Friday highlights include the MNB Hot Summer Night Concert at Norris Park and individual class gatherings. Saturday events include a Bison 2010 Cancellation Stamp Party, Alumni Art and Author book displays, sand volleyball, tennis, softball, free swimming at the city pool, Wall of Fame Recognition Program,a Classic Car & Toy Show and Dancing In The Streets on Norris Avenue from 9 p.m. to midnight. On Sunday the 4th, Grand Old Flag Celebration: pancake breakfast, “Salute to America and Our Military Veterans,” a McCook Educational Foundation Auction, Barbeque, and the Optimist fireworks display at the fairgrounds. Then on Monday morning, a Final Farewell.
There are many other special events including a motorcycle Fun Run and Dragging Main (Or as kids call it nowadays, “cruising.”). See the handbook for more information.
Some merchandise will be offered throughout the reunion but in limited quantities, such as original souvenir pieces of the MHS school gym floor you played on from 1955-93 designed by Gary Ginther, baseball caps, coffee cups, polo and t-shirts. All the items are reasonably priced, with an early purchase discount for shirts, caps, and cups until April 30. To be sure to get the item you want, order them at www.mccook2010.com or send in the form in the “Bison 2010 Handbook” included in this newsletter.
As the largest gathering of Bison alumni in the past ten years, the 2010 All-Class Reunion is something you don’t want to miss!
If the July 2010 Bison All-Class Reunion had a theme song, it would be “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
Popularized during World War II, the lyrics capture what Bison alumni will be doing as they gather in McCook this year for the reunion on July 2-5: “I’ll be seeing you…in all those old familiar places…”
The stomping grounds of McCook will be overflowing with familiar faces. Committees have kicked it into high gear for all the events being planned, according to one of the organizers, Cheri Beckenhauer. Alumni are encouraged to check out the details in this newsletter and at www.mccook2010.com, the official headquarters of the event. The website has a complete list of activities, a way to register, purchase items commemorating the reunion, how to get in touch with former classmates or post a comment.
With the reunion only three months away, early registrations are encouraged; at $25 per adult and $10 per family member K-12th grade. This includes two meals, (pancake breakfast and barbeque), keepsake souvenir booklet and entry to all events. After April 30, registration is $30 per adult. Be sure to read the page about the souvenir booklet that is in this issue.
A special call-out is being sent to McCook area residents to help with accommodations. Call and offer to “Host A Classmate, Neighbor or Friend” in your home over the reunion, for someone who wants to attend but cannot find a place to stay.
There will be something to see or do every day of the event, in addition to groups of classes gathering for individual reunions. See the schedule included in this newsletter and check your “Class Announcements” for more information.
I truly do not know where my class ring is today but I do know where Shirley’s is. Here is our story.
Shirley and I were married about a year out of high school and were high school sweethearts. Since we were in the same class, we each had our own class ring that we had given to each other like so many others had done with their girlfriends and boyfriends. When we got married, our wedding rings were our pride and joy and the class rings went into the jewelry box, not to be worn often. Something that seemed so important and was fairly expensive during high school was drawing dust. Read the rest of this entry »
Congratulations to the McCook Young Leaders who spearheaded McCook’s inaugural “First Night” held New Year’s Eve. There was a variety of family activities including the McCook Art Guild’s mask-decorating tables, musical performances at the Biéroc Cafe, Longnecker Jewelry and Memorial United Methodist Church. Music and laughter was the order of the night. Other activities included a dinner buffet, a mixed bag of stage acts at the Fox Theatre, singing and storytelling at the museum and a YMCA “Resolution Run” complete with hot cocoa! The highlight was a millisecond after midnight when a ball dropped from a crane parked next to the Keystone Hotel, signaling the start of 2010. Fireworks and music accompanied the New Year.
The Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival, June 11 and 12, will feature national storyteller, Tim Tingle, an Oklahoma Choctaw Indian, telling lively historical and traditional tales. Tingle is a renowned concert performer, an accomplished author and a popular keynote speaker. Anne and Pete Sibley, from Jackson, Wyoming will round out the musical portion of the festival. The Sibleys are the winners of the 2009 Great American Duet SingOff on NPR’s “A Prairie Home companion,” a spellbinding duo with the capabilities of taking the listener to places a full band could never dream of going. This year, several area and regional tellers will join in the fun at the Historical Fox Theater, the Museum of the High Plains, the Bieroc Café and Norris Park venues. The McCook Community College will again partner with the festival offering workshops presented by the featured performers.
For more information contact the website at www.buffalocommons.org, Mary Dueland’73 at 308-345-6163 and dmandue@ocsmccook.com , or the McCook Chamber of Commerce
Bob Anderson ‘70 Red Willow Films, San Jose, California
When you and your kids are watching “Eco Company” On Fox this year, you can say, “There is a McCook connection with that show! Eco Company is a 13-episode, half-hour weekly program hosted by teens, about teens doing environmentally friendly activities. Bob grew up in McCook and took art classes in high school that piqued his creative juices, leading to a career in journalism. He studied broadcast journalism at UNL with graduate studies at San Francisco State University. Over his career, he has held numerous television management positions including president and general manager of a San Francisco TV station. He has also managed programming, promotion, and creative services. Two years ago he started Red Willow Films, the production company which created “Eco Company.” With the FCC requiring each TV station to air three hours of educational and informational programming for kids a week, he felt this would be a good niche to fill. He also created a show called “In Wine Country” which has been airing on the NBC network for the last couple of years (Saturdays 4 a.m.), and another nationally syndicated show called “Your Green Life.” Interest in the environment isn’t anything new for him as his mother Virginia Anderson, tells us she taught him and sisters, Barb ‘66 Gaskins, Becky ‘69 Kinney and Mary ‘73 Dueland, the importance of turning off the lights and water. Catch “Eco Company” on Sunday mornings at 7 a.m. on Fox or check out the interactive website, eco-company.tv. Read the rest of this entry »
Barney was born in Philadelphia, PA where his father Dr. Joseph Magrath’46 was stationed as a meat inspector for the US Army during the Korean War. Joe and his wife Kathleen had six children Michael ’72, Barney, Matt ’75, Sheila’77, Larry’79, and Monica. They attended St Patrick’s Catholic School and McCook Junior and Senior High School.
In the Fall 2009 issue of BAN, we mentioned the obituary of Ella Baumbach Ford‘38 and how it stated that she had attended Peace Lutheran School in McCook. I was totally unaware of the existence of such a school and asked if any of our alumni knew about the school or its history. Thank goodness many of you did and were kind enough to clue me in about the school’s history.
Steve Clapp ‘71, Head Ladies Track and Field Coach, has asked us to share the following information with all female track alumni members.
Lady Alumni Track and Field Athletes:
Check it out!Here is the link: Go to www.mccookbison.org – click athletics, then click track and field under women..
Distance Coach Brent May has added the title of webmaster to his other
responsibilities.Please check out the above site as it is very well done.By request we now have a blog page. No one can post directly to the page, as they will need to email Coach May and then he will post it.If you want something blogged, email to bmay@esu15.org
A new school year also brought a new superintendent to McCook Public Schools. Grant Norgaard has taken over the head position from Dave Schley, who served as an interim superintendent for two years. Grant is a 1990 graduate of North PlatteHigh School and served as a principal at DundyCountySchools and ColumbusPublic Schools before becoming a superintendent at Leigh Community Schools in Leigh, Nebraska. Grant, his wife Michelle, and their children Victoria and Hayden, moved to McCook in July where they quickly settled into the community.Read the rest of this entry »
We appreciate more than you know all of those who have contributed to the future of the Bison Alumni Newsletter! With that being said, we still need support from others to provide a modest salary, office space, photo copier, computer, printer, internet and telephone expenses. We hope to be in an office space of our own, in the renovated Keystone Building in the Summer of 2010! We estimate our expenses to be around $600 a month.
Update on “Insuring the Future” Since the Fall newsletter, we have received 125 donations for $6475.00! Here is the break down by decade:
The 30’s: $128
The 40’s: $ 1438
The 50’s: $ 1663
The 60’s$ 2241
The 70’s$755
The 80’s$240
The 90’s$25
The 00’s$0
Others:$120
In Memory of:
Eloise Real Skidmore ’28
Charles Real’61
Jim Adams ’30
Dona Wilcox Hughes ‘55
Thelma Wilcox Randolph ’31
Dona Wilcox Hughes ‘55
Lillian Goodenberger Hickey ‘32
Alan W. Hickey
Francis Real Bailey ’34
Charles Real’61
Beryl Wright ‘38
Loraine Wright Walters ‘38
Cass of 1944
Walter Aman ’45
Ruby Aman ‘44
Neal Fidler ’45
Otis Clasby’51 & Mary Clasby
Max Nelms ’46
Shirley Muffley Wallen’46
Don Rhoad ’46
Shirley Muffley Wallen’46
Eugene Pade
Class of 1948
Janet Hodgkin Bowker ‘48
Rea & Pearl McCarty
Otis Clasby’51 & Mary Clasby
Larry McCarty ’51
Class of 1951
Otis Clasby ’51 & Mary Clasby
Janice Eisenbarth Waddell ’51
Frances McCartney Kasl ‘51
Deceased 1951 Classmates
Charlotte Rowberry Meints ’51
Janice Eisenbarth Waddell ’51
Gloria Larreau Messinger ’51
Class of 1951
Charlotte Rowberry Meints ’51
Janice Eisenbarth Waddell ’51
Frances McCartney Kasl ‘51
Patty Jean Murphy Duesberg ‘55
Jeanne Boyle Oldweiler ‘55
Janet Crook ’57
Keith Crook ‘54
Byron Bruswick ’58
Class of1958
Beverly Search Woolwine ’61
Eleanor Riggs Myrberg ’61
Janet Decker Turley ’61
Frank Nothnagle ’68
Sue Coady Doak’68
Donna Karp Wickizer ’72
Sue Coady Doak ’68
Janice Keeler ’82
Class of 1982
Jackie Tuttle ‘93
Anonymous ‘93
In Honor of:
Cheri Myers Beckenhauer ’64
Lisa Beckenhauer Pomajzl ’97
Gifts Given to “Insuring The Future”
30 Ada Olson Remington; 36 Loren Troester; 38 Edward Harris, Ruth Carlson Besel; 40 Ila Best Stramel; 41 Patricia Powers Evans, Allene Yust Clark; 43 Bernadine Wilcox Harris, Robert Burnham, Gwen Morgan Burnham; 44 Ruby Thurston Aman, Charles Dack; 45 Suzanne Leininger Beithon, Robert Dike, Elva Myers McBride; 46 Donald Felling, Tom Kiplinger,LeRoy Bell; 47 Mary Ann Wagner Wall, William Bunstock, Don Hein, Leslie Cambell; 48 Bruce Bailey, Dorthy Teel Brandt, Joseph Hyde; 49 Jack Winner, Marian Roberts Thomas, Beatte Schlueter Godrey, Charles Wolfe, Lee-Ellen Creasman Matzke, Donald Hill, Mary Lou Weskamp Harned; 50 Dora Mathews Olbert; 51 Eldon Reynolds, Leora Norman Murphy, Rose Metz Garey, Wilda Hanke Willis; 52 Donald Roberts, Marla Sutton Kutz, Alice Hiatt Harpst, Lesta Dinnel Jaggers; 53 Wanda Rowland Tarallo, Lane & Nancy Hubert Miller, , Jack Lytle; 54 Sandra Wells Kaizen,Keith Crook, Jay Schnoor, Louis Ludwig, Ted Perry; 55 JT Harris; 56 Al Cuellar, Ann Jorgensen Maas, Sharon Johnson Schomberg, Shirly Reinek Shafer, Rosa Rodriguez Castle, Margaret Schutte Lockhart, Lloyd Benjamin, Al Cuellar; 57 Elaine Schoor Jewell, Kay Rathbun Oglevie, Larry Rich, Deanna Peters Anderson, Judy McDonald Kelly; 58 Judy Chinn Wortley,Cherrith Hill Wiseman; 59 Mary Sue Hormel Harris, Nancy Carroll Boyer; 60 Ron Schillereff, Ann Braun Drew, Tom& Susan Sautter Cox, Diane Volentine Hayes; 61 Anita McBride Faddis, Janet Decker Turley, Ronald Olberding, Jeannette Bauer Ferguson; 62 Bob Zicafoose, Gretchen Trimble Olberding, John Wagner; 63 Robert Harris, John Scott Gibson; 64 Gary Brown, Diane Reiners Marlatt, Donna Lehl Baum; 65 Harley Heskett, Mary Budig Myers, Steve Andrews, Carla Miller Teel, Mary Tincher Kalb; 66 Barbara Anderson Gaskins, Linda Heskett Witte, Lana Hughes Assyd; 67 Viola Austin Heskett; 68 John Winnepenninkx, Kathy Augustyn Robles; 70 Steve Beideck, Mark Fletcher; 71 Gary Loop; 72 Merrilee Rutledge Sissel; 73 Gary Clatterbuck, Deb Lepper Clatterbuck, Gera Gettman Beideck, Susan Hull Andreoletti, Diane Sekavec Sink, Susan Graff Deaver; 75 Mark Graff; 76 Kevin Jass; 77 Patty Bowker Jass; 78 Jay Harris; 80 Kim Christie Henggeler; 85 Laura Kelley Erskine; 87 Carmen Sawyer Bond,Kenneth Dugger; 88 Chad Baum, Carrie Henry McIntosh;Staff and Faculty: Michael & Peggy Rasmussen, Sharon Bohling,
If you have not yet responded to the Fall newsletter request, please consider doing so now.
Make checks payable to McCook Community Foundation and designate:
Insuring the Future, In Memory of or In Honor of someone. Please include your name,
maiden name, and class year. Mail to: Bison Alumni Newsletter, PO Box 665McCookNE69001
The McCook Educational Foundation has begun taking donations for the improvement of the technological equipment in the classrooms for the McCook Public Schools. We would like to purchase four adjustable flat panel carts, four mimio Pad Overviews, four large TVs (52 inch) and a Class Pack of 24 QClick RF Classroom Response Systems. This would provide one system in each of the four McCook Schools. Cost for each system is $4,800; thus $19,200 is needed. If you are interested in donating, please send to the address at the end of this article. Donations are tax deductible.
We express our condolences to the families of these alumni. If you wish to send condolences, please feel free to contact the class representative of these people. You may read more information about many of these deaths on-line at www.mccookgazette.comRead the rest of this entry »
Thank you to the following people for donations of TIME OR MONEY to this volume of the Newsletter. If names have been inadvertently missed, please send a note to us and we will get it in the next letter.
Do you hear it? Listen closely? It’s a thundering herd of Bison, off in the distance yet – but starting to round up – getting ready to head home to old familiar pastures. The pace is beginning to quicken – for the committees involved and for those of you who are thinking about coming to another “Historic” Bison All School Reunion! We are only ONE newsletter away!! It will be a once-in-a- lifetime event for many.
The steering committee is developing “Bison Fever” and we are hoping you will too! You are going to come, aren’t you? To help you catch the bison fever, check in at mccook2010.com We are so excited about this site. It is our very own website where you can connect with other classmates and friends and it will have updated reunion schedule and activities information. Encourage each other to sign up.
You’ll enjoy sharing memories at the Fox Theatre, cruising down Main Street and dancing “on the bricks”. Don’t forget the amazing classic cars that will be here, along with awesome displays of our classmates’ artwork and books they’ve written. There will be tours of McCook and the schools, a MNB Hot Summer Night Concert in the park, sporting events, a pancake feed and a BBQ before the Grand Finale of Fireworks.
Friends, classmates and neighbors you haven’t seen in years will be here to visit and reminisce. Have you heard yourself saying, “Life is going by way too fast, I wish I could just slow down and enjoy life a little bit!” This is the perfect time to do that – plan to come, stay for several days, slow down and enjoy! The memories you take home from Bison 2010 will bring a smile to your face for years to come.
We will be pulling weeds, sprucing up and getting ready to show you around town as honored guests. Is the house you lived in still standing? How about your old school building? You can’t make a U-Turn at the bottom of Norris any more but we’ll cruise the “new kids” route which still includes Norris Avenue! How fun for all of us, whether from here or from far away, to learn what has happened in the lives of others since our school days!
The detailed schedule, registration and merchandise order forms should be on-line at mccook2010.com. You can print and send in your information – or there is a registration form included in this issue.
It will be the ultimate tailgate block party! Come one, come all – Don’t miss it.
The Bison Alumni Wall of Fame Committee has announced their inductees to the Wall of Fame for 2009. They are Robert V. Beneda ‘58, and Sharon McDonald Morrison ‘55.
During the last year the Bison Alumni Newsletter Staff and Class Representatives have been preparing to transition to a new paid director. Randy Andrews ’73 was hired in early August and he and Cheri Myers Beckenhauer ’64 have been working together since that time. They will continue to work together through the Bison 2010 reunion, at which time Cheri will take on a much smaller volunteer role.
In our spring newsletter, we included an article that told about several MHS grads who were in Washington D.C. for the inauguration ceremonies of President Barack Obama. Now a bit of that historic day is preserved at MHS due to the efforts of one of its alumni members.