Keoxa is the name of a Dakota village which once existed on the site of Winona, Minnesota, where my parents, Raymond Frank Hughes and Laura Mae Bambenek, were born and raised.

Mom and Dad were married at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in Winona on September 3, 1960; after their honeymoon they made their home in Racine, Wisconsin and started their family. When we kids were little, vacations consisted of trips to Winona, where we stayed at Grandpa Bambenek's house at 578 East Fifth Street and visited with a small army of aunts and uncles and cousin. As teenagers, we all still loved visiting Winona. My brother even got his bachelor's degree at Winona State University. As young adults it was fun to do the family reunion thing, but now, it seems, we only get together for funerals. So it goes.

Links to Winona stuff

• Sometimes I post about Winona on my blog.
• The Winona Daily News
• The Winona Newspaper Project - a searchable online archive of Winona newspapers up through 1946
• Lost US 61 in Winona - courtesy of Deadpioneer's Lost Minnesota Highways page
• John A. Weeks III's Bridges of the Upper Mississippi River
• An interesting map of the Chicago Great Western Railway, which also once ran into Winona
• A site devoted to the Green Bay and Western Railroad, which also once ran into Winona
• WinonaShops.com - created by two Winona model railroaders
• A collection of railroad photographs taken in Winona, some taken by me.
• Winona's cemeteries
• Polish Cultural Institute of Winona