Central rims same height as Lincoln's

KXRA Sports Broadcaster Ray Lang at far right. Photo courtesy Terry Lang.

Terry Lang writes:

Stan, I went to your class blog and saw where you had put in info about Central's gym and my dad and his broadcasting woes. His sidekick was HH (Herb Robinson) who had the credit bureau in town. The family lived in Victoria Heights across from the Oberts and Seims and next to the Sherrys. I married Rita, Herb's oldest daughter.

When I was in grade school at Lincoln, we played an annual game at Central against Washington. I remember we did it each year, 4th, 5th, and 6th. I remember we all thought it was the greatest, most important basketball game to ever be played because we grade schoolers were getting to play in the high school gym! At that age, the gym seemed enormous! Years before the movie "Hoosiers", one of our coaches showed us that the rims were the same height as the ones we used at Lincoln.

I also remember Dad broadcasting a game between the Minneapolis Lakers and the faculty. That game was played at the new Jefferson Senior High Gym, but I don't remember if it was for some fund-raiser or not.

Thanks for keeping my Dad's name going. Terry

An Update on Sherry Gorder

Hi, An update on where life has brought me: 

Married to Larry Winter whose last name I share. 

Two children, Christine and Lisa and four grandchildren. Owned and operated Dairy Queen stores for 42 years, completed college and master's degree in human development during that time and had an elk ranch for 16 years. 

Co-published a book last year "Celebration Circles: a guide to celebrating and honoring people and events in our lives" (on Amazon). We reside outside in Princeton, Minnesota with an address of 7304 100th Ave and mailing address of PO Box 283, Princeton, Minnesota, 55371.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday

John Herdan writes:

If I remember right there were three birthdays in a row on the 26th, 27th and 28th of September. I believe Mike Bolin was first, Paul Strandberg was second, and I was third. So now that I'm 21 for the third time, they must be too. 

The first time I was 21 I was where all college kids go. 

The second time I was 21 I took my wife who was seven months pregnant and on highly restricted bed rest out for my birthday. The next day I had to rush her to the hospital for the final time and 21 years ago next Tuesday our twins were born.

Lang and the crackerbox

On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 11:21 AM, Karl Tegland wrote:

Ray Lang! I had forgotten about him, but now that you mention his name, I remember him well. He was first-rate -- an excellent play-by-play announcer.

When the basketball games were still at Central, Ray would broadcast from a little table set up right on the basketball floor, in a corner near the stage.

Add him to the memorable radio voices of our youth, along with Paul Harvey, Erc Aga, and Fran Anderson.

KBT

--------------------------
Stan says: Yep. That was his set-up all right. Except one detail. Ray was elevated. The Central High basketball floor was so tiny the black out-of-bounds line was just six inches from the front of the stage wall. Visitors called the gym a "crackerbox." There wasn't enough room out of bounds to stand in a pair of sneakers, so a red dotted line was used for taking the ball out after a goal was scored. Since there was no room for broadcasting from the floor, (there was barely space for team benches -- the scorer's table was above them in the bleachers) Ray broadcast from his little table at the very edge of the court, but actually ON the stage, in the corner right in front of the packed roll-out stage bleachers, where the band played, and slightly behind and to the west of the basketball goal. 

Now, who was his broadcasting sidekick? (It wasn't Bob.)

Lang contact made

Stan,
This is great - thank you! Wow, haven't seen the Lang brothers or Rita for 50 years. The class blog is better than Facebook! My siblings and fellow Heighters will be interested in this. I will contact Terry asap and pass along photos from the copious Obert files - I know I have several of Terry and Dayton (Dede) when they were young, and I think I may have some of his folks. Thanks again.
- Tom

p.s. BTW, took Ruthie to the Minnesota Eye Clinic this week. As we were leaving the receptionist said, "Obert? We were classmates." It was Judy Roers. She said the 45th was the first reunion she had missed - had already made other plans before she heard about this reunion. I told her to follow the blog so she won't miss the 50th!

Terry Lang, Barbara Hutchinson, Dede Lang, Gretchen Obert, Tom Obert

-----------------

Tom, Terry, Dede, and Gretchen 

Ray Lang's kid checks in. . .

Terry Lang would love to get on Tom Obert's mailing list. Is this possible? Here's the note we got today from Everett, Washington:
----------------------------
My name is Terry Lang and if we had stayed in Alexandria, I would have graduated with the Class of 1963. We moved to the West Coast in 1960.

My Dad, Ray Lang, was the sports announcer for the local radio station. I was searching for the name “Kadlec” from Jefferson and came across Tom Obert’s name. My wife’s family and my family were great friends of the Oberts back in the 50’s and 60’s and I would love to get in contact with Tom and his siblings. 

Could you forward my email address to him? Thank you for your time and trouble. Oh, my wife is Rita Robinson Lang and she is the daughter of Herbert Robinson. They lived in Victoria Heights, as did we and the Oberts. Anyone else that may recognize the names is welcome to contact us, also.
Terry Lang

-----------------

We sent Terry's email address to Tom. Anybody else who would like to contact Terry should email JeffHi1965@gmail.com

"Always remember, win or lose, be a good sport." -- Ray Lang at the end of every KXRA sports broadcast.

Richard Steinmetz thought of us

Our classmate Richard Steinmetz was thinking of us when he saw this:

Curmudgeon comments dept.

Stan/Bob

I don't care if Jessica Critz is some alumni hot shot from Alexandria, tell her not to say "undertaking" around old people.

John Herdan

Help build the Alexandria Schools Directory

Got a note from Jessica Critz who is working for the Alexandria School District in an ambitious attempt to collect and maintain a data base of all public school alumni. We told her that was impossible. She asked if we would send her the Class of 1965 data, but we declined because we explained that we had told our class members that we wouldn't be sharing their addresses if they sent them in to us. We said we would be happy to post her request and encourage everyone to, by all means, get on this data base. 

So here goes:

Attention Alumni!

District 206, the Alexandria, MN School District, is currently working to build a complete alumni database! The hope is to maintain a complete list of all alumni of Central High School and Jefferson High School. Your help would be appreciated in gathering contact information from alumni. To be included on this list, please contact coordinator Jessica Critz at alexalumninetwork@gmail.com with your name, contact information, and what you've been up to since high school!

Thank you, Stan, for your help! While it is a big undertaking, I don't think it's impossible. Just time consuming :-) Luckily, I enjoy a challenge. Thanks again!

Jessica Critz

Hey Bobby, Lookit my Grandpa's new kayak!

Yes, there were Lion hunts!

Sandy Pennar Bonesteel, who was confirmed at the same service as Tom Obert, writes:


Thanks Tom!
It was fun to see the program of our confirmation. Don't really remember much of the service, just all the classes beforehand! I remember that it was cold, windy and icy that day, and we had to pose for pictures outside for my relatives. I recall black & white photos of me standing with Pat Collins, Betsy Thomas and Carol Navratil, on the steps, freezing! Don't know where Jane, Ellen and Marta were. I could only find ones of me but can picture the other gals clearly.

I went thru boxes and boxes and no luck finding them. None of the boys either. I also don't remember any "formal" photos! In color! Can't compete with the Lutherans! I remember that my gramma made my dress and we girls all had to wear white dresses, black flats (of course!), and little "doilies" on our head. Not quite as fancy as the Catholic's First Communion! We were 13 and at that awkward age and I felt stupid with the doilie, held in place with bobby pins.

I remember Rev. Henry Hoover quite fondly.

I think I was about 10 when he came to Emmanuel Episcopal. He was a lot of fun and was a big hit with the kids. I remember the lion hunts, stomping through quicksand, crawling through tall grass, etc. He'd always have funny sermons that weren't over our heads. It seemed they were more for us than the adults. Everyone loved him. He had quite a library and he let me borrow books regularly as he knew I loved to read. My favorites were Dr. Doolittle, and The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, which I also remember from vacation Bible school as we would sit in the grass and read parts of it, and try to act some of it out. Always wondered how that had a place in Bible school!

Well, if my religious studies were lacking, I also attended the Vacation Bible Schools at Zion Lutheran and First Methodist, with neighbor kids. Mom was always glad to get us out of the house. Rev. Hoover eventually moved to another parish, and Rev. Beresford came from Canada to take his place.

Years later, when I was working as a pediatric nurse at North Memorial Hospital, I was taking someone down to Xray or something, and there was Rev. Hoover on the elevator! I was 23 and had recently come back from maternity leave after Krista was born. I was very surprised to see him, and my folks were delighted to hear that I had run into him. We decided that we would like to have Rev. Hoover do Krista's baptism, so my folks and all the relatives came from Alex to his church in Roseville (St. Christopher's Episcopal Church).

That was quite memorable and quite an honor. I did a google search on him, and he is still there! His name was on a summer 2010 newsletter. He is Rector Emeritus now. Wonder if he is still doing lion hunts....

Keep digging, Lorlee

I have found a treasure trove of photos that must have been Aunt Annies (of blog fame) www.anniebartos.blogspot.com.

• the phone bill from May 1947 which showed a long distance call a day before I was born to my Grandmother's house for a total of 31 cents -- obviously to let them know the birth was imminent and that she should come to stay with LuAnn and Duane (the long distance calls are handwritten on the back of the bill);
• a column written by Judy Blanchard when I was running for the nomination for Congress;
• a 1939 calendar with handwritten notes by my dad;
• a 1947 calendar -- both are from Lowry State Bank -- this one with numbers on each day for the number of eggs that were gathered and a notation that my mother washed the car on May 5 (I was born on the 7th); 
• my dad's diploma from 1924 signed by Julia D. Solverud-Knutson, Pope County Superintendant (didn't know they were hyphenating names back then, obviously an enlightened woman)
• a pamphlet entitled "Farmers in 1944",
• The Lake Region Echo from November 10, 1972 with all of the election results [available on request];
• negatives from my parent's 50th anniversary celebration;
• a Washington Post from the day after Ford pardoned Nixon wih yours truly pictured as having been one of the first at the White House to protest;
• and attached, the program for the baccalaureate for the Class of 65.
• BUT SO FAR -- NO CATHOLIC CONFIRMATION PHOTO. 
• (I was counting on Bev Roers, but she says she doesn't have it.

Meanwhile, more on confirmations 50 years ago

First, this note from a beaming Tom Obert, who finally got his entire confirmation program published.

Stan,
Thanks. And was glad I could provide a missing artifact from Karl's youth. The Obert children were all baptized together . . . just in case. My Dad had one time considered the seminary.
A remembrance from that Sunday was that I was wearing a brand new red blazer and the bishop threw water all over it (probably the baptism?)! And others may also recall our reverend, Henry Hoover - during Sunday school he would take us on "lion hunts," which I recall were great fun.

 Tom
----------------------------------
Trying to picture a young Tom, in a brand new red blazer, getting baptized by the bishop-throwing-water  method. Hmm. That's different. Must be Episcopalian. We need a word from Rick Beresford to clear this up.

Continuing on with our explorations of confirmations of long ago, next we hear from Marie Schultz Daugherty's baby brother, George Schultz, underclassman. Retired. Still useful.

Stan,
You have posted the First Lutheran confirmation photos from 1965, 1966 and 1968. I thought I would send you the picture of ours from the class of 1967. Kudos to Karen Westby. She had the photo posted on her blog for our class.

George 

------------------------------

Note: That would be George, top row, far right. They were sophomores when we were seniors. There's Kenny Dyrstad, Roger Severson (Gary's brother), Steve Colby, and a bunch of others you might run into in the lunch line. Olson, Martinson, Steen, Bergby, Loch. Nice class. Nice crop of Lutherans. Thanks for making us more inclusive, George.

And we're still waiting on Lorlee's confirmation class photo on the front steps of St. Mary's.

You betcha. . .

Stan and Tom,
Thanks so much for coming up with the printed program for the confirmation service. That's one item from my childhood that was missing from my scrapbook. Now I have it!

Karl Tegland

Episcopalians. . .remembered

(Click to enlarge and study the details.)

Tom Obert, not wishing to be left out, writes:
The Emmanuel Episcopal Church had a small, but elite, group of  '65 alums. However, due to the small size of the congregation, we could not afford film for a group photo. Please accept the attached program as the next best thing.

-----------------------------------

Thank you, Tom, for your diligence in presenting this artifact. Indeed, the Episcopalians may have had a small class, but it was densely populated with notables and elites. We also observe that, in a model of economy, four Oberts were presented for Holy Baptism on the very same program. Indeed, a big day in 1960 with the Bishop Hamilton Kellogg presiding, and a special discretionary offering for him. But no film.

Homecoming parade made easier this year

Donna Podratz writes:
You might want to forward this information to the class of '65.
This year's homecoming parade is Oct. 2, 2010. If you are a walker, you don't have to register. Last year the class of '65 had two (2) walkers.....I believe it was Obert & Drexler. (Yes, that's the dynamic duo below) Class of  '67 had six. Class of '68 had eight.
We found out last year that the walk from the fairgrounds was a little hike in itself, so this year I have roped my husband (non-alum) to drive his restored 1976 Silverado pickup in the parade, that way several of us can ride in the back on the way to Broadway. We had a banner made for the grill that just says JHS Alumni. 
In the pickup box will also be two members from the class of '41. Alan Grundei usually drives ahead of us with his mother's class in his '57 chevy.
We usually have a great time and Broadway is packed. The shirts are red, with the class year on them. ($5) Can't beat that with a stick! 
Donna

(Stan's note to classmates. If you wanna be in the parade, let Obert know. Jeffhi1965@gmail.com. If you want to see what happened in all the previous homecoming parades and our marvelous Class of '65 participation levels, type "parade" into the search box above and you'll get all the stories . . . like "Cardinal wore nothing but handcuffs" and a lot more.)

Lorlee writes:

Now I don't want 
to start a Holy War, 
but I guess I am going to have to look for the Confirmation photo for the Catholics. We only did it about every 3 or 4 years so there are about 200 of us filling the steps of the church. I am not sure I can even still recognize myself. So I am on a Crusade -- if I find it -- or one of my Catholic school buddies can find theirs, we are sending it in.

Oh, so you want a war, eh Lorlee? Oh YEAH! Well, while you're hunting for that crappie crunchin' photog of yours, take this:

Here's the Class of 1968 First Lutheran Confirmads in full battle dress, with corsages, even more black flats and a pair of preachers! Onward Christian Soldiers!

Speaking of Underclassmen. . .

Somebody sent in this First Lutheran confirmation class picture from the Class of 1966. Okay. We see Larry Holverson and Denny Lorsung. Who have you got? Click to enlarge.

Donna Podratz writes: Grew up Zion Lutheran, but these are my guesses.

Row one: Pamela Pladson, Linda Beach, Carol Engstrom,  #6-Lois Bugge

Row two: #3- Clayton Jern

Row three: #3-Rikki Olson  #4-Linda Holt #6 JoAnn Urness (?) #7-Tona Fischer

Last row: #2- ______Johnson (mom was the school nurse)  #6- Jim Ahlfors,#7-John Halverson

Donna

I guess we asked for this. . .

Underclassman Alan Grundei adds this bit of reunion humor. . .

My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table.
I asked her, "Do you know him?"
"Yes," she sighed, "he's my old boyfriend.... I understand he took to drinking right after we split up years ago, and I hear he hasn't been sober since."

"My God!" I said, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?"
And then the fight started...

Reunion humor

Bob hadn't been to a class reunion in decades.

When he walked into this latest one, he thought he recognized a woman over in the corner, so he approached her and extended his hand in greeting, saying, "You look like Helen Brown."

"Well," the woman snapped back, "you don't look so great in blue, either!"

--submitted

Vernon Studios presents:

First Lutheran Confirmation Class, 1961
Click to enlarge

Have you ever seen so many black flats and corsages in one photo?

First row, Sara Smith, Marilyn Olson, Rose Marie Peterson, Cathy Bakke, Barb Schultz, Gail Hanson, Lynn Dietz, (not sure),Robin Movald, Barb Vendel, Patti Thompson, Betty Pederson

Okay, that's almost the first row, who's got the next one?

Mark Larson. . .

By the way, Terry Prine is in the photo between Darrell Williams and Greg Johnson. Remember Roger (Gunny) Guenther? Here's in there. (top row between Fladwood and Foss).

Extra credit, name the pastors.

---------------------------

Bev Korkowski writes:

Row 1: Sara Smith, Marilyn Olson, Rose Peterson, Cathy Bakke, Barb Schultz, Gail Hanson, Lynn Dietz, ___, Kathy Josephs, Barb Vendel, Pat Thompson, Betty Pederson

Row 2: Mark Larson, ___, Gordy Peterson, Darrel Williams, Terry Prine, Greg Johnson, ___, Mike Howe, Gary Faehnrich, Brad Anderson, ___Bob Johnson
Row 3: Diane Jackson, Bonita Olson, ___, Barb Larson, Randi Falk, ___, Joyce Okerlund, Mary Jo Simonson, Karen Donley, Sharon Bartholomew?, Pat Peterson, Marlene Harbig, Margaret Linser, Karen Schjei
Row 4: ___, John Loch, Gary Severson, Mark Benson, Mike Burkey?, Paul Navratil, Stan Rolfsrud, Del Fladwood, ___, Mike Foss, John Seim, Bill Kirst, Rick Kvilhaug

How’s that for a Catholic knowing so many of the Lutherans???

Bonita Gilbertson writes:

Let's see...also in the

1st row: Gail Hanson, Barb something, Kathy Josephs, Karen something,

2nd row: Mark Larson, Gary Pladson, Mike Howe, Greg Johnson, Gary Fahnrich, Rich Divine

3rd row: Diane Jackson, Bonita Olson, ?, ?,? Marie Schultz, Joyce Ondracik, Mary Jo Simonson,Karen Donley, Patty Peterson, Marlene Harbig, Margaret Linzer, Karen Schjei

4th row: Burdell Dreger(?), John Loch, Gary Severson, Mark Benson, Mike Burkey, ?, Stan Rolfsrud, Del Fladwood, ?, Mike Foss, John Seim, ?. Rick Kvilhaug

I didn't take out an old yearbook to cheat (ha) so I missed quite a few, especially in the second row Oh and the Pastors were, Art Anfinson and Phillip Westby.

Now, what do I win??

On a somber note, how many of our fellow confirmands are deceased? Quite a few.

Bonita