Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2021

Timothy Canty was born about 1822 in Ireland, and arrived in Lower Canada, and then to the United States.

He came to Holmes Landing (Shakopee) as an employee of Thomas A. Holmes. Some said that Timothy came on the flat boat Wild Paddy in the fall of 1851, though others think he arrived a short time later. He came to file on a tract of eighty acres granted him by the government because of his involvement in the Mexican-American War, also known as the Invasion of Mexico.

The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a manifest destiny to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Timothy married Margaret O’Keefe. Margaret was born in County Waterford in Ireland. She left Ireland to America in 1851, and lived in Ohio and Chicago, Illinois for two years. Then Margaret moved to St. Paul in 1853, where he met the acquaintance of Timothy Canty. Timothy and Margaret married in St. Paul and moved near Marystown to their farm in 1854. They had two sons, John and Daniel.

After working with Thomas A. Holmes in Shakopee, Timothy worked on the steamboats, including Greek Slave and Pocahontas. When the Civil War arrived, Timothy wanted to go, but he couldn’t leave his wife, who was blind at that time.

Tim said one day that he knew General William Tecumseh Sherman. “He is a fine officer and a real man,” he observed to a group of settlers in Geyermann’s store on Lewis Street.

Most people didn’t believe him.

In the late 1860s, news brought up the Minnesota River said Sherman was making a tour of the west, and would stop in Shakopee.

“Where’s Canty?” some of the settlers asked. “He ought to be there since he claims he knows Sherman well.”

Tim didn’t say much.

A few of the townspeople hinted that Tim couldn’t make good with his claim.

On the day of the visit, a cloud of dust was seen down the trail.

“Here they come!” someone shouted.

The stage came into view, drawn by four large horses. The driver swung around the corner at Strunk’s Drug Store and stopped with a flourish.

A cheer arose and General Sherman put his hand out of the window to acknowledge the greeting.

A cheer arose and General William Tecumseh Sherman put his head out of a window to acknowledge the greeting. His eyes roved over the crowd as he spoke. Suddenly, he stopped and the watchers saw his attention was riveted on a man in the rear of the crowd. Timothy Canty was there, having come to Shakopee to get his scythe sharpened. He was still carrying the scythe.

“Hello Tim!” Sherman called. “Don’t you remember me?”

Tim came forward and shook hands.

For some time their hands were clasped and the embarrassed settlers who had doubted Tim’s claim saw tears welling in the eyes of the two veterans – the general of all the armies and the humble homesteader.

Timothy Canty died in 1885 in Louisville Township, and was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Eagle Creek.

Margaret then moved in with her son, John Canty, for the next 16 years.

Margaret O’Keefe Canty died on June 16, 1900, and was buried next to her husband, Timothy, at the Calvary Cemetery in Shakopee.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

John O’Connor was born around 1825, probably in Ireland or maybe New York. He moved west, and ended up in LaSalle, Illinois, near Chicago in 1858. John married Catherine Neafsey (or Nefsey), who was born in Ireland, in 1858.

The family came to Minnesota in 1859 or 1860. In 1861, the family lived in Glendale Township, Scott County, Minnesota, which is near present day Savage. They lived near Thomas Neafsey, his wife, Mary, and two children, Patrick and Catherine. Thomas was the brother of Catherine Neafsey O’Connor.

The O’Connor family in 1865 consisted of John and Catherine, along with their children: Edwin, age 8, Mary, age 7, Julie, age 5, Catharina, age 2, and John Jr., age one.

While Catherine Neafsey O’Connor was taking care of the five children, John O’Connor volunteered and joined the Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Company I. Catherine probably did not support his enlisting, but for John it was one way to get money for the family.

As the Ninth Minnesota Infantry I company and other companies were recruited and headed to Fort Snelling for training, Thaóyate Dúta or Little Crow (1810-1863) and others, hungry and not receiving provisions, attacked New Ulm and other settlements on Dakota land. The regiment spent the next year on the frontier duty, its companies scattered throughout the state. The Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment were involved in defending colonist-settlers in Minnesota, and then defending people in the South, according to “Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment” on MNopedia.

During the Civil War, the regiment served for three years for the Union, culminated in the Battle of Nashville, a battle in which its members fought side-by-side with men from three other Minnesota regiments.

John was found drunk on guard duty, and was sent to a military prison. He spent a year in prison and was released with highest regard for his character and work ethic. John worked as a brick layer and stone mason in prison, which he later used when he returned to Minnesota.

When John was released back to his regiment, John was involved in the Battle of Nashville. During that time, John received an injury to one of his eyes.

The Ninth mustered out of the service at Fort Snelling on August 24, 1865. The Ninth Minnesota Infantry suffered six officers and 41 enlisted men killed in action or who later died on their wounds, plus another three officers and 224 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 274 fatalities.

John returned to his family in Glendale and shortly after, bought a house in downtown Shakopee. Henry and Mary F. Hinds sold their house on Second and Market Street to the O’Connors for $200. It was near the train tracks and is now at The Landing in Shakopee.

John and his family spent regular time at the Church of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Shakopee. The church was often called the Irish Church. The Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was just a few blocks from St. Mark’s, was erected by 1866. It was not until 1876 that the church became St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

John O’Connor worked at the Schroeder Brick and Lime Manufacturing Company. It was one of the leading and most prosperous business enterprises of the city and was well known in the northwest. The brickyard was located north of Bluff Avenue between Market and Minnesota Street. The bricks were from near the Minnesota River, near Huber Park. Many of the early buildings in Shakopee were made from these bricks. The work that John did was only for eight months of the year. The rest of the year, he was out of work.

To make it worse, John and Catherine’s son, Johnnie, died suddenly on October 31, 1866. Johnnie was five years, eight months old, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Shakopee.

John had a long and lingering illness due to the eye injury he suffered in the war. The injury turned cancerous. He was turned down for support from the military.

John O’ Connor died in June of 1878. He was buried next to his son at Calvary Cemetery. His wife, Catherine Neafsey O’Connor, died on April 13, 1897 in St. Paul.

Bibliography

Hutchinson, Matthew W. “Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment.” MNopedia, 11 March 2013. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/ninth-minnesota-volunteer-infantry-regiment.

Sister Adelaide Elder coughed. Crimson droplets appeared on her lips, the first sign of tuberculosis, or consumption, as it was called.

Tuberculosis is something people don’t often think about anymore. But 19^th century people in Minnesota were frighteningly aware of the symptoms: flushed cheeks, bright eyes, fever, loss of appetite, and most of all, the cough. It was feared, but regarded with a peculiar resignation because it was so unavoidable. It was dreaded, but at the same time romanticized. It was a disease that reflected the culture of its time: the victim slowly, gracefully fading away, transcending their corporeal body, their immortal soul shining through, according to A Gentle Death: Tuberculosis in 19^th Century Concord by Constance Manoli-Skocay.

In reality, tuberculosis, commonly called consumption in the 19^th century, affected the poor more often than the wealthy, females more than males, and people of all ages. Anyone could be a victim, but it was especially prevalent among young adults, cruelly striking down those in the prime of their lives.

Unfortunately, the disease was not well understood. Its cause would not be discovered until 1882. In the meantime, beliefs about the disease reflected the cultural and scientific thinking of the time. It was thought that it might be a vaguely environmental, “something in the air;” but more likely caused by the victim’s own constitution, either physiologically, psychologically, or both. It was not believed to be contagious, so those suffering from the disease were not avoided. Recommended steps toward prevention included fresh air, a wholesome diet, exercise, and healthy manual labor.

Priscilla Jane Elder was born in 1840 near Loretto, Pennsylvania, according to Jane Hanson in May 2007. Her parents were James Elder (1811-1880) and Ann O’Conner (1819-1898). By 1850, Ann O’Conner Elder had died, and Jane and her siblings were living with various families in the area. Jane’s brothers, William (1838-1928) and James (1845-1919) moved to Hastings, Minnesota with their uncle in 1867. Her brother Peter (1842-1926) was a banker in Philadelphia. Thomas (1843-1862) died in the Civil War. And Jane’s sister, Mary Ann (1847-1873) went to St Xavier’s school near Latrobe, and became a nun called Sister Mary Leonard.

As for Jane? She went to the convent of St. Benedict in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania and became a nun.

Priscilla Jane Elder told her brother, Peter, that she wanted to be a nun. “After a talk to with a priest, she was pleased as (the priest) told her he would accept her as a sister of the order of St. Benedict’s and that she could go to St. Mary’s, Elk County, Pennsylvania to join the order as same as others who were going to join,” said Peter Elder, who told the relatives in a writing “A Chapter in the Life of Jane Elder” by Peter Elder, her brother, in 1924. “I was present and saw her off on the way to St. Mary’s. I corresponded with Jane all the time she was at St. Mary’s.”

Boniface Wimmer was a missionary from Metten, Bavaria. He wanted to spread the Benedictine Order to people in America. Boniface asked the sisters in St. Walburga’s in Eichstatt to teach German immigrants in Pennsylvania. Three arrived to America: Sister Benedicta Riepp, age 27, Sister Walburga Dietrich, age 48, and Sister Maura Flieger, age 30. They left Bavaria on June 12, 1852, and arrived in New York on July 8, 1852, and then to St, Mary’s, Pennsylvania on July 22. Before too long, 39 sisters were at St. Mary’s.

Rev. Boniface Wimmer wanted to spend the gospel to the west, and by October 9, 1862, Wimmer, along with Sister Clara Vogel, a lay sister, Sister Mechtild Richter, and Sister Adelaide Elder arrived in Shakopee and founded St. Gertrude’s Convent. Sister Adelaide was 21 years old.

“When the time came for her to go out to Shakopee, Minnesota together with two other sisters and one lay sister … She looked splendid in her habit. I again saw her on her western trip to Minnesota. That was the last time I saw our sister Jane,” said her brother, Peter.

In a letter to King Ludwig of Bavaria on December 2, 1862, Abbott Boniface Wimmer noted that he founded a little mission in Shakopee for the sisters “to the great joy of the English and German Catholics. The new convent has its own story. First, it was a cow shed, then a horse barn, and now it is an embryo of a woman’s convent, but it only serves, in any event, only the most necessary purposes.”

Sister Adelaide entered the convent in Pennsylvania in 1859, received the habit in 1860, and made triennial vows in 1861. She arrived in October 1862 and died of tuberculosis two months later.

The records at St. Mark’s Church in Shakopee noted that Sister Adelaide Elder died two months after arriving in Shakopee on December 21, 1862, and was buried the next day in Calvary Cemetery by Father Scherer, O.S.B., who assisted and anointed her before her death.

In the first 25 years at St. Mary’s Convent, the community lost 22 postulants and nuns who died of tuberculosis, ages 17 to 30, including Sister Adelaide Elder.

Tuberculosis is not gone if forgotten. Since 1985, tuberculosis (TB) has slowly come back to the U.S. Though the number of cases reported in the United States has been dropping since 1992, there were more than 16,000 cases reported in 2000.

Bibliography

Elder, Peter. A Chapter in the Life of Jane Elder, 1924.

Hanson, Jane. May 2007

Skocay, Constance Manoli. A Gentle Death: Tuberculosis in 19^th Century Concord.

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2026.

Yu Heng and Yu Jie Chen, along with their mom, two aunts, and nine children under 11 years old immigrated to America in 1982.

The family had been living in the peaceful village of Kinglam, Onfen, Guangdong, China, where 200 people called home, according to an article by Yu Jie Chen called “Family of 10” from #minneasianstories. Yu Jie Chen’s older sister is Yu Heng.

Yu Jie Chen remembered the story. “I was told to get into a minivan, and all of the kids and moms got in a vehicle and off we left the village where everyone knew everyone’s name and everyone are very much alike.”

According to Yu Jie Chen, on the way to America they stayed temporarily with friends and relatives in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

“When we arrived in the cold Minnesota, at the age of nine I met my grandpa for the first time,” said Yu Jie Chen. “None of us knew any English. We brought with us what we could carry in a few suitcases, with little money. We came to a place where we did not know the people, the food, the environment, and the culture.

“My family and my uncle’s family rented this very old house in Minneapolis. Each family had one bedroom and we shared a small kitchen that fit a table and some chairs. Eleven people crowded into this kitchen to eat. Two families shared one car,” said Yu Jie Chen.

“My parents kept on telling us kids that we need to learn English and do well in school.

“My parents and grandparents never had the opportunity to attend high school or higher level education in rural Guangdong, China. My parents wanted their kids to have the opportunity to go to college.”

And the children and grandchildren did!

“My parents worked very long hours working at Chinese restaurants.”

Yu Jie Chen worked part-time at a Chinese take-out restaurant. “In the evening when the restaurant closed, my mom and I walked six blocks in the dark to where my dad worked as a chef so we could get a ride home. Sometimes when my dad had to work near midnight to clean the kitchen hood, my mom and I took two buses home….

“Eight years later after our arrival to Minnesota, my family was very excited to purchase a Chinese restaurant in Shakopee! My father went from being a bookkeeper and mom, a farmer in China to chefs in the United States and then restaurant business owners. That was their dream.

“My parents later sold their successful restaurant business to my older sister and retired.”

Yu Heng took over after her parents retired. When she retired, other relatives continued the tradition, including Alex, who graduated Shakopee High School.

And so the family, all three generations, have worked at the Dragon Cafe Chinese Restaurant here in Shakopee!

PDF Brochure

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2026.

During the Vietnam War (1955-1975), civil war erupted in Cambodia in 1967 between communist and democratic forces. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and declared victory. This resulted in the deaths of almost 2 million people and became known as the Cambodian Genocide. In addition, it led to a mass exodus as an estimated 150,000 Cambodians fled to the United States as refugees between 1975 and 1994. Soeun Ouch emigrated from Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge, and arrived in the United States in August 1985.

On one side of the Cambodian civil war was the Khmer Republic led by Lon Nol (1913-1985) which was backed by the United States and South Vietnam. On the other side was the communist Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot (1925-1928) (previously known as Saloth Sar) which was backed by North Vietnam.

Years of fighting ensued, including intense bombing of Cambodia by the United States. Because Cambodia was officially a neutral country, the United States kept these bombings a secret from Congress and the public. The U.S. military dropped 540,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia, killing somewhere between 150,000 to 500,000 civilians. Some scholars believe that these bombings played a significant role in the rise of the Khmer Rouge by driving Vietnamese communist forces deeper into Cambodia and allowing them to provide military support to the Khmer Rouge. In addition, the Khmer Rouge gained support among rural Cambodians by pointing to the death and devastation caused by the bombings.

On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and declared victory. They set up a new government that ultimately ruled Cambodia from April 1975 to January 1979. This regime was characterized by totalitarianism and brutality. Not long after declaring victory, they executed former military and government officials. They got rid of institutions such as markets, banks, schools, Western medicine, and Buddhism. They also abolished money and private property.

The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia into a forced labor camp, seeking to create a rural agricultural society isolated from the rest of the world. People were forced to work on the farms for long hours under brutal conditions. Many died from exhaustion, starvation, or disease.

The United States was reluctant to accept Cambodian refugees as it was still managing the resettlement of Vietnamese, Hmong, and Lao refugees. But as international attention to the atrocities in Cambodia grew, the United States began to admit more Cambodians into the country. The 1980 Refugee Act raised the annual ceiling for refugees from 17,400 to 50,000. It also changed the definition of “refugee” to a person with “well-founded fear of persecution.”

The U.S. Cambodian Refugee program ended in 1994, at which point a total of about 150,000 refugees had been admitted. Refugees were dispersed into different cities across the country.  Rebuilding in the United States has not been easy. Many Cambodian refugees live with deep trauma from the devastation of their homeland, loss of family members, multiple displacements, and poor conditions in refugee camps.

They have built a tight-knit and thriving community, starting small businesses, launching churches, temples and arts groups, bringing new foods to Minnesota, and creating space for their families to thrive.

About 12,000 Cambodians live in Minnesota today, mostly in and around the Twin Cities, including Shakopee, according to the most recent data. The community has built one of the largest Buddhist temples in the country, the Watt Munisotaram near Farmington, which draws hundreds of community members for ceremonies and celebrations several times a year, according to Sahan Journal.

“They [U.S.-born Cambodians] probably don’t have as much education and knowledge about Cambodian culture, traditions and Buddhism — but their parents try really hard to educate them and bring them to the temple,” Iddhimuni Moeng Sang, abbott in charge of the Watt Munisotaram, said through a translator.

Cambodians are the seventh-largest refugee population in the state. Minnesota is home to a larger percentage of refugee immigrants than other states, with 25 to 50 percent of the state’s immigrants coming as refugees compared to the national average of eight percent. Minnesota, along with California, Massachusetts, Washington, and Texas, has one of the country’s largest Cambodian populations, according to Carleton College’s Religions in Minnesota.

Soeun Ouch dedicated her life to providing for her family. Her warmth, thoughtfulness, and compassion were evident in every interaction and relationship she found. Fifty years ago, she found the love of her life, and together, Soeun and San Pao (1928-2015) showed those around them the true definition of partnership, devotion, and commitment.

At age 88, Soeun Ouch died on March 3, 2021, and was buried next to her husband, San Pao, at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

PDF Brochure

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2026.

Pte San Tokeya Wiŋ Leading Fawn Woman Brisa Edna Chase was born May 9, 1998 to HolyElk Lafferty and Jesse Chase.

Through her maternal side, she is Oglala and MniCoujou Lakota and on her paternal side, she is Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota.

When she was born she was brought by her family to a ceremony in which they asked the spirits to name her. Her Unci Edna Two Dogs blessed her with the name Pte San Tokeya Win, “Leading Fawn Woman”, a name that she had carried throughout her life.

As a baby, she was the joy of her family’s lives and as she grew into each stage of her life, she was kind and generous in her love for her family while also being fierce in the way she loved them. From day one, she was her Unci Bernie’s girl. They shared a special love that knows no bounds or limits in this lifetime or beyond. So much of the teachings and strengths she carried in this life as a woman and mother were given to her through this bond.

As a young woman Brisa became a mother to three beautiful children and a wife to their father, Carlos Ortiz. She had always been strong-willed, determined, and loyal to her personal beliefs about what she wanted for herself and for those she loved in this life. Those qualities carried forth into motherhood and womanhood as she loved and cared for her children and family.

She was born with the type of maternal love in her bones that not many can learn in whole lifetimes spent attempting to acquire it and she poured that deeply into the cups of those who were privileged enough to know her at the depths of her heart. She had a laugh and sense of humor that was contagious and made your soul feel good to be sharing in the moments when she made something funny, which was often. Her smile and the sparkle in her eyes lit up every space in this world that she chose to share it.

Pte San Tokeya Wiŋ Leading Fawn Woman Brisa Edna Chase Ortiz began her journey home on Aug. 3, 2025, and is survived by many, as she journeyed at such a tender age. She will be met by her relatives in the spirit world who will hold her with love, care and gentleness.

To be loved by Brisa Edna was to be blessed in the most beautiful way and the medicine that her love was, will continue to be her gift to us all.

Damon and Mahpiya Brewer-Knight noted, “Love you Brisa, fly high. Prayers and tobacco down for the family in their healing.”

Hillary Crooks and family noted, “My heart aches for your loss. A life so young, gone far too soon. I’m holding your family in my thoughts and prayers.”

Aubrey said, “Heart felt condolences. We love you all so

much. Many hugs and prayers to the Lafferty/Ortiz Families.”

Funeral service was at the Tiowakan Spiritual Center on Aug. 8, 2025. Pte San Tokeya Wiŋ Leading Fawn Woman Brisa Edna Chase Ortiz was buried at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community Center in Prior Lake, Minnesota.

Loretta Zacharias noted, “Sincere Condolences to Brisa’s family and friends. She will be forever in your family’s hearts and thoughts.”

PDF Brochure

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2025.

Patty Feltmann Bye was five years old. She lived in one of the eight apartments upstairs in the Ketterer Building on the corner of First and Lewis Street.

Patty’s sister, Sherry, age seven, and Patty were playing house in the hallway while Mrs. Anderson babysat them, according to the Shakopee Valley News, Sept. 12, 1957 article, “Fire Destroys Commander Apartments Building Saturday;” the Shakopee Argus-Tribune, Sept. 12, 1957 “Fire Hits Shakopee Business District;” the Shakopee Valley News, September 1957 “Shakopee Fire Destroys Feltmanns’ Household Furnishings;” and David R. Schleper Interview with Patty Feltmann Bye on March 5, 2025.

Patty and Sherry’s father, Clarence “Pidge” Feltmann, was working at the Effertz Buick garage, and her mother, Elizabeth Mary Betty Miller Feltmann was on the way to a ball game in Cold Spring with her brother, Lawrence Miller, who also lived at the apartment house next door with his uncle, Reinhold Miller.

A man came down the smokey hall with a flashlight yelling, “Fire! Fire! Get out!”

“I remember being worried that my dad may have been napping in the apartment during his lunch hour,” said Patty. Though Pidge was not there, the thought of her father, Pidge, being in the fire was in her mind when the man told them to get out.

The Ketterer building was on the northwest corner of First Avenue and Lewis Street, and was built in 1899.

It was damaged by fire on Saturday, Sept. 7, 1957 at 11:25 a.m.

According to Patty, “My sister was also worried and wanted to go back inside for her favorite bridal doll!”

The fire gutted the second floor of the building.

Firefighters from Shakopee and six other neighboring communities fought the fire for three hours.

Luckily, Pidge was out demonstrating a car when he heard the news, and he rushed back to the apartment to rescue the children, who were being taken care of by their neighbor, who was also in another Commander apartment building on the second floor of the Ketterer building.

Patty’s mother heard of the news on the radio in the car just as they arrived in Cold Spring for the baseball game, and she called to see the two girls were safe. Then she hurriedly returned home to Shakopee.

The fire damage was estimated at $80,000, including, it seems, the bridal doll.

The fire reportedly broke out in one of the upstairs apartments when a water heater exploded. The contents of the Shakopee Cafe, Coast to Coast Store, and McMurray’s Variety were ruined by smoke and water damage.

But all of the families were saved!

PDF Brochure

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2026.

In an article in the Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb. 1, 2026, “How ICE Crackdowns Are Moving Some MN Teens to Action,” Laura Yuen interviews several students, including Muno, a student at Shakopee High School.

Like many other students, Muno, age 18, asked Yuen to hold her last name because of fear of retaliation. Some of her fellow students had death threats during a school walkout, and Muno did not want to have her last name in the paper.

According to Yuen, Muno shared three stories she couldn’t shake from her mind during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota over the last three months, the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents immigration enforcement.

Then Muno craved carne asada. In West St. Paul, she pulled up to a taco shop. She saw a Latino boy, about her age, sizing her up from the store wood. “He apparently is the store’s makeshift security guide, there to prevent ICE agents from entering. He unlocks the door to let Muno in and quickly locks it after her.”

According to Yuen, lots of stories allege ICE is racially profiling residents, but Yuen was told by Muno that there is not enough about how the current climate of fear forces people of color to profile strangers back. “Even a teenager is open to make a split-second calculations, rooted in bias, to protect their family and their livelihood.”

So Muno tells the boy, “I’m sorry you have to do this, all day and every day,” then breaks down in her car and cries.

Later, Muno is going to her friend’s house, where she and several girls planned to bake cinnamon rolls and post selfies on TikTok in their matching pajamas. “Then her friend sends a warning to the group chat: ICE agents just detained a construction worker in her neighborhood.”

According to Yuen, “It’s the juxtapositions of frivolity and fear that fills Muno’s day-to-day life.” According to Muno, “I don’t want to stop being happy. I don’t want that normalcy being taken away.

But it’s so hard. You just can’t look away.”

Muno visited the memorial for Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and poet, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent on Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis, during Operation Metro Surge. The shooting, ruled a homicide, occurred as she observed federal immigration activity from her car, sparking national protests and a federal investigation.

“Muno sets down her flowers and her signs and pays her respects. Out of nowhere, a random Somali auntie reminds her to zip up her jacket and hands Muno a hot cup of tea. An older white man offers Muno food. This is the Minnesota she knows, the place that reared her and continues to protect its youth.”

“She said immigrants and their children won’t stop enduring or giving back to the state,” according to Yuen in the article about Muno.

“Yes, ICE is still happening, but I still have dinner plans Friday. I still have band practice. I’m still going to college. I’m still making my parents proud.”

PDF Brochure

Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2025.

Mary Carcamo was born in Catcamas, Honduras on Dec. 30, 1964. The Republic of Honduras is a country in Central America, bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Its capital and largest city is Tegucigalpa, according to Wikipedia.

Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, before Spanish colonization in the sixteenth century. The Spanish introduced Catholicism and the now predominant Spanish language, along with numerous customs that have blended with the indigenous culture.

Honduras became independent in 1821 and has since been a republic, although it has consistently endured much social strife and political instability, and remains one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

The nation’s economy is primarily agricultural, making it especially vulnerable to natural disasters. In the Republic of Honduras, 73% of the country’s population lived in poverty and 53% lived in extreme poverty. The lower class is primarily agriculturally based while wealth is concentrated in the country’s urban centers. The country is one of the most economically unequal in Latin America.

Honduran society is predominantly Mestizo; however, there are also significant Indigenous, black, and white communities in Honduras. Honduras is known for its rich natural resources, including minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, and sugar cane, as well as for its growing textiles industry, which serves the international market.

Mary Carcamo lived in Catcamas, Honduras. The city is situated northeast of Tegucigalpa. Catacamas has historically been characterized by the hospitality, resilience, and progressive spirit of its people, as well as its rich natural setting which is suitable for both agricultural and forest production.

The North White Stone Mountain, part of Agalta Mountains National Park, is located near the city. Catacamas is home to a variety of botanical species such as conifers, broadleaf plants, and some eighty varieties of orchids, as well as a rich fauna, including wild cats and the quetzal.

Catacamas is a city with a population of 63,310. It is the largest municipality in Central America in terms of area.

In 1997, Mary eventually moved to Minnesota, settling in Shakopee.

Mary was a caring mother, sister, and friend to all. She made sure to always take care of the ones she loved most. She enjoyed playing board games, cooking together, and spending time outdoors. She especially liked watching her children play soccer.

Mary enjoyed hosting large gatherings of family and friends whenever she could, regardless of her health. The most defining characteristic of Mary was that she was always happy. No matter what, she could always be found smiling or laughing, especially when surrounded by the ones she loved.

At age 58, Mary Carcamo passed away on September 29, 2023. After her service, Mary was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee.

PDF Brochure