Johnie Lee Arbogast

By Patrick Fee · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 4:47 pm CDT

Johnie Lee Arbogast, 89, of Washington, died Thursday, November 13, 2025, at the Halcyon House in Washington.

Graveside Services will be at 11:00 AM, Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at the Schrock Cemetery. The service will be livestreamed on the Beatty-Peterseim YouTube channel and Facebook page. Visitation will begin at 2PM and family will be present 4-6:00PM Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at the Beatty Funeral Home in Washington. A memorial in the name of Johnie Arbogast has been established to Hospice of Washington County or Brighton 1st responders.

Johnie was born on July 20, 1936, the son of John and Ada (Turner) Arbogast. He attended school through the 8th grade and joined the Navy. Johnie was united in marriage to Elanor Jean Beauregard on October 2, 1959. After serving in the Navy Johnie worked driving a feed truck, Farm Service, and Crane Valve in Washington.

He had a small farm at home where he raised horses. He took this opportunity to teach his children the valuable lesson of hard work. Johnie enjoyed taking care of the horses, especially his horse Little “Dusty” Star. On their free time Johnie took his family to local rodeos and horse shows.

Survivors include son Terry Arbogast of Brighton, two daughters Deb Barnett of Wayland and Cindy Arbogast of Brighton: siblings Mildred Wilson of Ainsworth, Dorothy Jacob of Wellman, Charles Arbogast, Stanley (Shelly) Arbogast both of Washington, sister in-law Fonda Arbogast, grandson Trevor Barnett, granddaughter Breann Barnett, great grandson Westyn Albert.

He was preceded by his parents, wife Jean, Son in-law Jim Barnett, two sisters Elizabeth Troutman, infant sister, four brothers Howard, Dean, Richard, Edwin Arbogast, two nephews Doug and Jeff Arbogast, niece Carla Arbogast, great nephew Zachary.

 

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Beverly June McFall (Duvel)

By Hayden Douglas · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 12:17 pm CDT

Beverly June McFall (Duvel), 90, of rural Montrose, Iowa, passed away at 6:29 a.m., Thursday, November 13, 2025, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics  in Iowa City.

She was born on November 25, 1934 in Udell, Iowa, the daughter of Otha and Myrtle (Dochterman) Fenton. Bev graduated from Moravia High School in 1952. On June 5, 1955, she married Jerry Charles McFall in Centerville, Iowa, where they made their home for several years. Together they raised three children before Jerry’s passing in 2014 after fifty-nine years of marriage. Beverly then met Thomas Edward Duvel and they married on November 26, 2016.

Survivors include her husband: Tom of Montrose; son: Randy (Lisa) McFall of Donnellson; daughters: Kathy (Duane) Kramer of Donnellson and Pamela (Fletcher) Fett of Fort Madison; step-sons: Randy (Bonnie) Duvel of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Mike Duvel of Troy, Missouri, Terry (Trisha) Duvel of Warrenton, Missouri; step-daughters: Debbi (Keith) Schwaab of Wentzville, Missouri, Becky (Terry) Roberts of Wentzville, Missouri and Tina (Cliff) Tucker of Troy, Missouri; one sister: Colleen Bryant of Niceville, Florida; many grand, great grand and great-great grandchildren. Also surviving are several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband: Jerry; son-in-law: Craig Hayes; brothers: Otha Fenton, Jr., Lyle Fenton and Paul Fenton; two sisters: Barbara Allen and Lela Ponsetto.

Bev was an avid golfer in her early years and played weekly in a women’s league. She loved growing roses in her yard, baking prize winning pies and making the best chocolate chip cookies ever. One of her name-sake granddaughters lovingly referred to her as “Grandma Cookie”. Bev also devoted many years of service to the National T.T.T. Society. The group raises money to send numerous girls to camp each year to help build new life skills, self-confidence, as well as lifelong memories and friendships. Bev believed this was a very important mission and was proud of her involvement.

Bev and Jerry eventually moved their family from Centerville to Donnellson where they owned and operated Gambles stores in Donnellson and Fort Madiosn for twenty years. They later moved to Des Moines, Iowa where they both worked for Conlin Management Company for fifteen years before retiring to their current home on the Mississippi River in rural Montrose. Bev loved property management, meeting new tenants, managing the day-to-day operations of a large apartment complex and keeping all the records by hand. Even in retirement, she and Jerry owned two rental properties for several years.

Retiring to their house by the river in Montrose had been a dream of hers and Jerry’s and they loved it there. They enjoyed watching the eagles, the barge traffic and living close to all of their family. Later, Tom married and joined her there and the two of them took great care of each other, filling the last nine years with love and companionship. Through their marriage, Bev gained many new family members and friends.

A visitation will be held from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. Monday, November 17, 2025, at Schmitz Funeral Home in Donnellson. The family will not be present.

The family will receive friends from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 18, 2025, with the funeral service immediately following at 11:00 a.m. at Schmitz Funeral Home in Donnellson with Reverend Dana Jurgens officiating.

Burial will be at the Montrose Cemetery in Montrose, Iowa.

In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established in her memory for Green Acres Country Club in Donnellson or the National T.T.T. Society.

Schmitz Funeral Home of Donnellson is assisting the family with arrangements. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.schmitzfuneralhomes.com.

Tire Blowout Causes Jackknifed Semi, Major Backups on Highway 218 Near Salem

By Hayden Douglas · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 11:53 am CDT

A tire blowout on an 18-wheeler caused significant traffic disruption Friday morning on Highway 218 near Salem. The accident happened around 9:00 a.m. at the intersection of Salem Road and Highway 218, just south of Mount Pleasant.

According to initial reports, the semi suffered a sudden tire failure, causing the driver to lose control and the vehicle to jackknife across the roadway. The truck blocked traffic for roughly an hour as law enforcement and recovery crews worked to clear the scene.

Traffic backups extended north to Old Highway 218, worsened by construction already underway in the area. Iowa State Patrol and Henry County Sheriff’s deputies directed alternating traffic flow, allowing northbound vehicles to move for several minutes before stopping them to let southbound traffic proceed.

Just after 10:00 a.m., the semi was successfully moved out of the roadway, and normal traffic flow was restored.

No injuries have been reported.
KILJ will continue to provide updates if additional information becomes available.

Mt. Pleasant’s Cross Country Team Awards

By Slaten Swords · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 11:49 am CDT

Mt. Pleasant, IA- The Mt. Pleasant cross country teams, led by Mitch Anderson and Lyle Murray, put together a successful season on the trails, which included a trio of All-Conference and State Qualifying runners and a top 25 finish at the 2025 State Cross Country Meet.

To officially put the exclamation mark on the season, the Panthers held their banquet last night and passed out the season awards.

Panther Girls’ Team

There’s no secret that Mt. Pleasant boasts a talented but very young team with two freshmen and four sophomores. That inexperience can be detrimental to a team’s success, unless you have a strong leader, and the Panthers had just that in their lone senior Nelle Peterson. Aptly, Peterson earned the Linnie Cornick Heart Award.

Peterson’s best run of the year was 23 minutes and 13 seconds, which ranked third on the team. The best finish of the season for the Panther squad was 2nd place at the Mediapolis Invite where Peterson took 15th place, her best of the season.

A sophomore that was consistently turning in season best times was Molly Baker and for her effort she was given the Most Potential Award. Her season trajectory was a coach’s dream. Baker started the season running around the 26-minute mark and by the end of the season turned in her personal best time at the State Qualifier at 23 minutes and 49 seconds. A two-minute improvement throughout the season is highly impressive.

For the second consecutive year, the Panthers had a freshman qualify for the State Meet. Avery Fedler had a lot of hype surrounding her rookie season at the high school level and the team MVP delivered.

Fedler was ranked as high as #3 in Class 3A for the Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) and won not only the Southeast Conference (SEC) meet but the Panthers’ State Qualifying meet as well. Her best time was at the SEC meet as she turned in a time of 18 minutes and 42 seconds. The freshman claimed 24th at the State Meet in Fort Dodge.

Fedler talked about what she was working on to improve her performance heading into her first high school experience,

“I think one thing I’ve really worked on is building my mileage. So, in middle school I probably wasn’t running more than 10 miles a week, and I’ve built it up to like 30 miles a week, 10 miles is not ideal for any kind of mid distance runner, so building my mileage is definitely the key factor in my success.”

Quintrie Lee qualified for her second consecutive State Meet as well as she finished in 3rd place at the SEC meet to finish with All-Conference honors. Haylay Lydolph and Summer Winget also improved as the season progressed.

Panther Boys’ Team

Similar to the girls’ team, the boys’ team touted one senior to lead a roster that consisted of six underclassmen. With the help of Payton Wilson’s leadership, the Panthers grabbed 3rd place at the SEC meet. The senior also saved his best run for the State Qualifier as he finished with a time of 19 minutes and 17 seconds. For his hard work, Wilson earned the Panther Award.

Ben Leishman’s best time as a freshman was 20 minutes and 40 seconds. The sophomore cut nearly two minutes off his best time this season with a mark of 18 minutes and 41 seconds, which was good enough for 21st at the SEC meet. This evolution meant Leishman took home the Most Improved Award.

Last but certainly not least, the team MVP went to junior Silas Hulett. Coach Anderson had a simple way of describing Hulett’s performance at his home meet that would be the groundwork for the rest of the season, “monster race…” He turned in a time of 17 minutes-flat to win the large division.

He would parlay that victory into an All-Conference honor at the SEC meet, then a gigantic 9th place finish at the State Qualifier, which saw him cut off another 16 seconds from his run at the Panther Invite to finish with a season best time of 16 minutes and 44 seconds. Hulett would claim 53rd place at the State Meet with a time of 17 minutes and 3 seconds.

This is in spite of Hulett not running on the cross-country team until last year. He lives out exactly what he hopes to pass down to the next generation of runners,

“With enough work and enough dedication, anything is possible, and you just have to be willing to fight through the pain and power [through] and run your race and have a little fun sometimes because you don’t always run your best race. You know, you don’t always do your best all the time. Sometimes you mess up, but maybe that mess up is just to be better the next time, you know.”

Helping round out the team was Jeremiah Aguma, Max Heater, Lucas Hurd, Khanon Koller, Anthony Krzyranowski, Clark Peterson, and Oliver Rynders, who all improved throughout the season, as they all turned in sub-26 minute times.

Two-Vehicle Crash Sends One to Hospital in Mount Pleasant

By Hayden Douglas · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 11:48 am CDT

The Mount Pleasant Police Department responded to a two-vehicle collision Thursday afternoon that left one passenger injured.

According to authorities, the crash occurred on November 13 at 4:31 p.m. at the intersection of Washington and Walnut Streets. Dispatchers reported that a passenger in one of the vehicles had been injured and was possibly trapped.

Officers arrived to find Mount Pleasant Fire Department personnel already working to free the passenger from the vehicle. Once extricated, the individual was transported by Henry County Emergency Medical Services to Henry County Health Center for further evaluation and treatment. No additional injuries were reported.

An investigation revealed that a 2007 Suzuki SX4 was traveling east on Washington Street and attempted to turn north onto Walnut Street on a green light. The Suzuki was struck on the passenger side by a westbound 2018 Ram 2500. Police determined that both drivers’ view of oncoming traffic had been blocked by another truck that was attempting to turn south onto Walnut Street.

The Mount Pleasant Police Department was assisted at the scene by the Mount Pleasant Fire Department, Henry County EMS, and Breuer Towing & Recovery.

Sports, November 14th

By Slaten Swords · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 6:30 am CDT

Postseason High School Football

Classes A and 4A held their semifinal matchups yesterday and a majority of the games were decided before the final whistle. 

For Class A, Wapsie Valley was in complete control for a half of play, leading 7 to 6 over #2 Saint Ansgar at the break. Then the Saints broke through with three huge plays in the third quarter: an 83-yard kick return touchdown, a 90-yard touchdown pass from Porter Schwiesow to Korben Michels, and a Schwiesow 30-yard dash to the endzone as they outscored the Warriors 24 to 0 in the second half to win 31-7. 

It was the Michael Schmillen show as #1 MMCRU shut out West Sioux 28-0. Schmillen reeled in three receptions for 147 yards and three touchdowns in a truly dominating display, while the Royals defense curtailed the Falcons’ rushing attack to just 49 yards. The Class A championship contest is set for November 20th at 1 pm between Saint Ansgar and MMCRU. 

The Class 4A semifinals saw Emmanuel Diers of Pella run all over Sergeant Bluff-Luton, tallying 197 rushing yards and three touchdowns in the Dutch’s 35-14 victory over the Warriors. Michael Manning added 157 yards and a touchdown through the air. 

In the closest finish of the day, Xavier’s mad dash of a second half saw Cash Parks plunge in from a yard out late in the fourth quarter to beat Newton 31-24. Parks finished with three total touchdowns in the winning effort. Caden Klein put the Cardinals on his back in the loss, amassing over 300 total yards and three touchdowns. 

Pella and Xavier will meet at 7 pm on November 20th for the Class 4A state title. 

Class 1A will play today with Grundy Center taking on Regina Catholic at 10 am and West Lyon facing off against South Hardin at 1 pm. 

The Class 5A semifinals are set for tonight with Dowling Catholic facing off against Valley at 4 pm and Waukee Northwest dueling with Iowa City Liberty at 7 pm.

The Class 2A semifinals will lead off tomorrow, November, 15th, with Osage and Van Meter playing at 10 am and Kuemper Catholic squaring off against Wilton at 1 pm. The Class 3A semifinals will follow with Bishop Heelan kicking off against Wahlert Catholic at 4 pm and Solon taking on Nevada at 7 pm.

#1 Bishop Garrigan and #2 Woodbine will meet on November 20th at 9:30 am for the Eight-Player state championship.

High School Girls’ Basketball

Mediapolis will travel to Burlington tonight for a scrimmage. 

Mt. Pleasant will host their jamboree on Monday, November 17th, with Columbus, Mediapolis, and Winfield-Mt. Union also participating.

New London will scrimmage against Fairfield and Van Buren County will take on Sigourney at a jamboree held by Cardinal on Tuesday, November 18th.

Southeastern Community College

The women’s basketball team will face off against Moberly Area Community College tomorrow, November 15th, at a tournament held by John Wood Community College. 

The men’s basketball team will travel to Olive-Harvey College tonight at 6 pm.

The men’s and women’s wrestling teams will travel to Luther College tomorrow for a tournament. 

The Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) released the All-Region Teams for Division II volleyball yesterday and the Blackhawks put four on the list. 

Aviana West was named to the All-Region First Team after finishing 4th in the conference with 405 kills for the season. Finding a spot on the Second Team was Taryn Havener, as she posted 74 total blocks and 273 kills. Jacque Adair made the Third Team with 379 kills on a kill efficiency of 0.150. Fairfield alum Maddie Jones was named All-Region Honorable Mention as she amassed 793 assists for the year, adding 44 aces and 23 kills for the squad. 

College Football

#21 Iowa returns to action tomorrow, November 15th, in a road showdown against #17 USC at 2:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will be on the call.

Iowa State is now on a bye week. 

College Basketball

The #21 Iowa women’s team put on another dazzling display of offense, clobbering Drake 100-58 last night. Layla Hays collected a double-double from off the bench, cashing in for 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Hawkeyes will travel to Cedar Falls to take on UNI on Sunday, November 16th, at 2 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will host Xavier tonight at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will be on the call.

The #16 Iowa State women’s team will face off against Norfolk State on Sunday at 1 pm.

The #16 Iowa State men’s team will compete at home against Stonehill College on Monday, November 17th, at 7 pm. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.

This Day in Sports History

1943 – Sid Luckman became the first passer in NFL history to eclipse the 400-yard plateau when he threw for 433 yards and 7 touchdowns in his team’s 56-7 rout of the New York Giants.

1993 – Don Shula became the winningest coach in NFL history when the Dolphins defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 19-14, at the old Veteran Stadium. The victory was the 325th of Shula’s career.

2018 – New York Mets pitcher Jacob DeGrom wins the NL Cy Young Award; his 10 wins were the fewest ever by a Cy Young winner in a non-strike-shortened season.

Mount Pleasant Chorale to Present “Lessons and Carols” on December 6

By Hayden Douglas · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 5:40 am CDT

The Mount Pleasant Chorale, accompanied by the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra, will present its annual Lessons and Carols program on Saturday, December 6, offering the community a chance to step into the spirit of the season with music and scripture. 

The event will take place at the First United Methodist Church of Mount Pleasant, beginning at 3 p.m. Admission is free, with a free-will donation accepted to support future performances. 

Lessons and Carols is a long-held tradition for many choirs across the country, blending Biblical readings with choral arrangements and instrumental selections. The program typically reflects themes of hope, anticipation, and celebration leading into the Christmas season. 

Organizer Blair Buffington says the Chorale looks forward to bringing this meaningful musical experience to the community once again. 

For more information, community members may contact the Mount Pleasant Chorale at mountpleasantchorale@gmail.com 

New London High School Presents “Game of Tiaras” This Weekend

By Hayden Douglas · Friday, November 14th, 2025 at 5:39 am CDT

The New London High School Masqued Tigers are gearing up to delight audiences with their fall production of Game of Tiaras, a fast-paced and hilarious parody written by Don Zolidis. The show brings together classic fairy-tale characters and the dramatic flair of a fantasy epic, resulting in a performance full of comedy, twists, and over-the-top royal theatrics.

Join the Masqued Tigers for one of their performances on November 14th at 7:00 p.m., and on November 15th at 2:00 p.m. and again at 7:00 p.m. The Saturday evening performance is also Senior Night, recognizing the hard-working seniors who have contributed their talent and leadership to the program.

All performances will be held in the New London High School Auditorium. Tickets are available online and can also be purchased at the door. Please note that passes are not accepted for this production.

Game of Tiaras is produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc., and showcases the dedication of New London’s student actors, technical crew, and directors. With its clever humor and high-energy cast, the show promises a fun night out for families, students, and community members alike.

Don’t miss the chance to experience this royal comedy on stage and support the talented performers of New London High School!