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.