Lives Worth Living

Recent months have witnessed the passing of a former teacher (and colleague),  and a father and a mother of our classmates.

The former teacher who passed away was Joyce Pedersen (
http://www.skrochfc.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=3324799&fh_id=13431).  It seems that her first year of teaching in the Brookings school system may have been  1962-63.  Below is a picture of that class.

It appears to me that the first row of boys is Tom Salonen, David Hajek, David Helfinstine, and Tom Madson.  The second row boys are Larry Boggs, Emmet Earley, Dennis and Danny Kruse?, Darwin Beynon, Larry Nolan(d?), Steve Wobbema (in front of Larry), Bob Lee, Jim Kortan (in front of Bob).  The third row of girls is Mary McMillan, Diane Heath, Barb Henry, Barb Allstot, Margaret Travis, and Patsy McKeown.  The top is Miss Pedersen, Iris Clauson, Nancy Webbenhurst, and Marilyn Anderson.

When the old high school became a Middle School in 1967, Miss Pedersen remained as a 6th grade math teacher until retiring in 1992.  In the fall of 1972, my student teaching assignment was in 6th-grade math and science.  I was fortunate to make her acquaintance at that time.  A few years later, my teaching assignment was 6th grade science, so we became even more familiar with each other.

Miss Pedersen lived in Colman, but did not drive back and forth each day.  She had a small apartment,  perhaps on Main, just a few blocks west of Central Elementary.  It was not uncommon for me to see her walking from that directions, as we would often arrive before school at about the same time.

On October 11, Lee Colburn's father passed away (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=03838202_JColburn).  As the obituary states, the family moved to Brookings in 1957.  If memory serves right, that was in the spring when we were in kindergarten.  Lee had a little red bike that he rode to school.  Some of us did not even know how to ride a bike at that age.  At that time, the family lived on west 8th street, with Sexauer Creek just about in their back yard.  A few years later they moved near the campus, just a block west of the Campanile.

A few times during our sophomore year, Lee invited me to go ice-fishing  with his dad and brothers.  Usually, it was after an away basketball game.  As we had to get up early, we were probably somewhat sleep-deprived.  Lee's youngest brother Jon was about six at the time.  What sticks in my mind is that if the Monkees' song "I'm A Believer" came on the radio, Jon would know when to sing the line "Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer."

Lee undoubtedly inherited much of his athletic ability from his father, who was also an accomplished basketball player, not only in high school, but also in college at SDSC (as it was then known).  I believe one of his teammates at State was Don Mohlenhoff, who later became the basketball coach at BHS in the mid-60's. 

Mr. Colburn was an avid outdoorsman, and an accomplished bowman.  While looking over some old Registers from our highs school days,  both he and his wife won numerous awards in archery.

Mr. Colburn also had a way with words.  At his funeral, this poem that he had written was on the back of his obituary.
 

Another parent who recently passed away was Lillian Workman (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=52858226_LWorkman), mother of Judy.  Mrs. Workman seems so typical of the women of her generation:  very generous with her time, skilled in sewing and baking, and devoted to her family, her church, and her neighbors.  The poem below summarizes what a wonderful person, wife, mother, and neighbor she truly was. 

Another individual that many of us may have known also passed away recently.   She was "Lefty" Johnson's secretary for about twenty years (her first year appears to be our first year of junior high), and continued in that position for another ten years after he retired.  It was my good fortune to be one of the teachers on the staff during her tenure as Junior High and Middle School secretary.  Not only was Mrs. Barb Behrend  (http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Eidsne1/obit.cgi?user=80549529_BBehrend) an outstanding secretary, she volunteered much of her time to the Hospital Auxiliary and to other local charitable causes.  However, she may be best known for her genealogical expertise.  Her obituary explains that work better than I can.  She was truly an amazing person, and contributed greatly to the history of Brookings County.  She, Miss Joyce Pedersen, J. Duane Colburn, and Lillian Workman will be truly missed.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.