Dorothy Pritchard is now on our distribution list.

From Mary Eurich Knutson (62): Dunseith, ND

Just to let you know how interesting I find your web sight. Would you add Dorothy Pritchard to your mailing list. This is the e-mail address to which she would receive it:activitynd@yahoo.com. This is the activity department at the Long Term Care Center at St Andrews in Bottineau. She became interested when the articles on Sylvia Bergan were put out. They were from the same area and went to the same school as kids and Dorothy tells of how they became friends after she and Robert were married. Sylvia and Oscar were living west of Boundary Lake and Robert and Dorothy were living on the same place where they always lived only the house was further back to the east.(I could be off on that one). Any way, Robert trapped around Boundary Lake and she had gone with him to check traps on this particular day and they decided to walk on over to Oscar and Sylvia. Can you imagine! There were no groomed trails or paved walkways at that time. I didn’t ask her if they were wearing snow shoes or skis. Anyway, they became very good friends over the years. They both wound up at St Andrews Long Term Care. Sylvia was unable to visit anymore but she always recognized Dorothy and they always acknowledged each other with a little wave. So sad! Dorothy loves to visit and is getting hard of hearing but she still loves a good laugh. Appreciate all the local news. Thanks. Mary Knutson

Dorothy, it is with great pleasure, and I stress great pleasure for me to add you to our daily distribution list. It is wonderful that they have email capabilities for you to be able to get these daily messages. I had to take a double take to realize that it was you that Mary was requesting to be added to our distribution list. This is absolutly wonderful. I am adding you near the top of today’s message hoping that the staff will readily see it and share it with you. I am assuming Mary has probably alerted the staff to be on the look out for these messages to share with you. Dale and Carol are also on this daily distribution. Please alert the staff that these messages are posted daily. Feel free to reply as you see fit too. I’m sure the staff will assist you with all of your replies. We’d love to hear from you.

Folks, Dorothy and Robert Pritchard lived one mile south of us up in the hills. John (62), Dale (63) & Carol (67) are her children that attended and graduated from DHS. I always make it a point to visit Dorothy with each of my trips back to the area. At 96 she is sharp as a tack. Evon Lagerquist is now living on the Pritchard farm. Dorothy and Sylvia Striker Bergan both lived in the Cando area as kids.

Mary, Dorothy always speaks highly of you. Your good deeds have not gone unnoticed and have for sure not been forgotten by Dorothy. You are a wonderful niece in Dorothy’s eyes.

Folks, I would suggest adding “Attention Dorothy Pritchard” in the subject line for messages you’d like to send to Dorothy using her email address listed above.Gary

Dorothy Pritchard on her 96th birthday (January 2009) With Darrel(Bud) Stokes

Reply from Jim Casavant (73): Old White School House: Jamestown, ND

I started !st grade in 1961 in the old white school house. I was in Mrs. Seim’s room on the first floor on the east side of the old school house. I remember those first days of school in Dunseith School was like going to New York City after living in that small world on the farm. Mom worked in the kitchen in the basement which was comforting, but I can remember one day climbing up those steep basement steps and instead of turning to go to my first grade room, I somehow got lost and kept on walking down that long breezeway to the “upper grades” side of the school. By the time I reached those steps by the offiice, I thought I had walked off the end of the Earth and was lost forever. I think it was Principal Art Rude or Joan Wurgler, the secretary who tuned me around and headed me back in the right direction. Isn’t it funny how small things like that seem so big at the time and stick in your mind forever. That area where the old gym and locker rooms were also had a second !st grade class room on the west side of the gym. I think you had to climb some steps to get up to it. Mrs. Aus taught first grade there, then they left Dunseith a few years later. Mrs Emma Halvorson also had a second grade class room in that area just before you got to the office steps. I remember Mrs. Seim and Mrs. Halvorson as very kind teachers.

Jim, it’s great to hear from you. You are enough younger than me for me to remember you, but I knew some of the rest of your family well. I graduated with Rene and Joe. As mentioned before, I remember your mother well too, working in the Kitchen. Gary

Message/question from Verena (Pete 65) Gillis: Dunseith, ND

Note: Folks, Pete Gillis has been battling prostrate Cancer for a few years now.

Hi Gary,
Sounds like you are still pretty busy. So am I. Pete might have to start
chemo again, we will find out in September. PSA’s is not going down, took
him off one cancer pill and just going to try the shots for now and see
what happens. I am very busy with my sister who just turned 52 last
month.
She also has cancer, the lungs and her kidneys along with a big tumor in
her stomach. So been very busy with benefits for her to get her up to
Canada to see a medicine man who is supposed to be pretty good. Looking
for a miracle. We are also getting ready for a big family reunion, mainly
for her while she still can get around, July 3rd actually.

I have a question for you since you and Bill are so sharp with finding
things out. In the middle to late sixties Agent Orange was sprayed up in
No Man’s Land which is across the border. I found this out this year from
one of my co-workers who is from Bottineau and she told me it’s a known
fact. So how does a person find this out? We have the highest rate of
cancer in this area. They also have a very high rate in Bottineau County.
There must be a way to find this out. Please let me know if you can help
us out with this or steer me in the right direction. It’s pretty scary
with all the people getting sick from that terrible disease. Darn near
every family is being affected by this disease.

Verena Gillis

Verena, I know nothing at all about any Agent Orange being sprayed up in Canada, but If that truly did happen, I’ll bet we have some folks that will know. I am so sorry to hear of your sister having cancer too. Your sister and Pete are very fortunate to have you in their lives. You know the right things to do at the right times. With you, nothing falls through the cracks. You are a wonderful human being. Gary

Class of 65 reunion 7-12-07
L to R: Raphael Poitra & Pete Gillis

Reply from Aggie Casavant (69): Fort Mill, SC

Hi Gary. Oh Wow! This last set of pictures were awesome…ALL OF THEM…The photos of Dunseith were “GREAT” it was fun looking at them, trying to remember what was what and who lived where. I’m a bit baffled what that white building north of the police station is? I’m still not through studying those pictures. Fun, fun…About the picture, is it Kenny Nerple or Rene? “Dats mo brotha” Rene for sure. I would really like to know what play or skit that was? It was pretty funny at any rate…The last picture with the family from the Philippines on that motorcycle reminded me of when we use to be able to talk our Dad to go on a Sunday drive with the whole family??? I’m not real sure how we managed,but I remember about one Sunday a month he would pack us all in and drive down to Yellow Corners and get dixie cups. It kinda reminds me of this reality show on T.V called, How’d They Do That??? Well thanks for all the great entertainment Gary! Aggie

Aggie & Jim, thank you so much for positively identifying your brother Rene in this picture. When this picture was first posted he was identified as Rene, then we thought it may be Kenny Nerpel and his true identity never was resolved. As far as the skit, I’m not sure what it was. Some of you guys in the skit/picture may remember. All I know is that this was our class of 65 freshman initiation. I remember well attending our initiation too, but I don’t remember this skit. This is a pretty sexy looking bunch of folks. Gary

Class of 65 freshman initiation in 1961:
Rene Casavant, John Awalt, Billy Grimme & Allen Richard

Reply to yesterday’s message from Don Aird: St Louis, MO

That last picture reminded me of the Vietnamese and their mo-peds. I remember at Tet, 1970, just north of Hue, watching a family of five riding to a celebration, all on a mo-ped dressed in their Sunday best. Another guy had two adult pigs wrapped in a bamboo blankets strapped to the back of his mo-ped. Each pig was facing the opposite direction at right angles to the bike.

 Message/picture from Dick Johnson (68): Dunseith, ND

Gary and Friends,

Back in the summer of ’62, Keith Smith (67) and I decided to get an
old Model A Ford coupe running. His older brothers, Ron (61) and Wayne
(61) had driven it to country school and had moved on to newer cars and
just let the old coupe sit in the weeds. Keith was 13 and I was 12 at
the time. We put an old battery in it and found several different size
wheels and tires, one 16″, one 19″, one 21″, and yet another, but they
all held air! We kept on tinkering until we got it going. The old
battery was nearly dead so we rolled it down the hill to get it started.
We always had to find a hill if we were going to shut it off. The
rattling old 4 banger motor had an updraft carburetor that leaked gas
all the time so we hung a coffee can under it and when the can got some
gas in it, we would pour it back into the gas tank! Every time we
stopped we had to be sure to shut the gas tank valve off or it would all
run on the ground. There was no fabric center in the roof so we found a
piece of plywood just a little bigger than the hole, and put it on top.
We drove big nails through the plywood and the tin and I bent them over,
inside the car, while Keith held the post maul on the nail heads. We
also didn’t have the bottom floor boards so had to keep our feet up on
the front floor boards and could watch the road go by under us! The seat
was shot so we threw the springs out and put two old car rims inside and
another board on top of them for us to sit on. It might have been a
death trap—but we were rolling! We terrorized the neighborhood with
that old car and now had a way to get back and forth between their farm
and ours, about two miles by road.Up until then, we had to walk or ride
horse about a mile or so around Horseshoe Lake through the trees and
across our pasture. We would take the old coupe out on their hay meadow,
just out of sight from the house, and wind her up and spin cookies on
the grass—of course, after the hay had been stacked. One evening we
were zipping across the meadow, and when Smitty cranked the steering
wheel to one side, we lost a front wheel! The hub dug into the soft
ground and we did a 180 so fast we nearly banged our heads together. The
wheel and tire headed across the meadow and went into the woods and
disappeared. We looked for it for a long time but finally gave up. Ron
found the wheel and tire years later when he was fixing fence deep in
the trees! It went a lot farther than we figured possible!One thing
about a Model A that is rather unique, is the speedometer. It has a
small window through which you can see the numbers that indicate your
speed. As you go faster the numbers move and it shows you how fast you
are going. Those cars were made to drive around 40-50 on the highway.
This old car had loose steering and bald tires and would dive from side
to side on the road and was not safe at 25-30, let alone 40-50. Well,
Smitty was used to the loose steering and we would take it down the big
hill, on the road between Smith’s and our place, as hard as it would
go— so we could see the numbers on the speedometer that had never seen
daylight before! The numbers–50 and 60–looked like new! One fateful
day later in the summer, Al and Audrey Smith, Keith’s parents were out
in their garden and heard us winding up the old Model A and spotted us
as we went flying down the hill about a half mile away. When we came
back into the yard later, driving nice and slow of course, I saw Al
coming toward us with ‘that look’ on his face. When we got out of the
car, he opened the hood and took out his jack knife and CUT the fan belt
and gave it a toss! I knew we were in deep! He told Keith, “You get in
the house!” He then turned to me and said, “You better get home!” YES
SIR, that’s where I’m headed! That was the last time the old Ford ran.
Looking back, I know we could easily have killed ourselves.We had it up
to 60-65 a few times! The old coupe is still sitting at Smith’s and we
still chuckle about our ‘land speed record’ attempt in the summer of
’62. For many years I have looked high and low for the picture of us
standing by Smitty’s Model A, but to no avail. I knew someone had taken
one and I had seen it long ago. My cousins, Doug and Brad Warcup, were
back that summer from California for a visit and were also in the
picture. I went through literally thousands of pictures and several
albums, but no luck. Last night I sat down at the computer to read the
days emails and what appears on my screen—-the picture I have searched
for for years! Wayne and Rosemary found it in some of Audrey’s old
photos and thought I might like to see it. I may have given it to Keith
when we were kids, or maybe this is the picture I saw, I can’t remember,
but this picture means more to me than anyone can imagine! That car,
that summer 47 years ago, was the very trigger that sent me into a
lifelong love of old cars! Thanks to Wayne and Rosemary Smith for making
my day—-year, actually! Thanks Gary!

Dick

( The picture is dated ’63, but wasn’t developed until later)

From L-R Doug Warcup, Brad Warcup, Keith Smith, Dick Johnson

July 2007
Rich Campbell(68)

July 2007
Deb Morinville Marmon (70) & Colette Pigeon Schimetz(70)

Folks, Have any of you had any contact with Randy Kelly? Being on

President George Bush’s Staff, he was kind of a hard guy to get in

contact with. Randy was also mayor of St. Paul, MN for a number of years too.

If any of you have contact with Randy, please let him know we’d love to

hear from him. Gary

Cousins Randy Kelly(69) & Donna LaCroix Allard (64)

Previously posted with message 104 on 5-16-08

Picture/Message from Dick Johnson (68):

Gary and Friends

The picture of my old pal, Rich Campbell, prompted me to send one from
51 years ago! The picture is of Patty Fassett, Rich, and me with our
bikes in 1957. The other photo is Patty and me at the farm in 1964 the
day I taught her to drive the old Ford tractor. I tried to teach her to
drive an old Studebaker the year before, but we had a little trouble
with some trees that were in the wrong place! I spent the rest of that
day teaching her autobody repair! Dad’s car, you know how it goes!

Dick

Patty Fassett (69), Dick Johnson (68) &
Rich Campbell (68)