A Couple of Milestones, And Some Added Trivia

It seems that too often there is sad news posted here.  It is heartwarming and gratifying to report that a recent Brookings Register article noted that two well-known ladies in town who have contributed so much to the betterment of  the community and who have been involved in many organizations would both be celebrating their 90th birthdays soon.  The two esteemed ladies are Maxine Darnall and LaRayne Wahlstrom.   Mrs. Darnall is the mother of Sharon of our class, while Mrs. Wahlstrom is the mother of Rick, who was a year ahead of us.  Mrs. Darnall's birthday is March 5, while Mrs. Wahlstrom has one of those rare birthdays that occurs every four years.  She was born on February 29.  According to the paper, they will have a combined celebration at the First United Methodist Church narthex on March, between the 8:15 AM and before the 11:00 AM services.

On a related note, Lorraine (Mrs. Harvey) Johnson has a 95th birthday on March 6.  I believe this is Brian's mother, as the notice indicates that friends and former students are invited to send  birthday wishes to her at 104 Fourth St., Park Place Apt. 215, Brookings, SD  57006.  Did she teach at Hillcrest or Central?  I seem to recall that she was at Central.  Is it correct that they used to live on second street between Medary and 11th avenue before they moved to Sunnyview?  I recall going over to their house once after school and we played "Cootie" or "Mr. Potato-head".  I atttended Central, so maybe she taught at Central.  Wasn't the dividing line Medary or thereabouts, and that those on the east side went to Hillcrest, and those on the west side went to Central?  Perhaps some of you with better memories than I can clear this up. 

 Rick was on my Little League baseball team, the Dodgers, as was Brian that year.  I believe Brian was one of the youngest ones in our class.  Because of his late birthday, he was a year younger than most of us as far as baseball eligibility was concerned.  Rick also fell in that category.   Rick was the first baseman, while Brian was the second baseman. We had lost a game by the score of 1-0, and afterwards, Mrs. Wahlstrom deservedly scolded me because I had displayed rather poor sportsmanship.    It must have taken me a few years to learn from that incident.  The next summer, our teener baseball coach, Lyle Derschied, Craig's dad, scolded me even mores strongly because I found fault with my teammates, and, in no uncertain terms. I lashed out at my  teammates. Hopefully, I have outgrown that juvenile and selfish behavior.

 Rick was quite talented and intelligent.  He was in the National Honor Society.  In music, he was selected for all-state chorus, and was in concert band.  He worked on the yearbook, and was in "Oklahoma," the first musical BHS ever produced, playing Ali Hakim.  There is a picture in the yearbook of him kissing Ado Annie (Patty Felt).  Patty looks as if she is ready to slap him upside the head. 

Sharon's older brother Brian (class of 1967) still lives in Brookings, and owns Medary Acres Florists.  He and his family do a wonderful job of keeping area gardeners well-supplied with beautiful flowers and other assorted plants.  They have provided our homestead with many perennials, annuals, and tomato plants.

The class of 1967 was the last to graduate form the "old" high school.  In some respects, that year was rather noteworthy.  Mr. Bell was selected by the National Secondary Principals Association to tour Europe for 21 days as a good will ambassador.   Dr. Bruce Crosswait was the new superintendent, as Mr. Horrigan had retired.  He remained on staff, however, as an administrative assistant.  It was also the year in which each school board member presented his son or daughter with a diploma.  A couple of those board member, Dr. D. E. Kratochvil and Dr. Charles "Scotty" Roberts had sons in our class.  The other board members were Joseph Thelen, Marvin Scholten, and Gordon Duff.  Mr. Duff's daughter, Barbara, is listed in the annual as participating in Band, Girls Glee, Select Choir, and GAA.  The reason for noting this is that her obituary was recently in the paper.  She passed away on Feb. 22, 2014 in Elk Point, SD.  (http://koberfuneralhome.com/obituaries/obituary-listings?obId=86117#/celebrationWall; http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=20207&page=80).

 A number of us also had older brothers or sisters in that class of '67.  Some of the familiar last names are Ahlers, Allison, Baker, Berge, Berkland, Bjordahl, Boggs, Bortnem, Bozied, Brown (I believe he was Danny's brother; they were only here a couple of years), Christie, Darnall, Hamilton, Hauff, Hendricks, Herrig, Hoekman, Holm, Ishmael, Johnson, Kallemeyn, Loenders, Kratochvil, Leibel, Liebing, Marshall, Mehegan, Perso, Peterson, Roberts, Robish, Simmons, Sloat, Steen, Sterud, Sturdevant, Thysello, Walsh, Wakeman, and Wright.

Barbara's older sister Connie is listed as the wife of John Maxwell.  Would that be the older brother of Terry and Jackie, who were a year behind us?   Their mother was an English teacher at the the  old high school. When we moved to the new school, though, she remained at that building when it became the middle school, and taught 7-8th grade English.  She later became the assistant principal under "Lefty" Johnson.  I was fortunate to work with her for a number of years.  The obituary lists her younger brother Doug preceding her in death.  He was a year behind us in that same class as Jackie and Terry Maxwell.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Barb and her family.

Congratulations to Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Darnall and Mrs. Wahlstrom.  May we be able to live the rest of our lives in the exemplary and distinguished manner of these three renowned ladies have done.