Written by Dave Fjeld from Cottonwood County Citizen
Dewey Moede and Nita Killebrew are close friends — even though they’ve never met, face-to-face.
But they’ll erase that gap this weekend when the two meet in Moede’s hometown of Windom for the House of Hope at BARC on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Dewey and Nita, the wife of late Twins great Harmon Killebrew, will speak both nights of the House of Hope. However, they also will converse on Saturday morning during a special breakfast fundraiser for the Windom Baseball Association in the BARC Library.
At 9 a.m., the WBA will offer a breakfast, followed by an interview session between Dewey and Nita.
“Nita still talks with all of Harmon’s (baseball) buddies who are living,” Dewey explains. “She was just back to Minnesota for Frank Quilici’s funeral. She’s great friends with Tony Oliva, Rod Carew and so many former Twins, as well as the current ownership and David St. Peter.”
Moede adds that Nita still comes to charity events in Minnesota in Harmon’s honor.
“You’ll get her take on Calvin Griffith and Billy Martin, too,” Dewey notes.
“It’s going to be a tremendous time with her because you’ll get to revisit Minnesota Twins baseball history.”
Tickets are still available for the “Talkin’ Baseball Breakfast with Nita Killebrew.” Tickets are just $8 each with all proceeds going to the WBA.
If time remains following their conversation, Nita will take questions from the audience.
Tickets are limited. If you would like to be a part of the breakfast, contact myself, Don Jackson, or stop at the Citizen and purchase a ticket.
To reserve a ticket, you can call me at 822-0870, or Don Jackson at 831-4081.
Killebrew & Dewey
Nita will have plenty of stories to share during the Talkin’ Baseball Breakfast.
I had the privilege of speaking with her over the phone from her home in Meridian, Idaho, on Tuesday. One of the stories she shared was about Dewey and Harmon.
Dewey has long been a fan of Harmon Killebrew — but then who of us wasn’t. As a youngster, when the Killer was in his prime on the diamond for the Minnesota Twins, there were few baseball cards my friends and I coveted more than a Harmon Killebrew card.
Dewey was the same way.
So, when the opportunity arose while Dewey was in radio, he got the OK from his general manager to interview Harmon for 1½ hours — commercial free. After that, Dewey and Harmon continued to stay connected and Dewey interviewed Harmon a couple of times when he was in Albuquerque.
In fact, Dewey was able to pray with Harmon in his final days.
Nita recalls Harmon’s reaction to an interview with Dewey.
“I remember Harmon going off to be on the radio in Albuquerque, but I didn’t know exactly what it was,” Nita says. “When he came home, he said to me, ‘I met the nicest pastor I’ve ever met. If he were here, in Arizona, I’d go to his church.’
“So, I knew Dewey had to be a good guy.”
Dewey reached out to Nita after Harmon’s death and they have been friends for the past seven years.
A year ago, Dewey asked Nita to come and share her story, but the timing wasn’t quite right. This year, the timing worked out and Nita will be on a plane to Minneapolis, where she will be picked up for the ride to Windom.
“I never overlook an opportunity to tell people about Harmon,” Nita says. “He lived his life so intentionally — and
Harmon was a case study in it. As Jesus was loving and kind, so was Harmon.
“It was so impressive to me all the things that I would read and hear when he was diagnosed until even after he passed away. Everything people wrote was so nice — and it was about his personality. They’d mention his home runs and that he’s in the Hall of Fame, but they talked and talked about how they met him and that he was just a congenial guy. He didn’t have an ego.”
Nita shared with me a story about how he checked that ego and she will share that story at both nights of the House of Hope at BARC on Friday and Saturday.
The event runs from 5 to 9 p.m., each evening and you’ll definitely want to hear her testimony and a couple of very touching stories that demonstrate that Harmon was the same in public and private.
