On September 3, Elaine Fae Jensen, mother of Judy, passed away. She was another one of our mothers who was an alumna of BHS, graduating in 1944. After graduation, she attended Madison Eastern Normal (later General Beadle, later Dakota State College, and now Dakota State University) and received her teaching certificate. After teaching in Spencer, SD, for one year, she married Russell Jensen, and they farmed in Brookings for over 20 years.
Her father was Erza Norris, which would make him Judy's grandfather. He was a custodian in the school system for a number of years. The 1956 annual shows him along with Roy Draper, Tony Hey (pronounced "hi"; he was a neighbor of ours and my confirmation sponsor in 1961), Leo Melicher, and R.C. Townsend. Mr. Draper remained in that building when it became a middle school in 1967, and was there until perhaps the mid-70's. It seems that Mr. Norris and Mr. Melicher were the custodians for Central Elementary, as I can recall seeing them in the building during our grade school days. I always thought, though, that his name was spelled Ezra. Perhaps I had dyslexia and did not know it.
Her brother Vernon, I believe, was a minister in town, while her brother Roger worked at Bozied's Conoco for a time. When Tom Bozied and Steve Odegaard worked there, they were known to perhaps tease Roger a little more than necessary.
Judy and I were often in the same homeroom in high school, as homerooms were assigned alphabetically. Consequently, our pictures. too, were always next to each other in the annuals. I did not get a chance to talk at length with Judy, but her son Aaron, who is a minister, gave a nice eulogy for his grandmother.
Our thoughts, condolences, and prayers go out to Judy and her family.
Two days later, on Sept. 5, we lost one of our own when Jim Bortnem passed away. Most of us were not aware that he had been struggling recently. His son Travis was a student of ours, and indicated that his father had succumbed to cancer (at least that is the impression I had. My hearing seems to have deteriorated over the past few years).
Did anyone else notice the similarity between the poems for Elaine Jensen and Jim Bortnem?
Jim was a late bloomer. Since he lived in the neighborhood, some of us often shot baskets at his house. Jim wanted so much to play basketball in high school, but he indicated to us one time that Mr. Thury thought Jim lacked experience, so Jim was cut. In Jim's words, "How do you get experience if you keep getting cut?" When he went to school in Kansas, he was able to achieve his dream. I believe he did quite well down there.
There is a picture in the front of our senior annual. It is not the aerial photograph of the high school inside the front cover. It can be found a couple of pages later, with a brief paragraph on one page reading,
This is BHS...
Sometimes feelings and sentiments are not best expressed in writing, for some impressions and experiences are so uniquely individual that words can not convey the entire scope of our emotions. Although poets are rare among us, there are a few who cannot understand pictures; a photograph captures forever a memorable moment, and holds time still. As a favorite melody brings to mind the almost forgotten moments, a picture can represent and recall things as they once were. Remembering the joys, the anxieties, the loves, and the expectations of the year let these photographs be a reminder of these days...
The FALCON
Independence, Mo.
Not the Biggest
But the Best
On the next page and one-half, there is a silhouette of a male student standing in hallway, hand on his hips and looking out the doors toward the parking lot. The picture can be interpreted in many ways, but it seems to be saying " Okay, world, here I come. I have completed my high school education, and I am ready to take on the challenges that await me." 
I was told by a reliable source that the individual pictured is Jim Bortnem. In the past few years, I would occasionally run into him once in a while around town. Jim appeared to value his privacy. We ran into each other late at night at the grocery store because both of us liked to avoid the crowds. Perhaps his illness caused him to miss our reunion a month earlier.
Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to Jim and his family.
Three and one-half weeks later, on Sept. 30, Bonny Bork, mother of Carol, passed away. A post a few years back noted her involvement with over 14,000 births at the Brookings Hospital (https://classof69bhs.blogspot.com/2016/01/14000-babies-true-patriot.html).
Carol's brother Bob was on our Phillies little league baseball team (8-10 year olds). He was probably the best outfielder we had. In one game he made a terrific catch of a long fly ball right at the fence, perhaps preventing a home run. When were moved up a division (11-12 year olds), he was on the Pirates. One year, we played them in the first game of the play-offs. We were beating them soundly. The bases were loaded and Jim Kortan was coming up to bat. Then the rains came, washing out the game. We had to replay the game the next afternoon. It was a really good game, and the Pirates won 1-0. My behavior must not have been very gentlemanly, as Rick Wahlstrom's mother really scolded me for being such a poor sport in a losing cause.
Our thoughts, condolences, and prayers go out to Carol and her family.
Today, October 23, the Brookings Register had an obituary notice for Darlene Gulseth, mother of David of our Class. https://www.kirkfuneralhome.com/obituary/darlene-gulseth
I was not a close friend of David's, but I do remember that he was in my phys ed class one year (7th grade?) when Mr. Dolan was our teacher. We spent some classes learning to jump rope in various ways: both feet at a time; alternating feet; one foot continuously; crossing our arms over each other; going backwards; and any other imaginative way we could think of. David was perhaps the best one in our class no matter which way we jumped. He was exceptionally skilled at doing double jumps; he could do more consecutive ones than any of us. A double jump is twirling the rope around twice during one jump. Many of us could do one jump and then lose our balance. Some could do a few more before falling over. David, however, seemed to go on endlessly, only stopping after a couple of dozen or so (it can be rather exhausting, as the rope has to be twirled really fast, which tires out the arms). He was able to tuck his feet up under his hips without losing his balance. At the end of that unit, Mr. Dolan had our class do a little performance at half-time of one of the high school basketball games up at the SDSU fieldhouse (the barn).
We do not have an email address for David to extend our condolences to him, but the obituary indicates that his address is Fishers, IN. We will pursue that clue and see if we can contact him and express our condolences on the loss of his mother. If anyone else has further information, do not hesitate to let us know.
