"Along Comes Mary"

 The previous post concerned two of our esteemed teaches who taught us math and Spanish.  Miss Helland taught numerous math classes (geometry, trigonometry, senior math, etc.), while Miss Malmstrom taught math and Spanish.  Another teacher who taught math (Algebra) and a foreign language (Latin) was Mary Briscoe (in the 1956 annual, she is listed as teaching social science and world history, as well as Latin).  In her own way, she was very dedicated to her profession.  Those of us who were her students may recall that she would sharpen red pencils to distribute to us when we corrected our algebra homework in class.  When we were done with correcting our papers, we would return those pencils.  Unfortunately, some of those would have the tips broken off, forcing her to re-sharpen them for the next class.  Looking back, we can see how disrespectful we may have been to her.  

She could be very meticulous.  In algebra class, we were expected to keep all of our equal signs in a column when we solved our problems.  We also had to identify what the unknowns stood for, and then  set up an equation.  These steps may have been tedious and seen as unnecessary for us, but when I taught algebra, I finally began to see the wisdom of following these steps.  An example follows below (I don't know if the arrangement will change when this is published.  Will the = signs remain aligned?).  

Problem:  A father is four times as old as his son. If their ages equal 40, what is the age of each?

           Let X = the son's age

       Then 4X = the father's age

Then X + 4X = 40

                5X = 40

             5X/5 = 40/5

                   X= 8

The son is 8 years old, and the father is 8x4, or 32 years old.  

Miss Briscoe suffered a fall when we were in 7th grade (1963-64).  It seems like it may have been in February.  Anyway, to facilitate her recovery, our health class with Mrs. Pedersen (sp?)was moved to her room on the second floor (our class was previously on the first floor on the east side.  Miss LaChance's room was in the southeast corner, and the health class was next door on the north.  Mr. Kabrud's was next, followed by 7th grade English {we had Mrs. Alcott just after lunch}, and then the 8th grade history room with Mrs. Etta Olson. (Do you recall going up a short flight of stairs to those last three rooms?)

Miss Briscoe retired after our junior year, the first year at the "new" high school.  They were able to find a replacement for her (Mrs. Gail Hannon), but she may have stayed for only a year or two, as interest in Latin seemed to be declining rather rapidly.  Latin was difficult, requiring much memorization, but it was extremely helpful in improving one's knowledge of English grammar.  

In the historical section in the Brookings Public Library are located many annuals from both BHS and SDSU (although the 1969 BHS annual is one of those that are missing.  Anyone have an extra one to donate?).  One of those BHS annuals (1964 or 1965) was donated by Miss Briscoe.  The student who signed it was very appreciative of Miss Briscoe's tutelage in both algebra and Latin.  

Again, curiosity caused me to wonder what happened to Miss Briscoe after her retirement.  She lived in Brookings for a time (was her apartment above the old clinic on 7th Avenue and Main?), and eventually moved back to her home in Gettysburg, SD, where she passed away.  Fortunately, her obituary did appear in the Brookings Register, and can be found below.

There are many interesting aspects of her life.  She was 90 years old when she passed away, and lived during some significant times, such as the two world wars and the great depression.  Although many of us thought she may have been a little weird (students said that about me, too), she appears to have been highly educated and respected by her peers.    

"Good Golly Miss Molly"

 Our BHS class of 1969 dedicated our yearbook to "Those of Supreme Dedication," namely two long-time BHS teachers Miss Frances "Molly" Malmstrom and Miss Ruth Helland.

Many of us likely had one or both of these fine instructors for at least one class during our "illustrious" high school years.  We also may have thought, since we dedicated this annual to them, that they were retiring after almost 30 years of teaching math and Spanish to hundreds of students.  However, they remained on the staff for one more year, and retired after the 1970 school year.  

After graduation, we lost track of many of our classmates and our teachers.  Curiosity led me to search for their lives after 1970.  An obituary was found for Miss Malmstrom, but none could be found for Miss Helland.  If anyone has information for Miss Helland, please let us know.  

It appears that she remained in Brookings after retiring from teaching in the district for 27 years.  Her birth date of January 1, 1903 is interesting.  She was born before the Wright brothers made their first flight (https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/wright-brothers).

Think of all the other history that occurred during her lifetime.  She lived during the first and second world wars and the "Dirty 30's"; in fact, she came to Brookings shortly after the United States entered WWII.  During her lifetime, air travel went from the 852 foot flight of the Wright brothers to the round trip of Apollo 11 to the moon (https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/moon-landing-1969).

While we may not think of Miss Malmstrom or Miss Helland very often, their pedagogy likely has influenced in subtle ways.  

1968 and "Those Were The Days;" "My Guy," "Dedicated To The One I Love"

Many of us may remember that  1968 song "Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkin (https://www.songfacts.com/facts/mary-hopkin/those-were-the-days).  Recent visits with classmates this past week recalled some of those memories.  

Prairie Reportory Theater of SDSU (https://www.sdstate.edu/prairie-repertory-theatre) recently performed the musical Oklahoma.  Since that was the musical that BHS performed 55 years when the "new" high school opened, 

it seemed fitting that some of us in the area should enjoy it again. 

One of the members of the cast in 1968 commented that they had omitted some of the scenes back then.  As performed by Prairie Rep, the production lasted about three hours, considerably longer than when BHS performed it back in that spring of 1968.  The cast, crew, and directors at Prairie Rep displayed much talent.  Word was that each performance was sold out.  If you went to the Prairie Rep link above, you may have noticed that one of the PRT staff and faculty is Melissa Hauschild-Mork.  Yes, that is the sister of Pat Hauschild of our class, and the daughter of one of our esteemed teachers and coaches, Wayne "Hoss" Hauschild.

We may recall "My Guy" (https://www.songfacts.com/facts/mary-wells/my-guy) as a number one song from May of 1964, just as the "British Invasion" began dominating the charts.  In fact, this link states "This was the song that broke up The Beatles famous monopoly on the Top 5 US chart positions in May of 1964."

BHS had its own "Guy."  Some of us knew him as Mr. Karnes, or simply as "Guy O. (what did the O. stand for?  Continue to the end and find out)."  The class of 1968, the first to graduate from the "new" high school, honored him by dedicating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedicated_to_the_One_I_Love) the 1968 "Bobcat" yearbook to him.  (Do you get the impression that 1968 is a prominent theme here?)

Mr. Karnes continued to teach part-time as the physics teacher at BHS for a couple of years after 1968, perhaps because a capable replacement could not be found.  His replacement, Paul Wilkens, had been a student teacher for Mr. Karnes.  He was an excellent teacher, and also was a force to be reckoned with on our championship city league basketball team.  However, he found a more lucrative offer working for a scientific company in New York state, I believe.  

What most of us did not know was that Mr. Karnes was an outstanding high school track and field coach before coming to Brookings.  One student who was mentored by Mr. Karnes said that the reason he came to Brookings was that he did not have to coach; he wanted to devote his time to the classroom.  I  lived near the "old" high school, and would often see the lights on in his room in the late evenings when we played on the courthouse lawn. (The article below is from the mid-1950's)

Undoubtedly, many other students owe deep gratitude to Mr. Karnes' guidance.  Who can forget some of his memorable sayings:  "My sainted aunt;" "I'll be a cow kicked into Texas;" "I'll bet dollars to doughnuts...;" "If you don't get the right answer, I'll cut your gizzard out with a dull knife."  To repeat some of those comments today might result in the termination of one's teaching credentials.  

When he finally did retire, Mr. Karnes lived in Brookings for a few years, and provided me with much guidance when my own teaching career started in 1973.   About ten years after we graduated, he and his wife moved to Berlin, Wisconsin, where their daughter Karen lived. 

When time permits, we'll see if "Good Golly Miss Molly" can catch a ride when "Along Comes Mary."