Bio: Hediger Benefit Planned (1980)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Hediger, Kottschade, Hillman

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 1/10/1980

Hediger Benefit Planned (1980)

Although Christmas is usually considered the time for giving, independent truckers and other friends of Herman Hediger, Jr., favor late winter or early spring as the time for doing a good turn for Hediger, who was severely injured in a trucking accident in Montana last December 20.

According to Hediger’s wife Charlotte, some members of the Independent Truckers Association are looking onto a way of putting on a country-western fund-raiser for Hediger, who will probably be unable to drive a truck again due to injuries received in the accident.

“I’m trying to get something set up,” said Don Kottschade, Winona, apparently the leader if Hediger’s troupe of well-wishers. “We’d like to raise some money for him to keep him going maybe set him up in something new.”

Although Kottschade has not yet developed a positive plan (“We’re open for all kinds of ideas,” he said) it seems that Minnesota country western singer Chill Hillman will play a large part in the effort. According to Kottschade, Hillman has recently cut a new record and will be performing on a public broadcasting station in the near future. Kottschade said that Hillman has volunteered to perform free of charge at a benefit for Hediger and that Hillman plans to get at least two other country western bands to make a similar offer.

Kottschade would like to have food, drink and live music from mid-afternoon to midnight on the day of the benefit and he’d prefer it to take place in Neillsville or Eau Claire. He originally planned to have the event in late February, but that didn’t give anyone enough time, so they’ll strive for March, he said. “We can even wait for April,” he added.

Charlotte Hediger was doubtful that the benefit would take place as early as March, she said that, because of the difficulty in procuring a hall for the event, they may have to wait until late spring, when they could hold the event outdoors.

Kottschade said that the event will be advertised nationwide is such places as Overdrive, a magazine directed primarily at truckers. He said that tickets would be sold throughout the U.S., but the event would most likely take place in Neillsville or Eau Claire.

“Herman has done probably more than anybody in the U.S. for trucking, so that’s why we’d like to do something back for him,” said Kottschade.

“That’s the way this bunch of guys are,” said Charlotte Hediger. “They stick close, and they help each other out.”