1967

1967 is fondly remembered as the year we moved into the new high school.  There were still a few bugs to be worked out (remember the library situation?).  There were also a number of changes in the make-up of the future BHS class of 1969. No longer on our class roster (according to the 1967 and 1968 yearbooks) were:  Margaret Albright, Barbara Allstot, Danny Brown, Randy Christensen, Cheryl Clarin, Donna Duenwald, Sandee Gabel, John Gorman, Nancy Josephson, Russell McCuen, Barb Milic, Leonard Otkin, Bill Ramey, Dan Scanlan, Christaina Shaw, Sandra Skallerud, Margaret Smith, Steve Smith, and Susan Stamp.

New students in our class were:  Ronald Anderson, Dennis Baumgaard, Joe Jensen, Craig Knock, Mike Larscheid, RogerMarken, Melvin Sanders, Charlene Tramp, Carl Young, and Rosa Young. 

My association with most of these classmates was rather minimal.  Mike Larscheid became most familiar because we were in the same catechism class, and were both on the cross-country and JV basketball teams.  My initial connection with Roger Marken was minimal, but memorable. 

There was a brief time after cross-country season was over, but football was still in session. The gym was open after school, and Mr. Thury and Mr. Jostad were watching some of us play. Roger, in my mind, showed promise.  He was pretty quick, quicker than I was.  My recollection is that he liked to play really close on defense, so he was able to shut me down offensively.  He did, however, seem somewhat undisciplined overall. 

When official try-outs started a week or so later, Lee said he like being guarded by Roger because it was easier for Lee to drive to the basket because Roger played him so close.  In other words, Roger was quick to stop me, but not quick enough to stop Lee (who was?).  Perhaps that was rather depressing for Roger, as he did seemed to have lost interest in playing basketball after that. 

When the results were posted, we discovered who had made the squads.  If a senior was not thought good enough to make varsity, he was let go.  There was no school team for him to play on.  Intramurals were his only option.  We juniors who were not so talented at least had a JV team to be on.  Since there was a pretty good group of seniors, a number of us juniors were able to form a nucleus for a decent JV team.   roger likely could have been a key contributor for our JV team.  However, he chose other options. 

The reason for mentioning all of this is that Roger's mother recently passed away (https://www.brookingsregister.com/article/martha-marty-marken-brookings  or  http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Eidsne1/obit.cgi?user=52780292_MMarken).  It appears to have been a private service, and was only published in the Register today (Jan. 16).  Up until a few years ago, I was unaware that Roger's sister Jan Seeley was a colleague of mine at the middle school.  She was a long-time vocal music teacher, beginning in the 1970's and teaching until the year 2000.  She and her colleagues did a wonderful job with all of the vocal music groups at the school.  Their concerts truly were outstanding. 

Our thoughts go out to Jan and roger at this difficult time.

As a footnote, does anybody remember, without looking at an old annual, what the senior class play was when we were sophomores?  Today's date is a hint.