STARBUCK, Minn. — The Dairy Queen in Starbuck, Minnesota, is the kind of place you don't soon forget.
"It's on a beautiful lake, Lake Minnewaska, and it's a small dairy queen," said Jodi Melsness, who grew up in Starbuck. "I believe it's one of the oldest dairy queen's, you can check me on that."
For Melsness, the small DQ is the kind of hometown staple that brings back memories of childhood.
"After sporting events we would come down to the Dairy Queen and have a treat," she said.
Of course it didn't hurt that her father, Russell Lundell, and especially her mother, Jeanne Lundell, had a soft spot for that DQ soft serve.
"A Snickers Blizzard, that's her favorite," Melsness said.
But it wasn't until late in Jeanne's life that Jodi really began to understand how memorable that store was to her Mom.
"The Dairy queen was a central figure for her, so she always knew where she was by the Dairy Queen," Melsness said. "So when I started to get calls saying that she was getting turned around, the Dairy Queen was instrumental in sometimes getting her home."
That was the beginning of Jeanne's eight year journey through Alzheimer's disease. At the time, Melsness, a home health and hospice nurse, who had years of experience with memory care patients, decided to chronical her mother's experience in a blog, and eventually a book, called The Lemon Bar Queen.
"There were times that I didn't understand it, even though memory care is my background," Melsness said. "There were times where I struggled with it. There were many times that I would call friends or, you know, I write a lot about crying in the parking lot. Like, how can she just not remember me? But it's part of the progression, It's part of the disease."
The disease eventually took her mother away from her favorite DQ and her hometown, but Jodi says the people there never let her go.
"Even in memory care, they still checked on her and called," Melsness said. "Even though she would forget them, she would see the cards on the wall and every day was a new day, so she'd think she'd get new cards every day."
And that's why, even six years after her Jeanne's death, her family is still saying thanks to the community and the store at the center of it all.
On Sunday, the Starbuck Dairy Queen will host the Lundell Family Give Away. The first 100 customers will receive a small cone or blizzard in celebration of what would have been Jeanne's 95th birthday.
"It's a wonderful small town that took care of my mom," She said. "It's just so important to know that she was watched when I wasn't here, and if we can give back in some way, giving away 100 Dairy Queen treat's to our hometown, I think it's the least we can do for taking care of my mom for that short period of time."
The annual event also serves as a fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association. Customers can make donation at the Dairy Queen, but you can also give online, through Melsness' Longest Day fundraising page.