"It's a huge milestone": Community, family celebrate Chester Tollefson's 100th Birthday
SPRING LAKE PARK, Minn. – Chester Tollefson celebrated his 100th birthday in style Friday, complete with cake, pizza, friends and family.
While the event, hosted at Rise Inc's Spring Lake campus, was intended to honor Tollefson, it also honored his lifelong commitment to serving people with disabilities.
"It's a huge milestone, 100 years," said Lynn Noren, Rise Inc President. "If Chet had never been around and gotten families involved, then things don't happen for people with disabilities."
In 1955, Chester and his wife Glady's had their son, Loring, who was born with developmental disabilities. Chester was frustrated with a lack of options for his son after high school.
"There were things he could do," Tollefson said. "We thought there must be something he can do besides go to a home, or an institution and sit around."
That's why in 1971, Tollefson and a group of families opened Rise as a work and life program for people like his son Loring. In its first year, Rise served a handful of people. Today, it serves thousands.
"We just went to work with a bunch of people thinking – how can we get this thing going?" Tollefson said. "Here we are now, 51 years later, and it's still going better than ever."
"Chet was always interested in the success of Rise. What can I do? What can I do to help you? He would meet with community businesses, other community partners, the county, all the time. Just promoting Rise, and doing everything he could to help
us," Noren said.
While Loring died in 2002, Chester's commitment didn't stop. Friday's birthday celebration served as a chance for the community to say thank you.
"It's just very, very satisfying to hear the news that they're still going better than ever," Tollefson said. "There's people that have taken it upon themselves to keep it going."
