66e30a79acf5c66e30a79acf60

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

Durand High School Tradition

School Colors: Royal Blue and White

Mascot: Fighting

Bulldog

Class Motto:

The door to success is labeled PUSH

Class Flower

White Rose

Class Colors:

Blue and White

Class Advisor

Roman Baker

Class Officers:

Bill Haggerty, president; Nancy Greene,

vice president; Jean Rafferty, secretary;

Mike Waller, treasurer

ON THE COVER: With the Capitol providing the background, 31 members of the Class of 1959 line up in
Washington in May 1959. Front row, from left: Joan Walsh, Sally Kelsey, Sharon Brown, Linda Leonard, Judy
Cole, Nancy Judd, Carolyn Talley, Norma Slaton, Judy Johnson, Melba Jean Oakley, Jean Rafferty, Nancy
Greene, Arlene Diehl and Judy Smith. Back row, from left: Julie Walsh, Mike Waller, Bill Haggerty, Dick Sweet,
Lee Workinger, David Welsh, Gaylon Horstmeier, Terry Foss, Jerry Whisman, Bill Brinker, chaperons Joan Barry
(librarian) and husband George Barry (football coach and teacher), Chuck Laube, Denny Bliss, John Dickerson,
Rich Bosshart, Bill Moore, Lawrence Damon and Sue Waller.

50TH REUNION

EDITOR’S PROLOGUE

While compiling this booklet, it became obvious that this little class of ordinary

people wound up living extraordinary lives. Durand’s class of 1959 was small in size
but big in achievement. it produced several small-business owners, plant managers,
nurses, successful farmers, manufacturing company managers and employees,
homemakers, teachers, an education administrator, an artist, a university engineering
professor, a sheriff ’s deputy/detective, a railroad executive, a newspaper editor/
publisher and lots of church and community volunteers. Several class members have
dealt with many serious health issues and overcome them. eleven were unfortunate to
have passed on much too early. i hope you find all the stories of the class of 1959 as
remarkable as i do.

— Mike Waller

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

Bliss

Bosshart

Brinker

Cowan

Dixon

Diehl

Cutherbertson

Dach

Dickerson

Cole

Brown

Damon

Engebretson

Foss

Haggerty

Larsen

Kelsey

Judd

Keller

Johnson

Horstmeier

Laube

Leonard

Lingbeck

Moore

Pederson

Sweet

Smith

Slaton

Rafferty

Pete

Pieper

Oakley

Talley

Waller

Welsh

Whisman

Workinger

Waller

Adleman

Harris

Bartelt

Walsh

Greene

Fosler

50TH REUNION

ADLEMAN

Pat (Adleman) and Jim Olander
17107 Matinal Road
San Diego, ca 92127
858-485-0305

Pat graduated from northern colorado university in 1963 and married Jim, who

was a pilot and instructor in the air Force. they moved around to different air Force
bases, including Williams air Force Base in Mesa, ariz. (it closed in 1993). after
leaving the air Force, Jim became a pilot for american airlines and they started their
family. they have two daughters and a son: Jami, who has two sons and lives in the
San Francisco area; Julie, who has two sons and two daughters and lives in tulsa;
and eric, who has two sons and lives in the Los angeles area. Since Jim’s retirement
from american airlines, they’ve spent a great deal of time traveling around the
country visiting their children and eight grandchildren.

BARTELT

Nathan Bartelt
3987 Long Run Road
Mammoth Spring, aR 72554
870-625-3119

i left school after my freshman year and started working construction for corky

cuthbertson’s dad. i did that for awhile and then went to work at Russ houghton’s
garage in Durand, where i stayed for about three years. eventually i wound up
working at Rockford trailer Sales and Service as a mechanic and for more than 25
years as their foreman. i stayed there until it went out of business in 1995. i worked
for two more years for another company until i retired in 1997.

in 1961 i married carol Lingbeck. We had two children: Kenny, 46, who is

a postal worker in Loves Park, and Karen Kiesling, 44, who teaches cosmetology
at highland college in Freeport. Kenny, who lives in Pecatonica, was a foreign
exchange student after high school and was sent by the Rotary club to germany for
a year. he has written two books, one about each side of our family. Karen has my
only grandchildren: hannah, 14, and andrew, 13. carol and i got divorced in 1981
and i’ve been single ever since.

a few years ago i bought a modern-day log cabin on 20 acres in northeastern

arkansas on the Missouri border not far from the Spring River.  i’m building an
addition to it now—a big game and recreation room.  i spend a lot of my free
time fishing and hanging around with buddies. i’ve fished in dozens of places in
Minnesota, canada and even cabo San Lucas, though i’m not fond of ocean fishing.
When i finish the addition to the cabin i plan to start tinkering around with a 1954
truck i own. i live half the year in arkansas and the other half in an apartment in
new Milford, ill. i’m in good health, although i suffered a mini-stroke a couple of
years ago. i hope i can make the reunion in June.

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1959

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

BLISS

Dennis Z. and Marlene Bliss
7227 Yale Bridge Road
Rockton, iL 61072
815-629-2452
dormbliss@Stateline-iSP.com

Following graduation, i joined the navy in august 1959. the last two years of

my enlistment i was stationed at the corpus christi, texas, naval air station where
new pilots are trained in carrier landings.  i made some very close friends in the
service and still keep in touch with them.  i left the navy in august 1962 and attended
Freeport community college for a year.  after that i worked at Yates american
Machine in South Beloit.  i was working there when JFK was killed.  i think everyone
remembers that day. after Yates, i went to work at Rockford clutch in Loves Park.

i met Marlene in 1964 and we were married in July 1966. We bought a house

on Yale Bridge Road in april 1967.  our first daughter, andrea, was born in april
1968. i joined the iBeW in late 1970. our second daughter, amanda, was born in
May 1971.  Both girls attended Shirland grade School and hononegah high School.
andrea was married in May 1989 and lived with her husband, Roger, in Monroe.
they had a son, Lucas, in March 1991, and a daughter, Jessica, in May 1993. Both go
to Monroe high School, where Lucas is a senior, the center and defensive end on the
football team and active in track and field and wrestling. Jessica is a sophomore and
is active in volleyball. andrea was killed in october 2001.

amanda was married two weeks later. She and her husband, eric (a union

electrician), are building a new house on Farm School Road in Durand. She is a
media director for an advertising agency in Rockford and they have three daughters:
emmie (4) and erica and elaina (3) twins. My mother gladys was a twin and my
brothers Fred and ed are twins. i retired in august 2004. Marlene and i are still on
Yale Bridge Road 42 years later with our two dogs and a lot of lawn to mow.

BRINKER

Bill and Sandy Brinker
3615 Rotary Road
Rockford, iL 61109
815-874-1652
Web117@aol.com

after graduation, i went to work at Barber colman for a few years and then

got into the garbage business. i worked for several companies over the years until i
retired in 2007. in 1991, i married Sandy, the love of my life. i have three daughters,
one stepdaughter, one stepson and two sons-in-law. i enjoy watching drag racing,
stock-car racing and riding my harley or indian motorcycles.

“To forgive a
wrong is the best
revenge”

“He keeps his
thoughts to himself
and goes his own
way”

50TH REUNION

BROWN

Sharon (Brown) and Garland McHenry
230 choo choo Lane
Valrico, FL 33594
813-651-2353
smchenry@tampabay.rr.com

garland and i have been married 47 years and have two children—Brenda clarke

(three grandchildren: Phylicia (Darrick) Burgess and cameron and Brandon clarke)
and Shawn Mchenry. garland and i retired on the same day from the J.c. newman
cigar co. and are now enjoying our activities at Strawberry Ridge adult Park in
Valrico. We are very active with the national and state grange and do some traveling
for them. We hope everyone has a great time at the reunion.

COLE

Judy (Cole) and Don Harbison
2914 nevermind Lane
colorado Springs, co 80917

Judy declined to send a biography but is doing well in colorado.

COWAN

Jim and Teri Cowan
24321 gore orphanage Road
new London, oh 44851
440-647-3254

i’m writing this in the waiting room at university hospital in cleveland as i

wait for my wife teri to finish undergoing her third MRi since her last surgery. the
past three years teri has been trying to get three brain aneurysms repaired and has
undergone three major surgeries and many minor procedures. We’re so lucky to be
living near cleveland with both university hospitals and the cleveland clinic being
available within driving distance. teri has lost sight in her left eye but she’s up and
about and mentally sharp despite seizures from time to time. We’re hoping for the
best.

Before i really begin, you should understand that Durand is home to us. My

sister carole, brother Bob and i grew up in Durand and have heart and soul in
Durand. Mom, Dad and brother Mickey are on the hill in Durand cemetery. Mom
and Dad died 11 days apart after 65 years of marriage. i, along with teri, will end up
on the hill in Durand. With our background of growing up “on the farm” and then
moving to the big city so abruptly, you can imagine the culture shock. When i started
attending east high School, carole was driving me from Durand to Rockford each
day until our house became available in Rockford. i had time to only make one call
to my cousin Sandy, who was also going to east high. She said the kids wear Levi’s

Teri and Jim
Cowan

“But when the next
stop is dreamland
that’s the time we
best enjoy”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

there. i didn’t know they made them without the hammer holder. My farmer’s Levi’s
made quite a hit. even my cousin broke up!

My sophomore year went well until november. i decided to go out for the

basketball team. coach Laude looked at me like i was some kind of nut. “Don’t you
know we start grooming our kids at the fourth-grade level?” he asked. “We follow
them all the way so we have no surprises here at east high School.”  By the time i
left his office, he didn’t have to open the door, i just slid right under it.  about a week
later i was in class and my name was announced over the speaker to “report to coach
Laude’s office.”  he told me he had reconsidered and would allow me to try out for
the team. i never found out who intervened but i always thought it might have been
Sid Felder.  even so, my coach (Palmer) was told to make sure i didn’t make the cut.
Sure got me in good shape — i didn’t quit — i made the team. coach Palmer never
became a friend but my determination was noticed by head coach art Sadtler.  that
was important.

During my years at east my Dad was traveling for a local packaging machinery

manufacturing company and began drinking a lot. he was gone two weeks at a time
and only home on the weekends.  i’ve always felt bad that neither he nor Mom ever
saw me play—even in college.  coach Sadtler noticed this and kind of stepped in as
a father figure. his house was always open to me. at our year-end senior banquet—
after being named to the all-city and all-county teams and earning all-state honorable
mention—i was the only one without a mom or dad in attendance.  coach Sadtler
noticed. he had the banquet speaker— olympic star Rafer Johnson— stand in as
my dad.  i was really impressed. Well, Mike, this actually ends up with a very happy
ending. Dad and i reconciled and for many years, when we visited Rockford, Dad,
coach Sadtler and i played at least one round of golf and went to dinner.  We all
looked forward to these get-togethers.

now here comes the hard part! Because of the popularity of basketball in illinois

and especially at east high, i soon learned all i had to do was stay in shape and play
on the weekends. as for classes, i didn’t have to show up. i knew the teachers had to
sign my eligibility cards. Without parental input, i graduated with rarely opening a
book.

i knew teri during high school. We lived in the same neighborhood. east high

was very cliquish and we lived on the wrong side of the tracks. even with the sports
popularity i never fit in off the court. Well, teri and i were a great clique on that
graduation day. We’ve been together ever since—48 years.

But back to high school. coach Sadtler had college recruiters at our door. i had

been playing a little baseball during this time so i had offers to play baseball and go
to college.  Mom put her foot down.  She wanted me to be the first cowan to go to
college.  i chose Milton college because it was close to home.  teri could drive up and
visit.  My introduction to Milton came when i was in a long line of freshmen waiting
to take the entrance exam.  the varsity basketball coach appeared and said he needed
to see me in his office.  i followed.  he sat me down and gave me the answers to the
exam.  he told me how many to miss and to leave the exam on his desk.  i did.  i was
required to take a foreign language. Remember east high? Ditto for Milton. the
first day of class not a word of english was spoken.  i went to the professor to let him
know i was in real trouble. his response? Don’t worry, just stay in shape and show up

50TH REUNION

on the weekends.

the next two years all i did was play basketball or baseball. My mailing address

was a huge greyhound bus.  the college had even built a very nice new field house for
us.  then i got shin splints so bad i was on crutches for months.  in 1961, i dropped
out of college to begin married life.  our first child was born shortly after.  amerock
corp. in Rockford called offering me a job.  they gave me a clipboard and said, “Stay
in shape and show up on the weekends.”  So i played industrial league basketball.
i was playing baseball at this time, too. this was going to be my paycheck. i was
barnstorming for cash, playing for whoever needed a pitcher, often for the Rockford
Blackhawks and finally in genoa.  i pitched in and won the illinois state amateur
tournament. i went to and pitched in “the nationals” in Battle creek, Mich.

My story here did not have a good ending. When i was about 10 years old, living

on the farm in Durand with no tV, computer or anything electric, we got together
often with relatives and went to a lake in Wisconsin. all the kids ran to the shore of
the lake and dove in. not me!  i ran out on a four-foot high pier and dove in—into
two feet of water.  Brother Bob saw me floating and pulled me out.  i woke up much
later.  Years later my draft card read sacral lumbar derangement.  it kept me out of the
service but organized baseball would not give me a clean bill-of-health either.  But by
giving up pitching i didn’t have to undergo back surgery until the 1990s. i still have a
little trouble with my golf swing. if we get to play, i want strokes!

after college and baseball, teri and i moved to oberlin, ohio to take a job

my Dad tipped me off to in the contract food-packaging industry. i spent 10 years
running the warehouse in the shipping and receiving end of the business.  During this
time teri and i had three more children. in 1973 i went to work for nordson corp.,
a world-wide company in amherst, just north of oberlin.  i started as a distribution
manager. and they didn’t tell me “just stay in shape and show up on the weekends.”
they actually had the nerve to send me to school.  First cleveland State.  then
Michigan. then george Washington, and on and on. i’ve got so many continuing
education certificates even John Dickerson would be impressed. While i was busy
doing my thing teri was busy raising four children.  Soon she began raising golden
Retrievers.  She began her breeding program with a local vet and it soon became an
extensive operation, with her dogs among the most sought-after in the united States.
She has goldens throughout the united States and canada, even in alaska.  Maybe
she should call Sarah!  the farthest-away one is in Seoul, South Korea, a gift from our
cia to their counterpart at the governor’s Palace.

our adult children are all doing well. our oldest son Mike and his wife Sue own

advanced computer connections in norwalk, ohio, whose plant is 22,000 square
feet and employs 45 people. they have given us one grandchild. Daughter Felicia
lives in Rockford and has given us three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Son glen and his wife Janet own P.c. computer Repair, also in norwalk, and have
given us three grandchildren. and daughter Sandy and her husband Joe Selady own
a large chemical business in atlanta. they have given us two grandchildren and two
others from Joe’s first marriage.

i now work part-time for my oldest son Mike in norwalk. i also own a four-

family apartment building in norwalk. teri operates her breeding business and a
23-run kennel i built on our property. We live in the country with 10 acres and two

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

ponds. i’m still an idiot—i mow the whole thing. Life has turned out pretty good. i
got super lucky when i married teri. i have good friends and few regrets. our hopes
for the future are to keep teri healthy, turn our 104K back into a 401K and attend the
50

high school class reunion in Durand.

eDitoR’S note: Jim is too modest to mention that he averaged 19 points

a game in his senior year as east high School compiled a 21-3 record. in 1989 he
won the tournament of champions, an amateur golf tournament of all golf clubs
in northeast ohio. a member of the oberlin country club, he has won the club
championship nine times. his handicap has ranged from scratch to a 3.

CUTHBERTSON

Harlan “Corky” and Yvonne Cuthbertson
120 cross Drive
Popular grove, iL 61065
815-765-0112
hMRwonderful@aol.com

i was born to harlan e. and Bessie Shroder cuthbertson, in the village of Seward,

ill., on nov. 16, 1941. i was named after my father. When i was about a half-hour
old, he said, “he’s quite a corker.” thus the nickname “corky.” We moved to
Durand in 1943. i really do remember this event. i had two sisters, Patricia Reese of
Machesney Park, ill., and Lois Byerley, who passed away from the dreaded disease of
cancer. i also have one brother, Richard of Durand who married Sally tracy.

i attended all of my school days at good ole Durand School District 322. i

married Julie Swift of Rockford in 1960.  We had three children, Mary anne, Ronald
Duane and gloria Renae.  this marriage ended in divorce in 1967.  i remarried a
couple of years later to Sherrilyn houghton of Durand.  We had two more children,
Scott emery and heidi Lynn.  this marriage also ended in divorce after four years.  i
was really getting this down pat. Maybe it was just me? nah, couldn’t be.

Fortunately i met the one and only one for this wild and wooly one. on Feb. 6,

1975, i again took the plunge with Yvonne Marie Severson.  She was and still is a
very devout christian.  She came to me with two daughters, Yvette Lynn and tina
Marie, and a son, Russell Robert.  Between hers and mine, there was no room for
ours, so we just dealt with them as ours. She asked me if i thought that we could or
should have one of our own. i ran to the snip and clip shop immediately.

We bought the farm equipment business from my father in 1976. i had worked

for Pops for many years, starting in 1957 and working all of this time except three
years that i worked for Woodward governor in Loves Park.  Wow, what a lesson in
business. We entered the field just about the time that dairy farming in Winnebago
county was dying, as was the feeder cattle business. We made it through until 1982
when i sold everything that was loose on one end. i worked at the nuclear plant at
Byron, welding nuclear reactor shields.  two summers of this and i went to Rockford,
where i worked at Forest city Fab as leadman for three years.  i left that job for a
position at arntzen Steel Fab on School Street in Rockford.  i started in May 1984
and i’m still there. i was appointed foreman after 11 weeks and was elevated to

50TH REUNION

plant manager in 1996. it’s been a great adventure for me as i got to train all of my
own people.  i’ve had the opportunity to use the engineering skills that Pops taught
me.  i have had the luxury of brainstorming, designing and building machinery for
the production of large diameter pipe.  We produce anything from 24-inch diameter
to more than 12-feet diameter pipes for foundations for bridges and skyscrapers and
boring contractor pipes that are pushed under highways for utilities.  We have the
distinction of being the third largest rolled and welded pipe producer in the u. S.

We have had our share of ailments over the years. My dearest Yvonne has

emphysema which slows her down some.  She is a fanatic for lawn care, to be attested
to by all of our neighbors in Poplar grove.  then comes the snow.  She’s the only
dishwasher i know who turns into a snowthrower.  She bakes the best pies in the
world. no JoKe. She’s the best cook and housekeeper i’ve ever met. as for myself,
i have lived a pretty healthy life until January 2002, when i found i had prostate
cancer.  i was told that if i didn’t have surgery i would surely die within four years.
anyone who knows me would know that this is just enough to really piss me off
and make me determined to beat the odds.  With my trusty bride at my side, i gave
it all to god and asked Jesus to lift the burden of the fight. he did and the war was
on.  i changed my eating habits and did some terrible tasting vegetable juices.  then
i discovered a book by huldaa clark that was the cure For all cancers.  it sounded
a little far fetched as the medical community didn’t know about it.  Well, pooh on
them, it works and i’m cancer free now and have helped anyone i know who has the
disease. neVeR say die.

then there was a terrible accident that took the life of our dearest Russell,

Yvonne’s only son by birth. he was crushed between his own semi-tractor and the
trailer of a very poor semi-driver. then the ass backed up over him. only a very
strong woman in the Lord could have stood the tests of her faith at a time like this.

i am an avid golfer and spend all the time i can sitting straddle my BMW

motorcycle. clears the cobwebs out of the noggin. What an absolutely thrilling ride.
if it’s not icy or snowing, we’re going out for a ride. in September, Yvonne finally got
on and went for a ride. next year, there’ll be lots of these rides. She says that she’ll
start playing golf next year, so even in my olden golden years, it looks better. god is
still on the throne and i’m glad.

DICKERSON

John and Sandy Dickerson
9 Saluda trail
West columbia, Sc 29169
803-796-5157 (home)
803-467-2335 (cell)
john.r.dickerson@gmail.com

the events of John Dickerson:

03/02/1941: Birth of John Randall Dickerson in St. anthony hospital,

Rockford, iL.

03/02/1947: Move to Durand to be close to Bill haggerty’s tV.

“In life, as in
sports, it isn’t what
you won, but how
you won, that
matters”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

06/01/1959: Released from Durand high School for good behavior.
06/02/1959: Dickerson family moved to commerce, ga.
06/01/1963: BSMe from illinois institute of technology, chicago, iL.
06/02/1966: Part-time employment with hughes aircraft co. as howard’s

barber.

06/01/1967: First sighting of alexandra (Sandy) Riherd on a cal tech tennis

court.

06/02/1967: PhD aM from california institute of technology, Pasadena, ca.
08/05/1967: Married Sandy in the Pasadena Presbyterian church.
08/06/1967: Moved Sandy to austin, tX in a 1953 MgtD.
08/27/1968: Sandy gave birth to Bradford King Dickerson.
07/09/1971: Ditto for John graham Dickerson.
03/02/1974: Published “on Your Buckingham Pi theorem…Rain, rain go away;

little Johnny wants to play”; engineering Mechanics Research Laboratory.

it’s a good read.

06/01/1974: Dismissed for bad behavior from university of texas.
06/01/1975: Left georgia institute of technology on good behavior.
06/02/1975: Moved to West columbia to propel university of South carolina to

the top.

06/01/1995: Finished construction of the Durand guest house.
06/01/2006: Retired from the university of South carolina without distinction.
06/01/2007: invited by the columbia community concert Band as Last chair

clarinet.

06/26/2009: attended the 50

class Reunion of Durand high ’59.

03/02/2041: Moved back to Durand.

thanKS FoR the MeMoRieS.

Durand Guest House (no charge for Class of 1959.
Call 803-796-5157).

Sandy today wearing the same tennis outfit as when
I met her.

50TH

REUNION 13

DIEHL

Arlene (Diehl) Young
738 Salem Street, Apt. #1
Rockton, IL 61072
815-624-8029
aarlley@aol.com

I got married in 1961 and we had two boys, Greg and Chad. I got divorced in

1984 and have been single ever since. Greg and his wife, Lori, live on Meridian Road.
They have no children. Greg works in Rockford at Mueller Pinehurst. Chad has a
girlfriend but says he’ll never get married. We’ll see. Chad lives about two blocks
from me, so I see him quite often. He works in Rockton at a paper mill. Guess there
won’t be any grandkids but I have a bunch of granddogs!!

I still like to dance but I don’t get to do it very much. I go out with several friends

for dinner on Friday nights and keep pretty busy selling Avon products. I’ve been
very sick for almost a year but they finally discovered what the problem was. It
started with a blood clot in my lung and I wound up having a tumor removed from
my endocrine gland in October at the University of Wisconsin. There was no
malignancy so hooray for that! Guess I can recover now.

DIXON

Sally (Dixon) and Wilson Bear
N1930 Clarno Road
Monroe, WI 53566
608-325-6800

After graduation I went to teachers’ college for one year and decided I was not

cut out to be a teacher. I also met and married John Niffenegger. We bought a farm
and raised beef cattle until 1978. Along the way we had three great boys. Kelly, my
oldest, is a machinist and lives on his own farm in southern Missouri with his wife.
He has one son, Joel, who has a 3-year-old son (makes me a great-grandma). Joel
is an electronics engineer for We Energies. Kris, my second son, is not married and
owns a fencing business in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Shawn, my
baby, is a track inspector for the railroad in Essex, Montana. He is married and has
one son, who is still seeking a career.

John and I parted in 1979. In 1994 I married Wilson Bear. We are both

technically retired, but both have part-time jobs. I have had various jobs over the
years but have discovered my real passion is my garden and my flowers. I guess I
must have dirt under my fingernails to be happy. I am also a 14-year survivor of
breast cancer. I am very healthy and other than an occasional arthritic twinge feel
great. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.

“Neat, not gaudy”

“Every moment
of resistance to
temptation is a
victory”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

FOSLER

Alyce (Fosler) and Charles Dobbs
Beloit health Rehabilitation
1905 W. hart Road
Beloit, Wi 53511.

after high school, i married and had four children. Bill holt, 49, is a mechanic

at a Rockford company; Jackie Pryor has been a teachers’ aide in Broken arrow,
okla.; allyn Miller lives at Lake Summerset and works at the Freeport clinic; and
Jamie Dobbs-Sciortino graduated from the university of Wisconsin and is going
into forestry. they have given me six granddaughters, one grandson and one great-
granddaughter.

i worked at several places over the years while i raised four children. i was a plate-

maker at the Durand gazette for awhile, worked a half-dozen different times at the
Medina nursing home in Durand and a couple of times at Micro-Switch. i’m now
dealing with several health issues. i gave up driving a car a while back and now get
around mostly in a wheelchair. But i still love playing cards and am a regular in the
weekly euchre and penny poker games at the apartment complex where i live.

GREENE

Nancy (Greene) and Sonny Paz
28 augusta Drive
Laguna Vista, tX 78578
956-943-4586
sonnypaz@sbcglobal.net

i graduated from the university of illinois in champaign-urbana in 1963 with

a degree in the teaching of english (i figured i could do better than Mrs. Kocher). i
taught freshman english for six years at coakley Junior high School in harlingen,
texas (my parents lived there from 1961 to 1967). i met and married Sonny Paz,
who coached at coakley for seven years.

i moved back to Durand in 1969. Daughter Michele was born in 1970 and

son James in 1973. Michele owns my grandparents house on highway 75 and has
worked for Rockford Blacktop for 19 years. James lives in Brooklyn, new York, and
works for the MtV division of Viacom in times Square. Both are single.

While Sonny coached football at Durand, i worked for my parents in their

hardware store.  Sonny and i bought the store in 1977 when my parents retired.  Later
we bought a second true Value store in Freeport. twenty years later we sold the
store to a Durand businessman and built a home on the South Padre island golf
course.  after closing the Freeport store, we worked part-time for five years for
friends in Durand and spent four months a year in texas.  now we visit family and
friends in Durand in July and august and live full-time in the Rio grande Valley
area.  We are located about 15 minutes from South Padre island and 30 minutes from

“The most manifest
sign of wisdom
is continued
cheerfulness”

50TH REUNION

the Mexican border so there is always something to do.  We have gotten interested
in identifying the birds we see there; it is a migration route and more than 600
species pass through.  We have seen more than 70 species while relaxing on our patio
and many others in the wildlife refuges and along the bay.  other hobbies include
landscaping, golfing, reading and exercising.  My favorite pastime is relaxing on our
patio. Watching the sun set on the bay after a day of golf also is great.

HAGGERTY

Bill and Nancy Haggerty
15 idyllwild court
iowa city, ia 52245
319-341-8133
Bhaggerty24@msn.com

i graduated from the university of illinois in champaign-urbana in January

1964. i then joined the u.S. army for two years. i was stationed in germany and
worked for nato until my discharge in 1966. after service i worked for Sundstrand
corporation and started graduate school at northern illinois university. i had the
opportunity, with the aid of the gi Bill and a teaching fellowship, to attend school
full-time and graduated with a M.B.a. in 1971.

after grad school, i joined the chicago & northwestern Railroad and worked

in various executive positions until i took a buyout in 1990.  i then joined the iowa
interstate Railroad (the old Rock island Line) in 1994 and took a buyout from it
in 1998.  i then worked for the i & M Railroad (the old Milwaukee Road) until i
left the railroad business in 2000.  i then joined ncS corporation and worked as a
subcontractor for the u. S. Department of education until i retired in 2007.

My wife, nancy, and i have been married for 36 years and have three wonderful

daughters and four grandchildren. We have two grandsons (Jake Brock, age 5, and
his brother Jaden, age 2), who live in Brentwood, tenn., with their parents, cara
haggerty Brock and her husband Steve. our middle daughter, christina haggerty
hayes, and her husband, Mark, live in iowa city. our youngest daughter, cathy
haggerty Dick and her husband, trevor, live in aurora-naperville, illinois, and have
two children—Morgan and Macy, born last Sept. 2.

in a more somber note: the year 2008 was not our greatest one. in March, i lost

my brother Bob, who many of you knew. then in June, our home was destroyed
by the flood in iowa, so we moved in with our daughter christina and her husband,
Mark. We returned home in February. i look forward to seeing everyone in June.

“A thoughtful boy
with many good
qualities”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

JOHNSON

Judy (Johnson) and Jerry Kloster
7506 Stacy
Roscoe, iL 61073
815-389-2911
seamstress1122@yahoo.com

Fifty years ago i could not imagine what life would be like today. My thoughts

then were simply about getting an education so i could make enough money to
buy the things that made me happy. i don’t know if that goal is reachable but i
have been blessed with more than enough comforts and health to lead a productive
life. i graduated from nursing school in Freeport and started working in Rockford
at Swedish american hospital. i married Jerry Kloster in 1962 and we have two
daughters and three grandchildren. after being a stay-at-home Mom for several
years, i started working for Rockford health System. i spent 27 years working in
the labor and delivery section there and another five years in a clinic setting for the
hospital.

For the first 20 years of our marriage, we lived in Durand. We then built a home

and moved to Roscoe for the next 25 years. in 2004, Jerry and i retired and now
spend five months a year at a small home we bought in 2000 in hayward, Wisconsin
on nelson Lake. that has been a continuous fixer-upper project but we believe this
year it is now completed.  the past four winters we have spent two or three months
living in the South and Southwest, renting homes in different areas of Florida and
in Phoenix.  We hope to buy a small winter home somewhere in the warm climate
but first need to sell our Roscoe house.  this winter we will spend four months near
austin, texas.

i enjoy sewing, crocheting and knitting, cross stitch and picture puzzles. i am not

a quilter but would rather sew clothing for myself.  i don’t care for fishing so i work
some at the small hospital in hayward in the summers.  our oldest daughter is also
a nurse and  works for Rockford health System in the obstetrical department.  our
other daughter has a master’s degree in operation and management of information
systems and works as director of central services for the Winnebago county health
Department.  our grandchildren—ages 17, 15 and 11 — live in Roscoe and have their
own busy lives.

We have taken some wonderful vacations over the years. We took two-week

cruises to alaska, through the Panama canal and to the Mediterranean Sea. We
started in Barcelona and stopped in Rome, the Ruins of Pompeii, Santorini, athens,
ephisus, istanbul, the island of Mykonos, Duborvnik, croatia and flew home from
Venice. our last cruise was three weeks to the Baltic Sea and norway, copenhagen,
amsterdam, helsinki, St. Petersburg, Lithuania, estonia and Stockholm. We would
like to go back to norway sometime in the near future. i expect to attend the reunion
and it will be fun to see how we all have changed.

“Her voice was ever
soft, gentle and low,
an excellent thing
in women”

50TH REUNION

KELLER

Raymond Keller
207 newman Street
Durand, iL 61024
815-248-8121

after high school, i worked a couple of years, first with corky cuthbertson and

his dad in the farm equipment business and then with my uncle and dad, who were
painting contractors.  i then worked three years at Barber colman before joining the
Miller Vault co. in Durand in 1964. i married Pat Lawson of Davis in november
1963. the army drafted me in 1965 and sent me in June 1966 to Vietnam. i was
stationed at Vung tau for a year before being sent back to the States, to Ft. Knox, Ky.,
where i was discharged in December 1967.  i returned to the Miller Vault co. until it
closed in 1972. our first child, Melissa, was born in 1969.  She lives in Durand and is
married to Bill Divonni, a commercial drywaller.  they have a daughter, Jessica (16),
my only grandchild. My son christopher was born on new Year’s Day 1974. he’s
single, builds pole barns and lives in South Beloit.

after the Miller Vault co. closed, i went to work for the american Wilber Vault

co. in Rockford, where i stayed until it closed in 1983. By then, Pat and i had parted.
a couple of years later, i went to arizona to help take care of my parents, orville and
Reva Keller, who had both undergone surgery. after my dad died in 1987, i returned
to Durand and started a roofing company.  My first customer was Mike Waller’s dad,
Ward Waller.  i quit the roofing business in 1999 and in 2000 moved to Dubuque,
iowa, where i worked at a casino until i retired in 2004 and moved back to Durand.
i have had several health issues, including a bout with prostrate cancer (it’s now in
remission).  arthritis and other ailments have slowed me down, but i still manage to
get around in my motorized scooter. i had to give up bowling several years ago. i
bowled for 25 years at the Durand Bowl and then at Lake Summerset. i carried an
average of 183 for several years and my highest game was 248. i hope to attend the
reunion and look forward to seeing everyone.

KELSEY

Sally (Kelsey) and Bill Lawson
313 W. South Street
Durand, iL 61024
815-248-3690

sallyilawson@yahoo.com

after graduation, i took a short course in data entry keypunch and went to work

at Sundstrand aviation in Rockford.  i worked there three different times for a total
of 25 years and retired in February 2004.  it was a great place to work with super
benefits and i am thankful to have worked there. the company was sold in 1999
to united technologies corp. in Windsor Locks, ct.  it is now called hamilton
Sundstrand.

i met my husband, Bill, at Sundstrand in 1962. We were married in June 1963.

We have three daughters and a son. Julie was born in 1966 and is married to tim
Martin. they live in ames, iowa, and have three daughters: Kelsey (18), Marty (16)
and ashley (13). Denise was born in 1969 and is married to Rob Metras. they live

“Integrity, health,
soundness to the
full”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

in northfield, Minn., and have four sons: Sam (19), alex (16), caleb (13) and toby
(11). Sarah was born in 1977 and is married to Mike Jones Jr. they live in Beloit,
Wisconsin and have a son, Ben (6) and are expecting another baby in February 2009.
Jared was born in 1979, is not married and lives in Richfield, Minn.

We now live in Durand, west of the school in a condo. Bill is semi-retired. We

love this time in our life when the stress of raising children is over and we can spend
many quiet hours together.  We are active in our church, heritage Baptist in Roscoe.
We don’t travel much but when we do we go to see the kids.  our siblings are well and
live in the Rockford/Durand area, so there are many family gatherings.  the Lord has
blessed us with good health, loving family and friends.

LARSEN

Sharri (Larsen) and Richard Roser
226 Peabody Road
Meridianville, aL 35759
256-682-6148 (Sharri) 256-682-6154 (Richard)

sdroser@gmail.com

after graduation i taught ballroom dancing at arthur Murray Studios in

Rockford until 1962, when i moved to north carolina for a couple of years and then
in 1965 to South Florida. i attended Beauty college and traveled with helene curtis
doing platform work in Jamaica, Santa Domingo, hawaii and Mexico.

i met Richard at a country Western dance lesson, where we later taught

country dancing in the adult education school system.  Richard and i celebrate our
25th wedding anniversary on the first night of our class reunion on June 26. We
recently located to northern alabama after i spent 42 years in Florida.  We are
enjoying the slight change of seasons and no hurricanes!  i retired after 40 years
as a cosmetologist, having owned and managed several hair salons.  Richard retired
after 25 years with Kroger in ohio and 24 years with the u.S. Postal Service in South
Florida.

our hobbies include a craft store business, craft shows, bird shows (we used

to raise exotic birds and had show champions), scuba diving, square dancing and
Western dancing.  We have three wonderful talking pet birds aged 10, 20, and 30
that are a joy in our lives. We are now both having fun planning trips and traveling.
Previous trips included a cruise with Jerry and Marilyn Whisman and two trips to
John and Sandy Dickersons’ wonderful Durand guest house in South carolina on our
way to yearly jaunts to gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, tenn., or Branson, Mo. We are
now only two hours to nashville and chattanooga and are looking for more places to
explore.  We have trips planned in 2010 to honolulu for a week, then adding a cruise
to all the hawaiian islands. We also plan to visit Williamsburg, Va., in the fall. LiFe
iS gooD!

i am looking forward to seeing classmates and friends and showing Richard

around the old stomping grounds. happy 50th to us all! and bless those who have
left us too early in life. i am sure they will be with us in spirit.

50TH

REUNION 19

LAUBE

Charles and Dorothy Laube
12083 Fritz Road
Durand, IL 61024
815-248-2423

Since graduation, I’ve been farming all of my life in the Durand area. I now farm

on 166 acres about 2 ½ miles east of Durand. I married my wife Dorothy in October
1964 and we have a daughter Pam, age 42. Farming has not only been my business
but also my hobby. I’ve also enjoyed trap-shooting over the years.

LEONARD

Linda (Leonard) and Mike Harris
807 Main Street
Pecatonica, IL 61063
815-239-1245
cassharris@aol.com

I married Mike Harris in 1960. We lived in Rockford for a couple of years and

then built a house in Pecatonica, where we still live. We have two daughters and one
son. All are married. We have one granddaughter, 11, and one grandson, 7, from
our youngest daughter. They live in Clearwater, Fla. Our oldest daughter and her
husband and our son and his wife live in Rockford. Mike has a mason contracting
business. Our son and son-in-law are his partners and our oldest daughter is the
bookkeeper.

Mike and I are Jehovah’s Witnesses and we both are in the full-time ministry. We

enjoy talking to others about the meaning of the troubled times we are living in and
the wonderful future that is promised in God’s Word in the Bible (Matt. 24:3-14; 2
Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. 21:1-4).

We enjoy vacationing in Door County, Wisconsin and also vacationing and

visiting our family in Clearwater. We also like to golf. We used to enjoy snow skiing.
Mike has an RV6 airplane that he enjoys flying. We have taken some trips together in
his plane. As some of you may know, his father had the airport in Pecatonica.

LINGBECK

Marilyn (Lingbeck) Harris
611 Sycamore Lane
Machesney Park, IL 61115
815-633-3652

After high school, I went to work at First National Bank, where I worked for five

years. I also worked a few other jobs between raising a family. My husband Bill and

“If men would
think more, they
would act less”

“The only way to
have a friend is to
be one”

“The temple of her
purest thoughts is
silence”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

i were married in 1960 and had two sons, now aged 44 and 42. My husband passed
away in 2002. i have three grandchildren and one step-grandchild, ages 17 through
14. in my leisure time i like to read, travel, shop and walk.

MOORE

William and Charlotte Moore
212 Redwood ave.
elk grove Village, iL 60007
847-593-2075

i went to work at Barber colman after high school but then decided to study

engineering at a trade school and at harper Junior college. that led to a series of
jobs over the next 40 years in the chicago area as a designer and builder of special
application machinery for several different companies ranging in size from 35 to 100
employees. in many instances, i became the head manager of the company. our
clients included such huge companies as Ford.

i had two children: John, 41 and Sally, 38. i have three step-children, nine

grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. i retired in 2002, after having a series of
strokes and becoming legally blind. i was one of 15 children and for the past 30 years
we have met in Rockford once a month for breakfast. ten of us are still alive. Before
dealing with health issues i enjoyed playing softball and working with ceramics.

PEDERSON

Betty (Pederson) and Earl Sanders
112 Mulvain St.
Durand, iL 61024
815-988-2122

after high school, i worked in the laundry business and in 1964 married earl

Sanders.  My eyes started going bad in the 1960s and i lost all my eyesight in 1971.
Still, i managed to be a housewife and had four sons: Michael Bonebright, who
works in a factory in Rochelle; earl Sanders Jr., who lives in Durand and works at
Farm and Fleet in Rockford as a supervisor; Daniel Sanders, who in 1996 at age 29
died of cancer; and John Sanders, who lives in Durand and works at chrysler in
Belvidere.  i have four granddaughters and two great-granddaughters. My husband
earl lives at Medina nursing home in Durand.  i’m pretty much confined to my
home in Durand. My sons earl and John do a great job of taking care of me. health
issues will prevent me from attending the reunion.

“Those who
hestitate, are lost”

“He who is good is
happy”

50TH REUNION

PETE

Reginal and Annie Pete
10936 Borage
Roscoe, iL 61073
815-270-0525
Dom1reg@charter.net

i came to Durand in the 7

grade when my folks moved to a farm on Wheeler

Road.  We stayed until midway through my junior year when we moved to Rockford,
where i graduated the next year from east high School.  i worked a couple of years
at different jobs, including being a baker at edwards Bakeries, which was owned
by Rockford Bakeries, where my Dad worked.  in 1965, i joined gunite corp. in
Rockford, which makes brake drums and wheel hubs for heavy trucks.  i worked
there for 43 years, the last 25 years as director of engineering and quality.  i retired
from gunite in January 2008 and began working part-time as a shuttle driver for
Regal tool. one year later i got married for a third time.  i have two children: Dan,
48, who worked in the construction industry until he became disabled, and Deborah,
46, who is an english teacher at Rockford’s Boylan high School.  i have four
grandchildren, aged 13 to 17.

over the years i played a little golf, dabbled in woodworking, spent an enormous

amount to time reading books (i often have two or three going at the same time)
and traveled a lot. i’ve been to europe four times, to Mexico countless times and to
every state in the union except alaska and north Dakota. i look forward to seeing
everyone at the reunion.

PIEPER

Harold and Shirley J. Pieper
n886 Shueyville Road
Monroe, Wi 53566
608-328-4835

doggie28@wildblue.net

i quit farming in 1959 and lived in Beloit and Rockford until 1967, when i moved

to Denver and operated heavy equipment. after 22 years, i moved to Monroe and
continued to operate heavy equipment until august 2005. i’m now working part-time
as a farmer.

RAFFERTY

Jean (Rafferty) and Jim Klus
9710 Moate Road
Durand, iL 61024
815-248-4598

i graduated in 1963 from the university of illinois with the B.S. in elementary

education. i taught one year in Rantoul, ill., while Jim finished grad school in

“Friendship above
all things doth bind
the heart”

Reg Pete

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

forestry. I also did some substitute teaching after our kids got older, mostly in
Manistique, Mich. I married Jim in 1963. We have three kids — Nancy, Susan and
Brian — all born in different states. Jim worked for the U.S. Forest Service and we
have lived in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and Michigan. Jim retired from the Forest
Service in 1994 and we moved to Durand and built a house on Moate Road. He then
worked for Rockford Blacktop for 12 years and retired again.

We have four grandchildren—Megan (19), Chelsea (15), Lucy (9) Parlapiano

(Nancy and Mike Parlapiano’s children) and Molly Coffman (10) (Sue and Ed
Coffman’s daughter). Our son Brian is not married. All live in Durand. Nancy
teaches English at Christian Life School in Rockford and her husband Mike is with
the Rockford Park District. Sue is a legal secretary for a Rockford firm and Ed drives
a semi for U.S. Food Service. Brian is with the Winnebago Sheriff ’s Department and
is in corrections. Our oldest granddaughter is working with YWAM (Youth With a
Mission) as a missionary. She is in her second year, has been to Peru and is going
back in December.

As for leisure time, Jim does E-Bay and auctions. I do Good News Club and

puppets-in-the-park, all connected with our church. And I read and love my flowers.
Some might say we lead a dull life, but we love it.

SLATON

Norma (Slaton) and Daryl Lingbeck
6222 42

Street

Rockford, IL 61109
815-874-7216
normalingbeck@verizon.net

After graduating, I worked at the First National Bank of Rockford until 1963,

when I accompanied Daryl to Alabama for his training before being sent to Vietnam
in January 1964. In December, we returned to Rockford and I helped start the First
National Bank of Winnebago, where I worked until 1976. I took some time off
to help at the school with my children. In 1982, I went back to work at the First
National Bank of Rockford — now called Chase Bank — and stayed until 1997. I
then went to work part-time at Rockford Mutual Insurance Co. until I retired in 2006.

Daryl and I were married in 1961 and we have two daughters—Zoe Cox, who

works at the Byron nuclear plant (she and her husband John, a chemistry teacher at
Guilford High School, have two children — Tristan and Tegan) and Lori Bennett,
who works at Supply Corps (she and her husband Rick, an engineer at Southern
Imperial, also have two children — Laney and Lily).

I enjoy bowling one day a week with a group of ladies and Daryl and I have done

some traveling since retiring.

“The shortest
answer is doing the
thing”

50TH REUNION

SMITH

Judy (Smith) Osborne
302 heeren Drive
Winnebago, iL 61008
815-335-2192
jmosborne12@hotmail.com

after moving to Rockford in 1960 and finishing nurses’ training, i met my

husband, Bob osborne, who had just gotten out of the service.  We dated for three
years and were married at St. Patrick’s church on oct. 5, 1963.  We lived in Rockford
until moving to Winnebago in 1976.  i lost Bob on nov. 2, 2005, after his battle with
lymphoma. he was truly the love of my life and i miss him every day. We have
three beautiful sons, which was certainly a change from being raised with all girls (i
have five sisters). Steve, age 44, has a daughter (olivia, 3); Mike, 42, has two sons
(nathan, 5, and noah, 5 months); and Bob, 37, has three children (Bryce, 10, Justin,
7, and Brooke, 5).  i have worked at Rockford health Physicians, formerly Rockford
clinic, in the ob/gyn department as a secretary since august 1980.  it has been an
education all in itself and i love the medical profession.

TALLEY

Carolyn (Talley) James
208 n. east Street
DuQuoin, iL 62832
618-542-8414
carolyn802@webtv.net

i lost my husband everett (Bud) on nov. 22, 2007 after he struggled with health

problems. We were married for almost 29½ years. i have two sons—Jeffery, living
in texas and Daniel, living in Rockford—and one daughter, Jeanine, living in
Winnebago. i also have three grandsons, two granddaughters, one great-grandson,
five step-children, 25 step-grandchildren, 33 great-step-grandchildren, and one great-
great-step-grandson. our family keeps growing! i retired from Subway in 2001
and devoted my time to taking care of Bud. i have been a member of the “Red hat
Society” for six years and am a member of the Second Baptist church in DuQuoin.
My hobbies include reading, sewing and watching ball games on television.

“Doing good is
the only certain
happiness in a
girl’s life”

“To ensure
peace of mind,
ignore titles and
regulations”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

WALLER

Mike and Donna Waller
5 Full Sweep
hilton head island, Sc 29928
843-341-5814
mikeewaller@aol.com

after graduation, i attended Millikin university in Decatur, ill., where i played

baseball and basketball for two years until joining the sports staff of the Decatur
herald. i loved it and stayed in the business for nearly 42 years. i became a news
reporter and wire editor after graduating in 1963 and was working a second job as a
grill cook at the eldorado Bowl when John F. Kennedy was assassinated in november
1963. i drove to the newspaper immediately and for the next four days worked pretty
much around the clock. the paper had duplicate wire machines, so i turned on the
second set and saved four days of paper copy — from the assassination to the state
funeral — from the associated Press and the new York times. Years later, i gave it
to my brother Steve.

in 1965, i joined the copy editing staff of the cleveland Plain Dealer and

two years later moved to the courier-Journal and Louisville times in Louisville,
Ky., where for the next 11 years i worked as a copy editor, chief of the copy desk,
executive sports editor and assistant managing editor of each paper. the biggest
stories i edited were the riots following school desegregation and the busing of school
children ordered in 1975 by a federal judge and a fire fatal to 145 people in 1977
at the Beverly hills Supper club in covington, Ky. coverage of both stories won
Pulitzer Prizes.

in 1978, i joined the staff of the Kansas city Star as managing editor. three

years later i edited the coverage of the biggest story of my career, the collapse of
the skywalk at the hyatt Regency hotel in which 115 people, most from the Kansas
city area, were crushed to death. Four days after the collapse, the Star, after hiring
an engineer and studying records and architectural drawings, revealed the cause of
the collapse — a design flaw. a few of the city fathers seemed more outraged by our
“negative” coverage than by the tragedy and flew to the new York headquarters of
the owner of the Star to demand the end of the coverage and the dismissal of some
of us. neither happened and our stories continued. a year later the u.S. Bureau of
Standards cited the Star’s story as the exact cause of the collapse. the coverage won
the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in 1982, the same year that i married Donna
harrison, a Kansas city native who was the office manager of the Jackson county
Law Department. i met her on a blind date set up by my city editor’s wife, who was
an attorney in the law department office. i then was named managing editor of the
Kansas city times (sister paper of the Star) and in 1983 was named editor of both
the Star and times, becoming the only journalist in the history of the papers to serve
in the three top news positions.

in 1986, i was named executive editor of the hartford courant, became the

courant’s editor in 1990 and was appointed publisher and ceo of the courant in
1994. as editor of the paper, the courant — the oldest, continuously published

“I love a teeming
wit as I love my
nourishment”

50TH REUNION

newspaper in america — won its first Pulitzer Prize, for its coverage of the failure
of the hubble telescope when it was first launched in 1991 (rescue missions were
later sent into space and the hubble has since become a reliable telescope). in 1997,
i was named publisher and ceo of the Baltimore Sun and senior vice president of
times Mirror co. During my tenure, the Sun won two Pulitzer Prizes. as a business
executive, i served on about two dozen non-profit boards in hartford and Baltimore.
i was chairman of united Way campaigns in each city, raising a total of nearly $70
million. i retired from the Sun at the end of 2002 and we moved to the hilton head
island, S. c. area.

Donna and i have two daughters: heather (Michael) Kean, 35, an elementary

teacher in Ft. Myers, Fla., who graduated from the university of South carolina, and
Katharine Waller, 25, who graduated from tulane university and earned a master’s
degree in art history at Rutgers university and is now teaching art history at a
community college in new Jersey. our two granddaughters and grandson are heather
and Michael’s children: Riley (5), Sydney (3) and Fletcher (9 months). i have a son
and daughter by a previous marriage: eric, 44, who is single and works as a computer
technician in Fort Worth, tex., and Danielle Waller, 41, who owns her own business
in Springfield, ill. — Mitigation & Sentencing Services, a company that specializes
in assisting attorneys representing defendants in capital murder trials. Both eric
and Danielle graduated from Millikin university (where i still serve on the Board of
trustees) and Danielle earned two master’s degrees, one in societal politics from the
university of illinois at Springfield and the other in social work from the university
of illinois at champaign-urbana. She is married to Bill clutter, a private detective
and director of the Downstate illinois innocence Project, which represents death row
inmates who were wrongly convicted. Bill has four sons aged 14-21 by a previous
marriage.

Donna and i both enjoy golf. i have averaged 296 rounds a year since retiring

(my record number of rounds in a year was 357 in 2004). We also enjoy collecting
art, especially the lithographs of thomas hart Benton, one of the three great 20th
century Midwestern artists who was a friend of Donna’s family, and traveling.
our favorite trip has been a cruise to the Baltic Sea with a three-day stop in St.
Petersburg, Russia. Donna is an avid reader and is active in the national Society of
colonial Dames, a genealogy group whose members trace their roots back to the
Revolutionary War. When not on the golf course, i spend some time playing fantasy
baseball and writing. i wrote a book in 2007 about growing up in Durand and the
Durand Merchants, the great fast-pitch softball team that won 80 per cent of its
games against the best teams in the region from 1949 to 1953. i’m now working on a
book about how to excel at leadership.

WALSH

Joan (Walsh) and Jerome Didier
784 Donelda Lane
Rockford, iL 61102
815-968-2039
jjdidier@comcast.net

“Her spirit shines
through her”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

after graduating from high school, i worked four years as a bookkeeper at a

Rockford clinic. on oct. 5, 1963, i married Jerome Didier and we were blessed
with four children.  our two sons, Matthew and andrew, live in Rockford.  our
daughter Michele lives in Palos heights, ill., and our other daughter Jacqueline lives
in Washington, ill. they are all college educated and are happily married. We are
enjoying our five beautiful grandchildren.  come summertime, we have fun-filled days
with our family at our lake home in Lac du Flambeau, Wis. Wintertime, Jerry and
i enjoy vacationing in the carribbean.  golfing and tending to my beautiful flower
gardens are my favorite hobbies. oh, what a wonderful life!

WALSH

Julie (Walsh) and Frank Willkom
318 Lincoln court
Sun Prairie, Wi 53590
608-837-7435
wllk5@verizon.net

after graduation, i studied nursing at St. anthony’s hospital School of nursing

in Rockford, then moved to Madison, Wis., to begin my career as a registered nurse
at St. Mary’s hospital. after one year, i transferred to the university of Wisconsin
hospital’s oncology unit, which was set up for clinical trials of new drugs, surgical
techniques and radiology treatments for patients with advanced cancer. it was just
the beginning of what is now one of the leading cancer treatment centers in the
nation.

While working there, i met Frank through mutual friends. he was attending the

university of Wisconsin Law School. We were married on my 23

birthday, Dec.

28, 1964, at St. Mary’s in Durand.  after Frank’s graduation from law school in 1966,
we moved to Sun Prairie, where Frank began practicing law with an established law
firm.  our first child, Franz, was born on Sept. 27, 1966, and on March 28, 1968, we
welcomed our second child, Jeanne. i was a stay-at-home mom during that time.
Later, after Frank left the firm to start his own practice in Sun Prairie, i joined a staff
of eight Rns at the oscar Meyer meat-packing plant in Madison.  We were kept busy
treating lots of knife cuts and nasty injuries of every conceivable kind. it was most
interesting work in a unique environment.  During the two years at oscar Meyer, i
developed considerable admiration for the men and women who worked there.

after leaving oscar Meyer, i became a full-time mom again. in addition to

Frank’s law practice, he served as Municipal Judge of Sun Prairie. i did volunteer
work for our church and school, taught religious education, was a girl Scout and cub
Scout leader and assisted Frank’s secretaries at times. our third child, colleen, was
born on July 14, 1975.

in 1987, after taking classes at the university of Wisconsin to get up-to-date with

nursing skills, i returned to work at Methodist hospital in Madison, which after a
merger became Meriter hospital. i worked there part-time for 20 years, mostly in
ambulatory surgery. i enjoyed my work and made many wonderful friends at Meriter
but decided to retire at age 65. Frank was re-elected Municipal Judge often enough
to have served 38 years, retiring in 2007. he continues to practice law, very part-time,

“Happiness is
nothing more than
soundness and
perfection of the
mind”

50TH REUNION

from his home office.

Franz graduated from the university of Wisconsin in Platteville, where he played

for one year when Bo Ryan, now coach at uW in Madison, was first coaching there.
Franz later got his law degree from hemline university in St. Paul and practices
with a firm in Brookfield, Wis.  Jeanne graduated from the university of Wisconsin’s
School of Business and earned her MBa from Marquette university. She works part-
time for a large insurance agency.  She and her husband, Jeff hilger, are the parents
of our only grandchildren, emily (8) and collin (6).  Jeff works in sales of software
used in trust departments of banks. our youngest, colleen, graduated from the
university of Wisconsin in Madison and until recently worked as a pharmaceutical
rep for novo nordisk. She is married to Kelly Flynn Smith, a physician in the
emergency room at St. Luke’s hospital in Milwaukee.

as a family, we enjoyed camping, cross-country skiing, visits to Frank’s family

in northern Wisconsin and attending Milwaukee Brewer baseball and uW football
and basketball games.  all our children were active in sports, especially basketball
and track. they loved their visits to grandma and grandpa Walsh’s farm, and all
of us had fun celebrating christmas each year on the farm with my parents and the
ever-growing Walsh family. our children are three of my parents’ 41 grandchildren.
there has been nearly perfect attendance by all of the aunts, uncles and cousins at the
various cousins’ weddings.  We once chartered a bus for a wedding in St. Louis and
all but one of the families spent a week in colorado hiking in the Rocky Mountains
and rafting down a mountain river after attending another wedding in Boulder.  We
were saddened by the death of my Dad, Keron, in 1976.  My mother, anne, moved
from the farm to a house in Durand after Dad’s death and my brother Bernie farms
there now. in 1987, after a very brief illness, my wonderful and gracious mother died
with all of her children at her bedside at Rockford Memorial hospital.

Frank and i continue to be active members of St. albert the great catholic

church in Sun Prairie and continue to have season tickets for Wisconsin football and
basketball teams.  We surely had a great time watching games as Wisconsin changed
from seldom winning to becoming one of the best in the ncaa. in January 2000,
we were in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl to witness Wisconsin’s victory.  We rarely
missed watching on television the green Bay Packer games during the exciting
Brett Favre years.  We have had lots of fun visiting ireland five times and we had a
beautiful tour of italy three years ago.  in September, we visited Munich, germany
and Salzburg, austria with colleen and Kelly.

i am very grateful for my many blessings and am eager to see and visit with each

of my classmates at the reunion. i appreciate all the work done by those who are
making it happen and extend my many thanks to each of you.

WHISMAN

Jerry and Marilyn Whisman
12 Lakewood Drive
goddard, KS 67052
316-794-8691
goWhiz@sktc.net

“An honest man is
the noblest work of
God”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

after graduating, i attended Whitewater college and then joined J. i case, where

i worked 29½ years in Rockford, Bettendorf, iowa, Racine, Wis., and Wichita. i
then worked at coneqtec universal, an aftermarket manufacturer in Wichita of
construction equipment, until i retired in 2006. i sold real estate for nine years in
the Wichita area, during which time we acquired eight rental properties, which keep
me busy maintaining them. We formed a LLc (limited liability company) with our
son greg and his wife Michelle several years ago and purchased an old commercial/
residential building in the Delano district of Wichita, the former stomping grounds of
Wyatt earp and carrie nation. after a huge amount of work and cleanup, it is now
fully occupied.

We have two sons — Jeff (41), who is single and a sales manager with Lowe’s

in McKinney, texas, and greg, 39, who with his wife Michelle (Lady Luck Salon)
operates Whisman Painting and lives next door to us in goddard. We also have
Stuart, an 18-year-old english Setter. We have no grandchildren, just grand dogs.

Marilyn retired from the Wichita School District three years ago but continues

to do bookkeeping for an advertising agency and consults with the school district on
occasion.

our leisure time activities include golfing and boating. i try to play golf at least

once a year but the clubs obviously are dusty.  We’ve been boaters since the beginning.
classmates may remember my first 12-foot craft (in 1960) and launches at Lake
Kegonsa, Wis., and setting a sound-asleep Red Welsh adrift after a little Bull Frog.
We boated on the Rock River and the Mississippi. Lake Michigan was probably the
best of all worlds. We had 13 great years there of fishing for salmon and lake trout.
Moving to Kansas and bringing a 26-foot boat seemed silly, but after a year we took
it to grand Lake of the cherokees in oklahoma and have been there for 20 years, 15
years living on the boat and 5 years in our lake home. We now have a tritoon, an “old
folks” party craft. one of these days we will decide what to do when we grow up!

WORKINGER

Lee and Linda Workinger
1060 comfortcove Drive
Machesney Park, iL 61115
lwork@comcast.net

Linda and i got married on Dec. 17, 1960. We had a son and a daughter, Jerry,

now 47, and Robyn, now 45. Jerry works in quality control at Star Manufacturing
in chicago. Robyn is a registered nurse on the heart team at St. anthony hospital
in Rockford. i retired on Jan. 4, 2008 after a 47½-year career in machining and
supervision. our activities include gardening, yard work, naScaR races and
volunteering monthly to feed the homeless at carpenters’ Place. We enjoy vacations
and renting a cabin in the Smokey Mountains in gatlinburg, tenn.

“Spirited but not
bold, quiet but not
backward”

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

NANCY JUDD HAWBAKER (1941-2009)

nancy Judd hawbaker, 67, died March 5, 2009 in her home in Decatur, ill.,

surrounded by her family, after battling cancer. although cancer took her life,
it could not dampen her spirit or vibrant personality.  She was born on Sept. 14,
1941, the daughter of DeWitt and Pearl Judd of Durand. She attended the one-
room rural Farmingdale School from first to fifth grade and became close friends
with classmate nancy greene. they and all the other students attending rural one-
room school houses were moved to Durand’s new grade school in 1952 when the
school districts were consolidated. in high school the two nancys hooked up with
Jean Rafferty and Julia Walsh and became inseparable.   nancy excelled at music,
playing the slide trombone and the baritone in the band and singing in all the school
choirs. She also sang in the Methodist church choir, where she and Jean spent many
a Sunday morning writing notes to each other and laughing instead of listening.
nancy also was active in 4-h, where her sense of humor often showed up.  one year
at 4-h camp the two nancys bunked in a tent with the supervisor of the program.
nancy loved to imitate the supervisor and finally got caught when the supervisor
walked in on the snickering girls. Jean spent many 4-h fairs with nancy, pushing
and pulling sheep from one end of the fairgrounds to the other.  nancy and Jean
often would meet at the old crowe School on their horses and ride into Durand on
Sunday afternoons.   nancy was famous for her curly hair, and she and Julie with
her straight hair often would wish they could swap some strands. after graduation,
the two nancys and Jean attended the university of illinois in champaign-urbana
and roomed together. nancy studied music for 2½ years, during which time she met
her future husband, Stuart hawbaker, on a blind date. they were married on Dec.
23, 1962, and went to germany, where Stuart was an officer with the 14th armored
cavalry on border patrol between east and West germany. Following their military
assignment, they returned to henry, ill., where Stuart began his employment with the
university of illinois cooperative extension Service. they then moved to havana,
ill., where they lived until 1975 when Stuart became the Macon county Farm
advisor in Decatur, a position he held until he retired in 2000.  nancy worked 20
years in various positions, including on the accounts payable staff, in the office of
the Macon county superintendent of schools until she retired in 2000. nancy and
Stuart had two children: Debbie (Joe) Schniederjan, now 44, who lives in Mt. Zion,
ill., and is a graduate of the u of i in agricultural communications; and Scott, 42,
who also graduated from the u of i in agricultural communications, lives in Maroa,
ill., and owns greendell Publishing, a company started by Stuart. nancy had four
granddaughters and a grandson. She cherished her family, was a giving person and
was always willing to help others. She loved taking her children and grandchildren
camping, boating and horseback riding.  She was an avid illinois fan, held season
tickets for basketball and football games and loved going to bowl games. her love
of music continued throughout her life (Stuart said her passing was a signal that the
Lord needed an alto for his choir of angels) and she was a longtime member of the
choir of grace Methodist church.  She and Stuart loved to travel and they visited

MEMORIAL TRIBUTES

We the class of 1959 are deeply saddened by the passing of our fellow classmates but retain fond

memories of them. We hope all are enjoying eternal peace.

50TH REUNION

every state and europe numerous times. their longest trip was a two-month, 10,000
mile motor-home voyage to canada and alaska in 2001. in 2007, after her breast
cancer surgery, she fulfilled her lifelong desire of traveling to australia and new
Zealand, an awesome experience, nancy said at the time. her humor showed up each
year in her often hilarious christmas letter to friends.

BRUCE R. HARRIS (1938-2008)

Bruce R. harris, 69, died of heart failure after battling cancer on nov. 27, 2008

in Las Vegas, nev., where he lived for the past 10 years.  Bruce was born on Dec. 31,
1938, and was a member of the Durand high School class of 1959 for several years
until he left school in his sophomore year.  in 1959 he married Susan george, who
was a member of the class of 1958. they had three sons: Bruce Jr., who lives in
Pecatonica, Robert, who lives in henderson, nev., and Leslie, who lives in georgia.
Bruce also had three grandchildren.  When growing up in Durand, Bruce and Jim
cowan, who lived across fields from one another, became best friends and loved to
hunt squirrels.  Both were excellent marksmen with a .22 rifle. Bruce also played
basketball on the grade school team for a couple of years. after high school he lived
for several years in Pecatonica and worked for Dean Foods for 22 years until he
retired in 1994. in 1998, he moved to Las Vegas and joined the maintenance crew
at the country club at Valley View, where he lived. he made friends with everyone
he saw, whether at a bus stop or a casino.  the seniors where he worked loved him
because he helped them with anything they needed. he always said he worked to
support his wagering -- he loved Keno and did very well at it over the years. after he
completely retired, he worked jigsaw puzzles when he wasn’t at the casino.

LAWRENCE (1941-2005) AND SUE DAMON (1941-2008)

Larry Damon died at age 63 on Jan. 4, 2005 after a long battle with cancer. he

was born in Rockford on July 3, 1941, the son of Dale and Mildred (green) Damon
and lived his entire life in Durand. he was one of Durand’s best all-around athletes,
playing on the varsity basketball and baseball teams as a freshman. he was a terrific
hitter and pitcher and could score from anywhere on a basketball court.  he was
the leading scorer on the 1958-59 Durand high School basketball team, whose 22-6
record was the best at that time in the history of the school. his soft and unbelievably
quick hands helped him become a star wide receiver on the football team. Larry
married his high school sweetheart, Mary Suzzanne Waller, on aug. 26, 1961.  he
was self-employed in the grain industry, a part owner of the Durand Bowling alley
for years and a stationary engineer for more than 30 years at Singer Mental health.
he was a member of the Durand united Methodist church, the Durand athletic
association, the Voyager Village country club, the Durand-Lake Summerset area
golf association and the Big McKenzie Lake association.  he coached Little League
baseball, was a time-keeper at Durand high basketball games, was an avid golfer and
loved spending time at their cabin in Wisconsin and with his grandchildren.

Sue Damon, 66, died three years later, on Feb. 5, 2008, also after a long battle

with cancer. She was born in Monroe, Wis. on May 24, 1941, the daughter of

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

emmett J. and Margaret (tschabold) Waller.  She was a cheerleader throughout high
school and, like Larry, an excellent athlete, playing on the Durand women’s softball
team.  She worked for Durand Publishers and then for car and truck Market in
Rockford.  She and Larry had four children—sons William (Sandra) and Mike (amy)
Damon and daughters cindy (Rowdy) adams and Jennifer (erik) Roessler, all of
whom live in Durand. Larry and Sue had nine grandchildren. Like Larry, Sue was
an avid golfer and enjoyed spending time at the cabin and with her grandchildren.
She also loved baking and attending her grandchildren’s sporting events. Larry and
Sue are buried in Laona township cemetery two miles north of Durand.

MELBA JEAN (OAKLEY) SNIVELY (1941-2004)

Melba Jean Snively, 62, died Jan. 13, 2004 in Downers grove, ill., where she had

lived for 27 years. She came to Durand high School her senior year after attending
Belvidere high School for three years. in 1959 as a senior, she was named the
school’s Betty crocker homemaker of tomorrow by earning the highest score in
a written examination on homemaking knowledge. a few years later, Melba Jean
married Jerry Snively and they had a daughter and a son: Julie (John) Little and
Stephen. She was a member of the Society of Friends, commonly known as the
Quakers, and was a Reiki master. Reiki is an ancient method of healing that uses life
force energy to harmonize the physical, emotional and spiritual of patients. Melba
Jean also was an artist who made art quilts, one of which was an entry in a national
quilt show in houston, tex.

TERRY FOSS (1941-2003)

terry Foss, 62, of Loves Park, died on July 20, 2003, of cancer five months after

retiring.  he was born Jan. 28, 1941, in Brodhead, Wis., the son of charles and aline
(Yaun) Foss. he loved playing baseball and basketball and could be seen frequently in
his pantomime mode dribbling an invisible basketball and shooting. on rainy days, he
and his brother Ron would cut out the bottom of a wastebasket, nail it above the door
in the dining room and play basketball with two rolled-up socks.  terry was always
making a Wilt chamberlain hook shot. he and Ron shared a newspaper route. as
soon as they finished collecting every Saturday from their customers, terry would
head to highlands’ or Bliss’ grocery store and buy a bunch of candy bars.  You could
see him nearly every Saturday sitting on the front steps of the grocery eating those
candy bars. terry married gayle Klinger in Winnebago on Sept. 14, 1963 and they
had two sons, Michael and Randy (Jennifer), and two granddaughters. he worked
for invenys/Barber colman for 44 years before retiring in February 2003.  he was a
member of St. Paul Lutheran church in Loves Park, was active for years in the Sons
of norway Lodge and was a member of Don’s and Doll’s Square Dance.  he loved
bowling and playing cards. For nearly 40 years, he and his wife were members of a
card club that included his uncle and aunt, Jack and Betty Yaun, Jerry and Juanita
Mulvain, carol and Duane Kinney, Shirl and Darlene Langley and alice and allen
Roby.

50TH REUNION

LINDA ENGEBRETSON MILLER (1941-2002)

Linda engebretson Miller, 60, died March 1, 2002, in Rockford Memorial

hospital after a sudden illness. She was born Sept. 13, 1941, the daughter of
Raymond and Florence (grenawalt) engebretson. Linda lived most of her life
in the Rockford area. She was married to Dwayne Poulisse and then later to
Daniel aldrich, who died in 1981.  She then married David Miller in 1982.  they
bought an 11-room farm house and spent several years renovating it. Linda had
10 children, three of which preceded her in death.  She owned Linda’s tax Service
for several years and was involved many years in the food service and restaurant
business, owning and selling two restaurants of her own.  She was a member of the
community Bible church.  She was known for her generous spirit and for caring for
anyone in need, especially her family, friends and animals (at one time she had seven
dogs and about 40 cats). over the years, she and Sharri Larsen Roser were the main
organizers of the class of 1959 reunions.

RICHARD C. “DICK” SWEET (1941-2001)

Dick Sweet, 60, died Dec. 20, 2001 from complications of bulbar amyotrophic

lateral sclerosis (Lou gehrig’s disease). Dick was born Jan. 24, 1941, the son of
truman J. and Marie R. (egan) Sweet. he was a good athlete, an excellent left-
handed pitcher for the Little League and PonY League baseball teams and a good
basketball player on the junior high and freshmen-sophomore basketball teams.  after
graduating from high school, he served four years in the u.S. air Force. Following
his discharge in 1963, he worked six years at Barber colman.  he married Judy
Prentice in Rochelle on new Year’s eve in 1966 and then rushed off with his new
bride to Red Welsh’s new Year’s eve party in Durand. Dick and Judy did not have
any children. in 1969, Dick joined the Winnebago county Sheriff ’s Department,
where he had a distinguished 24-year career before retiring in 1993. he was a charter
member of the FoP Lodge 50 and a member of Durand’s american Legion Post 676.
he enjoyed having a good time and partying with friends. Most of all, he loved his
work, especially being a detective.

GAYLON HORSTMEIER (1941-1994)

gaylon horstmeier, 53, a Rock city civic leader and businessman, died July

28, 1994, in Rockford Memorial hospital following an accident a day earlier while
working at a construction site. gaylon was born July 9, 1941, in Freeport, the son
of Kenneth W. and Maurine Wise horstmeier. he was active in several high school
organizations, including the Future Farmers of america (FFa), of which he was
president in his senior year.  he walked with a bounce that some of his friends said
was a smile in his step.  on Pearl harbor Day 1963, he married Sandra K. Kubatzke
in Freeport.  a self-employed carpenter, he owned and operated horstmeier Building
Supply in Rock city. he was the former owner of the hardware in Rock city and
ace hardware in Pecatonica. he served the village of Davis as president from 1972-
1973.  he was a firefighter, serving the Davis Fire Protection District, and was a
member of the organizational committee that formed the tri-District ambulance

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

association. he was a member of St. Paul united church of christ in rural Davis.
gaylon and Sandra had two sons, chad and Ray horstmeier, both of Rock city.

DAVID “RED” WELSH (1941-1980)

David “Red” Welsh, 39, died oct. 19, 1980, in Rockford Memorial hospital

after suffering multiple injuries in an automobile accident.  he was born aug. 16,
1941, the son of John F. and Verna Mattson Welsh.  During his school years he was
a Boy Scout and won several FFa awards and music awards in high school band
competition playing his saxophone.  he played baseball in Little League and was a
member of the high school track team, winning the Most Valuable award his senior
year.  it was the first time the award was ever given.  he also enjoyed boxing and
participated in golden gloves competition in Rockford and chicago. he married
Janice DeVries in Reno, nev., on aug. 30, 1965. they had two children, John and
annette. he was self-employed and owner-operator of Welsh concrete and Welsh
construction.  he was the major concrete contractor for most of the first homes built
at Lake Summerset and also installed the first water and sewer lines there.  he was a
member of the united Methodist church of Durand, a volunteer fireman for 17 years
and active in the army Reserves.

RICHARD G. BOSSHART (1940-1971)

Rich Bosshart, 31, was found dead in the trunk of a car in chicago in october

1971. he had moved to chicago a couple of years after graduation to work at his
brother herbert’s junk yard on Lake Street. Police, who never solved the homicide,
set the date of death as oct. 26. Rich was born in 1940, the son of Mrs. Mary
Bosshart, and had three older brothers and six older sisters. he was a good athlete,
playing baseball and basketball as a youngster until his love of cars and motorcycles
begin dominating his life. an original free spirit, he could have been a poster child
for the 1950s dressed in his leather jacket sitting atop his motorcycle. he once won
a palomino at a county fair and kept the horse in his brother Lester’s backyard. But
the horse, named golden Sunny Boy, was so rambunctious that no one could ever
ride him. nathan Bartelt, who lived next door, said the horse “scared me to death.”
But even the wild palomino couldn’t erase the ever-present grin on Rich’s face. he
loved palling around with his buddies, riding their cycles up and down the streets of
Durand and raising cain whenever they could. Rich was the kind of live-wire guy
who, if you hadn’t known him, you never would have believed that he existed.

50TH REUNION

THE FACULTY

Paul G. Norsworthy, Superintendent

Roman Baker, principal (he taught general business, office practice, shorthand,

typing, bookkeeping)

George Barry (English II, biology, science I, football coach)

Joan Barry (librarian)

Valerie Dunagun (girls’ physical education)

Sidney Felder (social studies, boys’ physical education, basketball coach,

track coach)

Dorothy Kocher (English I, III, IV, French I)

Ione Meissen (Homemaking I, II, III)

Sonja Pluess (vocal music—grades one through eight—band, girls’ chorus, boys’

chorus, mixed chorus, dance band)

Harold Vale (agriculture I, II, III, IV)

Robert Winter (math, geometry, algebra I, physics)

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Claire Wilke, president

Raymond W. Bliss, secretary

Keron Walsh

Harold Slamp

Vern Davis

Mrs. Sarah Light

Mrs. June Hausvick

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

Our 4th Grade Class

Top row from left: teacher Dorothy Schwartz, Arlene Stevens, Ray Keller, Bruce Harris,
Dick Sweet, Norma Slaton, Lawrence Damon and Linda Engebretson.

Second row from left: Dwight Main, Jimmy Stevens, Norma Buss, Jim Cowan, Sue
Waller, John Dickerson, Chuck Laube and Elaina Dach.

Third row from left: Mike Waller, Harlan Cuthbertson, David Welsh, Pat Adleman, Betty
Pederson, Ray Leopold, Judy Johnson and Alyce Fosler.

Bottom row from left: Nathan Bartelt, Harold Pieper, Bill Brinker, Denny Bliss, Sharri
Larsen, Bill Haggerty, Ron Wise and Jerry Whisman.

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

Our third grade class in a photo taken on April 5, 1950. From left, in the back and 5th row, are Harold Pieper, Har-
lan Cuthbertson, Chuck Laube, David Welsh and Denny Bliss. In the fourth row, from left, are Lawrence Damon,
Judy Johnson, Bruce Harris, Ray Keller, Nate Bartelt and Norma Slaton. In the third (middle) row, from left, are
Ron Wise, Alyce Fosler, Norma Buss, Mike Waller and Betty Pederson. In the second row, from left, are Jim Cowan,
Pat Adleman, Dick Sweet, Bill Brinker and Marilyn Lingbeck. In the front row, from left, are Jean Messerschmitt,
Sue Waller, Linda Engebretson and John Dickerson. Standing at the back is teacher Rosemary Figi, who was Dick
Sweet’s older sister. She was married to Berni Figi, one of the star players on the Durand Merchants softball team in
the early 1950s. Rosemary and two of her children were killed in 1964 when their car was hit by a vehicle that ran a
stop sign.

The high school baseball team in 1957, front row, from left: Bill Haggerty, Mike Waller and Mo Ostergard. Middle
row, from left: Lawrence Damon, Steve Dickerson, Jerry Engelbrecht, Phil Kelsey, Curt Bliss and Doug Sweet. Back
row, from left: Coach Milt Truesdale, Terry Foss, Bill Moore, Jerry Whisman, Dave McCartney, Ron Foss and
Coach Sid Felder.

50TH REUNION

The gang meets at Nancy Greene Paz’ house in
Durand at a pre-reunion party in 1989. From left,
Bill Brinker, Denny Bliss, Nancy Greene Paz, Bill
Haggerty, Sue Waller Damon, Sharri Larsen Roser,
Lawrence Damon (partially blocked), Carolyn Talley
James, John Dickerson and Terry Foss.

Same house, same party. From left, Bill Haggerty, Sue
Waller Damon, Lawrence Damon and John Dickerson.

The Decorating Committee
for the 40th reunion: from
left, Terry Foss, Arlene
Diehl Young, Dick Sweet,
Sharri Larsen Roser,
Linda Engebretson Miller
and Nancy Greene Paz.

At the 40th reunion in
1999: from left, Dick
Sweet, Jim Cowan, John
Dickerson, Bill Haggerty,
Jerry Whisman and
Denny Bliss.

50TH REUNION

Joan (Walsh) Didier visits a street vendor in Dublin
during her 2007 trip to Ireland.

Bill and Nancy Haggerty enjoy the day at Wrigley Field in
Chicago with their three daughters. From left, Cathy Haggerty
Dick, Cara Haggerty Brock, Christina Haggerty Hayes.

Carolyn (Talley) James bags a nice one. Judy (Johnson) Kloster at home.

Nancy (Greene) Paz with her daughter Michele,
left, and son James.

A 1997 Harris family reunion. From left, brothers Bruce,
Fred, Bob and Bill.

Sharri (Larsen) and Dick Roser pose
with their buddy Jack Daniels of
Tennessee whiskey fame.

DURAND HIGH SCHOOL

School Loyalty Song

We’re loyal to you Durand High! We’ll ever be true, Durand High!

We’ll back you to stand ‘gainst the best in the land,

For we know you can stand, Durand High. So show them your might, Durand

High!

Cha-he Cha-he Cha-ha-ha-ha! Win Bulldogs Win (Repeat)

Durand! Durand High! Durand High!

Bring on the dear old flag of white and blue;

Bring on our sons and daughters fighting for you.

Like men of olden giants placing reliance, shouting defiance On YOU

BULLDOGS!

Amid the broad green plains that nourish our land,

For honest labor and for learning we stand,

And unto thee we pledge our heart and hands, Dear Alma Mater, Durand High!

Ra ra ra! Ra ra ra! Ra, yea, Durand!!

50TH REUNION

50th Reunion FoR DuRanD high

SchooL’S cLaSS oF 1959

Friday, June 26 and Saturday, June 27, 2009, at hello Folks

chaiR ..................................... Sharri Larsen Roser

tReaSuReR .......................... Sally Kelsey Lawson

Reunion BooK ................... Mike Waller

FooD aRRangeR ............... Sharri Larsen Roser

DecoRationS ..................... Sharri Larsen Roser, carolyn talley James,

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Sally Kelsey Lawson, arlene Diehl Young,

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nancy greene Paz, Judy Smith osborne,

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Judy Johnson Kloster, Joan Walsh Didier

gReeteRS ............................. carolyn talley James, arlene Diehl Young

enteRtainMent ................ Sharri Larsen Roser, harlan cuthbertson

taBLe DÉcoR ...................... Sharri Larsen Roser

BaLLoon MaSteR .............. Sally Kelsey Lawson

BaLLoon SPonSoR ............ Jerry and Marilyn Whisman

MeMoRiaL taBLe............... Sharri Larsen Roser

MeMoRiaL PRaYeR ............ harlan cuthbertson

MaSteR oF ceReMonieS . Bill haggerty