After high school graduation, I...

Jun 12
40 min read

A few months ago, we asked our readers to share their stories of what they did the summer after high school graduation. Thank you to all those who contributed.

Here is what some of our readers had to share about what they were doing the summer after high school graduation...

Witness to change

By Sister Betty Berger, O.S.F., of Little Falls

I graduated in 1960 from Morris High School. I had a summer job as a recreation aide in the city’s summer program and was making plans to enter St. Francis Convent in Little Falls in August. My friends were making plans to be the first class at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

John F. Kennedy was running for president and became the Democratic nominee in July. Pope John XXIII had called for the first ecumenical council in a hundred years, so planning for Vatican II was underway. Kennedy called for a “New Frontier” and Pope John talked about “opening the windows of the church.”

My Lutheran grandmother told me I was throwing my life away, although she changed her mind when I became a teacher and the only woman lawyer she knew. My law school, St. Louis University Law School, had classes of only 10 percent women, and I had only one woman law professor in three years. In my legal practice, I was often the only woman lawyer in my office and the only woman lawyer appearing in court in several counties. Toward the end of my legal career, I had a case where all of us -- me, my client, the opposing party, her lawyer, and the judge were all women.

I have been a witness to enormous changes in government, church, and society. I am now retired as a lawyer, but Catholic sisters never retire. I do what I can for God’s people.

One-room schoolhouse

By Mary Lenk of Clearwater

I went to Eagle Bend High School, class of 1963. There were 37 in my graduating class. My first seven years of schooling were in a one-room schoolhouse.

Life was good. I worked at Catholic Rural Life in St. Cloud that summer and it was while at work we got the news of President Kennedy’s assassination. I remember feeling very numb and disoriented as I rode the Greyhound home to Eagle Bend that evening.

I did not attend college, but lived in St. Cloud.

Hitchhiking around the country

By Maurice Russell of Otsego

I graduated in 1966 at age 17 from Wayzata High School. The Vietnam War was raging, and I was deeply concerned because 18-year-old men were being drafted. I moved to Minneapolis and took a variety of jobs, several restaurant jobs, and worked for a funeral home. I enrolled in the University of Minnesota, but quickly dropped out.

For a month, I hitchhiked around the country, asking people what they did for a living and how they liked their work. When I returned to Minneapolis, I took a job with Powers Department Stores, supervising their shipping and receiving department.

On my 18th birthday, I enlisted in the Navy and served four years working in hospitals—three in California and one in Japan.

I married the girl I had been courting, and we have been married 58 years. We live in Otsego, and I am retired from pastoral ministry. We served churches in Iowa and Minnesota, including four years and seven months at the Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Echo, Minnesota.

Random jobs and a military draft

By Ron Marquette of Sartell

I graduated from Barrett High School in Barrett, Minn., in 1967. The Vietnam War was raging on and there was a lot of unrest in the country in 1967-68. One of my heroes, Senator Robert Kennedy, was assassinated while running for President. That affected me deeply.

After graduating, I decided that I would work for a year before going to college. I held several jobs that summer and fall. I first worked on construction repairing roofs, but didn’t like being up so high. I lasted there one week. I then worked at a feed mill lifting 50-pound bags of flour and tying them on a machine. That tended to make your fingers bend together. I didn’t want to end up with crippled hands so I quit that job after a month. I then worked at a Jolly Green Giant plant in Montgomery, Minn., in a temporary position that lasted only for a short time. I finally ended up at a manufacturing company in Benson, helping to produce car coats. I enjoyed that, but I only made enough money to pay for my room, my car payment, and a trip home to Alexandria sometimes on the weekend. I was happy nevertheless.

And so it went that summer and fall of 1967. My number came up on the military draft and the following March I was drafted into the United States Army – and another facet of my life began.

One suitcase and a cardboard box

By Eloise Nelson of Willmar

After attending a one-room country school, I entered “town school” as a seventh grader in the fall of 1957. I graduated from Foley High School in 1963. There were no sanctioned sports for girls at that time, so our athletic activities were limited to physical education class or participation in a school-sponsored bowling league. I participated in class plays and several clubs during high school.

The summer after graduation, I continued to work at Foley Drug Store where I had been employed during my Junior and Senior years in high school. My pay was 70 cents per hour.

During that summer I was also making plans to attend St. Cloud State College (now University). I was interested in becoming a teacher. I enrolled at St. Cloud State in the fall of 1963. I rented a room off campus for $6.50 per week. My favorite class was philosophy. I left home with one suitcase and one cardboard box with the essential items needed to begin college life. No car, computer, or phone were needed.

On Nov. 22, 1963, as I approached campus, someone was lowering the American flag, a very puzzling scenario. I happened to meet another student I knew from Foley. She told me that the President had been shot. I arrived at my 2 p.m. class. The professor was sobbing and said, “The President is dead–class dismissed!” All of the students were stunned and very sad.

Life has ups and downs

By Peter Johnson of Willmar

I graduated from Willmar Senior High School June 1, 1972 and was ready to leave school and move on with my life. I was gearing up to attend the floral design program in Brainerd that would start the end of July. I had a job part time and took a vacation. At this time, I was heading to St. Louis, Mo., to visit my brother and sister. This was an adventure for me as I took my first flight there and took the train back.

I had to register for the draft. The VietNam war was going on and I thought for sure I was going to be drafted for the war. This was a wake up call for me because it seemed all too real. They ended the draft and I wasn’t called. I do remember my numbers also 102 and 97.

I looked for being on my own and making my own decisions without parental approval. I felt “free,” but it didn’t go well at first, as I knew that things weren’t perfect. Life indeed has ups and downs.

Royal wedding, gas around $1.35

By Jessica Chapman of South Haven

Nearly 45 years ago, I was a senior at Osseo High School in Osseo, Minn. and planning to graduate in June 1981.

That summer, I worked two jobs to earn money to attend St. Cloud State University in the fall. During the afternoon I was a gate attendant at Elm Creek Park Reserve of the Hennepin County Park Reserve District and in the evening I worked the late night drive through at Burger King until 4 a.m. It was important to me to try and pay for my college education so it wouldn’t be a burden for my folks.

I drove an old car with mismatched panels of different colors, but it got me where I needed to go. Gas was around $1.35, which was high considering inflation adjusted value.

In July of that year, I watched the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Although crazy things happened like assassination attempts on President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, I was excited and hopeful for the future.

Assassinations, riots broke out in DC

By Marlys Hagstrom of Hutchinson

The year was 1968. I graduated from Hector High School on a very warm evening. Over the summer I was a waitress at “The Grill.” I had every intention of going to Southwest State University to be an English teacher, but life had other plans. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F Kennedy were assassinated. Riots broke out in Washington DC. Young people protested in the streets and the Tet Offensive began in the Vietnam War. Dennis was my fiancé and in the Army. Four years of college seemed improbable, so I went to St. Cloud Beauty College instead and graduated from there. We got married when he was on leave before he was sent to Vietnam. He came home and we raised a family. Now I live in Hutchinson, but still write poetry and stories. Some have been in the Sr. Perspective. Dennis has passed, but my children and grandchildren are close. Life is good.

First computers with floppy disks

By Jan Braaten of Glenwood

I graduated from Brooten High School in 1953 with a class of 34. I was destined to go to college and become an elementary teacher because that was what my mother did. I enjoyed the business classes I had taken in high school and wanted to use them a little. Though I was enrolled at St. Cloud State for the fall semester, my folks let me go to Minneapolis with a friend and work for the summer. I got a job doing secretarial work at a large insurance company. My friend and I got a room at a girls’ club. We had a bedroom and kitchen privileges. It was located near where we worked so we walked wherever we needed or wanted to go. Our first experience in the big city.

I enjoyed the work and the experience of being on my own. Then one day, one of the men in the office told me they were getting their first computer and asked me if I would want the opportunity of working with it. I was eager. It was very large, maybe about six-feet high and about four-feet around. It was located in a small, private, climate-controlled room. A group of girls were in the adjacent room entering data into cards on a key punch machine. These cards were then entered into the computer and came out in printed form. Amazing I thought!

I finished the summer months there and went on to St. Cloud State, but didn’t study to become an elementary teacher, but a business teacher. I didn’t know if I would ever get a chance to work with a computer again, but I knew business was the field for me. I went on to finish and taught Business Education classes in Moose Lake, Minn. and then started in Glenwood, Minn., in 1976.

I started teaching on manual typewriters, then moved on to electric typewriters to computers with floppy discs to the latest. I was in on the planning of all the computer labs in the new Minnewaska High School, which we moved into in 1991. I taught there until I retired in 1997 and was replaced at that time by Karna Palmer. It was all very exciting. I enjoyed the challenge of always learning something new. It was a wonderful journey and I would love to do it all over again. I still enjoy my computer!

My world went upside down

By Roger Lonnstrom of Henning

We now live in rural Henning, but I grew up on The Iron Range. As I recall, in ‘64, my world went upside down. My wonderful mother died of cancer that year and being the oldest I got sent to our church’s boarding academy in Hutchinson (Maplewood Academy). So Dad only had my two brothers to look after. When I graduated in 1964, I had nobody there to “greet” me, as my Dad and brothers had moved to southern California. I knew I had a relative in road construction and got a job on Hwy 694 in Minneapolis. That fall, I drove out to my family and got a good job as a lineman for the Southern Pacific Railroad. A good job with a future, but I had a girlfriend back in Minnesota who wrote and said she was “lonesome and missed me,” so I quit and drove back to Minnesota. The smartest thing I’ve ever done! We’ve been married 60 years this spring. But the year ‘64 wasn’t over... That fall, I got drafted, went to Leonard Wood, Mo., and when we got done with basic the drill sergeant asked for a show of hands on who was going home. Everybody got two weeks off, except me, who had nowhere to go. He dismissed all of us, which left me standing alone. He came back to me and said, “Get your gear, you’re going to Texas to become a medic.” What a year!

One suitcase and a cardboard box

By Eloise Nelson of Willmar

The summer after graduation, I continued to work at Foley Drug Store where I had been employed during my Junior and Senior years in high school. My pay was 70 cents per hour.

Flirting just enough

By Jan Arends of Wabasso

The year 1958 was a good year for me. I was a Walnut Grove High School senior. That year, we had a winning basketball team and I was a cheerleader. It was fun to be part of that team and their wins, and fun to read about the games in the newspapers. After the games, I always had a ride home as I was dating “the one.”

Back then, my best friend was Wally, a young farmer from Wabasso. Our dating back then was often movies, or just cruising around and ending up at the drive-in. Cars were so important to the guys in the 50s, and Wally always had a cool and fast car. It was a turquoise and cream-colored 55 Chevy. Just like the movies, we would head north of town and drag race.

I had a job that summer at Egges grocery store and loved it. My boss was Mr. Egge. He was easy to work for and taught me how to cut meat. He had a son, Owen, I became friends with. I’ve lost touch with him, and would love to see him again.

I must’ve flirted just enough, because Wally and I became engaged that summer and married in Feb. 1959. College was never in my future, so things were going as if planned.

Wally and I went to California for our honeymoon. We followed Route 66 – scenic and fun. While in California, we were introduced to tacos (brought some shells home) and flip flops, only we called them thongs. It was March when we got home – time to get ready for spring planting.

We raised three kids – Kelli, Chad, and Clay. Now we enjoy great grands. We’ve been together 67 years.

Life has ups and downs

By Peter Johnson of Willmar

Den mother, Brownie leader

By Jean Erickson of Sunburg

I was starting my senior year at Beloit Memorial High School in Wisconsin. Nov. 22, 1963 was Kennedy’s assassination and was heard over the PA system.

I had signed up for physical science at the end of 11th grade, but my schedule listed chemistry. My mom either went to school or sent a note backing my choice versus chemistry. Second day I got called to principal’s office where I was told, “You are perfectly capable of taking chemistry and if you don’t, do not come to me for a job reference.” Fast forward to May of 1964 and I got called to the office where myself and three other secretarial girls get taken by him to Beloit College for job interviews. Since I wouldn’t be 18 until October, my age was used against me, even though I would have gotten a scholarship had I planned on attending college.

My secretarial teacher arranged for me job interviews at Beloit Corp. and Gardner Machine Co. Again, being only 17 was a factor in not being hired.

After graduation June 1964, my mom and two of my friends took a trip to Harvard, Ill. where Admiral TVs were made. We all got hired to the tune of $1.50 an hour. Mom stayed to retirement. I got married, and Ole and I will celebrate 62 years this November. When the three kids got older I worked, and also volunteered. At Darien, Wisc., I was a Cub Scout den mother and day camp leader. At Willmar, the Girl Scouts had me as a Brownie leader, service unit chairman, day camp, troop camp, and cadet leader.

Sorry, I couldn’t take the job

By Kent Syverson of Willmar

I graduated from Willmar High School in 1982. Like a number of my peers, I would go to college in the fall. But what to do in the meantime?

Solution: a summer job. Someone had suggested a corn detasseling crew. I signed up for it.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me, and they eventually let me go.

Back at the employment agency, I checked to see if there were other job openings. There weren’t, but they did suggest doing odd jobs. That sounded right, so they put me on the list. I went home and waited for the phone calls to come.

I got ONE phone call. A man living just around the corner from us asked me to help him paint his house. I said I could. But then he asked me to bring my own equipment. Uh, that was a problem. I didn’t have any. No way could I afford to buy any, and Dad was reluctant to let me use his. Even if I did have all that equipment, how was I going to transport it? That would take several trips.

I had no choice. I called him back and said I was sorry, but I couldn’t take the job. I didn’t have any equipment. He then told me that he already found someone else who did.

That was the end of my summer employment right there!

I graduated and got to work

By Mary Hanson of Willmar

I went to Olivia High School and graduated in 1956. I had no car and no money for college, so had to get a job. I had been working during school at Theater, Clock Cafe, and Drive In Restaurant, all in Olivia. It was a lot of walking.

Graduating in May, I had a job by June at Renville Co REA in Danube and would catch a ride with other ladies working in Danube at the time. I saved enough money to buy a 1950 Ford for $350. I was making good money at that time, $1 an hour. Later, I worked at Renville Co ASC office in Olivia and later years at MN State Job Service in Willmar. So I graduated and got to work. After 25 years, it was full-time work at home. Work doesn’t hurt anyone.

FFA People to People Goodwill Tour

By Gary Peterson of Tracy

I graduated from Tracy High School on June 1, 1973. Life was exciting with finishing high school and looking forward to furthering my education in the fall.

I was active in our local FFA chapter and won various awards, including the Star Chapter Farmer award. I would receive this at the state FFA convention in St. Paul in early May.

On April 19, 1973, I received a letter informing me that I had been recommended and invited to be a member of the 1973 FFA People to People Goodwill Tour. This would be the eleventh tour started by the late President Eisenhower to foster better understanding between nations. It would be a 21-day tour visiting six European countries plus the Soviet Union. There was a briefing session about the tour during the State FFA convention, and I was very excited.

With help from my parents, it was decided I would be able to attend. Our mission group consisted of 24 FFA members along with the host couple Mr. and Mrs. Leo K. Lick, FFA advisor from Gaylord, Minn. We left Minneapolis on June 11 and returned on July 2, 1973. It was truly the opportunity of a lifetime and a fabulous educational experience.

In September of 1973, I began attending classes at the University of Minnesota in Waseca, Minn. The year was very memorable and a big transition year in my life.

Army chow was good and plentiful

By Al Koenig of Hector

After graduating from Buffalo Lake High School in 1975, Ken Hubin, Jay Fischer, Hans Geier (RIP) and I vacationed in California just two weeks after our senior class trip to Chicago. I worked odd jobs and played tennis until I reported to hot, humid Fort Knox in August.

Our WWII vintage, open-bay barracks offered no privacy and only fans for respite; AC was rare and treasured. Army chow was good and plentiful. In the field we often ate C-rations. I saved most of my $330 monthly pay. Saigon had fallen in April and many training signs warned about the Viet Cong & NVA. Having fired 200 rounds from an M-60 machine gun, I saw a Claymore mine detonated; explosions sure did intimidate!

After basic training, a bus took me to Maryland to become an armorer, where I “fixed” everything from pistols to recoilless rifles. Graduating in December, I left for Minnesota.

I had planned on a Regular Army career, but opted to study history (Richard Jones) at Willmar Community College while taking monthly OCS classes at Arden Hills. That spring I ran the three and six mile races on the track team (Linton Lehrer). Years later, I taught History at the collegiate level and deployed often as a historical officer (PhD) at major commands. In retirement, I volunteer, write history, and rescue cats.

Raising cows, pigs, and chickens

By Darlene Kenning of Hutchinson

I graduated Hector High School in 1954. Our senior class trip was to Washington DC and New York City.

I married Dale Henning of Hutchinson on June 26, 1954. I made my own wedding dress. We lived upstairs in an apartment over my in-laws Art and Louise Kenning’s farmhouse. We farmed with them, raising cows, pigs, and chickens. My husband had extra jobs for more income. One was putting up TV antennas for people getting their first TV. We didn’t get one until we were married a couple of years.

I shared the wringer washing machine in the cellar. Mother-in-law got Mondays. I got Tuesday. In the summer, we could open the outside cellar doors that were almost flat to the ground, opening out in the middle for steps close to the clothes line, with clothes pin bag to hang clothes to dry.

In 1960, folks moved to town so we got the whole house. Having three kids by then, our last kid was born a year later.

In 1973, we built a new house on the farm where I still live 72 years later.

My experience as a teacher

By Gerry Moen of Litchfield

It all started in Dist. #84 in Meeker County. No, not really. I enjoyed my eight years of going to a one-room school. When my school closed due to state regulations, my parents bought a variety such as the alphabet stamps, books, and hectograph. I guess if anyone knows me I am a keeper of a pencil case, tablet, ink pen, and a Dick and Jane reader. The country school has always been my passion. My experience as a teacher happened when I was asked to coordinate a restored country school that was moved to the Meeker County Fairgrounds. I enjoyed this volunteer job. Many parents, grandparents and children visited the school during the county fair. Many times they asked me, “Were you a teacher?” No. I didn’t have a teaching degree. I had no desire to go to college. In the spring of my Senior year (1954), I saw an ad in the Minneapolis paper for help in the N.W. National Bank. I sent them all the information they wanted. I soon received a letter I was hired. In those days they didn’t need one interview after another. Trust and honesty got you a long way in life. I was a farm girl and in two years I came back to my hometown, Litchfield, to get married and worked at the N.W. Bank in town. After I raised a family living on a farm, I started my “teaching” job at the country school.

Summer games in Moscow

By Charlie Bjorklund of Melrose

I graduated from Willmar Public Schools in Willmar in 1980. Life was pretty good, just plans for after school. Some of the events happening at that time include my sister going into the Navy, Mount St. Helen erupted, the Summer Games were in Moscow, Ronald Reagan as elected President, 52 American hostages were released in Iran, CNN and MTV were launched, and John Lennon was killed.

I was working at West Central Daily Tribune in Willmar, helping my parents run their foster home, and was planning to attend Willmar Community College in the next year or so, as I was thinking about working at the Willmar State Hospital.

A few months ago, we asked our readers to share their stories of what they did the summer after high school graduation. Thank you to all those who contributed.

Here is what some of our readers had to share about what they were doing the summer after high school graduation...

FFA Chapter President

By Dorothy May of Montgomery

For her husband Dale May

Dale May graduated from Le Center High School, Le Center, Minn. in May 1962. His favorite subjects in school were the classes that he had with his FFA Advisor, Mr. Larry Hobach.

Dale was the FFA Chapter President. He attended the Minnesota State FFA convention and the National FFA convention. He also exhibited a two-wheel trailer he had made in Shop11 class at the Minnesota State Fair.

In 1962, the Vietnam War was beginning to gain more attention in the United States. Dale enlisted in the Air Force and reported for boot camp August, 1962. He served until August, 1966.

In the Air Force, Dale was trained in aircraft maintenance. After completing boot camp and training in San Antonio and Amarillo, Texas, Dale was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb., until his discharge.

After his discharge, Dale used his GI benefits to obtain his Aircraft and Power Plant certification. He began his 40-year career in aircraft maintenance after receiving his A & P certification. He was employed by Northwest Orient, North Central, and United Airlines.

While working his “off the farm” job, Dale fulfilled his dream of farming. He was a crop and livestock farmer near New Prague, Minn.

In 2005, Dale retired from the airlines and from farming. It was a good time to retire as there were more mergers on the horizon for the airlines and farms were becoming larger with larger machinery required too.

Dale has kept his love of farming by enjoying his hobby of collecting and showing Allis Chalmers tractors.

Remained on the farm, no regrets

By Dorothy May of Montgomery

In memory of her dad, the late Stanley Lepert

My dad, Stanley Lepert, was born May 16, 1923. He grew up on a farm near Plattsmouth, Nebraska in Cass County. He attended a one-room rural school about three miles from his farm home. There was no school bus. He walked to and from school with his brothers and sisters and his cousins who lived near his home.

Dad completed all eight grades in this one-room school. There were four students counting my dad in his eighth-grade class. At the time there were a total of 56 rural schools in Cass County Nebraska. In recognition of the students completing their education so far, formal Eighth Grade Promotional Exercises were held for all the students at the high school building on Sunday afternoon, May 23, 1936.

Awards were announced and diplomas were presented by the Cass County Superintendent of Schools. There was music presented by a school band and vocal solos.

Dad attended Plattsmouth High School. While in high school, he was a member of the football team and played clarinet in the high school band. He also attended his Senior Prom. I don’t know if he had a date and if he did what her name might have been, as he didn’t meet my mother until quite a while after high school graduation. Quite often Dad had to walk to high school and walk home. He usually had farm chores to do after walking home from school, even after football practice.

Dad’s senior class was given a senior handbook. The handbook had information regarding how to choose a vocation, average earnings for common vocations, how to judge a college or school, and other useful information for the graduates.

Dad graduated on May 23, 1940. He wanted to go to college to become a veterinarian, but unfortunately the family could not afford the tuition. World War II had started the year before Dad graduated and this may have impacted Dad’s decision to remain on the farm to help his father.

Dad’s oldest brother, George, was drafted into the Army. Before George left, though, Dad and George made plans for George’s return. They would rent some land and farm together.

Unfortunately, this never happened. George was killed in 1942 in New Guinea.

Dad did go on to farm. He and my mother farmed until they retired. They saw the change in farming practices -- hybrid seed, and conservation practices to name a few. Dad went from farming with horses with his dad and brothers to 150-horse-power tractors and harvesting with combines with their own power.

Dad never spoke of regretting the past–only the future.

Germany, Italy, Paris, London

By Ronald Pulkrabek of Glencoe

No jobs available in 1954 for a farm boy. On my 18th birthday, I joined the Army for two years. Took a Troop Ship to Germany. Practiced War Games near the Czech/Russian border near the Iron Curtain during winter cold and snow!

In late 1955, three Army buddies and I took a car trip to Italy. We saw Venice, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Isle of Capri, MT. I went to the Vesuvius Volcano, Florence and Rome, climbed on the Collision, St. Peters Basilica and were blessed by Pope Pius XII in the Sistine Chapel.

Another trip was to Paris, where we topped the Eiffel Tower, etc., then to London; saw the changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace and many other interesting sites.

I was discharged after two years and could not buy beer for another nine months!

I had sent my girlfriend one letter a week. Little did I know until after 63 years of marriage that she had saved all my letters, so I know what I did every week for two years in the Army.

At age 20, I got a job building houses. At age 21, I got a job at 3M in Hutchinson and got a good deal on my grandparents’ 70-acre farm. I was working at 3M, farming and got the crazy idea to build a three-bedroom rambler on the farm. In my spare time, I single-handedly pounded almost every nail and built the kitchen cabinets.

On June 9, 1959, Eileen and I were married. After a 9 a.m. Mass we had dinner, open presents, had supper, and danced the Pia-mar Ballroom in Glencoe with Wally Pikel playing Old Time music. We left at 1 a.m. At 3 a.m., I carried my wife Eileen over the threshold of our new house.

We had a great life together, with world traveling and traced our ancestors to five towns in the Czech Lands. I’m still in contact with Pulkrabek relation, some who had gone through the Nazi and Russian rule for 50 years.

After 63 years of marriage and Polka dancing, Eileen passed away at age 83. I am almost 90 years old.

Army chow was good and plentiful

By Al Koenig of Hector

After basic training, a bus took me to Maryland to become an armorer, where I “fixed” everything from pistols to recoilless rifles. Graduating in December, I left for Minnesota.

FFA prepared me well in leadership

By Rich Nagel of Arlington

I’m a 1965 graduate of Arlington-Green Isle High School, in Arlington, Minn. Upon graduating, I probably had more life responsibilities than most of that age, as I had been operating a 150-acre crop and hog farm since the age of 16. Having received a military deferment, and with no plans on going to college, my future vocation was intact.

My father had passed away early in my freshman year of high school. With continued guidance from my mother, and also from my VoAg instructor, during my final two years of high school, I became very involved in VoAg, and accordingly in FFA.

My leadership experience in FFA prepared me well to serve in leadership roles in various Ag organizations, my church, as a school board member for 15 years, and after moving from the farm to the City of Arlington, I served as Mayor for two terms.

Life has been good!

Along with Roseann, my wife of 56+ years, we continue to enjoy life in Arlington.

Raising cows, pigs, and chickens

By Darlene Kenning of Hutchinson

I graduated Hector High School in 1954. Our senior class trip was to Washington DC and New York City.

In 1960, folks moved to town so we got the whole house. Having three kids by then, our last kid was born a year later.

In 1973, we built a new house on the farm where I still live 72 years later.

Major flood from the Crow River

By Doris Rusch of Hutchinson

I attended Hutchinson High School and graduated with the Class of 1965. Life looked good to me. I was anxious to graduate and get a job. There were no plans to go to college. My father thought a job at a bank would be nice. In high school I followed the secretarial career path. With those classes we were assigned to work with a local business the last three weeks of school for two to three hours. I was assigned to 3M (wow, a big company). The day after graduation I started there as a permanent, full-time employee without officially applying for the job and with no interview. I worked there for 36 years, retiring at age 57. Four months later, I took a part time job at a local pharmacy and worked there for 17 years.

The spring of 1965, the City of Hutchinson endured a major flood from the Crow River, which destroyed part of the dam over the river and closed the Main Street, the north end of town was closed from Main Street. During this time the Vietnam War was going on and was of great concern and classmates and family were called to duty.

Love for booking, shorthand, typing

By Marjorie (Bauer) Kloeckl of Arlington

I graduated from Winthrop High School in 1954. During my high school years, I planned to go to nursing college, but during my senior year I developed a love for booking, shorthand, typing, etc. and planned to attend the Minneapolis School of Business. But... just two weeks before graduation, the superintendent called me into the office and introduced me to the manager of Winthrop’s Tri-County Dairy (a large dry-milk powder producing plant right in Winthrop.)

After a one-hour interview, I was offered a job as office secretary at this plant. I accepted the offer and went to work two weeks after graduation.

I lived on a farm just two miles east of Winthrop so drove home for dinner and back again for the afternoon. My job was very special and I loved it. I answered phone, took messages (by shorthand) from the president/general manager, made out Bill of Ladings for shipments of dry-milk powder (via the railroad), and typed letters and notifications for meetings to local creamery managers and producers of the milk which was brought into the plant for processing.

Other activities were going to dances, movies, and to the beaches at Lake Marion and New Auburn. I also helped with simple work around the farm,like lawn mowing, gardening, feeding chickens, etc.)

I loved working and being in my local community after high school. I didn’t ever miss a college or Business School training. The community of Winthrop, the manager of Tri-County Dairy, and other employees were so helpful that it made my job a great working and learning experience! For the last 50 years I have worked as office manager and secretary at our Y-Not Plumbing & Heating Inc. store in Arlington.

The summer of ‘79

By Dave Jungst of Morris

My senior year at Jefferson High School in Alexandria I decided to go to college for agricultural engineering. Right after high school graduation in the spring of 1979, I took the Amtrak train out to Bozeman, Mont., to check out the University there. My brother, three years older than me, was already attending Montana State University. I crashed on the living room couch in the house that he and several friends were renting. What wasn’t there to like? There was a good engineering program, excellent skiing and trout fishing, unlimited places to hike, bike and explore. The only problem was the cost. As a non-resident, out-of-state tuition was about three times that of a resident.

Dave Jungst of Morris, summer of 1979. Contributed photo — Dave Jungst of Morris, summer of 1979. *Contributed photo*

I already had a job lined up when I got back to Alexandria as a welder. I felt like I was making good money that summer at $4 an hour, but thought I might make even more that fall trapping. Fur prices were at record highs so I gave my foreman the bad news that I was quitting. I caught 368 muskrats, 14 mink, plus raccoon, fox, and beaver and made over $3,000. In December, I joined a friend who was going skiing with two of his NDSU college buddies, driving a car out to Montana. When they went back to NDSU after the ski trip, I stayed, got residency, and lived in Bozeman for the next five years and got my degree.

Farming tour of Europe

By Jimmy Hendricks of Watertown

I graduated from Watertown High School in 1963. I am now 80 years old. After graduation, FFA boys and I went on a 21-day tour of western and eastern Europe to see their farming methods.

We flew between the eight countries we visited. We were behind the iron curtain for 10 days, four days in Hungary, four in Czechoslovakia, and two days in Berlin. We toured state farms and collective farms. Very large farms but no pride or incentive. All machinery was left outside. I counted 15 combines lined up outside. The machinery was all rusty, no paint on any machinery or buildings. Each family had a small plot behind their house for a garden. That was theirs. What they didn’t need they could sell. I have never seen such well-kept high-producing gardens in my life. I wish I could remember what percent of the countries’ food was produced on less than one percent of the land.

We stayed in the best hotel in Budapest. A small chamber orchestra in the dining room during the evening meal. Being young boys we asked for milk (didn’t have it). The waiters promised to get it. Next evening - no milk. It went sour by the time the hotel got it. They were way behind the U.S. in refrigeration and no air conditioning in any of Europe. West Berlin was as modern as the U.S. A wall separated the city. There were grave markers along the wall. We were told if someone trying to escape East Berlin was shot crawling over the wall and fell on the west side, that is where they were buried. We spent an afternoon in East Berlin. There was a death strip a few hundred feet wide along the wall and guards were to kill anyone in that strip trying to escape.

East Berlin, the streets and sidewalks were cleaned off, but all the bombed building ruble was still there. You would think the war was 18 weeks ago not 18 years ago.

When we returned to the U.S., I left the group to visit relatives on Statin Island in New York, then took a bus to Washington D.C. to visit relatives in Arlington. When I got home I was still 17, so I got my mother to sign so I could get my military obligation out of the way. I trained in Fort Jackson SC, Fort Leonard Wood Mo., and mountain and Glacier Training in Alaska in June of 1964.

My experience as a teacher

By Gerry Moen of Litchfield

Royal wedding, gas around $1.35

By Jessica Chapman of South Haven

Nearly 45 years ago, I was a senior at Osseo High School in Osseo, Minn. and planning to graduate in June 1981.

I drove an old car with mismatched panels of different colors, but it got me where I needed to go. Gas was around $1.35, which was high considering inflation adjusted value.

Assassinations, riots broke out in DC

By Marlys Hagstrom of Hutchinson

Hitchhiking around the country

By Maurice Russell of Otsego

On my 18th birthday, I enlisted in the Navy and served four years working in hospitals—three in California and one in Japan.

I graduated and got to work

By Mary Hanson of Willmar

FFA People to People Goodwill Tour

By Gary Peterson of Tracy

I graduated from Tracy High School on June 1, 1973. Life was exciting with finishing high school and looking forward to furthering my education in the fall.

I was active in our local FFA chapter and won various awards, including the Star Chapter Farmer award. I would receive this at the state FFA convention in St. Paul in early May.

In September of 1973, I began attending classes at the University of Minnesota in Waseca, Minn. The year was very memorable and a big transition year in my life.

Nursing, Nixon Watergate Scandal

By Terri Garske of Fargo

I graduated from Fargo South High School, Memorial weekend in 1974.

I need to go back a bit. I had taken the required math and science classes, and applied to St. Luke’s School of Nursing in the fall of 1973. I finished the required credits for high school graduation in December 1973. I did not attend school January to May, but was employed. I was accepted to nursing school. Only 75 out of 400 applicants were accepted. I was very happy. I had wanted to be a nurse all my life. So I walked across the stage, received my diploma, then a week later in June 1974 I started nursing school.

I found college courses difficult. We took summer school, condensed courses at NDSU. We had other nursing classes at the school across from the hospital. I read and studied all summer. My friends would ask about doing something fun but I couldn’t. We finally had a break for two weeks the end of August. Party time. I went to the lake with friends. We went out to bars to socialize and dance. In 1974, I was 18 and it was legal to purchase and consume alcohol in Minnesota.

Other world events, in 1971 the 26th Amendment was approved. I was old enough to vote and I have voted in every election since. In 1973, the Vietnam War officially ended. Also in 1973, Roe vs Wade passed. Summer of 1974, the Nixon Watergate Scandal happened.

Marion Braunberger of Fargo graduated from Page ND in 1952. She wrote encouraging letters to soldiers in the Korean War... and ended up marrying one of them. Contributed photo — Marion Braunberger of Fargo graduated from Page ND in 1952. She wrote encouraging letters to soldiers in the Korean War... and ended up marrying one of them. *Contributed photo*

My penpal became my husband

By Marion Braunberger of Fargo

I graduated high school from Page, ND in 1952. I met my husband when I was a senior in high school. As penpals I would write to soldiers of the Korean War to boost morale -- Don was one of the servicemen I would write to. I went to college to be a school teacher and taught for one year before we were married. We have three children, seven grandchildren, and 18 great grandchildren. My husband passed away March 30, 2025, at 96 years old. I was 93 years old on Oct. 1, 2025, and currently live at a Senior Care Center in Fargo.

Douglas County Dairy Princess

By Bonnie Lutz Good of Evansville

Right after graduating from the Evansville High School in 1962, I entered the Douglas County Dairy Princess Contest. A week later I applied for an office position at the Alexandria Credit Bureau and was hired immediately, because my picture had just come out in the Echo Press as the new Douglas County Dairy Princess. One time I mailed out a huge number of checks all of which were NOT signed. My office skills may have been shaky but I could milk a cow.

By the end of August I was college bound when my boyfriend showed up with an engagement ring. He did not want me going off to college and meeting some college guy. I remained with the Credit Bureau until I got married in May. My husband then used his Army Reserve check to put me through teacher’s college at the University of Minnesota, Morris. In 1993, this Douglas County Dairy Princess was selected the Minnesota State Teacher of the Year from the Evansville Public School. I am so thankful that office work was not my “cup of tea.” I wonder if I can still milk a cow?

I now live nine miles north of Evansville on Pelican Lake.

A very interesting life

By DelRay Sanders of Fargo

I am 89 years old and live in Fargo. I graduated from Lincoln High School in Thief River Falls, Minn. in 1955. There were very few jobs, so it was either farm with your dad or go into the service, which is what most did. I joined the National Guard. Several friends went to Milwaukee, Wis.

After graduation, time became very lonely. I couldn’t afford a good car to go anyplace to meet friends or find new ones.

I stayed home and worked on the farm my first year out of high school. That winter was the most boring time of my life. I got to hating milking cows, which I did most of my younger days, by hand and later by milking machine.

I tried growing certified grains, but only given five acres for my own never made much money.

One day my father took me aside and said my brother, being the oldest, had first choice to run the family farm of 320 acres, and that I would have to find work elsewhere.

Dad told me of a neighbor Norman Johnson who needed someone to drive tractor during seeding. I took the job until spring work was done. To help me, Mr. Johnson told me he thought I was such a good worker that he would recommend me for a building construction job. I worked as a laborer until winter.

In the fall of 1957, I still lived on the farm with my parents and brother, helping with all the farm work. I looked each week in the newspaper under want ads for a job. A job appeared that the newspaper was looking for a Printer Devil (apprentice) to do janitorial work and learn the printing trade.

I was interviewed and was hired. I worked two years and wasn’t getting much pay, only $1.05 per hour. Some friends told me about jobs at the Grand Forks Airbase that paid twice as much. I learned how to work hard labor, shoveling wet cement, pick and shovel, operating tampers, setting up scaffolding, unloading cement bags from box cars, being a block tender for brick layers.

That fall, I was laid off, so a friend and I drove to Minneapolis. We found a room in a wild part of the city at the Lincoln Hotel. Next morning, we searched for work at state employment services. None were available so we walked the streets and tried private employment services. They found us a job, but the company took a percentage of our paycheck. We were contracted for a year.

I broke the contract by enrolling in a military cook and baker school at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. After three months of schooling, I went home to Thief River and worked that summer for a construction job and helped on the farm.

When I worked at the Thief River Falls Times, I became interested in Linotype operation and found out where I could learn it. I enrolled at State School of Science in Wahpeton, ND and graduated in 1961. I accepted a Linotype/printing position at the Middle River Record, also with my military food service school, purchased and operated part-time DelRay’s Cafe.

During college days, I was active in student activities and while working at the Record Printing Company, received a call from NDSCS about a position in public relations. I was interviewed and got the job. I worked there for 40 years in many capacities.

I’m married, have two children, two step-children and nine grandchildren.

Even though my high school didn’t think we were smart enough to attend college, I went on from learning a trade to getting a BS degree in vocational education with a major in Journalism/Printing. I started a new course at NDSCS in Photojournalism. The last 10 years at NDSCS, I was an admissions counselor. I also retired from the Army National Guard as First Sergeant, after 22 years.

I retired from NDSCS in 2003. Now I’m active in the Sons of Norway as a tour guide and play in the Kringen Accordion Band with guitar and spoons. We have recorded nine times for Polka Spotlight, a syndicated TV program. We also play at county fairs and retirement centers.

I have lived a very interesting life!

‘Depth and Flow Specialists’

By Jim Thoreen of Glenwood

Thankfully, somebody in Glenwood finally asked the question which I have awaited since May, 1963, when I and 74 other seniors received our diplomas in the Fosston, Minn., gymnasium. Life was just a bowl of cherries, or green tomatoes more appropriately, as I tried to prepare for collegiate life at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Lt. Col. John Glenn became the first U.S. man to orbit earth in a very small capsule. Our nation’s military advisors trained Laotian soldiers to assist Laos’ fight against communists in Southeast Asia. The most fascinating aspect of that summer was my full-time job with the City of Fosston as part of a three-man crew hired to clean out the city’s storm sewer system.

We called ourselves the “Depth and Flow Specialists” as we strung cables one block at a time from which a machine dragged a bucket, picking up not only sand and “stuff,’’ but also a few interesting personal items not intended for disposal on our streets. But, hey, the pay was great and none of the city’s staff wanted to be near us, let alone supervise such a crew! I enjoyed getting the best tan of my life while my blondish hair turned pure white. Wait a minute... ‘63? Yikes!

I helped ‘Singing Farmer’ build first house

By David Witikko of New York Mills

I live in Homestead Township about six miles from New York Mills. I graduated from Glenwood High School in 1970. My plans were to attend the Institute of Technology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis starting in September. Our family had relocated from Linton, ND, in May of 1967 between my 9th and 10th grade in high school.

A driver’s training course was not required in North Dakota, while in Minnesota it is done after the 9th grade. So I missed that and I didn’t take the course to get my driver’s license until the week after I had graduated.

During that same week I stopped in the chemistry-physics room as I saw Mr. Huselid there. I asked him what he was going to do this summer. He told me that he had accepted a teaching position for next year at Hopkins Lindbergh High School and he had a lot in Minnetonka where he was going to build his own home. I asked him if he wanted some help and he said, “Sure.”

We spent the summer evenings in a campground in the Morris T. Baker park off Highway 12, a bit west of Wayzata. I was in a tent and Mr. Huselid (Boyd) slept in the tear-drop camper that I had pulled there while driving Boyd’s second car, a 1950s-era Mercury to this park from Glenwood. This was my first solo driving adventure shortly after getting my driver’s license.

The back end of the camper had a “hood” that when raised revealed a stainless steel kitchen where Boyd prepared food for us. His wife, Kathy, who was still in their home in Starbuck with their young daughter, would frequently cook us hotdishes that we would get on Sunday for the next week meals. Boyd sometimes cooked oatmeal for us for breakfast.

I remember taking a cold shower each morning because I always wanted to wash my hair and there was no hot water in the park. We would drive in to work in the morning and return to the park in the evenings. I got an education in how to build a house that continued well beyond the end of summer. My newest current claim-to-fame is the fact that I helped the “Singing Farmer” Boyd Huselid build the first house that he built.

After high school graduation, I...

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