The Long Winter

While The Long Winter is well-known as the title of one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, it could also be an apt description of the last few months here in Brookville.  The amount of snow we have had (and more is in the forecast) seems to rival that of the winter of our senior year in high school, exactly 50 years ago.  The snow banks were so high back then that people could not see crossing traffic, so red bandanas were tied onto car antennas to indicate that a car was approaching from the right or left of the intersection.  The snow banks this winter have also become so high that the city has begun removing much of the snow to improve visibility and reduce the likelihood of accidents (https://brookingsregister.com/article/too-much-snow). 

While the weather has not been so enjoyable, this winter has not been without its highlights.  The BHS girls' basketball team made it to the state tournament, a goal that has not been achieved in recent years.  The wrestlers had a couple of state champions, one of whom (Jacob Schoon) repeated as state champion and has amassed over 200 wins (easily a school record) in a varsity career that started in the 7th grade.  Both the men's and women's basketball teams won the Summit League regular season championship.  The SDSU men's indoor track and field team also won the Summit League indoor championship, which was held on their home track.  Their last conference title was in 1991.  The indoor facility  is located just north of the football stadium, where we used to scare up jackrabbits when it was just an unused field, and is one of the finest indoor track and field arenas in the country.  There were numerous meets there this winter.  February had a meet every weekend, including the Summit League conference and the national NAIA indoor meet.  Athletes and officials from schools all across the country were here for that one.  A number of us had the privilege of working and officiating at those meets.  The NAIA meet, especially, was quite memorable in that we were able to see some outstanding athletes and work with certified master officials.  They taught me a few tips that will improve my meager credentials.

It seems that very few months pass by without death rearing its ugly head.  Such was again the case these past few months.  About two months ago, Dr. Charles Lingren passed away.  While that name is probably not familiar to most of us, as he arrived in Brookings in the mid-70's to teach at SDSU, he became a prominent individual, in both the Brookings and university communities.  I was fortunate to coach two of his children in basketball, and to take two classes of his at SDSU to renew my teaching certificate.  One of those classes was a comparison of United States teaching methods and those used in Great Britain.  To better understand the British system, we journeyed to London and a few other points of interest in Europe for about three weeks.  We visited some classrooms and teachers, met with some local officials and an Anglican (Episcopalian) clergyman the first week. The next two weeks included some sightseeing, including a long visit to Scotland and a weekend in Paris. 

In the latter part of January, Evelyn Edwards passed away.  some of us may remember her, as she actually began her teaching career at the "old" school in 1966-67, teaching  Junior High social studies.  She moved to the "new" high school the next year, teaching sociology and international relations. She remained there for the rest of her teaching career of 25 years.   Did anyone  have her as a teacher for either of those classes? 

One of the principals and superintendents during her tenure at BHS was Mr. Jostad.  If you look carefully at the service below, he gave one of the eulogies.  Unknown to me is that her maiden name was Van Liere.  One of the customers on my Minneapolis Tribune paper route in the early 60's was the Brookings Sales Barn, run by her brother Don (https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/argusleader/obituary.aspx?pid=183270502). 

A couple of weeks later, another teacher in the Brookings school system, Rich Strande, passed away.  Mr. Strande grew up just a few miles west of Brookings in Volga, where he was a stellar athlete.  After college, he became a teacher and coach in Redfield in 1961.  He then relocated to Brookings in 1979, and taught just down the hall from me for almost 20 years.  We also coached track and field together during that time.  He was well-known as an outstanding wrestling coach, winning state titles both at Redfield and at Brookings.  He is, I believe, the only coach to win a state championship at both the "A" and "B" levels in that sport.   

One of Mr. Strande's elective classed was an introduction to photography.  The students made a simple box camera out of a metal or plastic Band-Aid contaianer, and developed their own pictures in a specially-designed dark-room (is that process still done today in the age of digital photography?).  One of his students was Matt Kryger.  He now is a photojournalist for the Indianapolis Star (https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=matt+kryger+photographer&qpvt=matt+kryger+photographer&FORM=IGRE).  .  One of his photos featured Adam Vinatieri kicking a field goal that tied the record for the most points scored by an NFL player (http://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2018/10/headed-for-hall.html).  He has since broken that record, and now has 2,600 points (http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/1097/adam-vinatieri and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Vinatieri).

 

Lastly, a funeral held last week hits closer to home for all of us.  Robin Mary Rae Alderman, sister of Rick Thompson, passed away Feb. 23, 2019.  My first year of teaching was 1973-4, and Robin was a cute little sixth-grader.  She was not one of my students, but it was easy to recognize that she was Rick's sister. 

Was nice to be able to visit with Rick at the funeral, although we both would have preferred more pleasant circumstances.  Hope to see him again this August at the reunion. 

Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to the Lingren, Edwards, Strande, and Alderman families at these difficult times.