Many of us may recall the song "If I Were A Carpenter [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Were_a_Carpenter_(song)]" from 1966, just as we had begun our sophomore year (and our last year) at the "old" high school. Bobby Darin's version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXChNE8kEWs) was the most popular. The Four Tops released their version in 1968, and Johnny Cash and June Carter had another version in 1970.
Many of us had siblings in that senior class of 1967. Some familiar names were Ahlers, Allison, Anderson, Baker, Berge, Berkland, Bjordahl, Boggs, Bortnerm, Bozied Brown, Cavanaugh, Darnall, Davis, Hamilton, Hauff, Hendricks, Herrig, Hoekman, Holm, Johnson, Kallemeyn, Koenders, Kratochvil, Leibel, Liebing, Linder, Marshall, Mehegan, Person, Quincey, Roberts, Simmons, Sloat, Steen, Sterud, Sturdevant, Thysell, Walsh, Wakeman, and Wright.
Another member of that class, perhaps unknown to most of us, was Darlene Carpenter. The yearbook lists her only activity as German Club 4. What interested me is that she sat right behind me, as we were in the same German class. Many summers ago, I happened to be at the "new" high school, and noticed that the custodians were throwing away old grade books from the 1960's. My curiosity took hold of me, so I started scanning some of those records. By sheer coincidence, there were the grade books from Fraulein Huwe, the German teacher (she also taught one class of Junior English). That year, she had noted that the school year began August 29, 1966, and ended on May 29, 1967. It seems that now those opening and closing dates are a week to ten days earlier.
She listed her German I class times at 8:00, 10:00, and 2:00, while German II met at 3:00. No time is listed for English III, so it could have been 9:00, 11:00, or 1:00. In any case, that would have made for a lo-o-o-ng school day. Students who had an 8:00 class usually were done by 3:00.
Darlene and I were in the 10:00 German I class. Other classmates were Ken Beckman, Ron Havermann, Barb Hauff, Jim Kohler, Steve Odegaard, Phil Peterson, Donna Rieck, Joanne Sauer, Dan Scanlan, Stan Skubic, and Randy Christianson. The other freshmen, junior, and senior students shall remain unnamed.
Sadly, Darlenen passed away recently (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/darlene-carpenter). As the obituary states, she was in an automobile accident just a few blocks south of the old high school, and was paralyzed as a result. That accident, however, did not seem to diminish her desire to live a full and exemplary life. She retained her high school enthusiasm and followed the Bobcat teams closely.
Her competitive spirit and love of athletics was probably due to the influence of her older brother Roger. Roger was well-known as a fantastic fast-pitch softball pitcher. Some of us remember Roger playing at Southside Park many years ago (disclaimer: my brother George was often his catcher). When slo-pitch softball became more popular in Brookings, Roger then played in Sioux Falls for many years. He was also a rugged city league basketball player. He and Mr. Walder, our Junior English teacher, had many memorable tussles playing against each other in the old Armory downtown. In his later years, Roger owned a popular nightspot, appropriately name "Carpy's."
Our condolences to Darlene's family during this sad time.
Another long-time resident who recently passed away was Wayne Ward (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/wayne-ward). Coincidentally, he passed away just one day after Darlene. Also coincidentally, he lived directly across the street from Darlene for many years.
When Wayne was growing up in the 1950's, there was much interest in boxing for many of the local boys. Some of the boys who may not have had the desire to play the big-name sports readily found a home in boxing. Wayne was one of those, as indicated by the pride he took in his Bantam championship trophy.
In the early 1960's, my Minneapolis Tribune paper route covered the south side of town from Main to Medary. One of the customers was a Ward who lived about where Medary School is now. It seemed like there house was in the middle of a large pasture, accessible only via a dirt road. Pheasants were often heard and seen there. This Ward family seems not to be related to Wayne, as the Wards that I recall from the 1960's, Wes Ward, Leland Ward, and Marsha Ward, were not mentioned in the obituary.
Many of us had summer jobs while we were in junior high, high school, and college. For two summers, I was fortunate to work for the city painting crosswalks. (If it was too wet to paint, garbage duty was usually the assignment). Wayne also worked for the city. If memory serves right, he manned the street sweeper when necessary. He was very helpful to me during my two summers there, as he was about the age of my older siblings. He had some nice tales of their exploits.
David Borstad is listed as a brother to Wayne. I vaguely recall David and his brother Bobby. I believe they lived near Southside Park, and were good athletes. Baseball, especially, seems to ring a bell (or was it boxing). A visit to the library may indicate when David and Bobby (Robert) moved to Omaha. I seem to recall a Register article that mentioned that Bobby had perished in an automobile accident in Omaha a few years after they had moved there.
In my early years of teaching (probably the 1974-5 school year), Wayne's daughter Wendy was a student of mine. Several years later, Wayne's grandson Brandon Linneman was also a student of mine. All of us enjoyed reminiscing at the visitation.
Our condolences to Wayne's family at this difficult time.
This post began with a reference to a song from 1966, "If I Were A Carpenter." This past week, the BHS class of 1966 held their 60th class reunion. Darrell Larson (Duane's brother) and Roger Olson, alumni of that class, and both of whom worked so diligently to make the "60's decade reunion" of recent memory a resounding success, invited those of us who assisted in that effort to also join some of the festivities for their own class reunion. That class also had some familiar names: Adamson, Ahlers, Connelly, Gulseth, Gustafson, Havermann, Hegstrom, Henry, Iverson, Johnson, Kallemeyn, Larson, Lee, Martin, Peterson, Rufer, Sauer, Schroeder, Sterud, Vick, Westbrook, and Workman (some of these may have been cousins). It was enjoyable visiting with many of them for a few hours, especially Duane's brother Darrell and Barb Henry's brother Tom.
Mr. "Franny" Dolan's daughter Kay Frances of that class was also in attendance. We had many topics to cover, not only because of "Franny's" influence on so many students and athletes, but also because he was instrumental in the Brookings school district hiring me for a teaching position in the spring of 1973. Many thanks to Darrell, Roger, and the others in that class for letting me a small part of the festivities.
