Sandwich Fair Times 2026final - Flipbook - Page 24
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In
InMemoriam
Memorium
Myrna Skopek
Bengt LaVerne Mattson
Thousands of exhibitor entries at the Fair were processed
every year by Myrna Skopek. The
Fair office is a busy place, but
the activity level never got to her
and she never complained. She
diligently did data entry work for 15
years until last year. Her family and
coworkers describe her as a giving
and generous person who enjoyed
the people she worked with and
the work environment. One person
called her a silent warrior. The Fair
lost a real asset when she passed on December 27, one
month before her 85th birthday.
When Bengt LaVerne Mattson of
Leland spoke to the Sandwich Fair
Times in 2024, he talked about
overcoming a lack of knowledge
about goats to be the Sandwich
Fair’s goat show superintendent.
Growing up, Mattson raised Hereford
steers and Hampshire hogs for 4H
projects. His experience with swine
got him the goat show job. He did it
from 1980 to 2022.
When he started, he called them billies and nannies but
quickly learned goat owners prefer bucks and does. He
also learned that goats aren’t as easily penned as sheep
or pigs. They jumped over the low walls and ran all over the
fairgrounds on the first day of the 1980 fair until fair crews
put up higher panels. He recalled spending that first day
chasing goats all over the fairgrounds and how hard the
animals are to catch.
Norman Otto
Norman Otto’s father built the
miniature train ride that debuted at
the Sandwich Fair in 1953. Norman,
born June 29, 1940, helped run
the train early on and went on to
conduct it himself as an adult. For
more than seven decades, fairgoers
have ridden the Otto family’s train.
Mattson also put in more than four decades of service at
Conserv FS in Waterman and more than four decades in
township government in Victor Township in DeKalb County.
Mattson was born in Sandwich on June 25, 1941. He passed
last November 26. His son, Kurt, became the goat show
superintendent in 2023.
Norman, his father, and his brother
put their mechanical know-how to
use in a business, the Otto Machine Company. Norman
was an Army Reservist and also served on the board of
the Northville, Sandwich, Little Rock Township Drainage
District #1
Norman also liked photography and growing flowers. He
passed on November 2, 2025.
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24
2026 Sandwich Fair Times
© Nelson Publishing, Inc.
