Please send stories, memories, and thoughts to the [email protected] address and with your permission they will be posted here. There are many wonderful stories and remembrances out there or maybe it is something about your life since high school so send them in.
From Martha (Marty) S. :
How many remember Mr. Vavrina (sp) and the Tripolitan club. I always enjoyed his slide shows of the places he had been never realizing that some day I might see those same places. It was a long time dream of mine inspired by the Club and by the Richard Halliburton books that my dad recommended. Now all these years later I have seen those places, walked those paths and more. I have been fortunate to have been in some 70 countries and 6 continents over the last 20 years. Talk about dreams coming true!!!!!! I have climbed on Macchu Picchu, been through a torrential rainfall in the Sahara and had a royal Thai massage in Thailand. I have ridden on about every conveyance known to man- other than the space shuttle!!! ( ahh Jim you were the lucky one there)! No life was not always so easy - along the way I lost 2 husbands but raised 3 wonderful daughters. Often times the pennies were barely enough to get to the end of the month. But we always got there. Laughter and tears have abounded for me and I would guess for most of us. After almost 50 years in Wisconsin I have now moved to the far southwestern part of South Dakota with WindCave National Park at my back door. I have found love and laughter again and married in February this year a man I met in Wisconsin but who was originally from Ulen, MN. Who'd a thunk it!!!! The same small town where my dad grew up!! Life has its way of happening when we are busy making other plans.Click here to edit.
How many remember Mr. Vavrina (sp) and the Tripolitan club. I always enjoyed his slide shows of the places he had been never realizing that some day I might see those same places. It was a long time dream of mine inspired by the Club and by the Richard Halliburton books that my dad recommended. Now all these years later I have seen those places, walked those paths and more. I have been fortunate to have been in some 70 countries and 6 continents over the last 20 years. Talk about dreams coming true!!!!!! I have climbed on Macchu Picchu, been through a torrential rainfall in the Sahara and had a royal Thai massage in Thailand. I have ridden on about every conveyance known to man- other than the space shuttle!!! ( ahh Jim you were the lucky one there)! No life was not always so easy - along the way I lost 2 husbands but raised 3 wonderful daughters. Often times the pennies were barely enough to get to the end of the month. But we always got there. Laughter and tears have abounded for me and I would guess for most of us. After almost 50 years in Wisconsin I have now moved to the far southwestern part of South Dakota with WindCave National Park at my back door. I have found love and laughter again and married in February this year a man I met in Wisconsin but who was originally from Ulen, MN. Who'd a thunk it!!!! The same small town where my dad grew up!! Life has its way of happening when we are busy making other plans.Click here to edit.
From Wayne B.:
On Tuesday, November 20, I attended Bryan Selland’s funeral in Eden Prairie , MN . Ken Kostka also attended. Ken and I had a short visit and sat together during the service. The following information about Bryan is from notes I took during the service.
Bryan had died of cancer on November 13. His body remained in the front of the church and was on view until the start of the service, when the casket was closed. Flowers secured by Gary Johnson were prominently displayed next to the casket. Many other floral displays were on the floor.
The central impression I got from the service and the speakers was that Bryan was a strong Christian believer. According to his widow, Deloris, he had been so since about the age of 25. Deloris is 10 years older than Bryan and influenced his religious thinking even before their marriage in June 1970.
The first of the four speakers was Bryan ’s sister, Marcia Kierscht, who is about 73 years old. She eloquently and fluently told of Bryan ’s young childhood. When Bryan was about a year old, their father died. According to Marcia, Bryan was their mother’s favorite. There was another brother, Tom, who died two years ago.
Bryan played football, basketball, and baseball, and was in the Fargo High band. He and a friend ran a fireworks stand around the 4th of July just outside the Fargo city limits since fireworks were illegal in town.
He majored in economics at NDSU and received a BA. While there, according to his sister, he was an “acolyte” of the poet Tom McGrath. (McGrath taught English and established a reputation as a poet in the mid-sixties. McGrath played a somewhat iconoclastic or anti-establishment role among some NDSU students of that era who questioned the status quo more than average. wb) Bryan taught himself to play the guitar and harmonica, and throughout his life he was a follower and admirer of Bob Dylan.
In the summers, Bryan went to eastern Montana for road construction work, accompanying Bob Anderson, also from our class. After NDSU, Bryan earned a law degree at UND and began practicing law in Minnewauken , ND , near Devils Lake . While there, he served as assistant state’s attorney for Benson County .
The second speaker was Deloris Selland. She told that Bryan was a natural performer who, besides playing guitar and singing songs he wrote himself, was able to speak English credibly imitating a number of foreign accents. In fact, they did meet at the Five-Spot in Fargo while out with other dates. Apparently, she made more of an impression than he did, at first. Two days later, Bryan appeared at her door dressed in a Mexican outfit to sing songs he had composed.
Around the time Bryan was finishing law school, or soon thereafter, he was drafted and sent to Oklahoma to serve in an artillery outfit. (Though Deloris did not say so, I surmise that Bryan (June 17) drew number 73 in the Dec. 1, 1969, lottery and, through deferments, held them off until sometime after 1970 before they got him. Or, perhaps, he was willing. wb) Following his military service, Bryan lawyered, and Deloris went to school and then became a social worker.
They moved to the Twin Cities when Bryan was hired as an editor by West Publishing, makers of statute books used by lawyers everywhere. This would have been an exacting and demanding job. His office was in downtown St. Paul , overlooking the Mississippi River . He retired in 2011 after 30 years’ service at West.
At Bryan ’s death, they lived in Lakeville , MN . The couple maintained their strong religious faith and engaged in charitable works including sponsoring several “Compassion Children” through a program at their church. This program lends financial support to children abroad. The Sellands made several trips to India , Brazil , and places in Africa to visit and support “their children,” though they had none of their own in the biological sense.
In the funeral service, it was very touching to hear Deloris and others unabashedly state that LOVE was an overwhelming presence in their lives together. There can be no doubt that this was so.
The third speaker was one of Bryan ’s former colleagues from West. This man left no doubt that Bryan was beloved by his fellow workers as an entertainer and all-around good guy. Bryan ’s philosophy of everyday operation evidently involved a concept this speaker called “Duty and Maintenance,” apparently words Bryan had originated. (The speaker offered no elaboration, but one can imagine that, indeed, this how good things get done.) All was not dry law books at West. Bryan looked out of his window onto the Mississippi River scene below and imagined that the plot of a short story he would subsequently write would involve someone trying to hang-glide across that chasm.
The last speaker represented what Bryan and Deloris and their religious faith were about. Tracy Hakanson became their “supportee” or “mentoree” some 20 years ago. Not a foster child, not a ward, not an adoptee, but someone they simply saw who needed help, and they stepped up. She had her own family. The Sellands stood as back-up in her early life and saw her through her high school diploma and two college degrees and on to her own family and career as a social worker. These facts she related with palpable gratitude and love for Bryan and Deloris.
So, this is what I learned about a fellow with whom I went to school and wish I had known better. Many of you who were with him throughout all of the Fargo school years perhaps did not recognize at the time the extraordinary humanity that was within this boy. May it be a lesson to us even now in our older years: look, listen, see, hear, value people you see every day. Or, perhaps, you might have had even then an inkling about Bryan . I hope you have used that gift in your life.
On Tuesday, November 20, I attended Bryan Selland’s funeral in Eden Prairie , MN . Ken Kostka also attended. Ken and I had a short visit and sat together during the service. The following information about Bryan is from notes I took during the service.
Bryan had died of cancer on November 13. His body remained in the front of the church and was on view until the start of the service, when the casket was closed. Flowers secured by Gary Johnson were prominently displayed next to the casket. Many other floral displays were on the floor.
The central impression I got from the service and the speakers was that Bryan was a strong Christian believer. According to his widow, Deloris, he had been so since about the age of 25. Deloris is 10 years older than Bryan and influenced his religious thinking even before their marriage in June 1970.
The first of the four speakers was Bryan ’s sister, Marcia Kierscht, who is about 73 years old. She eloquently and fluently told of Bryan ’s young childhood. When Bryan was about a year old, their father died. According to Marcia, Bryan was their mother’s favorite. There was another brother, Tom, who died two years ago.
Bryan played football, basketball, and baseball, and was in the Fargo High band. He and a friend ran a fireworks stand around the 4th of July just outside the Fargo city limits since fireworks were illegal in town.
He majored in economics at NDSU and received a BA. While there, according to his sister, he was an “acolyte” of the poet Tom McGrath. (McGrath taught English and established a reputation as a poet in the mid-sixties. McGrath played a somewhat iconoclastic or anti-establishment role among some NDSU students of that era who questioned the status quo more than average. wb) Bryan taught himself to play the guitar and harmonica, and throughout his life he was a follower and admirer of Bob Dylan.
In the summers, Bryan went to eastern Montana for road construction work, accompanying Bob Anderson, also from our class. After NDSU, Bryan earned a law degree at UND and began practicing law in Minnewauken , ND , near Devils Lake . While there, he served as assistant state’s attorney for Benson County .
The second speaker was Deloris Selland. She told that Bryan was a natural performer who, besides playing guitar and singing songs he wrote himself, was able to speak English credibly imitating a number of foreign accents. In fact, they did meet at the Five-Spot in Fargo while out with other dates. Apparently, she made more of an impression than he did, at first. Two days later, Bryan appeared at her door dressed in a Mexican outfit to sing songs he had composed.
Around the time Bryan was finishing law school, or soon thereafter, he was drafted and sent to Oklahoma to serve in an artillery outfit. (Though Deloris did not say so, I surmise that Bryan (June 17) drew number 73 in the Dec. 1, 1969, lottery and, through deferments, held them off until sometime after 1970 before they got him. Or, perhaps, he was willing. wb) Following his military service, Bryan lawyered, and Deloris went to school and then became a social worker.
They moved to the Twin Cities when Bryan was hired as an editor by West Publishing, makers of statute books used by lawyers everywhere. This would have been an exacting and demanding job. His office was in downtown St. Paul , overlooking the Mississippi River . He retired in 2011 after 30 years’ service at West.
At Bryan ’s death, they lived in Lakeville , MN . The couple maintained their strong religious faith and engaged in charitable works including sponsoring several “Compassion Children” through a program at their church. This program lends financial support to children abroad. The Sellands made several trips to India , Brazil , and places in Africa to visit and support “their children,” though they had none of their own in the biological sense.
In the funeral service, it was very touching to hear Deloris and others unabashedly state that LOVE was an overwhelming presence in their lives together. There can be no doubt that this was so.
The third speaker was one of Bryan ’s former colleagues from West. This man left no doubt that Bryan was beloved by his fellow workers as an entertainer and all-around good guy. Bryan ’s philosophy of everyday operation evidently involved a concept this speaker called “Duty and Maintenance,” apparently words Bryan had originated. (The speaker offered no elaboration, but one can imagine that, indeed, this how good things get done.) All was not dry law books at West. Bryan looked out of his window onto the Mississippi River scene below and imagined that the plot of a short story he would subsequently write would involve someone trying to hang-glide across that chasm.
The last speaker represented what Bryan and Deloris and their religious faith were about. Tracy Hakanson became their “supportee” or “mentoree” some 20 years ago. Not a foster child, not a ward, not an adoptee, but someone they simply saw who needed help, and they stepped up. She had her own family. The Sellands stood as back-up in her early life and saw her through her high school diploma and two college degrees and on to her own family and career as a social worker. These facts she related with palpable gratitude and love for Bryan and Deloris.
So, this is what I learned about a fellow with whom I went to school and wish I had known better. Many of you who were with him throughout all of the Fargo school years perhaps did not recognize at the time the extraordinary humanity that was within this boy. May it be a lesson to us even now in our older years: look, listen, see, hear, value people you see every day. Or, perhaps, you might have had even then an inkling about Bryan . I hope you have used that gift in your life.
From Larry B:
Early circumstances in life create people. I had a huge chip on my shoulders growing up and I am sorry and grieved by my behavior. Looking back I see a life of trying to forget. My dad put his face through a windshield celebrating my birth and the end of the war. I was the youngest of seven kids. Mom said dad ran away but my sister said his scarred face scared everyone and he killed himself. It seemed like mom worked 24-7, everyone did. I learned the rhythm of lawn mowers, rakes, and snow shovels. I found an escape in books. Within minutes I could be anyplace at anytime. My favorite authors were God, the Bible: how to live, Thoreau: the other drummer, Hemmingway: who am I, Steinbeck: life is life and Jack London: go. After Fargo High I went around the world a few times with the Navy. Later California beckoned and Monterey's cannery row was my home for two years. From there to San Francisco and a few years checking out the flower children. Stories of gold and the forty-niners sent me into the Sierras for the next thirty years. I traded my snow shovel for a pick and dredge, moving a million rocks and working alot of creeks between Sacramento and Redding. I loved every minute of it. Today I am retired and live in Rose Lodge, Oregon , ten miles from the ocean. Salmon, elk, bear and coyotes are the majority of my neighbors. I have always been proud to say I am from Fargo. I love down to earth, happy and generous people. May we always be down to earth, happy and generous.
Early circumstances in life create people. I had a huge chip on my shoulders growing up and I am sorry and grieved by my behavior. Looking back I see a life of trying to forget. My dad put his face through a windshield celebrating my birth and the end of the war. I was the youngest of seven kids. Mom said dad ran away but my sister said his scarred face scared everyone and he killed himself. It seemed like mom worked 24-7, everyone did. I learned the rhythm of lawn mowers, rakes, and snow shovels. I found an escape in books. Within minutes I could be anyplace at anytime. My favorite authors were God, the Bible: how to live, Thoreau: the other drummer, Hemmingway: who am I, Steinbeck: life is life and Jack London: go. After Fargo High I went around the world a few times with the Navy. Later California beckoned and Monterey's cannery row was my home for two years. From there to San Francisco and a few years checking out the flower children. Stories of gold and the forty-niners sent me into the Sierras for the next thirty years. I traded my snow shovel for a pick and dredge, moving a million rocks and working alot of creeks between Sacramento and Redding. I loved every minute of it. Today I am retired and live in Rose Lodge, Oregon , ten miles from the ocean. Salmon, elk, bear and coyotes are the majority of my neighbors. I have always been proud to say I am from Fargo. I love down to earth, happy and generous people. May we always be down to earth, happy and generous.
From Ron S:
I thought I would share a story about John Rutherford. A few years ago I got a call from his x-wife saying that John wasn't doing too well and that they were trying to get him to check into the VA hospital, but he wasn't too keen on the idea. So she asked me if I could go to California and visit John and see if I could convince him go check in. There were three of us that roomed together in the service, John, Jim (Jimmy) Haugen, and myself. I called Jimmy, who lives in the Houston, Texas area, and suggested that we both go visit John, that he should pick a weekend that worked for him and we would make it happen. So Jimmy chose a weekend in November that just so happened to be Veterans Day weekend. It also turned out to be the weekend that NDSU football was playing CalPoly and my nephew was playing for NDSU that year. We flew into San Francisco on Friday and I was shocked to see the condition John was in, he was soooo sick and could hardly walk. We bought a walker for John and on Saturday headed south for the football game, stopping many time along the way to visit some of John's favorite places. We got to the game for the second half, which NDSU pulled off by scoring 4 TD's in the forth quarter. We stayed there that night and the next day headed a bit further south for more visits and then turned back north. There is a large restaurant in Berkly that serves free dinners to Veterans on Veterans Day, so we went there for a great meal. Monday morning we bid John goodbye, Jimmy headed back to Texas and I headed back to Oregon. On Thursday I got a call that John had passed away. I can't tell you how lucky I am to have spent that weekend with John. John was a delayed victim of Viet Nam, one of the many victims that get no recognition for the sacrifice he gave for his country. I now ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle and I fly an "Honor and Remember" flag on my bike in remembrance of John, and all others that gave all for their country but got no recognition.
I thought I would share a story about John Rutherford. A few years ago I got a call from his x-wife saying that John wasn't doing too well and that they were trying to get him to check into the VA hospital, but he wasn't too keen on the idea. So she asked me if I could go to California and visit John and see if I could convince him go check in. There were three of us that roomed together in the service, John, Jim (Jimmy) Haugen, and myself. I called Jimmy, who lives in the Houston, Texas area, and suggested that we both go visit John, that he should pick a weekend that worked for him and we would make it happen. So Jimmy chose a weekend in November that just so happened to be Veterans Day weekend. It also turned out to be the weekend that NDSU football was playing CalPoly and my nephew was playing for NDSU that year. We flew into San Francisco on Friday and I was shocked to see the condition John was in, he was soooo sick and could hardly walk. We bought a walker for John and on Saturday headed south for the football game, stopping many time along the way to visit some of John's favorite places. We got to the game for the second half, which NDSU pulled off by scoring 4 TD's in the forth quarter. We stayed there that night and the next day headed a bit further south for more visits and then turned back north. There is a large restaurant in Berkly that serves free dinners to Veterans on Veterans Day, so we went there for a great meal. Monday morning we bid John goodbye, Jimmy headed back to Texas and I headed back to Oregon. On Thursday I got a call that John had passed away. I can't tell you how lucky I am to have spent that weekend with John. John was a delayed victim of Viet Nam, one of the many victims that get no recognition for the sacrifice he gave for his country. I now ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle and I fly an "Honor and Remember" flag on my bike in remembrance of John, and all others that gave all for their country but got no recognition.