On December 31, 2017, Terry Liebing passed away. Terry was in the class of 1967, which just held a class reunion this past September. As Terry's obituary says, he was an avid fisherman. South Whitlock (a very popular resort near Gettysburg on the Missouri River) was a favorite spot. Incidentally, Tom Osterberg has also fished there, and told us that he ran into Mr. Thury, who also used to make an annual trip there. Terry's brother Dan of our class, along with grandsons Devyn and Jordyn, were Terry's "fishing buddies." As you can see in the picture below, Terry caught some nice fish out there. He is holding an esox lucius (voracious piscivorous pike of waters of northern hemisphere), which we commonly call a "northern", "northern pike," or just plain "pike," (although there are other species of pike, such as the muskellunge, various types of pickerels, and hybrids).
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The two poems speak for themselves; they seem truly appropriate for a man of Terry's characterLike any other true South Dakota outdoorsman, Terry also enjoyed pheasant hunting.
My connections with Terry were rather indirect. Some of his children were students of mine when they were in middle school. His obituary also says he owned Schoon Auto Supply for many years. He purchased the business from John "Red" Schoon. During my first two years of college, I worked with "Red" at my summer job at the Insect Lab (another connection to the Insect Lab is mentioned at the end of this post). He left there to pursue his dream of being his own boss when bought an auto supply business, which he later sold to Terry. I have been able to visit with "Red" occasionally these last few years. In fact, as I was working on this post, he gave me a phone call to inform me that a dilemma he had encountered at home had been solved.
Our condolences go out to Terry's family at this mournful time.
Just a few days later, on January 3, 2018, the father of Stan Lorenz passed away at the age of 95. It seems as if many of our parents have longevity genes. Not only have many of them lived well into their 90's, a number of our parents are still going strong even at that age today.
Mr. Lorenz was also an avid outdoorsman. In his picture below, he is holding a northern just about the same size as Terry's. My memory of Mr. Lorenz in my younger days is that he was a splendid and accomplished taxidermist. One of my older brothers was also a passionate outdoorsman. I believe he was well acquainted with Mr. Lorenz and his skills.
As you can see, Mr. Lorenz is also displaying an "esox lucius." Can you tell if his is larger than Terry's? I cannot. Would that I could be so skilled as to catch one that size. As an aside, the backgrounds for both of their obituaries on the Rude's Funeral Home webpage are exactly the same.
http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=34194455_TLiebing
http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=06962771_ELorenz
This poem, too, speaks for itself.
My connections to Stan were limited mainly to sophomore driver's education. Remember those days? It seems that Mr. Mohlenhoff was the classroom teacher, while Mr. Keller was the driving instructor. We drove perhaps twice a week, alternating a free period, say on Monday and Wednesday, with an hour of driving Tuesday and Thursday. Stan and I drove right after lunch. However, Mr. Keller had an open spot on the other two days at the same time, so we were able to drive four days a week instead of two. Since the building was so crowded as it was the last year as a combined jr.-sr. high, we were able to skip study hall. Since we had completed the driving portion of the class somewhat early, we had, in essence, a two-hour lunch break instead of the usual one-hour break for the rest of that semester.
On the driver's ed car, there was an extra brake pedal on the passenger side, where Mr. Keller sat. It was there for obvious reasons. He had to use it the first time I drove, as I was extremely raw behind the wheel. Even though I was a slow learner, I did manage to avoid any accidents, pass the class, and get an adjustment on my parents insurance rates when I earned my license.
Was unable to talk with Stan at the visitation or funeral, but did manage to talk with his sister Sharon. She was about six years older than we were, and was a friend of my sister-in-law, the former Janet Norton. Her husband was a year older than she, and was in my brother Bill's class. We had an enjoyable time exchanging pleasantries.
Also had an extended conversation with former student Kevin Harvey. Mr. Lorenz's wife was a Harvey, but it did not occur to me to ask if there was a connection. Kevin's father had Stub's Meat Market, a well-known Brookings business for a number of years. Kevin was in the 8th grade my first year of teaching. Even though it was almost 45 years ago, some of those memories are still vivid for me.
Was unaware that Mr. Lorenz worked at Sokota. In the 50's, the business was located just across the street from our house. Often times during the summer we could see the trucks hauling numerous high-school girls to their detasseling jobs. In the fall and even into the winter, the ground would be covered with some of the pink stuff (chaff?) that came off the corncobs. In the early 60's, the company moved to 2nd St. South. They were customers on my Minneapolis Tribune paper route. In fact, I reported to Marion Johnston, father of Pam of our class, to receive payment for their subscription.
Our thought and prayers go out the family of Mr. Lorenz during this difficult time.
Lastly, another funeral that surprised me was that of Carolyn Grace Mar (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=54320901_CMar). That name likely means nothing to any of you. Her family lived a couple of houses down from Brenda Simmons on First Street between 8th and 9th Avenue. Her husband had a gun smithing and a saw sharpening business there, called Mar's Gun Shop. I thought that was just a nickname, but it truly was his name. Since Arnie deBlonk and Lynn Roberts were in our cub scout troop and also lived on First Street, although a couple of blocks east of Brenda, I would often walk past his gun shop when we had a scout meeting at either of their houses.
When we were younger, those of us in the neighborhood would often see Mr. Mar walking from his home to the downtown area. He had a distinctive gait, somewhat like a bouncy shuffle, and always seemed to have a smile on his face. He was generally very pleasant, and seemed to wave whenever he went by. We sensed was really old, perhaps in his 70's. More likely, he was 20 years younger. We did not know, as her obituary indicates, that he had muscular dystrophy, the cause of his distinctive gait. It would be interesting to know when Mr. Mar passed away. The library might have that information.
A couple of the comments in her obituary guestbook are from a Brett Gustin. Had to look this up, but he was student of mine exactly 40 years ago. An additional connection is that his father was a scientist at the Insect Lab mentioned above. Dr. Gustin must have been a talented athlete in his younger days. When the Insect Lab picnic was held, we generally had a touch football game. He could outrun everyone else except Glenn Carlson, a top-notch sprinter and hurdler at SDSU. Brett's mother also taught in the school system. Was it Bob Adams that told me of an interesting episode in her class one year?
Even though these gatherings may have been bittersweet, they are enjoyable, and do recall memorable moments in our lives.
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