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A look back on the second half of 2025.
Includes articles written by Candra Brooks, clarkecountylife.com, Osceola Chamber Main Street and other contributing writers.
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Addie Eckels was crowned the 2025 Clarke County Fair Queen with Fair Princess going to Kierstin Smith. Haylo Oswald was crowned the Junior Princess and Logan Nelson Junior Prince.
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2019 Clarke graduate Toby Mosher earned his Private Pilot Certificate, helped to that achievement by Kevin Seuferer.
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The St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Woodburn saw a revival, as the efforts of locals and help from organizations went to see the church restored to its original beauty.
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Murray teen Nolan Gannon was selected to participate in the Clarke Electric Cooperative’s 2026 Youth Tour in Washington, D.C.
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Jon Sullivan was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Clarke School Board after the resignation of Ty Blackford.
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Three Osceola Police officers received promotions - Garry Potter and Tyson Rumley to patrol sergeants and Cody Smith to detective sergeant.
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After three decades in the furniture business, Rod and Valerie Clark of Clark’s Furniture Store turned the reins over to Keith Jones.
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Clarke Schools welcomed Dr. Sarah Kelly as the Clarke Middle School Principal, and a ushered in many new teachers across elementary, middle and high schools.
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Denny Adair of Osceola won several first and second place medals at the Iowa Senior Games and Iowa Games.
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Heavy rains pummeled Clarke County, with nearly five total inches received in a short time that resulted in flash flooding in some areas.
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Two years of discussion and changes for wind turbine ordinances ended in the Clarke County Board of Supervisors approving updated ordinances with increased setbacks from property lines and lifting of the temporary moratorium against commercial wind farm construction.
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The City of Murray was awarded a $1.75 million grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Community Development Block Grant Comprehensive Neighborhood Revitalization Program, the funds of which will go towards renovations and improvements at Murray’s Mallory Park. They later received $191,331 from the Clarke County Development Corporation matching grant.
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Various politicians made stops in Osceola - current state auditor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate hopeful Rob Sand, U.S. Representative Zach Nunn, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, Iowa Senator Amy Sinclair, Iowa Representatives Sam Wengryn and Bubba Sorensen, Democratic gubernatorial candidate hopeful Julie Stauch and Democratic U.S. Representative hopeful Xavier Carrigan.
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A general obligation bond went before voters in the Murray Community School District in November. The bond, which will not exceed $2.7 million and be used in part for remodeling and repairs to the existing building, passed by a vote of 240-66.
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The first phase of the Osceola Water Works water main replacement program neared its end as crews finished replacing cast iron water mains in the Garfield and Fillmore streets with new PVC pipe.
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Homecoming royalty is crowned. At Murray, Mallory Page and Keaton Grismore took the honors while at Clarke they went to Joshua Banales Flores and Abbie Schlichte as king and queen; Casey Wade and Finley Cooper took prince and princess.
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Reynoldson, Van Werden and McCoy LLP welcomed new attorney Ally Bedwell.
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In the attempted murder case of the State of Iowa v. George Douglas, Douglas will be using intoxication as his defense. A change of venue motion filed on the first day of the jury trial had the case assigned to Warren County.
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The Osceola Big Chief FFA greenhouse project received a helping hand in the amount of $23,257.68 from a Clarke County Development Corporation grant.
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The ORBIT Center was finally able to hold its ribbon cutting, as the center opened to begin serving college students and local industries with facilities to train for manufacturing and industries.
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Former state legislature Ed Fallon walked across southern Iowa over a series of weeks, including stops in Murray and Osceola, in order to raise political awareness of the current state of affairs in Washington D.C.
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Clarke sophomore and FFA member Renata Herrera Acosta won the National FFA Spanish Creed Speaking Contest, a first for Clarke and the first for the state of Iowa.
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Sixteen-year-old Elmer Borntrager of Murray was killed in a hit-and-run collision Nov. 12. Jacob Wright of Grand River was later arrested for the incident.
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The Clarke County Reservoir’s draft plan went out for public comment, leading it one step closer to federal approval and opening up federal fund opportunities.
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Murray superintendent Tim Kuehl announced his intent to retire at the end of the 2025-26 school year. Kuehl is shared with East Union.
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Another gas station will be added to the Osceola roster - a site plan for Kwik Star was formally approved by Osceola Planning and Zoning in December.
OST file photos
Below left: The Osceola Public Library hosted a Dragon Training Academy as part of their summer reading program. Below right: A musical impersonator at the annual Osceola Latino Festival.