05/20/2011: UPDATED: Funeral arrangements set for store owner Kyle Glenn

SPRING VALLEY -- Services were to be held Wednesday evening at Glenwood City for 26-year-old Kyle Glenn, owner of the Spring Valley Super Value grocery store, who died early Friday morning at the Baldwin Area Medical Center.

Glenn was found mortally wounded shortly before 6 a.m. Friday when sheriff’s deputies responded to a 9-1-1 call apparently placed by Glenn, minutes before he shot himself with a handgun in the store’s warehouse area.

Officers were on-scene within minutes of the 5:38 a.m. call being received at the Ellsworth dispatch center. They arrived to find the store's front door open and inside lights on, according to Spring Valley Police Chief Dennis Sorenson.

Suspecting a possible robbery, officers conducted a careful search of the building, during which an empty handgun case was found in the store's office area. A short time later, Glenn was found on a warehouse floor, unresponsive, with a gun shot wound to the head.

He was transported by Spring Valley Ambulance personnnel to the Baldwin Medical Center where he was pronounced dead a short time later. A helicopter from North Air Care had been sent to the hospital, but it returned to the Twin Cities unneeded.

A paramedic from River Falls Area Ambulance and officers from the Wisconsin State Patrol assisted Spring Valley police and Pierce

County sheriff's deputies at the scene.

Sorenson said the presence of officers at the store and police tape around the parking lot has prompted lots of rumors around Spring Valley.

Glenn, of rural Glenwood City, had become well-recognized in town as the youthful grocery store owner. Because he employed a number of high school students as clerks and stockers, school officials were notified and counselors were being made available, Sorenson said.

The store was to remain closed all day Friday, but was expected to reopen for business Saturday, he said. Part-owners Brian and Tammie Ormson remain involved in the operation with help from long-time employee Nancy Harshman.

Glenn, the son of Timothy and Mary Elizabeth (Duis) Glenn, attended the New Richmond Elementary school before enrolling at Glenwood City where he graduated high school. He attended the construction electric program at St. Paul College before acquiring the Spring Valley grocery store.

His family said he will be remembered as “brilliant, caring and tons of fun.” Glenn was an avid Packer and Nebraska Cornhusker fan.

The funeral service was set for 7 p.m., Wednesday May 25 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church with Reverend Ralph Thompson officiating.

Friends may call at the church on Wednesday From 5 to 7 p.m. Arrangements are being provided by the Anderson Funeral Home in Glenwood City. The family prefers memorials to the Spring Valley Food Bank or donors choice.

Glenn was interviewed recently by Pierce County Herald reporter Sean Scallon about his unique vocation of operating a grocery store at a relatively young age.

Glenn admitted being all of 26 is a little unusual to have the majority ownership stake and the responsibility for operating a large and important business in a community of any size.

But Glenn said his young age gave him some advantages as owner of Ormson’s Super Valu Store in Spring Valley.

“There’s energy, ambition and the ability to learn and adapt quickly to changes in the business,” Glenn said. “I’ll admit I don’t know everything, but I don’t pretend that I do, which makes me willing to listen, reach out, consult, be open to new ideas, which will make us successful and implement them.”

Glenn said getting used to the responsibility would take some time.

“I’ve always had someone above me, someone who had the final say,” Glenn said. “Being an authority will be the biggest adjustment, especially to those older than I am because people your own age you relate to or know better.”

Authority was something Glenn was often against, growing up in Glenwood City.

“I was troublemaker, I must admit,” Glenn said. “Nothing out of the ordinary for any 15-year-old rebellious youth in a small town, but at the time I wasn’t the kind of person you’d pick out of a crowd and say, ‘this kid, he’s going run a grocery store in the future.’ No, I wasn’t that person at age 15.“

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