Reunion "Girls" Tell Their Stories

 

Ann Carrington Dirks  told how she would help her veterinarian husband when baby pigs were born.  She would put her whole arm up inside the sow to make sure there were no more baby pigs.  She related why she went to U High instead of Central. Her mother saw that Ann’s English teacher at Central was going to be the very same teacher that the mother had had years before.  That convinced Mrs. Carrington that Ann needed to go to a different school. 
           [Ann still has that wonderful, quirky sense of humor that I remember from  high school.]

Dr. Steve Dirks & Ann Carrington Dirks - by DT

Connie Matson Ferwerda came with her daughter, Ellen.  She did not tell any stories but was very interested in all the activities.  When I went through my reunion file, I ran across a newspaper clipping about her.  It was from May 1997 when she received an honorary doctor of humane letters from the University of Wisconsin at Parkside, for founding eight nonprofit programs and organizations in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Bravo, Dr. Ferwerda!

Ellen & Connie Ferwerda - by DT

Connie Matson Ferwerda and Roger Carlson - by DT

Another reunioner was Roxy Freese, owner of the Bibelot Shops in St. Paul and Minneapolis.   She left our class after ninth grade for Summit School.  She stayed more time at the reunion than she had budgeted because she was having such a good time.  

Ruth Sundberg Donhowe and Roxy Freese - by DT

Roxy & Ruthanne Twohig - by DT

Ann Jarvis Fogel sent a long, full-page letter of U High memories.  Here are some snippets...... playing ping pong and dancing in Shevlin Cafeteria. "Lois Simonson was the best dancer bar none and everything I learned was from her."....long trips out to the home of Alex Cullum...and a Hay Ride one time [Jane Keyes has a large picture of that hay ride], going to cheer for Roger Carlson and Bob Flood in football...talented musicians Dick Thompson, Tod Dockstader and Joan Koleski....artists Ruth, Tinka, Connie.....Jane Fellows always full of energy and what an ice skater.  "I'm proud to say that I introduced her to her husband, Jack." ...Super Dr. Johnson in algebra...the jingle made up in German class to sell White Owl Cigars.... "I liked English class...we had to memorize a poem by Byron...'Roll on thou deep and dark blue ocean . . . ."

I received phone calls from Sheila Croll Rota, Mary Engle Phillips and Diane Johnson Mast.  Sheila wants the next reunion to be in Laughlin, Nevada at a gambling resort that offers all sorts of perks. She told about her backwards birthdays.  She celebrated her 90^th birthday when she was really 60, her 100^th birthday when she was really 70 and now she has caught up. She divided her life this way: 30 years single, 30 years married, 20 years + widowed. 

Mary is still a member of the Wildflowers with Pat Parcells Noren, Maryanne Thiel Battig and Helen Wagner Eker.  She keeps up with these folks often; she sounds just the same.

When I shared Diane’s memories, there were lots of laughs  about the Spanish teacher, Dorothy Trandis.   Roger and the other boys used to go wild over her legs when she stopped to straighten the seams in her nylon stockings.  Apparently she wore her skirt up to her neck when it wasn’t the style (yet). 

This story prompted Roger and Ted and others to remember how she liked to make an entrance into class.   (For a brief moment, they were teenage boys again.)

Diane also remembered going to a play with Jane Fellows, Martin Kienitz, and Sheldon Cable and laughing hysterically in the rain after someone either fell in a puddle or did something embarrassing that caused red faces. Her last memory was about the girl in our class who had the “most beautiful blue eyes.”  (Lois Simonson Mosing)

Sheila donated many handmade items to give away, including luggage tags.  For the 2008 reunion she had also knitted some.  ( Jane Buffington testified how easy they make it to identify one’s luggage.)  Many thanks to Sheila and Mary Engel Phillips and Ann Jarvis Fogel for generous donations.