The first individual to pass away was Leroy Voss, the brother of Doug Voss of our class. http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=80876628_LVoss Although I did not know Leroy personally, he was known by some of my older siblings, and it was my privilege to have his three children as students when they were in the 6th grade.
Emmett Early had told me that Leroy had not been in the best of health recently. He was rushed to the heart hospital in Sioux Falls, where he was resuscitated a few times. However, he succumbed after a day or two.
Leroy was a regular at the Brookings Speedway in the late 60's, early 70's, as the picture below indicates. Many of the "old-timers" recall him as doing quite well and holding his own against the more well-financed cars.
It was great visiting with Doug after not having seen him since graduation. He seems to have overcome some health problems, and is still keeping quite busy working for a number of engineering firms in the Denver area. Perhaps we can see him next year at our 50th reunion.
Our condolences go out to Doug and his family at this time.
The passing away of the second individual was quite unexpected and shocking to the community. That person was David Steen (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=87596644_DSteen), who was a year behind us in school. His brother Craig was a year ahead of us, while his brother Gary was two years ahead of us, and is married to Mary Moulton of our class.
Craig and David ran Steen Bookkeeping, and had numerous clients, including my oldest brother, who had them do his taxed every year. When Bob Adams and I were at the visitation, the lines extended out the doors of Rude's Funeral Home, an indication of the respect that the Brookings community had for David
Dave and his wife Julie also had three children, and it was not only my privilege to have them as students, but it was also rewarding to me to have Julie as a colleague in the science department at the middle school.
The fisherman's prayer above is the same one that was on the obituary for the father of Stan Lorenz (http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2018/01/big-northerns.html#comment-form)
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Dave's family at this time.
The third individual that had a large impact on the Brookings community was LaRayne Wahlstrom (http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=2122212). Her eldest son Rick was year ahead of us, but was among the younger students in his class, as he played on the same little-league baseball team, the Dodgers, as Jim Kortan, Lonnie Heeren, Jim Egeberg, and John Iverson when they were all 12 years old. Brian Johnson was also on our team, but he was only 11, even though he was in our class. Like Rick, he was one of the younger ones in our class.
We had a really good team that year, and had good chance to win the championship. When the play-offs started, we played the pirates in the first game. They, too, had a talented team. Jerry Tordoff and Tom Roe were two players who readily come to mind, probably because they were two really good pitchers. We started off by getting some timely hits off Jerry, and built a rather substantial lead after only a couple of innings. However, with the bases loaded and Jim Kortan coming up to bat, the rains came, cancelling the game and wiping out the score. The game was rescheduled for the next day. We had to start all over with the score 0-0.
Knowing that we were able to score a number of runs with Jerry Tordoff pitching, the Pirates' coach, Marv Hochstetter, started Tom Roe instead. Perhaps because Tom was a lefty, we were unable to get any runs in the three innings that he could pitch (a pitcher could only pitch three innings, according to the rules). Jerry matched Tom's performance. Our pitchers almost equaled their efforts, also. However, we allowed one run, thus losing 1-0. The Pirates would go on the win the championship.
What is memorable about that game is that one of the players on the Dodgers was a sore loser. He could quickly excoriate his teammates when they were failed to live up to his expectations and made a mistake (he learned that behavior from some of his older brothers). After the game, Mrs. Wahlstrom rightfully let that player know that his sportsmanship was atrocious, and that he acted like a spoiled brat, which he may have been at the time.
When we started college in the fall of 1969, Jim Egeberg became good friends with Mrs. Wahlstrom's nephew (Rick's cousin) Rob, also a freshman. "Wally," as he became known, was an outstanding quarter-miler on the track team. At the visitation, Rick told Bob Adams and me that he still had the school record for the 440 yard dash. Rob was also on some gifted mile-relay teams that placed high nationally in the championship meets. A few years later, the schools in the United States joined the rest of the world and switched over to the metric system for all track meets. All the records set in imperial distances (yards) back then are still standing because they are not run anymore. Officially, all track records are now listed only for metric distances (the only exception is the mile, which is contested in some select competitions: https://www.bringbackthemile.com/home)
After college, I was fortunate to be hired to teach and coach in the middle school here. On a few occasions, Mrs. Wahlstrom was the substitute when I had to leave for an athletic contest. She always did a fine job and handled the classes exceptionally well, probably even better than the regular teacher.
You may have noticed that the visitations and funerals for Dave Steen and LaRayne Wahlstrom were scheduled for the same time. Fortunately, we went to Dave Steen's visitation before the crowds gathered, and were able to talk with some of the family (Dave's mother is still around). By the time we arrived at Mrs. Wahlstrom's visitation, we had to stand in line for quite some time, again indicating the respect and admiration that the community had for her.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Wahlstrom family at this time.
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