EVERYONE KNOWS AND LOVES LEE — AND EVEN IF THEY’VE NEVER MET HER, SHE FEELS LIKE A FRIEND. — Dave Ryan of The Dave Ryan Show on KDWB
▲ Dave Ryan and Lee Valsvik filmed a promotional TV spot for their show on KDWB, which ran from 1993–2000. Photo courtesy of KDWB
While Valsvik has plenty of happy holiday memories centering around music, she also recalls food-focused traditions in her childhood household. “When I was a kid, I loved Mom’s Swedish sausage on Christmas Eve,” she said. On Christmas day, her dad always served lutefisk. “I’d take the lefse and use it like a tortilla, adding potatoes and lutefisk to help with the texture,” Valsvik said. “Lutefisk is all about the texture, right?”
STILLWATER RUNS DEEP Valsvik and her family recently moved from Stillwater to Golden Valley to be closer to KOOL 108 (107.9 FM) at the IHeartRadio offices in St. Louis Park’s West End. “That commute was brutal, and now it’s five minutes for me to get to work,” she said. Despite her current mailing address, Valsvik still is a bornand-raised Stillwater stalwart. A 1978 graduate of Stillwater High, she still can be seen wearing her Stillwater Ponies letter jacket to homecoming games. To ensure she still fits into that jacket after all these years, she stays active by golfing in the summer and skiing in the winter.
At her home-away-from-home, Stillwater Country Club, she says her handicap was 3 or 4 “BK” (before kids) and now is a 12. “I’ve played the best courses all over the world, but my favorite course is still right back home here in Stillwater,” she said. After noting that she still serves on the board of directors of the country club, she added: “I’ll be back to live here someday. I can’t stay away.” Valsvik’s love of golf began with her dad, Don Valsvik, who began teaching her when she was a preschooler. Her first state golf tournament was when she was just 10 years old. “But dad pushed too hard, and I ended up playing softball instead,” she said. “Stillwater didn’t even have a girls’ golf team at that time. I wish I had listened to him and played more golf back then.” Valsvik was always very close to her parents. But in 2001, a drunk driver struck her parents’ car, instantly killing her mother, Dorothy, and injuring her father. The accident happened close to Valsvik’s house, and she went to the scene. “As soon as I heard a siren, I knew it was them,” she said. “I guess God puts you in strange places for reasons sometimes. I was able to tell everyone that she didn’t suffer.” Her father died 10 years after the accident in 2011.
Minnesota Good Age / December 2019 / 33