Brookings Roots

Recently, our class lost another esteemed and respected woman with the passing of Orpha Leibel, mother of Alan, and whose siblings are Jay, Kent, and twins Becky and Kathy. (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=13941858_OLeibel#).  As the obituary states, she was born in rural Brookings County, grew up on the family farm south of Aurora, where she attended country school before entering Brookings High School and graduating in 1940.  That she graduated from BHS was news to me.  Looking through the 1940 Bobcat gave a hint of the wonderful qualities she would display as a wife, mother, and nurse. 

As was the case back then, the activities and organizations of the seniors during high school were listed by their graduation pictures.  There was a little twist to the 1940 annual, however.  In addition to their given name, nicknames were also used to identify the seniors.  Since Mrs. Leibel's maiden name was Sandbeck, her nickname was "Becky."  Her list of activities during high school was vast and varied, including:  Chorus 1,2,3; GAA 1,2,3,4; Homemaking Club 1,2,3,4 (vice president her senior year); Latin Club 2,3,4 (there were 54 members in 1939-40); Dramatic Club 3,4; Orchestra 4 (she was a second violin); Publications Club 4; Declam 3; Junior Play 3; Operetta 1; SSS 4; Broboca Staff 1; Bobcat 4; and Play Production 1. 

SSS (Seniors Strive to Serve) was a group of about a dozen senior girls with a goal of "promoting all school activities and to create pep in our school."   Since 1940 was a Leap Year, they sponsored a Leap Year dance, which was the "most profitable of all the school dances." 

They were naturally at all of the home contests, but also traveled to the football game at Huron, and to the basketball game in Sioux Falls.  This was at a time when very few people traveled out-of-town to support their team.  In addition, they sponsored the "Christmas Basket," "presented assembly programs,"  and organized pep meetings. 

Other pictures in the annual indicate that the basketball games were played in the Jr. Hi. gym, which would later become Central Elementary.  Intramural basketball was played in the high school gym  "The Pit."  It appears that the football games were played at Bobcat Field at Pioneer Park.  There are cars parked near one of the sidelines, whereas State Field had bleachers on both sides.

The Junior Class play that year was "Foot Loose" (sic) (https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/footloose-6803).  Could that have been the inspiration for the 1984 movie "Footloose?"  There were a number of juniors that year who were parents of students of our era.   A trip to the historical section of the Brookings Public Library will reveal those individuals. 

In addition to Mrs. Leibel, there were numerous seniors who may be familiar to members of our class.  Some of those names are:  Art Anderson; Hugh Barnett; Lorraine Berge; Marie Berkland; Eivor Birath; Dennis and Duane Braley; Lorraine Buckley; Mary Connelly; Evelyn Derdall; Phyllis Dokken; Cleo Duff; Tom Durland; Zerl Frie; Olin Gile; James Grommersch; Ruth Harding; Virginia Kjenslee; Floyd Lakeman; J. Walters McCarty; Roger McMillan; Cecilia Moriarty; Phyllis Morrison; Norma Niklason; Jorine Opdahl; Faye Pittenger; Marlys Ponto; Evelyn Rossman; Nina Mae Sanderson; Lyle Seas; Oswald Schock; Calvin Steen; Stafford Steen; Lloyd Sterud; Clarence Sturdevant; George Sundet;  Margaret Trygstad; Eugene Waltz; Phyllis Wheeler; and Florence Wilber. 

At the visitation and at the funeral, we were able to have some wonderful conversations with Alan and other family members.  As a lawyer, Alan is gradually reducing his workload.  He and his wife Kay have a "retirement" home where they hope to spend some more time in their golden years.

Alan's older brother Jay is also a lawyer and has practiced in Madison, SD, for many years.  During college, Jay worked summers at the Bug Lab north of town, along with a number of other BHS grads.

Kent has remained in Brookings, and has been associated with Central Business Supply, an office supply company that is located in the old Beckman Implement building on third street a couple of blocks west of the courthouse.  A few years ago, he bought the O'Connell house on 8th street and rented it out.  However, the expansion of SDSU resulted in that house being moved so the area could become a parking lot. 

The twins Becky and Kathy were 8th-graders my first year of teaching (1973-4).  Becky was in my homeroom, and, with her sister, was as active as middle-schoolers could be.  One fond memory is that they were Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee when the music department performed "Alice in Wonderland" in the spring of 1974. 

The school allowed me to teach long enough so that a few of Alan's nieces and nephews were also in my classes and/or activities.  At the visitation, we had some fond memories of those days. 

Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to Alan and his family at the loss of his mother.  As one of the concluding prayers at her funeral said: "Eternal rest, grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her."

One Talented Mother

Our class lost another wonderful person when the mother of Patty Vick passed away recently (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=27335301_DVick). She was employed at the "Bug Lab" when some of us worked there, but since we were usually out in the fields in the "back 40" and she was working "up front", we seldom crossed paths.

As one reads her obituary, it is readily apparent that she was like so many of these ladies who grew up on the farm.  They knew what hard work was, and they knew how to devote their time to helping others when their own work was done.  They truly recognized that "a woman's work is never done."

A number of other classmates also attended the visitation to offer their condolences to Patty, her brother from the class of 1966, and his son Michael (Patty's nephew).  She even suggested that we should hold a "mini-reunion" right there.  Sandy (David) Meisenheimer made some delicious pumpkin bars that were so good they disappeared rapidly.  The meatballs, too, were extremely tasty.  The fruit selection was superb; some of the strawberries were almost as big as apples, yet still retained their distinctive flavor.  

 

Our condolences go out to Patty and her family at this time.

Another "Iron Horse"

"ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. " (http://www.alsa.org/about-als/what-is-als.html).  It is also referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease,  "named after New York Yankees baseball player Lou Gehrig, who was diagnosed with this illness in the 1930s." (https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-lou-gehrigs-disease-or-als.htm). 

Lou Gehrig was the durable Yankee first baseman in the 1920's and 30's who played in 2,130 consecutive baseball games before ALS hastened his retirement.  As a result of his durability on the baseball field, he was nicknamed "The Iron Horse"  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Gehrig). His "record that stood for 56 years and was long considered unbreakable until surpassed by Cal Ripken, Jr., in 1995. "

Our class lost another parent recently, a father and a veteran who was an "Iron Horse" in many respects, as he passed away in his 97th year.   Coincidentally, he also shares the same first name as Mr. Gehrig.  That man was Lou Skubic (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=83029617_LSkubic), the father of Stan of our class.  This has been a  difficult year for Stan and his family, as they lost their mother only eight months ago (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=2077397). 

Stan's daughter gave a wonderful tribute to her grandmother at that funeral.  She proclaimed similar accolades for her grandfather last Saturday, Nov. 10, 2019.  Stan and his wife Blanche can be very proud of their daughter for her noble testimonials to Stan's parents during such difficult emotional and stressful times.   

There were a number of notable people at the funeral.  Rodney Koehn and his wife came all the way from the Twin Cities to pay their respects.  Carroll Cole from the class of 1968 was also there.  She and her husband have recently moved back to Brookings after retiring from their positions in New York City.  Her father was Mr. "Vic" Cole, who taught social studies in the Jr. Hi and middle school for a number of years.  Some of us may have been his students in 1963-1965. Carroll mentioned that her family lived next door to the Skubics,  attended the same church, and thus had common bonds with them.  Another individual attending was a fellow by the name of Chuck Tiltrum.  He worked at the "Bug Lab" during his college years, along with Jay Leibel (Al's brother) and me.  He was a few years older than we were, but received his  B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering  at SDSU.  Undoubtedly, he came under the influence of Mr. Skubic.  Mr. Tiltrum eventually became a faculty member at SDSU, specializing in the teaching of  surveying.  He was also an advisor to the civil engineering club that did very well in national competitions. He proudly knew Mr. Skubic as both a teacher and a colleague. 

It was unusually cold at the cemetery (temperatures here have been well below normal recently).  Since Mr. Skubic had been in the Navy during WW II, there was on honor guard on hand to pay their proper respects.  There were also two Naval officers who retired the flag and presented it to the family after the committal service. 

At the reception afterwards, a college student who is the son of David Moriarty, who was a year behind us in school, told me that Mr. Skubic was also a photographer while he was stationed in the Pacific.  He actually took a photograph of General MacArthur landing ashore somewhere out there (the Philippines?).  However, the picture did not turn out because it was taken into the sun.  As a result, another photograph of Gen.  MacArthur taken at the same time but at a different angle made the magazines and newspapers, and became rather famous.  Could this be that famous picture?


Mr. Skubic was a well-respected member of the faculty and the community of Brookings.  Our condolences and prayers go out to Stan at the loss of his wonderful father. 

Stepping Up to Catch Up

Fifty years and a few months after walking out of the Brookings High School gymnasium for the last time as students, the BHS class of 1968 got together last September for a class reunion.  Joining approximately 68 classmates were friends and spouses, bringing the total attendance to just over 100.  Events included a Meet & Greet on Friday the 21st, followed by a  Brookings, 50 Years Later  bus tour the following morning.  A banquet wrapped up the festivities that Saturday night.

The two days went off surprisingly well, considering that Sandy Frie-Smith and I were trying to organize it from California and Minnesota, respectively.  The secret to the success was how some classmates stepped up big time to fill needed gaps just in time for the event itself.  Jeff Neuberger was the greatest Stepper Upper: He managed the excellent Class of '68 Facebook page, as well as taking countless reunion photos throughout the two days.  In addition, Jeff created the In Memoriam tribute to our 30-plus departed classmates.  Rick Wahlstrom used his skills as a certified Methodist Lay Pastor to lead a full-group Memory Lane session that was sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant and always fascinating.  Mike McClemans narrated the bus tour with all of the candor that a long-time real estate agent and former city council member can deliver. Mike pulls no punches with his opinions; no one slept on THAT bus ride!  Steve Hayes and Linda Moe and Randy McClagan stepped up locally to take care of several late-breaking issues.  Craig Steen again took care of the financial matters for us.  Julie Brchan took on the reunion-booklet publishing task.

Many thanks to all who attended a very successful reunion.  We were able to Catch Up because so many classmates Stepped Up.

"The Reports Of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated"

Many of us may recall this quote from Mark Twain after he heard that his obituary had been published in the New York Journal.  It appears that the demise of Igloo, South Dakota, mentioned in a previous post about former BHS teacher Leon Friend, may also be somewhat exaggerated.  A loyal follower, who has relayed to me many useful websites dealing with the history of Brookings and South Dakota, sites that I did not even know existed, has forwarded another fantastic site.  He writes, "Facebook has several SD history groups where people post pictures and stories about Igloo and other towns. It looks like some survivalists are making use of the bunkers at Igloo:  https://www.terravivos.com/secure/vivosxpoint.htm?fbclid=IwAR3Xa6vB5PLofQoe3a3y0cijL_DNXBD7zWo1xVdPE5c0RyLZq2BV2Dlu8u4"

Will these grand plans come to fruition?  It might make for an interesting trip out there to see how the landscape has changed since some of us were last there over 50 years ago.  Since the elevation there is higher than in Brookings, one of our coaches jokingly teased  one teammate that he should stay there as long as he could, since that may be as close to heaven as that player may ever get. 

On a rather sad note, we send our condolences to Stan Skubic, whose father recently passed away (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=83029617_LSkubic).  Like so many of our parents, Mr. Skubic was a truly outstanding individual.  He was a scholar (engineering professor) and patriot, seeing "... action in many of the major landings in the Asiatic and Pacific Theater.."  He and his wife Mary Ann were well-known, respected, and admired, too, for their devotion to their faith. 

Mary Ann passed away just about 10 months ago on February 26, 2018, so this must be a truly difficult time for Stan and his family.  Our thoughts and prayers are with him as he mourns the loss of his father.