A Few Familiar Faces From 1945

The 1945 "Bobcat" (http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Brookings-High-School/250549?page=0) is appropriately dedicated "to the members of the class of '45 who are serving our nation in its armed forces."  Fortunately, the end of World War II was only a few months away.  Ironically, yesterday (January 27, 2015), was the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners from the infamous concentration camp at Auschwitz--http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-auschwitz-70-years-since-liberation-20150127-story.html).  The Wikepedia article ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp ) stated  "Those too weak or sick to walk were left behind. When the 322nd Rifle Division of the Red Army arrived at the camp on January 27 they found around 7,500 prisoners and about 600 corpses had been left behind. Among the items found by the Soviet soldiers were 370,000 men's suits, 837,000 women's garments, and 7.7 tonnes (8.5 short tons) of human hair.^[65]
The camp's liberation received little press attention at the time. Rees attributes this to three factors: the previous discovery of similar crimes at Majdanek concentration camp, competing news from the Allied summit at Yalta, and the Soviet Union's interest, for propaganda purposes, in minimizing attention to Jewish suffering.^[66] Due to the vast extent of the camp area, at least four different divisions took part in liberating the camp: 100th Rifle Division (established in Vologda, Russia), 322nd Rifle Division (Gorky, Russia), 286th Rifle Division (Leningrad), and 107th Motor Rifle Division (Tambov, Russia). ^[67]." 
Two years ago, a holocaust survivor spoke at SDSU (http://ksoo.com/auschwitz-holocaust-survivor-to-give-speech-at-south-dakota-state-university/).  Despite the mistreatment she, her twin sister, and others endured, she found the strength to forgive her tormentors (http://kindnessblog.com/2015/01/02/forgiveness-is-free-lessons-from-a-holocaust-survivor-by-tyler-tucky/).  She had a fantastic quote that was cited in the paper the next day.  I had cut it out and put it in my billfold, but I seem to have misplaced it or lost it. 

Does anyone remember the words to the school song?  (The music and words are located on the inside front cover of the annual--http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Brookings-High-School/250549?page=2)  During my teaching days, there would be pep assemblies at the local schools during homecoming week, and the cheerleaders would hand out little slips of paper with the words to the school song.  When the pep band would play, the students were encouraged to sing along.  It seems, though, that over the years, the lyrics changed slightly.  The original opening line was  "Brookings High here's victory for you, red and Black you must carry thru." I remember it as   "Brookings High School victory for you, Red and Black we must carry thru. "  Later on, we sang "Though that line holds tight, we'll show that same old kind of Fight, Fight, Fight," whereas they now sing "Though that line holds tight, we'll show that same old Fight, Fight, Fight."  Not a big difference, but the second difference especially just doesn't sound right to me. Perhaps someone else can weigh in on this.  In a similar vein, seemingly to add spirit and pep to the athletic contests, the "Bobcat" mascot was created by the class of 1945.  The mascot seldom seems to appear anymore.  He/she may come out of hiding during homecoming week, but otherwise seldom makes an appearance.  Wasn't there a controversy with our mascot when we played the Flandreau Indians during the 1968 regional basketball championship?

The faculty for this year included some familiar faces: Geraldine Crabbs, Wilmer Davis, Ralph Ginn, Ruth Helland, Harlan Klug, Frances Malmstrom, and Arne B. Larson.  Some of these esteemed teachers may have been in their first year in the Brookings system, but "Molly" Malmstrom and Ruth Helland had already been here for a few years.  Our senior annual is dedicated to these fine mentors.  Miss Malmstrom began teaching at BHS on September 8, 1942.  Did Miss Helland start at the same time?  Her dedication states that she taught at BHS for 26 years, thus making her debut in 1943 (1969-26 = 1943).  However,  she is also listed as yearbook advisor from 1942-1966.  Did she take a year's leave of absence to work on an advanced degree?  Was there a misprint?  Mr. Horrigan was no longer teaching; as he had been promoted to principal, a position he would hold for another ten years. 

Geraldine Crabbs, Ralph Ginn, and Harlan Klug later moved to positions "on the hill" as Mr. Karnes referred to SDSU.  Miss Crabbs was in the Physical Educations department,  Mr. Ginn was a long-time football coach, and I believe Mr. Klug was in the chemistry or biochemistry department.  Each of them, if memory serves right, is honored in some way by the university.

Wilmer Davis was the ag teacher, but this must have been his last year, as Robert Thompson is listed as ag teacher in the 1946 annual.  Mr. Davis had relinquished his teaching position because he had the foresight to recognize the value of hybrid seed corn, so he started the Sokota Seed Company. I believe Mark Kratochvil's father also played an important role in that firm.  A number of area teenagers probably earned some spending money working in their test plots, detasseling corn to help maintain pure genetic lines.  Their first location was on Front Street near the tracks and the viaduct on 6th Avenue, just a block from Main Avenue.   Our house was just down the block.  When it was detasseling time, the kids would ride in the back of the farm truck (grain truck?) that had the wooden sides on the back.  Would that be allowed today?  When it was drying time for the harvested corn, the ground would be noticeably enriched with the reddish remnants of the corncobs.  One of our neighbors had a farm east of town, and he would sometimes burn his corncobs in his coal furnace.  Since we also had a coal furnace, he would generously give us some of his surplus.  Eventually, that area became too small, and the business relocated to 2nd St. South on the west side of Medary.  The Sokota name no longer exists, as they were bought out some years ago.  The sign now reads "Syngenta".

Was this Arne B.'s first year, or had he been there since 1941, when the previous director, "Prof" C. E. Franklin moved on?  This article--http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/arne.html--gives the answer to that question.

The school board had had some turnover since 1941.  Still on the board were Mrs. Shea, a housewife, Mr. Cheever, a banker, and Mr. Doner, the registrar at SDSC.  New to the board were Mr. Beatty, who owned Beatty's Jewelry.  He replace another businessman, Mr. Blauert, who was a grocer.  Mr. Carl Kjellsen, the Chevrolet dealer, replaced Mr. Johnson, the Ford dealer.  Also pictured is Mr. Eberle.  Anyone know what his line of work may have been?

Of the ten honor students pictured, there is only one boy.  Did the war effort have some effect on this?

Some of the seniors who may have connections to us include Marvin Berkland, Harry Birath, William Buller, Rich Durland, Donna Korte, Barbara Morrison, Donna Revell, George Stratton, Jeanne Nannestad, and Donald Iverson.

Are Arlo and Arlys Berkland any relation to Marvin?  Harry Birath was a talented athlete, and worked at Northwest Bank (now Wells Fargo) in Brookings for a number of years.  His sons were just a little bit younger than we were.  William Buller is the father of Doug and Diane Buller.  Their younger brother looks remarkably like their father.  Rich Durland, I believe, is the uncle to Pat  and Mike Durland.  Pat was a year ahead of us, and Mike was in our class.  They farmed south of town, but when the interstate came through, they may have lost a large part of their land.  Did losing that land necessitate their move?  The pastor of  Mt. Calvary Luther Church for a while was Carl (Karl?) Korte?  Might she be a close relative?   Barb Morrison is the sister  Mrs. Herb (Phyllis) Lakman.  Mr. and Mrs. Lakman were our next door neighbors for about ten years when we lived by Sokota.  Their children were Doug (class of 1963, and a member of 1962 State "A" basketball team) and Patty (class of 1968, the year in which BHS won another State "A" basketball title).  Phyllis was instrumental in helping to save the old high school building about 10-15 years ago.  There was talk of demolishing it for various reasons, but she and some other concerned townspeople spearheaded an effort to save the original school.  The annex was torn down, but the original structure has now become the home of a number of offices and apartments.  Appropriately, it is referred to as the "1921 Building," as that is the year it was constructed.  Sadly, Phyllis passed away just a few days ago.  Visitation was today, and the funeral is scheduled for tomorrow, Jan. 29.  The big white apartment building a block south of the high school was called the "Revell Apartments" in our day.  It seems logical that Donna Revell would be the daughter of the owners.  There is a new government building on that site today, but the apartment building was saved and moved to a lot on 2nd Street South, about a block west of Southside Park. I seem to recall a miniature golf course there for a couple of years when we were younger.   Most of us probably remember Juel's Shoe Store.  Before that, though, I believe it was Stratton's Shoe Store.  Would George Stratton have been a son of the owner?  I have a brother named Donald, but he is not the same one as pictured in this annual.

The connection with Jeanne Nannestad has somewhat of a personal flavor to it.  According to the annual, she moved here from Clear Lake her senior year.  In the fall of 1968 during our senior year, our cross-country team competed against the Clear Lake team.  They had a couple of good runners, one of whom was named Steve Nannestad.  Shortly after graduation, in June, 1969, some of us ran the "Jack 15," a road race from White to the Campanile, a distance of about 15 miles.   We passed Steve Nannestad after perhaps 5 miles.  He did not pass us again.  When we arrived at the finish line, we saw that he had already arrived.  When the awards were passed out, he received one.  We then told the race director that he cheated.  He had caught a ride after we had passed him, and then hopped out sometime before the finish, giving the impression that he had run the entire distance.  He at least had the courage to admit that he cheated, unlike others who have similarly behaved  (http://sports.rightpundits.com/?p=1571  or   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_Ruiz).   When Jim Egeberg and I were freshmen at SDSU, we ran on the cross-country team.  Jim was good enough to be a top runner, whereas I was not.  Steve Nannestad was one of our teammates.  Letter were awarded to the top seven runners on the team.  One of our teammates was a top runner for the first three-fourths of the season, but than suffered an injury.  His spot was taken by Steve Nannestad for the last two races of the season.  Guess who got a letter?   

The French teacher in previous years was Eva Bucknam.  She also taught English, and was still teaching in 1945.  However, she is no longer listed as teaching French, and there is no La Cercle Francaise, French Club, pictured in the annual.  It seems that Los Amigos, under the direction of Miss Malmstrom, has replaced the French Club.  Did the administration foresee the direction in which our country and culture was headed?  Latin, the other foreign language, underwent a reorganization and even sponsored their first-ever dance in January. 

A couple of athletic-related events caught my eye.  The captain for the next year's football team was John DeWitt.  Dan DeWitt was a couple of years older than we were.  Some people said he was the second-best heavyweight wrestler in the state, but he was only on our "B" team because his competition was the best in the state in Stan Whitmore, the state champion that year.  Tim DeWitt was a little younger than we were, and played on our teener baseball team that went to Hershey, PA in 1965.  Their dad was Jerry DeWitt, and I thought he was a brother to John.  John DeWitt would later coach at Watertown High School.  He may even have been the coach when we were in school.  The basketball pictures indicate that the games were played in the Central gym.  There were even portable bleachers set up on the stage to increase seating capacity, although in this annual there do not seem to be any photos indicating this.