When Howard (Pork) Vezina first joined his father at the Standard-Press newspaper, it was just to help out for a few weeks. Familiar with flying, Pork’s intentions were to seek employment at a commercial airline but the newspaper seemed to get busier by the week and as the country flourished, so did the newspaper.
The father-son team operated the paper together until 1957 when W.R. retired and Pork bought him out. Pork and his family were sole owners and operated the paper until selling it to Ledger Publications in January 1984. Pork decided to expand his businesses and in 1956 built a Dairy Queen franchise in St. Croix Falls. The multiple businesses meant Pork often worked 12 or more hours a day, six days a week.
Pork was born Sept. 28, 1917, to William Ruben (Butch) and Phi Beraice Vezina in Dulie, Mont., where his father operated a newspaper. The family moved to St. Croix Falls when Pork was around 4 years old.
Pork attended school in St. Croix Falls, graduated in 1936 and headed to Hamlin University in St. Paul, Minn., on an athletic scholarship. He was drafted and served for two years in the U.S. Army Air Corps during his sophomore year. He married Phyllis Ara Jensen on March 20, 1941. They moved to Hartley, Iowa, and operated the Hartley Sentinel newspaper.
When World War II broke out, Pork was recalled. He served as a flight engineer, navigator and bombardier on a B-17 bomber, flying many missions over Germany and later in the South Pacific. His plane was once severely damaged over Germany but the wounded crew managed to get back to England and safely land.
Pork and Phyllis celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary in March 2000 and he lost the love of his life later that year in October. Together they had three children, Don, Cheri and Doug. Pork was 93 when he died June 16, 2011.
Note: Vezina is said to have acquired his nickname during a family trip to Montana many years ago. Apparently Vezina or his father struck a porcupine on the highway. Howard then proceeded to diligently try to remove the cadaver from the roadway so it would rest with dignity rather than be turned into a pancake. His mother, commenting on his stubbornness, apparently coined the name and it stuck — pardon the pun.
