Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Tom Ollig: 10 years at TDS and still full of new ideas



“To come up with all the things we’ve come up with
over the years, you’ve gotta be just a little goofy, said Tom Ollig of TDS
TELECOM.

“My friends and I are just a little goofy, so don’t
be surprised if we come up with something else.”

Ollig, who recently celebrated 10 years with TDS, was one
of the original “world famous” Bratbusters, and hinted that the
original members might make a cameo appearance at this year’s Crazy Days.

He has been on and off of the Winsted City Council for
20 years, and was one of the “founding fathers” of the Winstock
Country Music Festival.

“I’ll be out someplace, and somebody will say ‘Where
are you from?,’ and I say ‘Winsted’ and they’ll go ‘Oh yeah, Winstock,'”
he said.

He has also been involved in Holy Trinity Parish, serving
on numerous committees, and has been president of the Winsted Chamber of
Commerce three times.

Ollig and his friend, Gary Lenz, started the Winsted Winter
Festival parade, and the two also co-chaired Winsted’s centennial celebration
in 1987.

Ollig and his wife LuAnn have been married 30 years and
have four children, Michelle (Campbell), who is studying nursing; Beth,
who works at AT&T Wireless; Laura, who is a junior at St. Scholastica,
studying nursing; and Breanna, who is in eighth grade at Holy Trinity.

Ollig is also proud of the newest member of their family
­ his first granddaughter, Madison, who is Michelle and her husband
Jeff’s daughter.

“I’ve spent a considerable part of my life investing
in Winsted, but it’s been fun,” Ollig said. “I’ve probably gotten
more back than I’ve ever given. That’s the neat thing about Winsted. There
are so many people here willing to give their time and make the community
better.”

A part of Winsted’s telephone history

Tom Ollig has been a part of the Winsted community his
whole life.

His grandparents purchased Winsted Telephone Company from
his great uncle back in the 1930s, Ollig said.

“My father, John, got involved for a number of years
as a child, then he ran it, and as I grew up, on weekends and summers I
worked here,” Ollig said.

After John’s passing in 1982, Ollig, his brothers Mark
and Michael, and their mother, Therese, ran the company until its sale.

“It was just a lot of fun,” Ollig said. In November
1993, Ollig’s family sold it to TDS TELECOM.

Two years prior to that, he and his family started to look
at the changing telephone industry, and as technology changes, it would
be difficult to generate the money needed to keep up with all the changes.

“We made a decision to sell the company. We looked
at a lot of companies and had a lot of interest, but we chose TDS because
they have a history of keeping the employees and keeping the office open,
and that was important to our family because for 70 years, the Winsted
Telephone Company has been a big part of Winsted.”

Ollig remained at Winsted as manager for about one year.
TDS purchased the Monticello Telephone Company, and requested that Ollig
go to Monticello and manage that company.

Ollig was called back to his duties of managing the Winsted
office in July 2000.

“I was very happy about that because Winsted is my
home,” Ollig said. “It was fun to come back.”

Now, Ollig spends one day a week in Winsted, and the other
four in Monticello. Originally, he tried to keep the day he was in Winsted
the same, but that became too hard to do.

TDS has brought DSL to Winsted, and now is involved in
possibly bringing metro calling to Winsted.

“To be honest, working for TDS TELECOM has been fun.
It’s a good company, and the industry is changing fast.

“If our family still owned the company, I’m not so
sure we would have DSL and some of the other products we have, simply because
of the costs involved, and that would be a disservice to the community.

“Winsted is going to grow, and the telephone company
is a big part of that,” Ollig said.

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