Many of us may remember that 1968 song "Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkin (https://www.songfacts.com/facts/mary-hopkin/those-were-the-days). Recent visits with classmates this past week recalled some of those memories.
Prairie Reportory Theater of SDSU (https://www.sdstate.edu/prairie-repertory-theatre) recently performed the musical Oklahoma. Since that was the musical that BHS performed 55 years when the "new" high school opened,
it seemed fitting that some of us in the area should enjoy it again.
One of the members of the cast in 1968 commented that they had omitted some of the scenes back then. As performed by Prairie Rep, the production lasted about three hours, considerably longer than when BHS performed it back in that spring of 1968. The cast, crew, and directors at Prairie Rep displayed much talent. Word was that each performance was sold out. If you went to the Prairie Rep link above, you may have noticed that one of the PRT staff and faculty is Melissa Hauschild-Mork. Yes, that is the sister of Pat Hauschild of our class, and the daughter of one of our esteemed teachers and coaches, Wayne "Hoss" Hauschild.
We may recall "My Guy" (https://www.songfacts.com/facts/mary-wells/my-guy) as a number one song from May of 1964, just as the "British Invasion" began dominating the charts. In fact, this link states "This was the song that broke up The Beatles famous monopoly on the Top 5 US chart positions in May of 1964."
BHS had its own "Guy." Some of us knew him as Mr. Karnes, or simply as "Guy O. (what did the O. stand for? Continue to the end and find out)." The class of 1968, the first to graduate from the "new" high school, honored him by dedicating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedicated_to_the_One_I_Love) the 1968 "Bobcat" yearbook to him. (Do you get the impression that 1968 is a prominent theme here?)
Mr. Karnes continued to teach part-time as the physics teacher at BHS for a couple of years after 1968, perhaps because a capable replacement could not be found. His replacement, Paul Wilkens, had been a student teacher for Mr. Karnes. He was an excellent teacher, and also was a force to be reckoned with on our championship city league basketball team. However, he found a more lucrative offer working for a scientific company in New York state, I believe.
What most of us did not know was that Mr. Karnes was an outstanding high school track and field coach before coming to Brookings. One student who was mentored by Mr. Karnes said that the reason he came to Brookings was that he did not have to coach; he wanted to devote his time to the classroom. I lived near the "old" high school, and would often see the lights on in his room in the late evenings when we played on the courthouse lawn. (The article below is from the mid-1950's)
Undoubtedly, many other students owe deep gratitude to Mr. Karnes' guidance. Who can forget some of his memorable sayings: "My sainted aunt;" "I'll be a cow kicked into Texas;" "I'll bet dollars to doughnuts...;" "If you don't get the right answer, I'll cut your gizzard out with a dull knife." To repeat some of those comments today might result in the termination of one's teaching credentials.
When he finally did retire, Mr. Karnes lived in Brookings for a few years, and provided me with much guidance when my own teaching career started in 1973. About ten years after we graduated, he and his wife moved to Berlin, Wisconsin, where their daughter Karen lived.
When time permits, we'll see if "Good Golly Miss Molly" can catch a ride when "Along Comes Mary."
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