More messages from classmates

Everyone looked like they were having a good time...I spent time last night looking at the pictures. I did plan on attending...sorry I missed a good time. Terry Sellers Hutchins

It sounds like the reunion was a lot of fun. Sorry I missed it. Since 1993, I have struggled with Parkinson's Disease and was placed on disability in 2006. The medication that had given me relief was no longer working, After consultation with doctors, I made the decision to proceed with Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery this spring. The surgery was very scary since I had to be awake. The surgery was done at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee and was very successful. My hair is growing back finally, however it is gray. I am still taking medications but it has improved my quality of life for which I am very grateful. My oldest son is getting married on Halloween this year. Now I can really enjoy the day. Greetings to you all
Phyllis (Lenzendorf) Rodriguez

Classmates,
As I head out to work this morning it's with a special smile on my face after spending a great weekend in Prairie with you all and family. God blessed us with great weather and comradery. I would like to echo Gordon's very well stated thanks to all those who worked hard to make it a great reunion! I would like to offer a special thanks to Dave Polodna, Mike Obmascher, Steve Ristvedt, Robyn Hedeman, and Dave and Jeanette Cook who also made this a great music reunion for me! We had a great time getting together to practice and playing at the reunion and so glad to hear so many enjoyed the era music we put together. Gordon, thank you for keeping us all informed and in touch, and for all the great photos. I didn't get a chance to take many but you captured the moments well - and I WAS able to download them.
Take care all. Hope to see you all in 5 years (or less)!
Off to work! :)
Jim Wachuta

Dear Gordon,
What a total success. Blew my expectations way out. I just hurt the next day...face from laughing and feet...well the music was so good. Karen (Day)

40-year reunion fades into history

We now have a few more memories and few more photographs, and maybe our ears ringing and our feet sore from an evening with a great band (all former classmates). The PHS Class of 69 40-year reunion was a great success, with turnout numbering around 65, including former band teacher Dave Todd and his wife, plus several extra members of the Wachuta and Hedeman families who came mainly for the music.

The afternoon picnic was a great way to enjoy a gorgeous Wisconsin summer afternoon, and get a head start on all of the catching up that these reunions seem to foster. About two dozen made it for the afternoon.

The music was fantastic. Jim Wachuta, Dave Polodna, Mike Obmascher, Steve Ristvedt and Robyn Hedeman practiced together for the first time in 40 years on Friday night and played several sets of memorable tunes. I can't imagine a better way of doing a class reunion.

Photos have been posted on the Class of 69 Fadebook page, click here.


I think anyone can access the photos, you don't have to be a member of Facebook. However, if you are on Facebook and join the official Class of 69 group, you should be able to add your own photos to the mix. If anyone wants to have their own copy of any of the photos, you should be able to download it from Facebook, but I'll be glad to email you a copy also.

I heard from several classmates who couldn't make it this time but are already looking ahead to 2014:

Gordon, thanks for keeping my in the loop on the reunion. I don’t plan on making it to the festivities but if anyone asks, we are doing fine. We are empty nesters now. Our youngest son started college this Fall ,even though he is in town at Iowa State, he has moved to the dorms. We anticipate seeing him on the weekends for home cooked meals and laundry duty. Enjoy the weekend. - Gary Novey

To all of my fellow classmates.. I hope you all have a great time and a wonderful reunion. I so wish I could be there. It will be a blast. Where did 40 years go? With love, Mary Jerde Chapman

Man, I wish I could be there. Know you'll have a great time. Now I'll have to wait 5 more years. That hurts. Tell Barb Floyd I'll have "Send in the Clowns" ready for her next time. · Terri Larson Cunningham

Kristine Otteson Maag and Kathy Kaber Kruse will be putting together the 2014 reunion, with technical support from yours truly. We'll try to keep up the steady communication so that everyone remains informed about how classmates are doing. Thanks to all who expressed their appreciation for the communiques.

A special thanks to Rick and Kathy Brown for shouldering the main responsibility for organizing this year's gathering. Karen Day made arrangements for the cake, handled decorations, and donated the park shelter reservation. Lois Moeller Baker provided flowers for the tables. And thanks to the spouses who patiently endured another night with a room full of strangers because they know how much it means to us.

As Karen put it, we have a unique familial bond that's linked to a specific time and place. Whether it was four, six, ten or twelve years together, we have classes, teachers, coaches and a lot of memories in common. Even if we now have a twangy Texas accent like Wayne Horkheimer (I love listening to him talk) our roots are still in Prairie du Chien, our alma mater. Wherever we have made it to (some of us have made it and retired already), PDC is where we started.

Switched at Birth

Classmate Sue McDonald Boutni learned in 1994 that she had been switched at birth. The story was shared on public radio's This American Life today, July 26, 2008.

Schoolmate Brad Williams

The Wisconsin State Journal has a front page article on former schoolmate Brad Williams. Unfortunately the article doesn't seem to be posted online so there's no link available. However, an article of a similar nature appeared in the LaCrosse Tribune last year. The article is on hyperthymesia, which is defined as having a superior autobiographical memory.

Brad is 51, so he is a few years behind us but he also skipped a grade. His brother Eric is working on a documentary on hyperthymesia. There are some interesting video clips posted online. Brad's mother, shown in one of the clips, shows a resemblance to Mrs. Gauger, the fifth grade teacher who taught some of us. Which is to be expected, since Mrs. Gauger was Brad's grandmother.

I don't remember much about fifth grade, except that was when the class started doing spelling bees. And I discovered I was a pretty good speller when Claudette Clark and I spelled down the rest of the class. Brad, as you may remember, was the state Spelling Bee and went to teh national bee in Washington.

Brad went into radio news, which was my field for many years. Shortly after I left KLMS radio in Lincoln, NE, Brad started working there. He went on to WIZM in LaCrosse, a station which is part of the Midwest Family chain, where he still works. Before I went to Lincoln I worked at WISM in Madison, also part of the Midwest Family chain. My ability to remember obscure trivia sometimes astounds my family (and has established my reputation in Trivial Pursuit). However, nobody remembers details like Brad obviously does.

Doppler Max

The local NBC affiliate in Madison has a new doppler weather radar. In the highly competitive arena of local TV weather, it has been dubbed Doppler Max. To those of a certain generation, and a certain area of SW Wisconsin and NE Iowa, the name cannot be mentioned out loud without conjuring memories of a great local television personality. Dr. Max and his clown companion Mombo entertained the after-school audience for much of the sixties on WMT TV, channel 2 out of Cedar Rapids.

Sure enough, more information about this classic television series is available online, at least one weblog has a mention (and that's where this photo is posted).

We're all from the Driftless Region

The lead article on the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal this morning was about a proposal to create a National Park out of Crawford County. The proposal would seem to have some merit since Crawford County is at the heart of the geologically famous driftless region. The proposal is made in a beautifully illustrated book by Bryan Stanley. Despite the beauty and the quality of the book the proposal is probably fatally hampered by the fact that Stanley is a resident of the Mendota Mental Health Institute.

Crawford County is one of the most beautiful counties in Wisconsin, but also one of its poorest counties. I'm not sure why its poverty rate is so high but creating a national park would surely change the economy in the region.

I've found myself thinking lately about a much less ambitious park plan, creating a park on the blufftop surrounding the Brisbois gravesite overlooking Prairie du Chien. I wonder how many classmates have actually hiked up the bluff trails to those graves? I wonder if they're even accessible like they were when we were growing up? Apparently it is, since a Brisbois grave tour is part of the cemetery tour being promoted for October 6th. Creating an access road from the farmland just to the east, and adding some additional park amenities, would open the way to a beautiful vista of the Mississippi River valley, and give the city one more promotable attraction.

Another great vista, deserving of a park to promote and preserve it, is on county highway F on the crest of the bluff just above Lynxville. A whole 15-mile sweep of the Mississippi River is spread before your eyes. If you're taking a visitor to see the Mississippi, this should be their first glimpse of it.

Just a couple of weeks ago another article in the WSJ focused on a cave near Eastman where prehistoric Indian inscriptions have been defaced. I wasn't even aware of any significant caves around Eastman.

Despite the steep hillsides, Crawford county still has a lot of fertile farmland (it would appear). Asking farmers to give that up would be a big obstacle to any park plan, in addition to the cost. On the other hand, farming in Wisconsin hasn't been all that lucrative lately, even on flat land. Hundreds of farmers across Wisconsin leave the business each year. That's one of the reasons that more and more Amish can be seen on the roads of Grant County.

Additional note: heavy rains this weekend have caused heavy flooding and evacuations in the Kickapoo Valley villages of Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove, as well as around the region.

8/20 update: Crawford County has been declared a disaster area, along with Richland and Vernon Counties, due to heavy rains and flooding.

Final note regarding Bryan Stanley and another class connection to this story from classmate Amelia Lochner Dittman: Bryan Stanley is in the Mendota Mental Health Center because he shot and killed our parish priest, deacon and custodian (St. Patrick’s, Onalaska) in 1985.

Classmate photo

I was once walking down Lake Street in Madison and bumped into a couple of classmates. Nowadays it appears as if the likeliest place to accidentally bump into several classmates is at a nursing home. Which is what happened to Diane Duffy Cady, Barb Coorough Schwant and Joyce Herried Hagen (left to right) last year. Barb sent me the photo earlier this summer and I'm finally getting caught up on my email.