David Helfinstine's Mother Passes Away

Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to David Helfinstine on the passing of his mother. This is the obituary that appears on eidsnessfuneralhome.com.

Jean M. Helfinstine
Jun 11 1920 - Dec 28 2010
Jean M. Helfinstine, age 90, of Brookings, died Tuesday, December 28, 2010, at the Brookings Hospital. Funeral services will be 10:30 A.M. Thursday, December 30, 2010, at First Presbyterian Church in Brookings, with interment in Greenwood Cemetery. Visitations will be from 5-8 P.M. Wednesday at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings. Memorials may be directed to the Rex & Jean Helfinstine Scholarship at SDSU or First Presbyterian Church. Jean M. (Fellows) Helfinstine was born June 11, 1920, at Janesville, Iowa, to Lloyd H. and Marian (Ballou) Fellows. She grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, and graduated from East Waterloo High School in 1938. She attended St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and transferred to Iowa State Teachers College (now UNI) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, graduating in 1946. She taught home economics, history, government, and English at Colesburg and Remsen, Iowa. She introduced and managed the school lunch program at Colesburg. On June 11, 1949, she married Rex D. Helfinstine at Berkeley, California. They lived in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1950 until 1951 where Rex was on the USDA staff at the university. Jean was a member of the faculty women’s chorus. She was employed at St. Luke’s Nursing School and taught a class in child growth and development to student nurses. In June 1952, the Helfinstines moved to Brookings where Rex was employed by the USDA and Extension Service. Rex died September 30, 1995. Jean was an active member of First Presbyterian Church, serving two terms as elder, teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, and serving as president of Presbyterian Women. She organized and taught an ecumenical Bible class. She gave piano lessons for 23 years, retiring in 1976. She served as president of NARFE, was a member of the Saturday Literary Club, and served as pianist for Golden K Kiwanis for seven years. Her hobbies included gardening, knitting, sewing, and playing piano and organ.Survivors include a son, David Helfinstine and his wife, Cathy, of Willmar, Minnesota; and two grandchildren, Ryan Helfinstine and his special friend Erin, and Betsy Staley and her husband Adam; and five great-grandchildren: Cole, Tucker, and Koda Helfinstine, and Jack and Ellie Staley.

Lee Colburn To Be Inducted Into SD Basketball Hall Of Fame

This spring, the South Dakota Basketball Hall of Fame will induct several new members, including our classmate, the late Lee Colburn. Someone involved with that project gave me a call, inquiring if I had some old game films. Fortunately, I do. They are only regular-season games, however, and not from the state tournaments. When I go home in a few weeks, I will lend them to him so he can transfer them over to a more suitable format.
Also being inducted are Roger Nelson, a 1954 alumnus of BHS, and Renee Sallquist, a 1985 alumna. Roger was friends of our family. He has known me since I was born, and was one of the pallbearers for my brother's funeral in 1965. They had run around together in high school. Roger had individual scoring records for a game and a career for a number of years. Lee broke his single game record of 37 by scoring 38 in a game at Pierre in our senior year. Oddly enough, Roger was there. He was teaching at Onida, and had actually refereed the sophomore game that night. He told me later that he wanted to be in the stands when his record would be broken. His wish came true that night. His career record was broken about four years ago by a boy named Phil Workman. Phil had been playing varsity basketball since he was an eighth-grader, so it seemed like only a matter of time before he would become the career scoring leader for BHS. Since Roger still lives in Brookings, he saw that record fall, also.
I was extremely fortunate to be associated with the girls basketball teams during their first 20 years of existence, so it is truly gratifying to see Renee earn this honor, also. In the future, there will likely be other girls from that era who will achieve Hall of Fame status. That team was ranked in the top 5 in the nation by USA Today, and their coach was selected by that newspaper as the national coach of the year. He taught me so much about the game, and I am forever thankful. Congratulations to all of the new inductees.
On another related note, many of you may remember Mr. Stuart "Skip" Webster. He taught at the Junior High/Middle School for a number of years. I believe he also coached us in freshmen football (with Mr. Rykhus), and he definitely coached us in "JV" basketball, because I was on that team. I can only speak for myself, but he had a big influence on my chosen profession. After teaching for about 11 years, he started selling State Farm Insurance. That career change proved rather profitable for him, and he is retiring at the end of this month after 35 years in the business. From the class of 1969, we wish him the best.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.
On a sad note, Andy Zephier passed away on Dec. 14, 2010. He was the long-time coach at the Flandreau Indian School. We defeated them to earn a trip to the state "A" basketball tournament in 1968. He has been inducted into various South Dakota Halls of Fame, and was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame this past summer. His cross-country teams were legendary back in the 1960's. Our condolences go out to him and his family.

Happy Thanksgiving

Things have been quite busy at school out here and have not had time to post any items. Just want to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving. October was rather sad for us, as we lost two faculty members to sudden heart attacks. A student was struck by a car, but suffered only a broken collarbone when he smashed into the windshield. It's a miracle he wasn't hurt more severely.
Just read the web edition of the Brookings Register. The leading article was about a young college student who hit a bridge on the S-curve south of town after coming back from a school assignment in Sioux Falls. I wasn't aware of this accident, which happened about a year ago. I know him very well, as he is a former student and athlete at BHS. He has made an amazing recovery, it appears.
On a more somber note, do any of you remember Donna Holzkamp? She was two years ahead of us. If girls would have had the sports opportunities then that they do now, she may have been all-American. She was quite talented athletically. Her sister Jean was a year behind us, and was also very athletic. Jean, I believe, is coaching at Kadoka. She may have been the only female to coach a boys high school basketball team in this state. Donna passed away recently, leaving behind twin daughters Dana and Darcy. They are both former students of mine. There was an older brother Doug. He and I coached a teener baseball team one summer in the early 70's.
Also passing away recently was Lynn Emmett. He was a year behind us. Condolences may be sent to the family through rudesfuneralhome.com.
If anyone who reads this will be in Brookings during Christmas, perhaps you will want to get together with fellow classmates. I am going to visit a niece for Christmas, but will be in Brookings from about Dec. 29-Jan 7.

Bob Ishmael's Sister Passes Away

Our prayers and thoughts go out to Bob Ishmael, whose sister passed away recently. She was a few years ahead of us in school. I actually had her daughter as a student when she was in the 6th grade. Formerly, I could copy the obituary from the newspaper, but I am unable to do that on the computer where I am presently attending school. Condolonces may be sent to the family through www.rudesfuneralhome.com. The complete obituary can be found at www.rudesfuneralhome.com/index.php?option=com_obituary&task=details&oid=778

Children's Museum Set To Open

The conversion of Central Elementary to a first-class children's museum is complete. This link will direct you to a recently published article on the Brookings Register webpage. http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=9100&page=76

The Changing Neighborhood Of Central Elementary

The Carnegie Library was just across the street south of Central. It was turned into a Cultural Community Center when the new library was built on the south end of the block in the 70's. Ignore the date on the picture; I was borrowing the camera and I did not know if this whole project would even turn out as planned. Thankfully, it was not too bad.

As an old building, it needs to be refurbished periodically. Our own Ron Kruse is in the boom.

This phot is similar to the one in our 1967 yearbook. The band was sitting/standing in the area behind the flagpole.

A closer view of the previous shot.

This is the view looking east down Fourth Street from in front of the old high school. The Presbyterian Church is on the left.

The building now houses offices and apartments, and is called "The 1921" because it was built in that year. The annex was demolished when the remodeling began in the early 2000's. Mark Kratochvil, as a deputy states attorney, works here.

Our beloved(?) Central Elementary School. The halls and rooms seemed so big when we first entered 50 some years ago.

The lawn appears to have been well taken care of. In reality, this sod was only put in a week or so ago. The playground of our kindergarten days is no longer there.

This edifice is the main addition to the exterior. It is adjacent to the classroom of Miss Neubauer, one of our fifth grade teachers. Notice the large swallowtail butterfly in the middle window.

This is the view from home plate of the baseball field in the southwest corner.

This picture was taken about where third base would have been.

As you can see, much landscaping has taken place. This is the west side of the gym. The outdoor basketball courts were in this area.

This photo was taken from the home plate area of the northwest ballfield (right across the street from the First National Bank). The whole area is now encircled by a gate. On the left, one of the posts sneaked into the picture.

Here is a gazebo with Tyrannosaurus Rex nearby. Those workmen might satisfy her voracious appetite.

This view is looking toward the north and is what Robyn would see if she were standing on her porch.

Here is another look at Mrs. Tyrannosaurus Rex. Her baby is supposed to arrive in a few weeks. A good articel can be found at http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2010/08/10/super-sized-tyrannosaurus-comes-to-south-dakota/

This is what we would have seen if we were playing on the old swings and monkey bars.

This is one of the "back doors" to the school, and the entrance to the gym, Mrs. Petersen's third grade was in the corner to the left. Her husband taught junior high science and shop. I believe he was more affectionately known as "Uncle Petey."

The conversion of Central Elementary into the first children's museum would not have been possible without the generosity of the Larson Family (Vern Olson's employer). The opening date is scheduled for mid-September.

Central Elementary

Central Elementary is no longer an elementary school. It is being converted into a children's museum, which will be the first one in the state of South Dakota. The opening date is ony a few weeks away. Funding for this renovation is being provided by Larson Manufacturing (Vern Olson's employer). Some of the people on staff there are colleagues or former students. They asked me this summer if I had any memorabilia of the old school. I gave them what I could find. If any of you have items of interest, you may contact

Jill Hungerford

Director of Marketing

Children's Museum

521 4th St.

Brookings, SD 57006

or email her at jhungerford@cmosd.org (605-692-6700).

In my search, I came across these two photos from the late 50's, early 60's. The first photo is First Communion at St. Thomas More Catholic Church. The year may have been 1959. I think the fourth row, from the left, consists of Arnie deBlonk, Jerry Martinson, Dan Holm, unknown, Tim Serlet, unknown, John Martinson, Greg Graff, Doug Biggar, and Jim Wakeman. The third row is Rick Thompson, Steve Braley, Mike McClemans, Pat Durland (?), John Iverson, Alan Leibel, Stan Skubic, Jim Herrig (?), unknown, Rocky Watson, and Kevin O'Connell. The boy on the left in the second row looks like Jim Antonides. The only girls I recognize in that row are Cecilia Kellogg in the middle, and perhaps Kathy Howell (from Volga) on the end. In the front row, the second and third girls from the left look like Patsy Bates and Kathy Funk respectively. The two middle girls appear to be Debi Shirley and Robyn Connelly, while the girl on the end seems to be Margaret Pearson. We were not all in the same class; I don't know the reason for that.

The second one is the Cub Scout pack (den?) some of us were in. From the left is Greg Graff (anybody know whatever happened to him? Didn't he move when we were in Jr. Hi?), Jim Egeberg, Jim Wakeman, Arnie deBlonk, Mike McClemans, Lynn Roberts, and John Iverson.