Then There Were Three

In view of our upcoming class reunion/birthday party scheduled for this July 16, 2016, it was somewhat ironic that a recent article in the Brookings Register highlighted the friendships that began 83 years ago in "the old Brookings Elementary School."  (Would that have been what we knew as the Primary Building?) These friendships began when 10 first-grade girls became life-long friends who kept in touch for all these years.  Three of those young girls still survive. They are Alice Otterness Hoaglund if suburban Washington, DC;  Carla Brown Warfield of Modesto, CA; and Carolyn Johnston Wheelock of Albuquerque, NM.

These three women, along with the other seven who have passed away, all went through 12 grades together in the Brookings school system.  Alice and Carla then attended SDSC, as SDSU was then known.  According the article, they have "lived and worked in Germany, Switzerland and Japan among other places, but they've always returned to Brookings for visits and reunions.  2009 was their hurrah at a high school class reunion, when 18 of the 88 graduates gathered in the city."

These wonderful ladies were graduates of the BHS class of 1944.  About a year and a half ago, we started posting highlights of annuals of years gone by. The first one we found was from 1918.  Those articles can be found at http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2014/09/more-on-1918-bomb.html and
http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2014/09/more-on-1918-bomb.html.  We then began summarizing annuals that were listed on this site: http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Brookings-High-School/4182801706?page=0.  The first annual listed from this site is the 1931 Bobcat:  http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-1931-bobcat-yearbook.html.  It appears that other annuals have been added in the past year, because we did not post any information about the 1944 annual, but we do have an article on the 1941 annual,  http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2015/01/1941-yearbook.html and also on the 1945 annual, http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-few-familiar-faces.html

Since we are missing the recap of the 1944 annual, it seems appropriate to include that on this post. The annual is dedicated to "Doc," the principal Mr. Horrigan.  He must have been well-respected by the students, especially the seniors, as he has previously merited this award a number of times.  Some of the school board members that may be known to us are Herb Cheever, D.B. Doner, and Carl Kjellsen.  Mr. Kjellsen had the Chevrolet dealership, while Mr. Doner was an administrator st the college.  Was this Herb Cheever the father of Herb Cheever, who was a political science professor on campus when we were in college?  He later became a dean.  After retirement, he moved to Minnesota to be near one his sons.  Sadly, he passed away about a month ago:
http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=27414&page=80
 Some of the faculty we may have been known were Geraldine Crabbs (freshman advisor), Wilmer Davis (freshman advisor), Ruth Helland (sophomore advisor), Arne B. Larson, and Frances Malmstrom Freshman advisor).
 
There is a picture of  Bobcat Day dance that was held in "The Pit."   The caption accompanying the pictures also indicates that after-game dances were inaugurated this school year.  It would seem, then, that our "sock-hops" had a rather strong tradition.  Bob Bartling and Dorothy Willey were lord and lady, attended by Robert Smith, James Moriarty, Lois Linn, and Josephine Trygstad.

The ladies named above also excelled in the classroom.  Alice Otterness was class valedictorian, and a senior representative.  She must have been a talented tennis player, as she is shown holding a tennis racque, and appears to be ready for some fierce competition.  Carla Brown, too, excelled in the classroom as she was also an honor student.  Interestingly, of the eleven honor students pictured, nine of them were girls.  Marilyn Crothers was one of them.  Would her father have been in the engineering department on campus, and for whom Crothers Engineering Hall was named?  Another was Lois Linn; would she be any relation to our Stew Linn?  One of the two boys was a Boyd Miller.  He resembles a Bruce Miller, who had graduated three years earlier, and is the father of Steve in our class.  Would Boyd be Bruce's brother, and thus Steve's uncle?

Some of the seniors that year have names that may be familiar to hose of us who grew up in Brookings:  Bob Bartling, Caroline Biggar, Lola Broadbent, Barbara DeWitt, Ruth Duff, Ed Fuller, Harvey Mills, James Moriarty, Arlen and Elaine Norris (an Ezra Norris was a custodian at Central for a number of years), Harold Ruedebusch, Dean Sanderson, Howard Schlobohm Clayton Sloat, Ivan Sundal, Jospehine Trygstad, and David Workman.

Would anyone want to guess what the largest organization in the school was that year?  GAA was.  If girls had been allowed to compete interscholastically then, how would they have done?  Judging by the pictures in the annual, they would have been fierce competitors.

The Senior class play was The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Shepherd_of_Kingdom_Come), while the Junior class performed The Sixth Key.

The clubs were the typical ones that BHS has had over the years.  FFA has a picture in which they are building some kind of wooden animal shelter.  Perhaps it is a chicken coop.  In the background is the east side of the old primary building with the tubular steel fire escape (http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Brookings-High-School/4182801706?page=50). 

The Central Elementary Gym was the location for many pictures.  All of the band and music pictures were taken there.  It was also the home for the class plays and basketball games.  Temporary bleachers were even set up on the stage for the Pep band. 

For a few days last summer, I met with Mr. Bartling and showed him this site.  He filled me in on the history of his class, and even remembered the addresses of the students who lived in town.  Those days were very memorable.  We hope our reunion this summer will achieve the same effect.