail service in Owatonna for more than 60 years, received the Owatonna Rotary Club’s Paul Harris/Vern White Service Above Self Award on Monday. The award honors a non-Rotarian who exemplifies honesty, fairness, good will and serving whomever they can in a beneficial way. Staff photo by Kay Fate
When Wayne Starman was looking for a job after high school, the Blooming Prairie native heard a grocery store in Owatonna was hiring.
Duffy Hamren, who owned Duffy’s SuperFair, “hired me off the farm,” Starman said. “I came in – farm boy – and didn’t know broccoli from cabbage.”
Fast forward 64 years, and the farm boy who didn’t know his vegetables was accepting an award for, among other things, his 60-plus career in grocery retail.
Starman received the Paul Harris/Vern White Service Above Self Award from the Owatonna Rotary Club during a luncheon on Monday. He’s the eighth winner since its creation in 2015, to recognize non-Rotarians.
In accepting the honor, Starman named Hamren as one of three people “who influenced my life and got me where I’m at.”
His first boss, he said, “taught me the importance of customer service, taking care of them and their needs. I fell into that pattern, and always tried to know all my customers’ names,” Starman said.
The late Ted Ringhofer, who spent decades on the Owatonna Chamber of Commerce and Owatonna City Council, “instilled in me the community involvement aspect of my life,” Starman said.
Finally, he talked about a man named John Story, who was a meat merchandiser and wholesaler.
“He’s responsible for a couple of things in my life, and one is probably not so good: He got me into the horse racing,” Starman laughed.
The second thing was to involve the budding businessman in seminars for grocers throughout the Midwest, teaching Starman how to speak in public and to large groups.
Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self,” but it’s more than that, said Dr. Dayle Quigley, Rotary District 5960 Governor, who provided opening remarks.
“It’s doing service with intention,” she said. “With this award, it has more to do with them just being a good community member. It has much more to do than whether they have a big heart; it has to do with their character under it all – their integrity, the way they look at people.
“So my heart goes out to the recipient today,” Quigley said, “because truly, these people are honoring your heart and your character, and from everything I’ve heard, it’s so well deserved.”
Starman also thanked his wife of 62 years, Janet, calling her “my partner at the store and my partner in raising our five children.”
Their children and several grandchildren were also present.
“Owatonna is an amazing place,” Starman said. “The success of the business that I owned, and that I was involved in, the whole community… I don’t believe there’s another city in the country that has the people, the personalities, the willingness to share – just the whole package.
“That, to me, is why I ended up in the spot that I’m in, and I’m very, very thankful to all of you for that.”