Donna Sloat's Mother Passes Away

Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to Donna Sloat on the recent passing of her mother. A complete obituary can be found at

http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=13585&page=80

My first memories of Donna go back to the 6th grade. That was about the time many of the country schools were closing. Since they lived on the farm, that may have been her first year at Central Elementary. That was a memorable year for many reasons.

Our teacher was Mrs. Walker. She was fantastic. We had South Dakota history during the first quarter. She had us make a relief map of the state out of bread dough. We used food coloring to indicate the different features. Blue was for bodies of water, green was for the lower elevations, yellow for the higher elevations, and brown for the Black Hills. Because it was made out of bread dough, some of us actually ate parts of it (and lived to make it to junior high)

Later on in the year, she had us give speeches. We had to put our ideas in out-line form on a note card so that we didn't just read it like a report. Lee Colburn gave a demonstration that left a lasting impression. His speech was on the effects of smoking. He had a minnow in a jar of water. He took a cigarette and unrolled it, spilling the tobacco into the jar of water. Almost immediately the minnow, instead of swimming in a leisurely fashion, started to swim crazily, as if it was scared and a larger fish were trying to swallow it. He put it into a clean jar of water so it didn't die.

She also taught us a great deal of English grammar, and had us diagram some rather complex sentences. That foundation proved to be beneficial later. Grammar in Junior High and High School was easier because of her work with us.

She opened up her classroom to some of us in those cold winter months. Lunchtime was actually an hour long, whereas today, it may only be 40 minutes for the elementary and middle grades. She went home for lunch, but would leave her room unlocked so some of us could come up there and play whist, a card game. However, we had to sneak by the teacher on hall duty. We would wait until she walked down to the other end of the hall, and then quickly and quietly run up the stairs to Mrs. Walker's room.

After I started teaching, a couple of Donna's sisters were my students. Her sister Paula was about 10 years younger, and was in the first group of students that I taught (or tried to teach). Also in that class were Sue Redmond's sister Teresa, and Lee Colburn's brother Jon. I went ice-fishing with Lee and his dad a few times our sophomore year. Jon always came along, even though he was only about six at the time. Whenever the Monkees' song "I'm A Believer" was playing, Jon would chime in when they sang "Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer." Incidentally, Davy Jones of the Monkees just passed away yesterday. He was only 66.

I believe Paula was an athletic trainer for the Brandon school system, just outside of Sioux Falls. I would run into her occasionally when our teams played there. I think her children were very talented swimmers. Donna's youngest sister Sharon was also a student of mine.

Up until a few years ago, Donna's parents were regular attendees at Bobcat sporting events. At basketball games, they liked to sit near the team bench and scorer's table. They were frequently accompanied by Ed and LaVonne Fuller. All four of them were very loyal Bobcat backers, and liked to show their support by wearing red and black. They liked to keep the officials on their toes, too. They were very vocal when they referees made a call that they thought was inappropriate.

Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to Donna and her family. She informed me that her parents started dating when they were in the 9th grade, and just recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last December. They truly were a special couple.