Another Parent Passes Away

The mother of Doug Voss passed away recently.
Esther Leona Voss, 84, died Tuesday, May 25, 2010, at Brookings Health Care System. Funeral services are at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Lutheran Church in Brookings. Visitation is from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday with a 6:30 p.m. prayer service at Rude’s Funeral Home in Brookings.Esther Leona Steinberg was born Sept. 17, 1925, in Tyndall, the daughter of Andrew (Florence) Hanson Steinberg. Esther received her education in the Brookings school district. Esther married Arthur R. Voss on May 13, 1941, in Ivanhoe, Minn. After their marriage they farmed for seven years near Anoka, Minn., and Ogilvie, Minn., area until moving back to Brookings in 1950. Art died Jan. 30, 2004.She was a lifetime member of First Lutheran Church in Brookings. She enjoyed bingo, playing 31 and especially enjoyed spending time with her family and visiting with her many friends. Her greatest joy was taking care of her grandchildren and her special dog, Muffin.She is survived by three sons, Leroy (Shirley) Voss of Brookings, Douglas (Kathy) Voss of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Gary (Shirley) Voss of Tremonton, Utah; two daughters, Jeanette (Leonard) Huffman of Bushnell and Sherrie (Steve) Hougland of Brookings; 16 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, four great-great- grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.She was preceded in death by her husband, Art, two infant grandchildren, two sisters and two brothers.Condolences may be sent to the family through www.rudesfuneralhome.com.

Any Good news?

For those of you who have been following this feeble attempt at blogging, you have noticed that there does not seem to be a great deal of pleasant news. If any of you have anything that could put a little cheer into our lives, please feel free to make a contribution. Surely, there must be some joyous occasions that your classmates would like to know about. Perhaps you can think of something that happened while we were in school . This is OUR class blog, not my own personal one. All of you can make some valuable contribution. Let us know if you are traveling; maybe you can arrange to meet some classmates in the area. I'm actually not even in Brookings anymore. I have returned to school in the Boston area, trying to discern if I should continue studies for the priesthood. It's been a struggle. Life was much simpler in Brookings, and school was easier, at least for me.

This is more like it. Barb Koenders just informed me that she has been blessed with a new granddaughter. Her oldest daughter had an adorable baby girl on May 9. Congratulations.

Our Class Suffers Another Loss

We lost another one of our class recently. I had some of her children when I taught school. Her brother Mike was on our basketball and track teams our senior year. I also taught her two youngest sisters and many of her nephews. Our condolences, sympathies, and prayers go out to the family. If you go to this website (http://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/index.php?option=com_obituary&task=details&oid=748), you can sign the guestbook.


Susan M. Zimmerman
Mar 14 1951 - May 07 2010
Susan M. Zimmerman, 59, Brookings died Friday, May 07, 2010 at the Brookings Health System. Funeral services have been sent for 10:30am Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Brookings. Visitation will be held Monday, May 10, 2010 at Rude’s Funeral Home from 4:00pm to 7:00pm with a Liturgical Wake service beginning at 6:30pm Susan M. Redmond was born on March 14, 1951, in Brookings, South Dakota the daughter of Kenneth and Mary (Collins) Redmond. She received her education in the Brookings Schools and was a graduate of the Brookings High School in 1969. She continued her education at Stewarts School of Hairstyling in Sioux Falls, SD. Sue was united in marriage to Gail Zimmerman on July 12, 1975. She was employed at the Carousel and Scissor Shanty for many years. She was presently employed at MTR in Brookings. She was a member of the St. Thomas More Catholic Parish of Brookings. She enjoyed traveling, camping, arranging flowers, gardening, cross stitching, decorating, cooking and baking and walking her dogs. She also enjoyed spending time with her family and especially her grandchildren.Susan is survived by her husband Gail of Brookings; her children, Toby (Alicia) Zimmerman of Bruce, SD, Tennille S. (Richard) Taylor of Stratford, SD, Gayle Dean (Butch) Rodman of Antioch, CA; her grandchildren Tage, Taryn and Lanell; her mother Mary Redmond of Brookings; one brother Mike (June) Redmond of Brookings, SD; five sisters Becky (Don) Salonen of Sioux Falls, SD, Betty Steen of Sioux Falls, SD, Teresa (Randy) McLagan of Brookings, SD, Lori (Butch) Oseby of Crooks, SD, Mary Frances Redmond of Minneapolis, MN; two uncles Bob (Ginny) Collins, John Collins; cousins Vaughn (Joe) Ripley, Rex Collin and many relatives.She was preceded in death by her father and one daughter Tennille M. Zimmerman.

Emmett Earley, Jr.

The mother of Emmett Earley, Jr. passed away on March 31, 2010. Our condolences and sympathies go out to the family. In a roundabout way, Emmett and I have some close ties. He was my neighbor for the last three years, and has helped me to maintain my old car. Emmett is well-known around Brookings for his love of 50's and 60's classic automobiles, and his ability to maintain and restore them. His mother was first married to an Iverson, who was a cousin to my father, I believe. He died from leukemia, and she later married Emmett Earley, Sr. I am not familiar with all of the details, as all of this obviously happened before we were born. It may have been difficult to talk about it, so it was not mentioned while we were growing up. The Argus-Leader ran this brief obituary today, April 1.

Elsie Mae Earley of Brookings, SDPublished: April 01, 2010
Brookings - Elsie Mae Earley, 92, of Brookings, SD died Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at her residence. Funeral Services have been set for 1:30pm Saturday, April 3, 2010 at First Lutheran Church, Brookings, SD. Visitation will be from 4:00pm to 7:00pm Friday, April 2, 2010 at Rude's Funeral Home, Brookings, SD. Condolences may be sent to the family through http://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/.

This is the additional information from the funeral home website:

Elsie M. Clark was born on January 19, 1918 in Bagley, IA the daughter of Charles and Lena (Ehlers) Clark.Elsie attended schools in White, Bushnell and Brookings, South Dakota. In 1936, she married Lyle Iverson in Brookings. She was employed for several years at the Produce Company in Brookings. Lyle died on February 13, 1949 in Brookings. Elsie was united in marriage to Emmett Earley on April 24, 1950, in Pipestone, MN. In 1953, they moved to San Francisco, CA until moving back to Brookings later in that same year. Elsie was then employed at various places in Brookings throughout her life.She was a life member of the VFW Auxiliary. She enjoyed gardening, flowers and especially spending time with her family and friends.Elsie is survived by her husband, Emmett of Brookings, SD; three sons, Lyle Butch Iverson (Linda) of Colorado Springs, CO, Richard Earley and Emmett Earley, Jr. both of Brookings, SD; one daughter, Donna Anundson also of Brookings, SD; many grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren and one sister Helen Walsh of Martinez, CA.She was preceded in death by her parents, first husband, Lyle; one son, Warren Iverson; one daughter, Beverly Shearer; one granddaughter, Sherrie Shearer; five brothers, James, Richard, Warren, Oarn and Roy and one sister, Laura Hammond.

Rodney Hill

The mother of Rodney Hill passed away recently. I believe Rod attended country school before 9th grade. We were in the same homeroom , so I became acquainted somewhat with him (they always placed us in homerooms alphabetically). At our 20th reunion, I believe he was chosen as the one who had changed the most. Our condolences to Rod and his family. The online obituary from the Brookings Register is below.

Ruth A. Hill, 93, died on Monday, March 15, 2010, at the Brookings Health System.Funeral services are at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at First Lutheran Church in Brookings. Visitation is 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, at Rude’s Funeral Home in Brookings. Ruth Adelia Nelson was born on June 27, 1916, in Volga, the daughter of John and Anna (Skaar) Nelson. She received her education in the Volga public school and was a graduate of Volga High School in 1934. She continued her education at Parisian School of Beauty Culture in Minneapolis. Ruth married Arley D. Hill on Dec. 23, 1934, in Volga. After their marriage they farmed north of Brookings for 37 years. She was employed at Cole’s Department Store for 13 years. Arley died Jan. 15, 1975 in Brookings. In 1975, Ruth moved to Brookings where she continued her employment at Cole’s Department Store. She entered Greenleaf Assisted Living in November 2009.She was a member of the First Lutheran Church in Brookings, the Ladies Circle and taught Sunday school for many years. She enjoyed sewing, music, reading and traveling.She is survived by two sons Marlin (Kathy) Hill of Brookings and Rodney (Toni) Hill of Moorhead, Minn.; four daughters Joanne (Dale) Saxton of St. Paul, Minn., Elaine (James) Sellers of Pickstown, Eleanor Beaudette of Menno and Karen (Ron) Paulson of Sulfur Springs, Texas; 21 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; and several great-great-grandchildren and one sister , Olga Pederson of Brookings.She was preceded in death by her husband; one daughter, Ardys Olson; two brothers, Joe and Gerhard and two sisters, Alice and Marie.Condolences may be sent to the family through www.rudesfuneralhome.com.

Brookings Is Healthy

This article was on the web page of the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader:

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100217/NEWS/2170335

Do you remember Captain 11?

Dave Dedrick was Captain 11 on KELO-TV for about 40 years. Many of us probably watched his program, and even wanted to be on it and turn the dials to start the cartoons. He passed away on Jan 22 at the age of 81. This link will take you to an article in the Sioux Falls paper: http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100123/UPDATES/100123001

This link will take you to obituary page. http://www.argusleader.com/obits You will have search for his last name. I think if you use January 24, 2010 for the date, you will be able to find his obituary.

This is two days later. Lavonne Fuller recently passed away. She was a radio personality for a number of years. She was on with Bert Getz on a program that may have been called "The Club Calendar". Her children were about our age. Her husband Ed had the Brookings Steam Laundry. They washed all the towels and uniforms that we used for gym classes and games. They were long-time fans of the Bobcats. Ed could really chew out the referees if he did not like the calls they made.

LaVonne Fuller of Brookings, SDPublished: January 26, 2010
Brookings - LaVonne Fuller, 85, died Jan. 21, 2010, at Brookview Manor in Brookings. Memorial services will be 11:00 A.M. Sat., Jan. 30, 2010, at First United Methodist Church in Brookings. Visitations will be from 4-8 P.M. Friday, January 29, at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings. Memorials may be directed to First United Methodist Church or the church choir. Survivors include a son, Richard (Janice) Fuller, of Tunas, MO; two daughters: Sandra (Jeff) Harms of Canby, MN, and Cynthia (Dave) Diesen of Weston, WI; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and two sisters.