About 35 years ago, a small group from Gaza decided that it was time bring historical photos and other town memorabilia out of the boxes sitting in the fire hall and place those items prominently where public display that would allow those with connections to the town to enjoy them in perpetuity. Items come from Gaza Consolidated School District, church and businesses. The history of Gaza, Iowa includes an Illinois Central Railroad station, established in 1888 as Woodstock, later becoming known as Gaza.
With the support of Gaza’s Producer’s Cooperative, a display area was constructed, led by the efforts of coop manager Dave Hicks, Tom Horton, and Wendell Tjossem, who were supported by other community members.
School class photos spanning the four five decades, 1911 to 1961, that Gaza Community School was open, along with a plethora of basketball trophies emerged from the darkness to the delight of many who grew up during those years when Gaza had more than 100 residents and several businesses.
An article published in the August 10, 1989 O’Brien County Bell by Deborah Fisch told the story of how those folks involved went about the first efforts to share those historical items. 
A more recent chapter in the preservation of the town’s history occurred in 2019, when Producer’s Coop built a new main building, the trophies and class pictures needed a new home.  
This is when Jean and Larry Dau became involved and took of running with the preservation torch, adding to the earlier accomplishments that put the historical treasures in place where they could be enjoyed again.
Jean was an employee of the coop and Larry’s love of days gone by combined to give things a new look.  In April 2019, months after moving into the new building, they began by hanging the class pictures.  
One thing led to another and before long an original glass display case from the coop was found and the couple started the tasks of refinishing it in February 2020, creating a new display venue for the trophies awarded to the Gaza School students over a forty-year period.  The unique trophies, many of of which represented the results of a competitive rivalry between schools within O’Brien County, had to be cleaned before being placed in the refurbished trophy cases.
The original trophy case from the Gaza School was then refinished and hung in Jan. 2021.  It highlights the boys basketball team of 1940, county champs including class sweaters.
The couple also took on the task of refinishing items collected from Gaza Community Church. Along with its Bible, the church pew, pulpit, and communion tray were refinished in March and December of 2022.
The Daus added a new dimension to the collection of memorabilia. They sought to record information that had perhaps only previously been shared orally down through the years.
“Most of our time was spent composing scrapbooks, of the town and school,” Jean said. “Hours and hours of research were involved, but we learned so much as we studied Gaza Iowa.”
The booming little town had many stories and photos, including an account of a bank robbery to the Gaza football teams of the 1920s. 
One of the best preserved accounts was written by Cleve Fisch back in 1986 at the age of 92. Fisch’s recollections detailed the changing nature of the times in the town’s early years when the railroad, electricity, telephones, elevators, and combines came on the scene, altering how things were done and how life was lived.
Larry’s father, Elmer, was a 1944 graduate of Gaza High School. Larry attended the grade school for two years before it closed in 1961 and Jean worked many years in the town.  
“It was very important to us that this history and its many relics weren’t lost or thrown away,” they said.  “We learned so much of what our ancestors endured, how important the school and railroad were to Gaza, which was booming in the early 1900s.”
 The work of the Daus and those before them provide the living graduates from Gaza High School and families of student who have passed on have a place to reminisce.  Many have expressed appreciation for what the couple has done, with some providing outstanding memories or even actual items that were passed down, such as the two letter jackets along with six basketball trophies donated by Lawrence Marquardt of the Class of 1952.
“It has stirred up many very interesting conversations from many branches of the community that hold ties with Gaza,” the couple said.  “Each visitor is a hidden gem that makes our time invested worth the effort.”