Dear Class of 1976,

Lordy! Lordy! I can't believe that it's been 30 years since we were all graduating from Medicine Valley. Where has that time gone, I guess when we get older some wiser, and some slower as myself we tend to forget what has happened in the past 30 years.

Since I'm reaching the 1/2 century mark soon, I finding that remembering things has become more and more difficult and I blame it on CRS. Which I don't think needs any explaination for anyone in the class although you are all younger than me..............Ha!

I'm still working ffor Centennial Park as a cook, seem to have found my nitch there as I love to cook, and cooking for 150 residents and staff, with various diets and tastes have proven to be a challenge that I find rewarding. I've been with them on and off for the past 18 years. But will stay there now until I can no longer work.

I live in a 3-bedroom home which is old but by the work that I and my family have put into it over the years, you would never believe that it is almost 30 years old itself. My dog, Cricket and I live very ccomfortably and enjoy spending time with each other. Not knocking men, but Cricket has four legs and NEVER talks back to me, and is a tremendous comfort when I've had a bad day at work.

My oldest son, Mike and Lisa are living in Hastings, NE and both are working for "Little Caesar's" with 4 dogs and 5 cats and "No Kids" My Daughter, Danielle is married now and living in Rochester, MN where her husband is working at the Mayo Clinic, as some sort of chemist, and she is working at Rochester Ford as head of the Service Dept. and my granddaughter, Cameron is 7 and going into the 2nd grade, and is smart as a whip and yaks all the time.............none stop.

Mom and Dad are doing great, as Mom just recently turned 82 and my Dad is 84 and going strong. They have difficult driving but have managed to go to and from Council Bluffs to meet with Danielle and family and Dad and I still enjoy our father daughter weekends in Lincoln every year to go to the football games. They still live in Curtis, and come to visit me once a week. Since N. P. has a " Wally World" and my Dad had to come for 40 treatments for cancer I saw them everyday then, but they're still able to travel and I'm so thankful for that.

Well, seems that I have rattled on for too long, but would like to take this time to wish everyone in the class of 1976 the best of luck and keep "ROCKIN' on!''

Pam Jurgens and Cricket the dog!

In a phone conversation with Mike on Friday....
Mike spent some time in the military, then did some aircraft mechanics, and taught aircraft mechanics for a few years. He also worked a few years testing cars air pollution systems (or something like that!). He now is taking care of a sr. citizen in her home, is reasonably happy, and likes what he's doing. His newest interest is in agility and training a new schnauzer.

It's too bad the reunion isn't next weekend as Mike will be traveling through the area, going to Boston for a wedding and vacation.

in an e-mail from Cindy earlier this spring:

Cindy Jo (Siminoe) Holness
Cindy still has both kids at home. Scott will graduate next year. He's looking at medical school, but also is interested in teaching. He's very bright so the med. school is a possibility. Chelsea and Cindy might return to the midwest after he graduates.

Jack Eriksen
Jack lives in the area and still works for Verizon. He has been working for the phone company for 26 years now, in California, Washington, and now Oregon. He is single now. Has 3 sons and 4 grandkids. He enjoys riding Harleys when he isn't working.

in an e-mail from Carolyn earlier this spring:

Linda and I celebrated our 20th anniversary since our last reunion. Shea is 13 and working on his Eagle Scout badge when he isn’t fencing. Yeah, believe it or not we have our son in scouts. The groups (cub and boy) have both been great! Most of the people either think the rules are stupid or they just accept us on a individual basis. We have made some great friends thru the scouts so I guess it just depends on where you are at as to how the groups are.

I am still doing the same old thing. I am contemplating going to part time in order to have more time for me and home. Linda took a year sabbatical from work and I kept threatening her that I was getting day for day time too. Not sure yet but it sure looks promising.

My mother still has a house in Ogallala. My father passed away a year ago and mom has been spending quite a bit of time in Loveland CO where one of my sister’s live. My sister has her third child in July ’05 so mom has been helping her out. Actually, it has been great as I think mom would have had a much harder time if she hadn’t had the baby to occupy her time.

Seeing mom is a compelling reason to come back but we usually have a big bash on her birthday, which is in June, and I can’t come back that often.

Sorry, we don't know about Becky....just that she's been busy working on her masters degree and her parents 50th anniversary is this summer

I worked in four different feedlots / farms until '96 then went to work at Chief Industries in G.I. til 2001, worked at a ranch for a year, built log furniture for a while, then to work for Fry Construction. Became a foreman at the first of the year. Been married to Deb since 98.

As the weekend is fast approaching for our 30th reunion and my 30th wedding anniversary in October I sit and wonder about how fast time seems to slip by. It's amazing how somethings never seem to change and then others never stand still long enough to be the same for any length of time. It's a crazy life but has been a great one!

Probably the highlight of my life is my two sons. Every stage has been fun and exciting with them and we will be starting a new chapter in the next couple of weeks as we take the oldest son Joel to UNL for his first year of college. I know I'll be able to handle it too as most of you have already been there done that, but I'm sure a few tears are going to be rolling on the drive home. He's not for sure what he'll be pursuing at this time but is thinking of journalism, history, or chemical engineering. Hope he gets it figured out. Jace will be entering his Junior year and is still a sports nut playing football, basketball, and soccer. He gave up baseball two summers ago as he thought he needed time off but then all of the high school coaches want them concentrating on their sport in the summer so he's actually busier over the summer playing all 3 sports at once. He is taking a full schedule the next two years in HS as he is planning at this time to go into sports medicine. He knows his work will be cut out for him but says he's up to the challenge.

Terry is still auctioneering car and livestock auctions, being able to sell the sale and then walking out leaving the headaches behind. He leaves on Monday mornings to fly to Chicago for a sale on Tuesday and then is in Denver on Wednesday and Thursday coming home that evening. During the busy livestock season from fall to spring he does livestock sales at Lexington and Erickson on Friday and Saturday so doesn't have much time off until summer rolls around. He's basically home on Sunday getting ready to go again on Monday.

I'm still running the software business. We sell software for wholesale vehicle pricing guides for handheld computers and phone devices. All of our business is done over the phone and internet dealing mostly with car dealers and wholesale buyers. The business was out of the home until May of 2004 when we rented an office downtown. Three months earlier I had hired a friend to help out part time since I couldn't keep up with the bookwork. Her part time job turned into full time as we bought one of the partners of the business out and closed the office in Montana. We took over their duties, which was the converting of the software, taking care of software development and testing, getting to know the devices, and all of the sales and tech support calls. Some days the phones are so busy that we can't even keep up with the voice mail. So much for a little bit of bookkeeping that I started out doing in 2000. Besides the bookwork we also have advertising, conventions to get ready for and the website needs to be updated again. I've put in a lot of late nights and long hours at the office and we are getting to the point where we need another person. We attend a couple of conventions a year. Terry has gone to some earlier ones and I've gone to the last couple. Joel has gone to four and Jace has made one. It was fun having them travel with us. Trying to keep up with the business, running the home and keeping up with the boys life has kept me super busy. The volunteering came to a halt and teaching Sunday School ended when Jace finished the 8th grade. I still play handbells for the church choir which I really enjoy. Our group has been together for sometime and we always joke that we'll have to be kicked out before we'll quit.

My folks are doing well and are still pretty busy. They still live in Curtis and seem to keep the road hot coming and going. My sons are their youngest grandchildren so Jace will keep them busy the next couple of years for sporting events. They now have 3 great-grandchildren and they are starting to get involved in activities so there will always be somewhere for them to go. Mom helps out at the office coming up to do some bookwork when it fits into her schedule. Can't seem to get her interested in the sales or tech support calls though! My brother is still teaching in Hayes Center and talks of retirement from teaching in a couple of years. He married Sandi Martens who is a lab technician in McCook and they have 3 children. Samantha has a baby daughter and will be doing substitute teaching in Omaha this year. Vanessa is living in Texas and will also be teaching. Her husband is currently overseas for his 3rd tour and will be home in December. Prayers for him please. Jarod is in Omaha going to Grace college and playing basketball. He is a Sr this year but I don't know of his future plans. Sister Jean is still in McCook and is married to Ron Perkins. She enjoys her work at a bank and Ron does livestock order buying. Creighton her oldest lives in North Platte and works for the railroad. He married his high school sweetheart and they have a daughter (6) and son (3). Layne graduated from Wayne State this past spring and is now living and working at Scheels in Lincoln.

I'm really excited to be seeing everyone this weekend. It's been really fun reading everyone's updates and talking to some classmates on the phone. I wish everyone could make it but I understand that life sometimes has other plans. We should set a date this weekend and make 100% attendance a goal for our 35th! We are really fortunate that all of our class members are still with us and I don't know if any other class gets together as much as we do. God Bless everyone. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

It is hard to believe it's been 30 years! We're looking forward to seeing those that can come this weekend. We've been married for 29 years and still live in Grand Island where we've been since building our house in 1981. Robert is at Grand Island Northwest teaching in the area of Industrial Technology and coaching. I'm teaching special education at Cedar Hollow which is a feeder school of GINW. I guess we'll be lifelong teachers looking forward to retirement. Our oldest, Chris(24), is in his 3rd year of optomety school at Indiana University. He is engaged to be married 7-7-07 to Rachel Simpson from Gretna. Kyle(21) is a senior at Doane getting a degree in Biology and going on to optometry school next year. Kaycie(17) is a senior at Northwest and is really looking forward to her last year of high school. She has lots of interests and decisions to make on where she'll be going to school. Everyone has been home this summer so we've had some 'real' family bonding. It's been fun, but I think we'll all be ready to get back into the schoolyear routine. We've gotten to do lots of camping and vacationing together.

Robert's Dad and wife Joan live at Johnson Lake and are enjoying their retirement years. His olderst brother Dan(1974) and wife Melanie live in Eustis. Dan is Frontier County Sheriff and Melanie is post master in Arapaho. THey have three children: Shawn, Ashley, and Jerad. Sam(1978) lives in Lincoln with his son Sloan. Scott(1986)lives with his wife Amy in Denver. My Mom and Dad still live in Curtis and farm. They still try to keep me updated on Curtis news. My brother Billy and his wife Kris live west of Curtis where my Grandpa and Grandma Cole lived. They have two children: Lacy and Clint. They try to keep us informed on life at Medicine Valley.

I don't have any car news to share or old football stories......But my mom still drives my Ford Falcon to work every day....... When Robert married me he didn't want that car!? Hmmmmmmm......

Sorry I'm so late getting around to this. It is the story of my life.

I have been working part time, more and more, with the THC Foundation in Portland, Oregon. I am on the board of Directors with a freind of mine and his mother.

We have offices in Portland, Bellevue/Seattle, Denver, and Honolulu. We see and qualify patients for medical marijuana. We also have remote clinics at Ashland/Medford, Oregon, Bend, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington. We are currently booking for a remote clinic in Grand Junction, Colorado.

We work with four different doctors who have the combined qualifications to see patients in all the above states plus California. Our Colorado Doctor is working on her Montana credentials so that we can open an office in Montana in the next year hopefully.

I am an assistant to the director in the form of Cleark at the away from Portland clinics, handyman, driver/delivery person, logistical coordinator, and fellow medicine quality assurance checker. Gardener, Hemp Stalk Portland 2006 Sat/Sun Sept. 9/10 waterfront park downtown Portland, special events coordinator, vendor coordinator, map plotter, et al.

I travel back to Nebraska to see the folks and do my brother and sister in law's bathroom remodel about 4 to 6 times a year. I still do a little scrap metal back there when I am around, and work on cleaning up my Maywood Property which has been recently surveyed thanks to the Edwards Land Survey company.

I am still producing the TV monthly series Infotainment which I cohost and take live calls for over 13 years in Portland Metro cable system. I have recently started up a new monthly series called, The Dr.'s Dillemma, hosted by Dr. Orvald. A 90 live call in TV show in which viewers can ask the Dr. a question. Dr. Orvald is an accomplished heart surgeon who has done over 3000 heart procedures from Suadi Arabia, to Iran, to China, California, and Washington.

Dr. Orvald currently lives in Yakima, Washington where he moved to from California back in the 60's to help set up and get the Heart program going there. He currently has come out of retirement to help the THC Foundation qualify medical marijuana patients in the states of Washington, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and soon to be credentialed in Colorado.

He walked to school as an undergrad at Princeton with Einstien. He attended flowers for Mrs. Oppenhiemer's flower garden to work his way through school. He beat Donald Rumsfield in a basketball match, but lost to him in a wrestling match. He considers Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey a fellow basketball collegue and friend. Dr. Orvald is a heavy hitting awesom 72 year old guy who will still work you under the table.

I am still trying to make it back for the weekend. I have been working on my new old car, a 94 nissan sentra and after changing the oil tomorrow, it should be ready to make the trip from Portland. I hope to leave Thursday afternoon or evening for North Platte. If I do not make it, you all have a good time. But I haven't given up yet.

I wish everyone a safe trip and have lots of fun.

Best wishes,

Timothy Herman

Sorry about changing my e-mail but had to upgrade for business purposes, forgot to notify anyone. Still in the same old hole I was 5 years ago although I have been through a couple bosses here at the Park. First owners sold it to a couple in Denver, they got divorced and she didn't like my people skills. I was not nice enough it seemed. She canned me and the place went to hell again. So then she had to sell it to an elderly couple from Denver. They were told I was a real trouble maker by the old owner so he came right over and asked if I was an asshole. I said yep, and proud of it. He hired me on the spot. Got everything I had before and more. Loves my people skills. I finally get to be the one thing that I excel at. My parents told me I could be whatever I wanted, so I became an asshole. Damned if it didn't pay off!! Still single. Still chasing the young ones since the one I really want doesn't believe me, or couldn't even if she did. That's alright, dreaming keeps you young. I should be almost 28 by now. Or at least that’s what I try to convince 'em of. Be surprised how often it doesn’t work. But when it does work, HANG ON!!!!!!!!!. Well that's all you get out of me this time. You can thank Judy for this much. So long for now.

Ike Hasenauer
Ike says he'll be working and probably won't be able to attend the reunion but says to tell everyone there Hi!. He is still living in Cheyenne where he's been since January 1977 saying that Cheyenne was around 25,000 then and has been booming since and the population is now around 100,000. In his last update he mentioned that he had been suffering from blood poisoning due to a severe sheet metal cut. He had to close his business and eventually after several years his health returned. During this time he was caring for a lady which covered a span of 23 years. She passed away within the last 2-3 years leaving Ike some rentals that she had owned. Also during this time Ike went back to school and earned his Associates degree in Business there at Cheyenne. For the last 5 years he has been working with the Bureau of Land Management in the Records Department. He's in the department that takes care of all the oil, gas, and coal leases for Wyoming and Nebraska. He also used to take care of mapping, but things have grown so much that a different department now takes care of that. The Cheyenne office is the 3rd largest BLM office in the nation so it is huge, very busy, interesting and historical. The $ figures that the office is responsible for is mind boggling. Some travel to Phoenix and Washington DC is involved. Ike has 3 children all still living in the Cheyenne area. Jared is 27 and married with 2 boys and a girl. Justin is 25 and married with a daughter. His daughter Amber got married in April.

Deb Fritsche
Deb will be out of town the weekend of the reunion so she'll not be able to make it. She says to tell everyone Hi! and she wishes that she was here since it's been awhile since she's been to a reunion. Deb is "Doing just pretty good . . . . actually damn good!" She is still working the night shift at Wal-Mart in McCook going on her 9th year now. Reporting on her boys Nathan lives in Lincoln with wife Wendy. Shawn & Monica are moving to Grant where Shawn will be the PE Instructor for the upper and lower classes and will be the assistant boys basketball coach with the possibility of head coach the next year. They have a 1 1/2 month old daughter named Libby. Adam is living in Curtis with his wife Sarah and they have a 2 year old boy named Allan and a nine month girl named Heather. Deb's folks are doing well. Her dad Paul had a tough period awhile back but is doing better now. Her brothers Dennis, Charles, Mark, and Kevin are still living in the area with their families. Sister Karen was the only one to move away to Colorado and is also doing fine. Deb hopes to make the next reunion.

Rita Herron
Rita's folks are having a 50th wedding anniversary celebration the weekend of the reunion so she'll not be able to join in. She says that they are planning on 48 of her family to be there this weekend so it'll be a fun busy time. Her folks still live by the lake and are doing fine. She says to tell everyone Hi! and maybe she can make the next reunion as she's never been to one. Rita quit her job at the hospital to stay at home with her daughter Alissa. When she got tired of looking at the walls at home 4 years ago she decided to go back to work and works in the fabric department at Wal-Mart which she really enjoys as she does a lot of quilting. Alissa graduated from high school this spring and received a scholarship to go to McCook so Rita will get to enjoy 2 more years of having her daughter around. She says that she might not look a lot like mom but she sure acts like her! Lawrence and Rita celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this past March. Congratulations Rita!

Albert Hagemann - 308-340-3261 - cell phone
Albert is involved with a Relay for Life the weekend of the reunion with his girlfriend Sheila Snyder of McCook, so he will not be able to attend. We can see that Albert has his priorities set straight here and we'd better not interfere! I'm sure we'll all miss his humor and quick come backs though. He wants to let everyone know that he's sorry he can't come, to tell everyone Hi, and that he'll try to make the next one. Albert moved back to Culbertson from Auburn to spend more time with family. He is now self-employed in the construction business. In August he'll will be heading to Vegas to compete in an APA Pool Tournament. You have to work your way there by winning tournaments and will be competing against 257 teams at the Riviara (sp?). It is a 6 day paid trip so Albert is anticipating a good time . . . . hmmm. He's been competing for 3 years now and says "you can just call me a hustler - pool or women!" He's sorry that he didn't get his update done saying that he was just as prompt with that as he was with his homework. He said that he should've gotten ahold of Deb and copied hers!"

Well I guess I am a little slow at getting my update on the website. I have an animal science intern from Minnesota working here this summer to help me. She is a true city girl and I have had to teach her everything. My computer died the week of June 19th and I just got back online the 12th of July.

My life has been a real roller coaster ride since we last met five years ago at our reunion. I still work on the ranch and on the morning of November 10, 2003 (the day before my 45th birthday) I woke up to find that my left leg was swollen to twice the size of the right and a long story short, I was laid up for two months, flat on my back, with a blood clot. My Dad stepped in at age 78 to do the day to day work of the ranch and he was amazed how easy I had things set up. In Feb of 2004 my son Brett was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The doctor in Hastings removed the affected testicle and Brett's testing has been well since then. I have been pursuing the holistic medicine route to attain better health. I doctor in North Platte with a gal that grew up just 20 miles from our ranch. She is a chiropractor and also does holistic medicine. She has been my life saver.

Our lives were turned upside down on August 8, 2005. Brett and his grandpa were finally going to make their dream trip up to Sturgis to see all the activities. They hauled their motorcycles to Custer, South Dakota and only 20 minutes into the ride Dad missed a sharp corner on his motorcycle and only lived a couple of hours. Brett has had a very hard time dealing with all those events as has the whole family. I hope someday that Brett can realize that God chose him to be the special person that was chosen to escort Dad to the door from this life to the next. Like a great nephew said "not too many 80 year olds that can ride their Harley's into heaven" Dad was riding a Honda but the other sounds better.

Brett (24) is an adjunct professor at Central Community College in Hastings for his third year. He teaches building and construction technology and loves his job, but he has mentioned that he maybe looking for a true construction job after the '06-'07 school year. He has expressed his interest to someday move back to help with the ranch but I don't see that happening until he finds a wife, since he knows the pickings are slim in the Sandhills.

I am still single and have only been married for 5 years if I add up both marriages. I have truly accepted the single life and have a wealth of family and friends. I am not sure how many of you know my three older sisters but will update you on them.

The oldest, Susan is married to her second husband, Jens after her first died of cancer. She has eight step children. My sister, Jan is married to Benj Simpson and they live on one of the other ranches (Whitman, NE) that Mom has. She has two children, Amy (Steve) Nielson with grandkids, Triston (9) and Sydney (6) who live on the same ranch and Jason who lives in Kearney and works for the city. My sister, Wendy lives on the other ranch (Bingham, NE) of Mom's with her husband, Kevin Kostman. They have two kids Cody (Kelly) with kids River (step child), Liam and Max. They live in Lincoln and Cody works for Enterprise rental car. Kryn lives in Lincoln and works for an insurance company. Last but not least, Mom lives close by in a trailer house and we are trying to raise a garden but it does not hold a candle to Dad's talent to grow things.

Sure seems like the past five years has gone by fast! One of the major changes in our lives is the "empty nest syndrome". With both boys in college, we now need to get a life! Derek will graduate from UNL on August 12(just two weeks away) with his Bachelors Degree in Business Aministration. He was one of 26 Chancelors Scholars from the graduating class of 2006 at UNL. We are really proud of him! He plans on taking a year off from the studies (hopefully get a job) and then going on to law school somewhere. His dream job is to work for a major league baseball organization, so if anyone has any connections in that area, please let us hear from you! Dustin graduated from high school in May 2005 and has completed his first year at UNL. One of the highlights of his Sr. year was his basketball team making it to state. It was alot of fun. He really liked the college life, though he may need to study a bit harder. He is living off campus this year with three of his buddies. I hope someone knows how to cook something other than scrambled eggs! We have enjoyed having him home for the summer. Both boys have steady girlfriends and we enjoy having them around also.

Our families are scattered all over. Terry's brother, Randy and his wife Kelly (Vreeland) live near Amherst. They have two sons, Ryan and Josh. Sister Tina and her husband, Steve, and daughters Megan, Natalie and Adrian live by Osmond and farm. Baby brother, Darren and his wife, Danielle, live in Beresford, SD with their kids Haley, Jaden and Peyton. On the Schultz side of the family tree-Big sister Terri and her husband, Sid, live in South Sioux City with their kids Jessica and Reese. Big brother Rod and his wife Jeani are in Indianapolis with Justin, Daniel and Brooke. We got to enjoy Brooke the past four years as she came to Hastings College, graduating in May. Sister Barb and her husband Mark Vreeland live in Keller, Texas. Their kids, Lisa and Sean, live in that area also. Little brother Mike lives in Darmstadt, Germany with his wife Adelheid and sons Noah and Christian. My mom went to Germany in April to spend a few weeks with them. And last, but not least, baby sister Patti and her husband Rik Weiss, live in Omaha with their sons, Carson and Nolan. My dad passed away in November of 2004 and left a big void in our family. His grandkids loved him teasing and playing jokes on them. My mom still lives in Curtis and seems to be on the go all the time. So glad her health allows her to do that! That's all the updating I have to share, but Terry wants to add a few lines now!

First of all I wanted to send a shout back to Vic. The Fast Firebird didn't come along until after high school, that car is the only brand new car we ever bought. But I know your T-Top Trans Am was way quicker than my little 301 powered Formula. Get us your E-mail address and we'll tell more lies to each other and I'll tell you about my 66 Plymouth Satellite I raced with brother Randy at Kearney. I sold the 66 quite a few years back to buy a motorhome to take the family to the lake. Priorities change. Sold the boat and motorhome a few years ago because we were traveling all summer with the boys baseball teams anyway. But I notice the racing trophies seem dull compared to the memories of both boys hitting home runs and coming up into the stands to give dad the home run balls for safe keeping. Now I'd like to see as many of you classmates as possible. If anybody is shying off because you don't look as good as 1976 well come join the club, I quit smoking 12/31/04 and blossomed to over 200lbs so with my thinning hair you won't look bad at all to me. So come on up and tell stories with the rest of us.

It is fun to read all the updates and see where life has taken us all since 1976. I am feeling a little behind the crowd as I still have kids in school and no grandkids. I have been married to Mike 22 years in August. We still live in Omaha since 1984 when I started my OB-GYN residency. Lots of changes at the hospitals in Omaha so I am currently employed as a physician by the Methodist Health System and Mike works for the competitor --Alegent. I still get to deliver babies at those crazy hours but Mike does all the information technology for the Alegent so he no longer does weekends and call. That has been nice with 2 teenage girls and all of their activities. I currently serve as the Department Chair for the OB/PEDS section which I have decided that it is easier to baby sit your own kids than a group of physicians.(SMILE). We are planning a new Women's Hospital to open in 2009 so lots of meetings with that. Last year I celebrated 10 years of survivorship from breast cancer. The girls were only 5 and 8 when I was diagnosed and I always prayed I would see them graduate. I am halfway there.

Our daughters Jill(19) and Ashley(16) keep us busy. Jill graduated at the top of her class last May and had a number of honors which we were proud of. She was the top female Math Student at the UNL Math Day. Last summer she left in June for the Air Force Academy and made it through the boot camp and the 1st semester. It is a beautiful campus if you are ever in Colorado Springs to visit. Things got pretty rough the 2nd semester and she decided to leave the academy. A lot of what they say goes on, really does and the academics were a joke. Someone taught me you are only as happy as your saddest child and I now know that to be true. She has had to regroup and will start at UNL this fall and major in Math and biochem. Ashley is a Junior this year and is the athlete in the family. She went to state in diving and hurdles in track. She is quite the ballerina as well does all the toe, tap and ballet.

Our family still consists of Dad who had a stroke 3 years ago and is at Linden Court Nursing Home in North Platte. He wiped out his speech and the whole right side but his mind is still there. Mom lives in a cute apartment in North Platte and has had some health issues with her heart and gets tuned up every now and then. Dad enjoys a car ride to Wellfleet when we come out and Mom loves all her grandkids.

Mark lives in Maywood with his 2nd wife Chris and he works for UP. Jenny from his 1st marriage was killed in a crazy accident in Colorado. Amanda is finishing up nursing school in North Platte. David lives on the place my grandfather owned and is married to Sherry. Their oldest Dustin finished the Univ. of Wyoming and works in banking in Denver. Heather finished at Fort Hayes and moved back to North Platte and works for an attorney. Jason works on the railroad. Diana lives in Gretna with Paul. He is a CPA and she teaches at the high school in special ed. Their oldest Marcus was the quarterback at UNK and graduated and works in Omaha at a CPA firm. Matthew is at UNO and plays football there. Kristen is a Sophomore at Gretna and is active in sports. Chris moved to California after marrying Cinda Herren. They divorced and is remarried to Brenda and have 2 daughters Amelia and Scout. He has his law degree and teaches at Cal Poly and is now Assistant Dean. So that is our family update.

I also have a bone to pick with Ron Knox for daring me to throw the paper punch on the desk and hitting Miss Hockley. Our trip to Mr. Vanderbeek's was probably my turn around. I do feel bad the day we sent the substitute home from Science class and how Mrs. Cromer really let us have it the next day.

I am looking forward to seeing you at the reunion and enjoy hearing from those who can't make it.

God Bless Susan

I currently live in McCook, Nebraska, but will probabbly be relocating in the next few months to Hastings, Nebraska. The mental health clinic I have been working for is phasing out operation in September and since it is affiliated with Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital I will try and take a transfer to an office over there. Anyone looking to buy a small home in McCook, I have one for sale at 301 East 6th Street. It will be a dramatic change for me to move since I have lived in McCook 13 years now. It was nice to live in McCook while mother was alive, but life is ever changing and nothing is holding me back from moving on. Hopefully when I move it will be a smooth transition as we all know at our ages STRESS IS NOT GOOD!!

After mother passed away last June I began to tease my older sisters about being matriarchs of our family now. Charlene is the oldest and was in the last graduating class from the old high school/tech school. She lives in Hastings and her sons are grown and gone, her daughter lives with them and goes to college in Hastings. Emily who was the first graduating class from Medicine Valley is the second oldest and lives in Ord, Nebraska. Her grown daughters have three girls between them, one a set of twins. Then that leaves us "little kids" as my older sisters always called us which are: Don who graduated in 1974 and lives in Krum, Texas. He has been there a very long time and doesn't plan to ever leave Texas. He has three grown sons, a grandson and a granddaughter in his family unit. Chris who graduated in 1978 lives in York with his second wife, Denise. Chris has a son, twin daughters and now has a granddaughter as well. Then the youngest is Lori, who graduated in 1981 and she lives near North Platte with her husband Tom Tobiasson.

So what more can I say about my life, living in Nebraska is where I have always wanted to be, things don't always turn out the way we plan, and getting older is a real pain in the butt. Here's hoping that I see some of you at the 30th reunion, if not, email me at prairiegal6@yahoo.com and let's get reacquainted via the Internet or call me on my cell at 350-0592.

Take care everyone, Jan (Janice)

I am living in Aloha, Oregon. I am now single after nearly 30years. I work for Verizon as a dispatcher, which can be sort of a crazy hectic job, but overall, I like it and am really happy to be working here. My youngest son, Joe (21)decided not to go back to college this year. He moved in with me and has a job working in the area. My middle son Jacob (24) lives in the area and has a family of his own. He works doing construction and his children are Destiny (5) & Jordan (4). The oldest of my 3 sons is Jeremiah(29). He also lives in the area and has been a warehouse manager for the past 9 or so years. His kids are Jeremiah (7) & Grace (4). That makes 4 grandkids all living within 2 miles of Grandma's house. I also have 2 wonderful daughter-in-laws, Jessica and Deidra. I am happy to say we are all close and everyone is doing well. I am pretty happy living in Oregon, but always remember where I came from. I am looking forward to coming home if only for a short time!

After graduating from high school I worked for the railroad for 18 years and then went back to college to get my bachelors degree in electronic engineering. I graduated from college around 1993 I guess. I am now working for Ice-O-Matic in Denver as a Computer Network/Systems Engineer. The company I work for is an ice machine manufacturer.

My wife Shelly works for a software company in their QA department in Boulder, we have been married for the last 7 years. I have a 15 year old step son who is currently in 10th grade. We have lived in Lafayette, Colorado for the past 7 years. This is the first year I’ve been able to make it to the reunion since now it has been scheduled after my family reunion that is always the last weekend in July. My parents still live in Curtis and we go back there often to visit. My sister Cindy lives in Crete NE and has 3 kids. The youngest, Matt, just graduated from high school and is planning to attend college at Doane in the fall. The middle one Tim currently lives in Crete and is getting married in October of this year. The oldest Nicole moved out here by me in Denver and is a recreation coordinator for the City of Englewood.

We like to travel and over the past few years have vacationed in Germany, Alaska, Hawaii and the British Virgin Islands.

I have a simple web page that has most of our travel photos in the photo section @ www.rongk.com
Ron's Webpage

Vic sorry that I messed you up in football, should’ve stayed out of the way, hahaha. I am also paying for the rough and tough times that we had in HS so don’t feel left out buddy.

I will attach a photo of my family that was taken around Christmas last year

Scott and I have been married 29 years, live on a farm north of Shelton, NE in a house that we moved in, gutted it out and rebuilt it to look old (inside) with old woodwork (we like antiques). Scott farms corn and soybeans and is serving his 2nd term on the school board.

We have two grown children, Anna (24) got married June 2004 to Brandon Detlefsen, both graduating from Wayne State College in 2004, and are currently living and teaching in Leigh NE (about 30 miles north of Columbus). Anna teaches all the Science classes and Drivers Ed in the summer. Brandon teaches the Business classes, the Tech Coordinator, and the Girls Head Basketball Coach. Both are working on their Masters. Neil (22) just graduated from UNL-East Campus in Agronomy and is back home helping Scott farm and work at Camp COMECA as a program assistant. He wants to get a full time job in the Camping/Church Camp setting. So Scott and I are close to having the house only to ourselves!

My passion has always been in working at my church as a teacher/youth director, I became a Campus Ministry Director at UNK in the fall of 2002. (Neil was just starting college) so it was perfect timing for me. We have a very active ministry and I am on the road a lot on the weekends and spend many late nights on campus (3-4 nights a week past midnight). I was required to go to school and I am close to getting an associates degree. Full time employment, juggling family/farm life, and school has made it a little crazy around here for the past three years. I didn't like going to classes in high school, and I have not enjoyed college any better. But the crazy thing is that I am considering entering into the ministry. Pray for me!

Mike is single and lives in Wheat Ridge, CO, and I saw him in May. He takes care of an elderly woman in her home. Tom is married and has 2 daughters (16 and 8) and lives in Westminster CO. My dad and his wife are retired and live in Valley Springs, CA. My mom just moved back to Denver after the death of her husband, from Myrtle Beach SC. It is nice to have her a little closer.

It has been wonderful and uplifting in hearing what each of you have been doing and what is currently happening in your lives. We are so blessed we were given such different journeys for our lives and yet we are all drawn to our Curtis roots and the wonderful memories of our high school years and the many reunion oportunities we have been had. You are all in my thoughts! Laura

I wish I was closer and wasn't so tied down at work. But I doubt that I'll be able to make the reunion.

I'm still driving a semi in central California. I've been out here since 1981 and miss certain things about Nebraska. Mostly the wide open spaces.

I'm still married (since 1996). My brothers: Randy (45) is in Colorado, near Aspen. He's a carpenter and has 2 kids. Rick (43) is a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force, he's in Florida and has 3 kids. He's moving to Langley AFB, Virginia, soon. Kevin (39) is married, has 3 kids, lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a pilot for a 50 passenger jet. My parents sold the lumber yard about 4 years ago and spend winters in Arizona.

Vic says "Hello" to Terry Peterson and wants to know what he did with his "Fast Firebird" he had in high school?

He also wants to let Ron Knox know that he still has a bad back and broken arm from getting hit by him in football! Vic says "Hi" to everyone and wishes he could be here.

Well I guess I'm still married to Jim....29 years. I am still working at Cass County Electric as a accounting processor....going on 14 years. We still live in Kindred, ND at the same old house. Our son just bought his first house and is engaged to get married in 2007....no date has been set yet. He works as a Engineer at Intregity Windows and Doors in Fargo, ND. Jesi our daughter just graduated from UND as a RN-nurse and is planning on moving to Lodi, CA in August. Jim and I still enjoy fishing,camping, golfing and hunting. I do a lot of quilting. My dad passed away in January, so trying to help mom when ever I can. Thats all we do up here is work, play and sleep.

THERE IS NOTHING TO REPORT FOR I LIVE IN CURTIS AND NOTHING EVER CHANGES

Life is good in Kansas, We still live on the farm three miles north of Herndon and enjoying running after the boys and all their activities. Farming hasn't been to exciting with the lack of rain. OUCH !!

I am teaching at USD#105, in Atwood,Kansas(20+ miles away) since Herndon school closed three years ago. This year I will be teaching 5th grade. I can't believe that I have been at this 25 years. I also enjoy my flower garden and scrap-booking.

Our oldest son Nathanial graduated from NCKTC (Beloit.KS) in May in Auto Collision Repair and works in Manhattan, KS. Wesley is a Senior and can't wait to graduate in 2007, he is active in sports football, basketball and track. He has done very well in track attending state in the 4 x 800. Tyler is a 8th grader and busy with sports also. He has his drivers permit and wants to drive all the time (pray for me)

My parents are still living on the farm at Curtis. They are both doing well and working - Mom works at the school as a cook and Dad enjoys his horses and also helps keep an eye on Bud Lashley.

Terry and Kim still live in Tenn.(Goodlettsville) Terry has a Auto detailing business and Kim is a nurse at a doc. office. They have three children and two grandsons. Kira and Josh are married and Kinsley will be attending college this fall.

Isn't amazing that it has been 30 years... How has this happened? Enjoy the reunion and if you get to Kansas -- stop in.

Lorri

Dear Classmates

Can 30 years really have come and gone already? For some reason I just don't feel all that different than I remember feeling when we graduated in "76". My family pictures and the number of candles on my birthday cakes however all confirm that the time has truly passed. Our oldest daughter Akasha graduated from high school this past June, and will start Community College in the fall. Our second girl Dionna will be a sophomore in High School, and our youngest Jared will be starting seventh grade. Parenting teens requires an entirely different kind of parenting than parenting babies and toddlers did. Part of me preferred my role when they were younger, but. I am enjoying watching who each of our children is becoming, what they like and dislike and learning what is really important to them.

I started substitute teaching this last school year, and I will tell you that the classroom where I student taught in Lincoln Neb. in 1980, is nothing like then classrooms I've taught in in Antioch, CA in 2005 & 2006. Things we took for granted, common courtesy, appropriate language and dress, none of these are givens anymore. In the high school and middle school where my children attend and I teach, many aspire to be "rappers" and there are major rap and gang influences on both dress and speech. Teaching has been a positive for our family, but it has been hard as well, for never having been in the classrooms, we had been able to feel okay about our kids being in the public schools. After having been in the classroom, I now know, the reality of the situation I just cannot do anything about it!

Our lives are pretty routine. Matt still works at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and enjoys his job as an Engineering Project Manager. We celebrated our 20th Anniversary this last January, and they have been very good years! We usually make two trips a year, one to TN in July to visit Matt's parents and oldest sister and her family, and then to WA in December to gather with my family for Christmas. Our children are very involved in church youth groups, and I lead a women's bible study that starts in the fall and ends when school gets out.

I am anxious to read what all is happening in each of your lives. I am sorry that I will not be able to join you to catch up on all your news in person. It is my hope that the next 30 years will be happy, full and satisfying ones for each of you !

My sister Jennel and her husband live in Junction City, OR. They have three girls 15, 13 and 11. Ted is a Conservative Baptist pastor there. Their lives are very busy, and Jennel substitute teaches. My sister Bonnie lives just across the WA border from Portland. She and her husband Dennis have one little girl named Karris. I have a youngest sister that was born after we graduated, her name is Charity. She and her husband live in WA up close to the Canadian border in Bellingham with their two little girls. My parents are between Seattle and Tacoma. They still spend the summers in Nebraska helping my cousin Jerry farm the farm we were farming when I was in high school there. I haven't gotten to go back to the farm since they started going back, but I was able to visit 13 years ago when I was pregnant with Jared. I wish it were a bit easier to fly in and out of the southwestern corner of the state.

All my best Cindy Cook Mlekush

Wow! 30 years out of high school! I remember at one of the Alumni dances while we were in school thinking "what are those old people doing here?" They were probably ONLY 30 years old!

Since our 25th reunion, the changes in my life:

I am a Grandma!! My son, Brian (26) is the proud father of two. Ella Renee Brandenburger was born April 1, 2003 and Kaden Brian Brandenburger was born July 11, 2004. Their mother is Lisa Mezzacappa and they have a half brother, D'Angelo. Brian and Lisa purchased a new house in a nice housing division north of the interstate on north 16th Street in Lincoln last February. Brian graduated from the University of Nebraska-Omaha last August with two majors, Criminal Justice and Psychology. He is working for Novartis there in Lincoln. I get a kick out of telling people that my son is a drug manufacturer. He was working for the Diagnostics and Evaluation Center as a corporal officer, but had enough of dealing with the prison life. His new job is a lot less stressful.

My other son, Jason (24) lives in Lincoln. He works for a landscaping company, C.I.P. Investments. The perk he enjoys most from his job is being able to golf at Wilderness Ridge for free! They take care of the landscaping in the development surrounding the golf course. Although I'm not much of a golfer, I may have to go with him sometime just for the fun of it. He has no serious relationship, but I'm told that he has met someone and they seem to hit it off pretty well. We'll see what happens.

On a sad note, Dennis and I are in the process of a divorce. I am still close to his one daughter, DanYel and husband Trevor and still consider Quinten (10), Casandra (6), Colton (3) and Noah (1) my grand children. They just live up the street from me here in Harvard.

I still work for Gottsch Enterprises in Hastings. Three years ago I was promoted to Office Manager and in January of this year to Outside Cattle Accounting Manager. I thoroughly enjoy my work. It's basically cost accounting for the cattle we have out at our three ranches, back grounding yards and on grass. I work with wonderful, caring people who like to kick back and have a good time once in awhile. Yep, still like to have a few beers now and then.

My Mom, Marguerite Hansen left this life May 5, 2004. It meant so much to her when we stopped on our wagon ride through Curtis on our 25th reunion so she could come out and see all of you that were there. Going "home" isn't the same anymore.

My sister's husband Judd Lenz still lives out on the farm with Ronnie. He enjoys going to Seward to visit James (Trish) and his family and on over to Staplehurst to visit Vickie (Tim) Hegeholz and her family. Randy lives in Curtis now again and is a Grandpa too.

My brother, Thorval and wife Artis Hansen live north of Burwell on his dream ranch. They miss being close to their kids though, Sherri (Bruce) Dodson and Jodi (Alex) Sonneman in North Platte and John (Tammy) Hansen in Brady.

My brother, Harley and wife Kathy Hansen still farm and live north of Stockville. Their daughter Kim (Rob) Franzen is in Lincoln and son Wes is in the Houston, Texas area.

My brother, Marvin and wife Bea are in the process of selling their plumbing business in Oberlin, Kansas so they can move to North Platte to retire. My siblings are all over 65 now. I remember thinking that was old too…but it's getting younger everyday! His oldest son Mark (Cammie) is in Castle Rock, Colorado and youngest son Michael (Stacy) are in North Platte.

What will the changes be in the next 5 years? Only our good Lord knows. We are so blessed to have our health and as far as I know haven't lost a member of our class as of yet. Let's have a great time reminiscing!

30 years….I can't believe it's been that long or that we're that old!! I had to read the 25th year update to remember what had happened up to then! The years just seem to roll together.

Work is still the same….Lee and I still own and work at Edwards Land Surveying. Our son, Aaron (22), is also working with us. We've updated our equipment to include GPS, and Aaron's really good at all that electronic stuff! We only have the three of us working so we're still flexible and can take off and go to activities when we want. Lee and I will celebrate our 26th anniversary in October. We celebrated our 25th at one of Amber's softball games!

Amber is 19, graduated as valedictorian at Hershey High School. She played volleyball and was in track and in every activity imaginable. She just finished her freshman year at York College. She's going there on a softball scholarship. Between mid-February and mid-May we went to 56 softball games! We went to Oklahoma and Missouri a couple of times, several trips to Kansas and spent a week with the team in California for spring break. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of work done this spring! Sometimes we were gone 2-3 days during the week plus the weekends.

Aaron…..well, like I said, he's working for us….he had a baby on July 1 (our first grandchild!!) Her name is Kylee Jo, and Kylee's mom is Amber Martin. That leads to some confusion around here with two Amber's!! They bought a tiny house and are adding on to it. We've been busy trying to help them with that. The baby was a week earlier than we thought, so last weekend you would have thought we were doing an extreme home make-over for TV!!!

Amber and I just returned from our only "big" vacation in the past 5 years. There was a week long International Softball tournament in Holland, and along with the trip was a few days in Paris, Omaha Beach (WWII sites), and Amsterdam. We were only in Amsterdam for a day, but I decided I must live a really sheltered life! You could buy marijuana in most any shop we went into. And they had coolers at the check-out stands where you could buy little containers of mushrooms to grow. They had tags on the containers that told which ones grew best in what conditions and what kind of effects you'd get from them! The drinking age there is 16.

We've had a little adjusting to do this year without having any kids (and all of their friends) at home. (Our house was a gathering place for kids who always needed an endless supply of snacks!!) This was my first year of not coaching volleyball. I've helped coach Amber's traveling team since she was in 4th grade. Whenever I have extra time I like to shop on e-bay, do some scrap-booking, do a little sewing, and like to help mom and dad at their farm. I took a class on web-page design and have been having fun with that.

My parents still live on their farm near Stockville and are still working on enlarging their "Village". They love to go to garage sales and auctions. My brother, Terry (class of '78), still lives in Bartley. He's the maintenance person for the Village of Bartley. He has 3 boys, Brian is married to Helena and had a baby boy, Hunter, last November. He graduated from Chadron and is now working for the Game and Parks Commission at Cambridge. Thomas is in college at Chadron, and Alan in college at McCook. My sister, Shelly (class of '80), is still in North Platte. She has an in-home day care and her husband, Mike, is shop foreman at Fairbanks International. They have 2 boys, Randy (will be a Sr. this fall) and Eric (will be in 8th grade this fall). Not sure if anyone remembers my Grandma Wolf. She's 97 and lives at Hidden Pines in McCook.

5 generations:
Back: Letha Perks, Terry Perks, Hunter Perks
Front: Boni Edwards, Kylee Edwards, Alberta Wolf, Aaron Edwards, Brian Perks