Farm kid or townie...Jock or motor head…Honor roll or just eking by...
It didn’t matter how members of the CHS class of 1972 might have been defined, said Coleen (Germscheid) McCabe, one of its 34. They were all friends regardless.
“There were no cliques, no separation. We did everything together.”
So it was no wonder why a large number of ‘72 classmates turned out for their 50-year reunion, which was held at the Shoreland Golf Club clubhouse on Sunday.
The two dozen attending included, from L-R, front row: Jan (Ballman) Campe, Jim Christensen, Jeff Hoffman, Jim Harmon, Marie (Kortuem) Stifter, Martha (Clinton) Weisgram, Marilyn (Quiram) Larson and Renée (Derner) Rollings. Middle row: Lori (Plaisance) Curran, Rose Ann (Meyer) Krenik, Bob Gehrke, David Ballman, Sheila (McCabe) Larson, and Cheryl (Schmidt) Evenson. Back row: Graydon Dickie, David Voss, Pat Everett, Tom Loeffler, Donnie Dickie, Gary Haase, Lamar Palmquist, Richard McCabe, Barbara (Cooney) Strubhar and Coleen (Germscheid) McCabe.
Missing the reunion were Paul Dauk, Randy Erickson, Greg Giersdorf, Pam Keinz, Beverly Palmquist, Ron Pfluger, Loren Stauff, Kathy Tish and Sharon Wels.
Ed Ginter is the only deceased member of the class. Chuck McCabe, also deceased, was in the class but did not graduate in 1972.
The A&W on the south side of St. Peter was the place to cruise to a half century ago, said Germscheid-McCabe. She, Derner and Schmidt were car hops there.
With no lights on the football field, games were held during the day. Winning over Wellcome-Memorial and St. Clair, the varsity team had a 2-2-5 season. Seniors on the team were Gehrke, Stauff, McCabe and Dauk. They were coached by Mark Whitney with Glen O’Connor his assistant.
Coached by Mike Harrington, varsity basketball went 11-10. They edged Lakeville in their first playoff game but then lost to Montgomery. McCabe, Dauk, Voss, Gehrke and Harmon were the seniors on the team.
Title 9 wasn’t signed into law until June of 1972; there were no girls sports, only cheerleading. Rooting the Clippers on were Derner, Kortuem, Germscheid, Wels and Schmidt.
The senior glass play was “All Because of Agatha,” a comedy that deals with the plight of a young couple (Haase and Quiram) that moves into a centuries-old house, only to find that it is haunted by a tenacious yet appealing witch (Derner).
Stauff won the Androli award. Germscheid was class president and homecoming queen while Gehrke was king.
Wallace Davidson was the school superintendent. Larry Corrow was the high school principal, and Mel Goede was the elementary principal. Elected to the school board were Leo Koppelman Sr., Francis Zimmerman, Dale Lloyd, Don Ponwith, Bill Hankins and William Grice.
Teachers included O’Connor (Consumer Math, History, Social Studies), Whitney (Geography and elementary PE), Susan Brown (Vocal), Charles Dodson (Band), Olivia Kinney (Library), Lola Rademacher (English), Cindy Gronewald (English), Heather Tarara (English, History, Media), Doris Montague (English, Journalism), Harington (PE), Brenda Johnson (PE), Geraldine Davis (Shorthand, Bookkeeping, Typing), Ron Thoreson (Industrial Arts), Larry Johansson (Math, Driver’s Ed) and Larry Hohnstadt (Physics, Math).
Busing students to and from school were Elwin Sohm, Dale Rogers, LeRoy McCollum, Josephine Schmidt, Audrey Gibbs, Rev. Arthur Vale and Robert “Buck” Wendelschafer.
Joyce and Elmer Oldenkamp and Tony Beer kept up the school building and grounds. Preparing noon lunch were Eva Gibbs, Ruth Davis, Gladys Grice, Esther Reginscheid and Thelma Schmidt. When you weren’t feeling well, you visited nurse Elizabeth Thom.
Marilyn Schmidt and Anna Harty were the secretaries slash bookkeepers slash office managers.
Members of the class of 1972
Members of the class of 1972
Members of the class of 1972
Members of the class of 1972
Members of the class of 1972
Members of the class of 1972
Seniors on the football team
Class play
Homecoming royalty