USTA Photo Contest (6-July)

The USTA has announced it's 2010 Photo Contest. Click here for more details.

Mineral Point Entry Numbers (24-June)

The phone to call in entries for the Mineral Point matinee is down. Please call one of the following numbers to enter your horse today (June 24) by 11:00am: Gabe Wand (608-574-5468), Pooch Clark (608-444-6308) or June Long (608-732-9188).

LaVern Wesley Adams Passes Away (10-June)

LaVern Wesley Adams passed away on Saturday, June 4 at the age of 89.

He was born April 14, 1921 in Waukesha, Wisconsin to Wesley Chapman Adams and Agnes Morris Adams. He spent his early years on his parent’s farm developing his agricultural skills, but his boyhood avocation was baseball and he developed a lifelong love for the game. “Ace” Adams was a standout player in Legion and Land O’Lakes teams and was described in a Waukesha Freeman article as the “leading fireball pitcher in the Lakes”.

He graduated from Waukesha High School and met his future wife, Martha Pauline Rickert, in 1938; they wed on August 30, 1941. They purchased their own farm on Oakdale Drive in 1945 and lived there until 2007. LaVern was successful dairy farmer, raising Holstein cattle and was a pioneer in developing a milking parlor system for milking cows. He was a founding member of the Town of Waukesha Volunteer Fire Department, served on the School Board for Oakdale School and was a member of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church since 1953.

In 1963 a major fire destroyed his dairy barn which led to his second career as a successful breeder and trainer of Standardbred horses. He purchased his first trotter, Chancy, in 1964 and became a member of the U.S. Trotting Association in 1966. LaVern was a small time horseman; buying one yearling a year but still training many Illinois seasons leaders and colt champions. In 1980 he attended the ISOBA yearling sale with his daughter Susan and a colt came charging out of the ring, dragging his handler behind him. Someone said to Susan, “I feel sorry for the poor son of a bitch that bought that colt,” and LaVern came running up to her and said, “I got that colt, I got him!” LaVern turned that colt, Worthy Renvaeh, into a World Champion; breaking the record for two-year old pacing geldings going two heats on a mile track. That mark was taken August 23, 1981 at Springfield, with each heat going in 1:58.3. LaVern’s favorite part of being in the business was training colts and developing them into racehorses; he did all the work himself from breaking and training to shoeing and driving. He involuntarily retired at age 87 due to the effects of a stroke, but has passed along his love for the sport to Susan and granddaughter Jessica, who are currently involved in Wisconsin and Ohio, respectively.

LaVern is survived by his wife of 69 years, Martha; his son Jeffrey and his wife Judith and their three sons Samuel, Will and Daniel; his daughter Susan Schroeder and her daughter Jessica; his son Bryan and his wife Mary, his daughter Beth and Mary’s children Ashley, Nick, Amanda and Melissa. He is also survived by his sisters-in-law Bernice Adams, Esther Rickert and Hertha Rickert and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, Kenneth and Delbert.

Funeral services will be held at Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, 1205 South East Avenue, Waukesha Wisconsin at 11:00 am with Pastor Peter Schmidt officiating. Internment will follow at Prairie Home Cemetery. Friends and relatives may meet with the family at the church from 10:00 am until the time of the service. The family suggests memorials to Linden Grove Foundation or the charity of choice.

The family wishes to thank the staff of Linden Court, Mukwonago for their compassionate care given to LaVern from October 2007 until his death.

Wisconsin Harness Horse Association