The above title refers to a smaller version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that is found in our nation/s capital (https://www.vvmf.org/The-Wall-That-Heals/). This exhibit appears in various cities across the country, and Brookings is the only city in South Dakota where it will appear this year (https://cityofbrookings-sd.gov/908/The-Wall-That-Heals-2026). Recently, the Register had a short article and several pictures promoting its arrival at the Fishback Soccer Complex (https://www.brookingsregister.com/2026/06/11/photo-gallery-the-wall-that-heals-arrives-in-brookings/).
Since there were two BHS students (Jay Bibby and Bill Sturdevant) who lost their lives in that conflict, the organizers were thoughtful enough to place little flags and pictures where their names were located on the wall.
One other prominent casualty who was recognized was Joe Thorne. The Gojacks website (https://gojacks.com/news/2026/6/12/general-jackrabbit-heroes-remembered-through-wall-stop) states "A graduate of Beresford High School, Thorne was a rugged fullback on Jackrabbit football teams from 1959-61. He earned all-North Central Conference recognition in both 1960 and 1961, and finished his career with a then-school record 2,156 rushing yards. During his senior season in 1961, Thorne was named the NCC Most Valuable Player and was a second-team All-America selection.
"First Lt. Thorne was killed in action when the UH-1B Army helicopter he was commanding was shot down by Viet Cong small arms ground fire on Easter Sunday, 1965 (April 18). He was 24 years old and was the first South Dakotan to die in the Vietnam War."His name is inscribed on panel E1, line 105."
An internet search indicates that Joe Thorne was drafted by Green Bay Packers in 1962 (https://www.sdshof.com/inductees/joe-thorne/#:~:text=Thorne%20was%20a%2012th%2Dround,in%20the%201962%20NFL%20draft.)
Joe's younger siblings were brother Tim, BHS grad of 1967; sister Julie, class of 1971; and brother Tracy, class of 1978.
A volunteer explained how to find a name on the wall. The panels are numbered, and a mark is made every 10 lines. Each line has (I think he said) six names on it. There is a website (https://www.vvmf.org/wof-search/) that helps to locate where each name is inscribed.
Two other Jackrabbit players are mentioned: Darrell Spinler and Richard Larson. Darrell Spinler played basketball in the late 1950's. Although I recall some of those players of that era, I have no recollection of him. Richard Larson, on the other hand, played both basketball and baseball during the mid-1960's, so we may be familiar with his career. On the basketball roster, he was often listed as R. A. Larson, as there was another Rich Larson on the team. These are the statistics that can be found for the 1964-5 season. Can you identify the three BHS graduates on the roster?
|---TOTAL---| |---3-PTS---| |----REBOUNDS----| Player GP-GS Min--Avg FG-FGA Pct 3FG-FGA Pct FT-FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg PF FO A TO Blk Stl Pts Avg --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BJURSTROM, Larry... 16-0 0 0.0 5-17 .294 0-0 .000 10-15 .667 0 7 7 0.4 5 0 0 0 0 0 20 1.3 FISCHER, Dave...... 23-0 0 0.0 54-178 .303 0-0 .000 16-35 .457 0 135 135 5.9 30 1 0 0 0 0 124 5.4 GAMBLE, Bill....... 15-0 0 0.0 8-26 .308 0-0 .000 12-24 .500 0 28 28 1.9 9 0 0 0 0 0 28 1.9 IVERSON, Bill...... 17-0 0 0.0 66-184 .359 0-0 .000 38-70 .543 0 94 94 5.5 59 2 0 0 0 0 170 10.0 LARSON, R.A........ 22-0 0 0.0 82-173 .474 0-0 .000 32-45 .711 0 129 129 5.9 37 2 0 0 0 0 196 8.9 LARSON, Rich....... 22-0 0 0.0 68-158 .430 0-0 .000 61-84 .726 0 122 122 5.5 49 4 0 0 0 0 197 9.0 MEYER, Ron......... 6-0 0 0.0 4-24 .167 0-0 .000 15-20 .750 0 17 17 2.8 3 0 0 0 0 0 23 3.8 OTTERNESS, Ron..... 21-0 0 0.0 74-186 .398 0-0 .000 51-67 .761 0 125 125 6.0 54 5 0 0 0 0 199 9.5 PENNER, Vern....... 5-0 0 0.0 1-4 .250 0-0 .000 2-6 .333 0 15 15 3.0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.8 SISSON, Gary....... 9-0 0 0.0 2-8 .250 0-0 .000 1-1 1.000 0 6 6 0.7 4 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.6 SMITH, Gary........ 23-0 0 0.0 100-261 .383 0-0 .000 45-67 .672 0 136 136 5.9 68 4 0 0 0 0 245 10.7 TIMPONE, Tom....... 21-0 0 0.0 85-197 .431 0-0 .000 65-86 .756 0 78 78 3.7 61 2 0 0 0 0 235 11.2 TJADEN, Dave....... 20-0 0 0.0 24-58 .414 0-0 .000 7-12 .583 0 49 49 2.5 27 0 0 0 0 0 55 2.8 WHITE, Maurice..... 15-0 0 0.0 55-128 .430 0-0 .000 41-53 .774 0 46 46 3.1 45 1 0 0 0 0 151 10.1 Team totals........ 23 0 628-1602 .392 0-0 .000 396-585 .677 01113 1113 48.4 455 21 0 0 0 0 1652 71.8 Opp totals......... 23 0 697-1690 .412 0-0 .000 402-596 .674 01237 1237 53.8 451 16 0 0 0 0 1796 78.1
The BHS class of 1959 will be holding a reunion this coming August. This may seem to be an odd year (67 years since graduation) to have a reunion, as most reunions seem to occur on a five year plan. The reason they did not want to wait until a 70th was that their numbers were rapidly dwindling. Over a dozen have passed away in the last few years, so they decided to reunite while the remaining members of the class were still alive.
Since our last post two months ago, there have been many people that we may have known that have passed away. Rather than write extensively about them, it seems appropriate to post a link to the obituaries and make brief comments about them.
In December, 2025, Bob Fishback (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/robert-fishback) passed away. Most of us know Bob as the banker. When we boys were in younger and wanted to play basketball in the winter, we often went to the Fishback barn to play when it was too cold to play outside. It wasn't the warmest up there in the hayloft, but at least we were out of the wind. On a personal note, Bob graduated with one of my brothers, and coincidentally was born exactly two years before another brother, and died exactly 30 years after my father.
Also passing away that month were Orv Smidt (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/orv-smidt) and Mike McCann (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/michael-mccann). Both of them were in the same class as two more of my brothers. Orv started on the basketball team with one of them, while Mike played on the football with both of them. Mike's son Dalyn was in my homeroom the second year I was teaching at the middle school.
On Christmas Day, 2025, Jerry Fiedler (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/jerome-fiedler) passed away. His wife was one of our senior English teachers in 1969-69, and had long and distinguished career at BHS. Their daughter Janet was a cheerleader in high school and at SDSU. I had always thought that she was hit by a dead coyote at a basketball game when "State" was playing the "U" in Feb. 7, 1976 (https://dailyinterlake.com/news/2012/jan/15/frozen-coyote-incident-follows-woman-for-36-6/). However, that was a different Fiedler. Their son David was in 8th grade my first years of teaching, and later became a principal at Central Elementary in Brookings. When Central closed down and became a children's museum, he was the principal at Camelot, the school that replaced Central.
January was cruel to a number of people that we may have known. On the 5th, we lost Dave Quam (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/dave-quam). Dave was in the last class to graduate from the "old" high school on 4th Street. He was the manager for the athletic teams. He had a booming auto-body repair business, and restored a 1957 Chevy BelAir for me. We may remember his mother, as she was the long-time secretary for Mr. Bell.
I was shocked to hear of Todd Schamp's passing (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/todd-schamp). He was a student of ours many years ago. I recall him as being rather small when he was in middle school, but he appears to have grown quite a bit.
Robert Kneip (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/robert-kneip) owned the Kneip Implement dealership in Arlington, and was one of the many Kneip brothers.
In February, we lost Alice Gehrke (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/alice-gehrke). She was one of the first women runners in the area, and was the husband of Henry Gehrke, a chemistry professor at SDSU. Many of us had him as an instructor when we were at "State." Sadly, her son Karl, a former student of ours, passed away on June 9, 2026 (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/karl-gehrke).
Joyce Bailey (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/joyce-bailey) also passed away this past February. She was little younger than we were, and had twin sister Janet. One of her sisters married Dave Ulmer, brother of Joe of our class. Her son David Hock was a student of ours in the 2001-02 school year.
March took Jerry Moad's nephew Travis Moad (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/travis-moad), He, too, was a former student of ours many years ago.
We also lost Mason Wheeler (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/mason-wheeler) in March. He was the husband of Janie Wheeler, one of our freshman English teachers and a colleague of mine for many years. Mason also happened to be in one of my brother's class, the BHS class of 1956. This is the brother that was born exactly two years after Bob Fishback. He was named George because their birthdays were both February 22, the traditional date of George Washington's birthday. Also in that class was Art Wilber, oldest brother of Cathy of our class. In the old high school, now the "1921" building (that was the year it was built), there is a frame on the wall just to the left as one enters the building that has the individual pictures of those class members. Other similar class photos are scattered throughout the building. Mason's younger brother Dan was two years ahead of us, and in the same class as Dave Quam.
Harold Poppen (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/harold-poppen) passed away on April 17. Harold worked at the post office, as many or our parents did. I was fortunate to work there part-time during 1968, and got to know Harold rather well. I believe his brother was the sophomore basketball coach in Watertown. When girls' basketball started in the 1970's, he and I coached against each other a few times at the middle school level. Some of his children were students of ours, while his grandson Riley was on our cross-country team.
Some of us may remember Vernon Rude from the BHS class of 1968. His mother, Marian, passed away on April 26 (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/marian-rude)
Frank Kurtenbach (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/frank-kurtenbach) passed away on May 16. I became acquainted with Frank through mutual friends. He would claim that Lincoln High School should have won the state wrestling tournament in 1969, which is the year the Bobcats won it, as juniors Rod Distad at 120 and Jan Sanderson at 145 were state champs, while seniors Craig Knock and Craig Derscheid were 3rd and 4th respectively. Why did Lincoln not come out on top? If we remember the winter of 1968-69, we may recall that there was a great deal of snow then, and bad weather prevented the Lincoln team from arriving in Huron, the site of the tournament, for weigh-ins on time (https://www.argusleader.com/story/sports/2016/08/08/caught-wrong-side-snowdrift/85032322/). Jan Sanderson, however, disputes that assertion, as he believes the the Bobcats would have won it even if Lincoln had shown up.
Jerry Danielsen (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/jerry-danielsen) was another family friend. I have known him since I was in grade school, as he and my brothers were hunting and fishing buddies. Jerry's wife was also a colleague for a number of years, as she was an English teacher at the middle school.
Jeremy Deutsch (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/jeremy-deutsch) was extremely well-known in town for his entrepeneurship with Cubby's Sports Bar and Grill as well as The 9 (was it our 50th reunion we had there?). He was also a former student-athlete of ours. According to some historical records, The 9 building was built in 1936. It was a Council Oak grocery store in 1937 to 1950. For a few years, it was Aeilts Appliances and Brookings Bru Coffee. From 1953-1962, it was Sandy & Elmers Recreation Room (a pool hall and beer joint). For the next two years, it was Mac's Recreation Room. In 1964, my brother George (mentioned above) owned it and named it George's Recreation. Some of us spent quite a bit of time in there playing pool. Tom and Walt Osterberg, as well as their father, were really good pool players. The Cubby's building was built in 1926, and has been home to a variety of businesses, especially those affiliated with insurance. Some of them were: O'Brien Insurance Agency; Jim Long and Associates; Wayne Hawley; Farmers Union; Spencer Hawley; Art Anderson; Art WilberCathy's brother); and Security Mutual Life of Nebraska.
Mike Filholm (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/michael-filholm) suddenly passed away on May 30. His father was the chief of police in Brookings for many years. He, too, was former student of ours.
June 4 was a sad day for many of us, as Tom Fergen (https://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/obituaries/thomas-fergen) went to his eternal reward. Although Tom was a year behind us, he and his family were well-known throughout the area. His father had Fergen's Menswear, and for a few years, the Varsity Shop on the SDSU campus. His brother Richard (usually referred to as Dick), had Nick's Hamburger Shop after Duane Larson had owned it. His brother Mike ("Tank") owned Ray's Corner for many years. His brother Tim restored many older cars, and was an extremely skilled carpenter. He built a huge garage for my brother perhaps 20 years ago. Because we live in the historical district, the garage had to meet many rigorous standards and variances.
Also on that day, Terry Olson (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/terry-olson). He was a history teacher at the high school for several years, as well as the athletic trainer there. He was very well-respected by his colleagues and by the athletes. He even treated me on occasion.
Lastly, another BHS alumna whom we may remember passed away on May 10. Linda Moe (https://www.brookingsregister.com/2026/05/15/linda-moesioux-fallsapril-7-1950-may-10-2026/) was a year ahead of us in school, and was a key individual for organizing their class reunions. Her daughter Kalli married Josh Reisetter, a former student of ours. Josh's mother was Marci Gottschalk, a few years older than we were, and the brother of Mark "Butch" Gottschalk, a classmate of Linda's. Wasn't Mark an important character in the musical "Oklahoma" that was performed our junior year?
