Dorchester Times: Son Of Former Dorchester's Todd Jensen Wages Battle Against ALS

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Son Of Former Dorchester's Todd Jensen Wages Battle Against ALS

A sobering story ran this past weekend in the Hastings newspaper.

Photo by the Hastings Tribune

Andy Leighty, the oldest son of former Dorchester village board member Todd Jensen, was diagnosed last year with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Several people around the Dorchester area may know Andy from the years he helped with Dorchester little kids wrestling tournaments. Todd told us he thought it would be good if the Dorchester community heard Andy's story, which follows.

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Andy Leighty of Hastings wasn’t overly concerned when he noticed his left leg was beginning to cause him problems in 2016.

After all, the irrigation business owner had been dealing with bum knees for some time. And they never kept him from the things he loved, such as bow hunting deer and other outdoor activities.

But when the problem worsened, he found he needed a cane to help maintain his balance. Just a few short months later, a walker replaced the cane. By January 2018, he was in a wheelchair.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed him with ALS on March 21, 2018.

The diagnosis came as a shock to all, since there was no history of the disease in the family. For Andy, an Adams Central graduate, his wife, Alex, a Hastings High student he met during their senior years at a pickup football game, and their two young children, Brianna, 8, and Colten, 6, life has become far more challenging than any of them could ever have imagined.

“We’ve just all kind of fought through it,” Alex said. “We’re not going to lie: The hard times are hard and depression happens. By no means was this ever expected.”

Throughout his journey, Andy has maintained a positive attitude, one he likes to pass on through his engaging smile and encouraging words to all within his ALS community of friends.

“You have two choices: You can give up and die, or live your life and thank God to be alive,” he said.

His upbeat disposition is fueled by the things which matter most to him: “Faith, family, friends.”

Read more here.

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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."