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McCook in 1980….Do you remember? It was an era absent of McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other chain restaurants. But, it was the time of Peters’ Drive In, Champion Billiards and Grill, A & W Root Beer, Dairy Queen, and, of course, the legendary Mac’s Drive In. There was no Wal-Mart Supercenter but rather a Gibson’s Discount and Alco. Twenty-eight years of history has seen the community metamorphose into what it is today.

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He moved his family to McCook in 1961 and taught music at both McCook Senior High and McCook Community College until 1974. He put on many musicals, had very large choirs, swing choirs, girls’ glee, boys’ glee; gave voice lessons, taught band, gave instrumental lessons, lead his church choir, lead community chorus and much more during those years. He was loved by many of his students and now looks back with tears in his eyes and remembers the wonderful years in McCook.

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Advances in science, medicine and technology have made the century one of the most exciting in the history of man. And Flora Dutcher of McCook, has lived every moment of the past 100 years to the fullest.

Born in a sod house in Red Willow County on Jan. 26, 1908, Flora has seen changes most of us can only imagine or relive in history books detailing the past. “We’ve seen major advances in education, government, and opportunity,” Flora said recently from the warm and tidy front room of her McCook home. “It has been a very exciting 100 years.”

Editorial note: We are sad to report that Flora died, April 22, 2008 in McCook. Condolences may be sent on-line to www.carpenterbreland.com.

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Fans may come and fans may go, but Elden Fuller is forever faithful to his beloved McCook Bison.

Elden, who is 72, has missed very few games in the past quarter century … and most of those were this year because he was hospitalized with life-threatening heart and kidney problems.

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Maybe you’ve thought about it. Maybe you’ve dreamt about it. Maybe you thought, it will never happen. If you’ve ever played High School Football, you know what we’re talking about. Well, guess what! We’ve got the remedy for those nagging High School Football “DREAMS”. The CC Fair Board has approved and scheduled a “Full-Pads” Alumni Football Game at the 2008 Chase County Fair.

http://www.dirkandsteve.com/

The 2007-2008 school year started out with several “new” items on hand. The first was the arrival of Mr. Dave Schley, who will take over the reins and serve as our new superintendent of schools. The next was the addition of a 14-member dance squad to entertain the crowd at volleyball, football, and basketball games. The graduating class of 2007 donated new banners, which hang in the MHS gym, and a new logo that has been painted at the south double doors of the gym.

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July 2010 – Mark your calendar

The Bison Alumni Newsletter representatives, at their Feb. 24, 2008 meeting, gave the go-ahead to plan another all-class Bison reunion for the weekend of July 4, 2010. The ten classes that have graduated since our Bison 2000 celebration will add to the fun and excitement. We hope to start building the necessary committee leaders after you receive this newsletter. Join the fun and excitement and let the newsletter staff know if you will help and what your plans or desires are.

Thanks, John Hubert, Class of ‘45

After more than three years of concentrated effort, the McCook Economic Development Corp. has received an economic investment award of $1,578,500 for the purchase of the historic Keystone Hotel. The award will fund half of the cost of renovating the Keystone. The other half of the $3.1 million project will come from local bank financing, charitable contributions, tax increment financing and city funding. The news of the grant came from U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson ‘59 and U.S. Congressmen Adrian Smith. The Keystone project will clear the way for growth of 21st Century Systems, the software application firm now headquartered on the McCook Community College campus. As the anchor, 21st CSI will occupy the fourth floor of the Keystone, making room for 30 computer and software technicians. The Entrepreneurship Center will be a full-service support center, offering resources for local businesses. The second floor of the renovated Keystone is designed as executive offices for lease. The first and second floors will be restored to their original uses. A small restaurant and catered events will bring life back to the main floor. One office space on the ground floor is proposed as the new location for the Chamber of Commerce. This will be a return home for the Chamber, which had an office in the southeast corner of the hotel for years.

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There are exciting changes at the Fox Theatre! For those with fond memories of the Fox Theatre, there is good news on the horizon. Thanks to a community effort, the theatre is being restored as a performing arts center.

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The Hormel Family Foundation has announced that its second annual business plan competition will take place on June 6, 2008, at the Hormel Business & Technology Center on the McCook Community College campus.

“The success of last year’s competition, our very first ever, set the stage for what we believe will become a wave of interesting and innovative business development in the greater McCook region,” said project initiator and Hormel Family Foundation board member Ben Hormel Harris.

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The 2008 Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival will be held May 30 & 31. Returning to the festival this year is the nationally-renowned storyteller from Oklahoma City, Barbara McBride-Smith. At her third appearance in McCook, Barbara will demonstrate why she has performed at the National Storytelling Festival seven times. For over thirty years she has been a teacher, a school librarian, a theological seminary instructor, a traveling storyteller and a writer. Her tales deliver these experiences in a powerful, yet heart-warming way.

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“What is ‘Insuring the Future’? When this newsletter started in 1992, the first issue was a whooping four pages, sent to ten classes and around 1,000 newsletters. Now it is at least 16 pages, 70+ classes and 7,500 newsletters. This is a huge project which has necessitated hiring a part-time assistant director. Camy Bradley ‘80 makes over 1,300 address changes a year, works to get the newsletter typed and published and much more. Over 100 volunteers help get the newsletter to you. However, this office position is critical to the continuation of the newsletter into the future. By the year 2010, we must have a paid director for the newsletter (Unless someone would like to volunteer). Please consider giving to “Insuring the Future” to make this need a reality.

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Thanks to the generous donations of many McCook businesses, residents, and MHS alumni members, the fundraising effort to provide new band uniforms for our high school band has met with great success. Eighty-five uniforms have been ordered and will be here in time for next fall’s marching band competitions. The band members, their instructor, and the band boosters are delighted that their band uniforms will now fit well, look good, and help instill a sense of pride in our MHS musicians. Your donations show that you support the arts in our school and realize that participation in activities like band help to build strong, responsible, and respectful young people.

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In our fall newsletter, we carried the story about the death of LaDonna Anderson-Poore, who had been the Family and Consumer Science teacher for McCook Public Schools for the past 25 years. She was well-loved by her students and many of them have already shared their favorite “Miss A” stories with us. Deanna Fox Johnson ’90 would like to gather memories and stories of Donnie from her former students, put them into a book form, and give them to Donnie’s children as a tribute to her from her students.

If you have a fond memory, funny anecdote, or story about Donnie that you would like to share, please mail your memories to Deanna Johnson, 603 West F Street, McCook, NE 69001 or email them to her at scott@mccooknet.com. She would like to have this book finished by the fall, so please mail them to her as soon as possible.

Do you believe it? Who is married? You must be kidding! :)

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Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! !

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.

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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.com

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