1967

The article about the 1962 basketbal team brought to mind the year 1967.  One connection is the Central Gymnasium.  That 1962 team practiced in the Central Gym, yet played their games at the fieldhouse (the "barn") at SDSU.  1967 was the last year the Bobcats practiced in Central Gym.  We were sophomores that year, and we would practice there after the varsity.  Mr. Hauschild had us run up and down those bleacher stairs 10 times after virtually every practice.  Many other memories of the Central gym are memorable, but we can save them for other posts. 


1967 was the last year in the old high school building.  One of the members of that graduating class was Laurie Klinkel.  That name may not mean much to most of us, but after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Omaha, she began working for Sen. James Abourezk (D-SD).  Also working for Sen. Abourezk was Tom Daschle from Aberdeen, whom she subsequently married.  He himself was elected to the House of Representatives in 1978, and then to the Senate in 1986.  He was chosen Senate minority leader in 1994, and for two brief weeks in January, 2001, was Senate majority leader.  He then returned to Senate minority leader.   However, in the unpredictable world of politics, in June of that year, he again became Senate majority leader, a position he would hold until the elections of 2002. Laurie worked for her husband until 1981.  Unfortunately, the marriage did not last, and they divorced in 1983 (http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Ambassador_to_Denmark__Who_is_Laurie_Fulton_90709; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Daschle).

Recently, the Brookings Register had an article on Laurie's return to Brookings (http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=79&story_id=14044). 



This looks to be a fairly recent picture. 

The 1967 annual has a similar picture.  I couldn't copy that photo, but the annual can be found on this link:  http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Brookings-High-School/24964?dsource=pub5856promotion1542115613&hitwiseSegment=free&checkCookie=1335120903104.
Her picture is on page 21.  Underneath the word "Yearbook" are forward and backward scroll signs.  You can also use the scroll bar at the right.  Coincidentally, Bob Kallemeyn's sister Beth and Mark Kratochvil's brother Lee can also be seen, while right below is Alan Leibel's brother Jay.  Beth Kallemeyn was my German tutor for a week in the fall of 1966.  Three weeks after school started, I dropped out of Miss Briscoe's Latin II class to take German I.  Since I was behind, I needed to catch up quickly.  Every day for a week, we met in the back room of the library and I tried to learn a few German basics, and nothing else.

Also that year, some of us had Nancy Webbenhurst's sister Joan for English.  She was Mrs. Donaldson to us.  I know Ed Dimit was in our class, and maybe Iris Clauson, Janice Briggs, and Mike Kohl.  Mrs. Donaldson would frequently scold Ed, as he sat next to me and never seemed to quit talking.  We had some skills on parliamentary procedure early in the year.  I was elected class treasurer.  When it came time to give the first treasurer's report, I just made up some figures.  The next week, there was less money in the treasurey, so someone (Iris?) wanted me impeached because I was losing money.  But someone came to my defense (Janice?), saying something like "Since we started with nothing, we're not doing too badly."  We also had to give speeches that first quarter.  One of our talks concerned Bobcat Day and homecoming.   It happened that Bobcat day fell on the same day as the conference cross-country meet.  I was not involved in a fall sport that year, and really had not gotten interested in running, so I poked fun at the cross-country runners.  The speech began by stating that it was a rare happening, so it is not even worth talking about.  There was something in there about the band playing at half-time, but some of the musicians (again, maybe Iris?) are behind about three or four notes, so the music doesn't sound very good.

Mrs. Donaldson's student teacher was Mrs. Gerberding.  She lived in Estellline at the time, but a few years later (mid 70's?), she would move to Brookings and  become one of the sophomore English teachers at the high school.  She truly did an excellent job in the theater department there.  She was a magnificent director of the fall and spring plays and musicals.  Her productions were almost grandiose.  She would choose plays that needed a large cast, and then recruit ordinary students, in addition to those that were exceptionally gifted, to be involved in those plays, whether in the cast, the crew, the designs, choreography, lighting, or the promoting and marketing.   People came from all over to see her productions. 

She had a couple of children, Tom and Julie.  If the name Julie Gerberding sounds familiar, it may be because she was director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2002-2009  (http://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Gerberding-Julie.html). 

 
There are many other memorable tales concerning Central Gym, but those can wait for another time.  Feel free to comment if you have some good ones.