One Hundred Years Ago

In our 1969 annual, there is an aerial photograph of the high school. To the north is the east side of Brookings, with some SDSU buildings and the rural landscape in the distance.  So much of that is now changed.  The next page is the table of contents, followed by a two page picture of a young man standing in a hallway, hand on hips, just in front of an entrance/exit, and looking away from the camera and out the doors.  The caption reads "This is BHS...Not the Biggest But the Best."  This picture seems to be symbolizing our graduation from high school while yet remembering "the joys, the anxieties, the loves, and the expectations of the year...a reminder of these days."   Rumor had it that the student was Jim Bortnem.    In today's Brookings Register, there is an announcement on the Local page that "Sadie Bortnem (Jim's mother) is celebrating her 100th birthday, Saturday, Dec. 12.  Help her celebrate by sending her a card to 727 Third Street, Brookings, SD  57006."  Wouldn't it be neat to surprise the Bortnem family by taking a moment to send her a card on the centennial anniversary of her birth?  Wouldn't this also be a great show of support for our classmates and their parents for all that they have done for us?  The poem below is often a reminder of how frequently in life we take people and things for granted, and do not express our appreciation for them until it may be too late. 

                     I shall pass this way but once; 

                     any good that I can do or any 

                      kindness I can show to any 

                      human being; let me do it now. 

                      Let me not defer nor neglect it, 

                      for I shall not pass this way again.

                                                                                                           Etienne de Grellet
                                                                                                           Quaker Missionary

On a rather sad note, a couple of long-time residents of Brookings that may have some connection to us have passed away.  Sylvia Broadbent passed away on November 19, 2015 (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=45041397_SBroadbent).  Her daughter Susan graduated in 1968 , while her son Chuck graduated in 1967.   Their family used to live just a block and one-half east of us on 2nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenue.  Next door to the east lived the Rossmans, where Steve Rossman, also in Susan's class, resided with his family.  To the west was a vacant lot, where the neighborhood boys would occasionally gather to play baseball.  Since the lot was rather small, we may have played more wiffle ball there so that no windows were destroyed.  Some years after her husband passed away, Mrs. Broadbent lived in a small house on 6th Avenue that was between the houses where Tom Bozied and I lived in the 50's.  Since my residence was still in the neighborhood, I was able to get re-acquainted with her.

The other well-known matriarch of Brookings who passed away is Hazel Little (http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Eidsne1/obit.cgi?user=80688614_HLittle).  Her son Dennis graduated in 1961.  Also in that class were Donna Bozied, sister of Tom; Jim Felt, brother of Patty; Judie Shirley, sister of Debbie; and Bob Webbenhurst, brother of Nancy.  Reyna Reidesel, too, was a member of that class.  She married classmate Jim Martin, becoming Mrs. Martin, the phys ed teacher at the "new" high school.  Her daughter Linda was in the class of 1965.  A number of our siblings were in that class:  Paul Adamson, Bernadette and Bernadine Ahlers, Judy and Jo Aann Berkland(?), Eileen Bortnem (?), Bob Bozied, Zoell Colburn,  Mitchell Egeberg, Richard Graff, Linda Ishmael (?), Cheryl Kohl (?), Kandace Kortan, Ann McCone, Connie McKeown, Mike O'Connell, Janeane Perso, Darlene Prussman, George Rickerson, Galen Roberts, Kath Schroeder, Patrick Skubic, Gerald Sloat, Donna Smith, Elizabeth Steen (?), Roy Taylor (?), and Dorothy Workman.  My apologies if I have omitted someone.  Linda married Chuck Matson, also from the class of 1965.  Would Chuck have been a son of the owners of Matson Drug?  Her husband was quite active in the community.  Was he on the city or county commission?  Did he have a Standard Gasoline Station, or am I confusing him with Norm Martin?  

Hazel graduated from BHS in 1934.  She appears to have been somewhat shy, as the saying accompanying her senior  picture was "Silence does not indicate a lack of wisdom." (http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Brookings-High-School/228487?page=22).  Others in that class that may be familiar to us are  June Adamson, Ruby Berge, Bert Rude, Archie Vick and Helen Wilber.