Hello Gary and Everyone! Thanks to Ivy for sharing that e-mail! I was there a few years ago and also can say it was and is very moving to be there in their presence. Thanks to everyone who shares all these stories. Although I was only in DHS for the last 3 years of high school, reading all these stories and memories is very  enjoyable. Especially yours Dick Johnson. Your Dad had a big impact in my life the short time I knew him.Just thought i would let you know..Thanks Gary for all you do keeping this lifeline flowing for all of us to enjoy.Thanks again,Bill Krause(74)

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She is doing a little better. The skin grating on her
leg is the most painful. They did have to put a plate
in her pelvis. She also had a whole in her bladder.
One ankle dislocated and the other more severly hurt.
From what i gather they have both been fixed. They are
not sure how long her stay in Rochester will be but
they do know the stay in mInot could be very lenghty.
She is a very lucky woman!!! Again I appreciate all
your emails and prayers.

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Hey Ginger,

I remember Lorna Doone and also Hiedi being read in Mrs. Conroy’s class.  I was totally fascinated — and like you, still vividly remember the stories.  I also loved her class because she had so many art projects (just last month my mom gave me a table cloth that I’d painted for her in Mrs. Conroy’s class).    Mrs. Conroy let me draw big pictures all over the blackboards and praised me for them.  I would have to say that Mrs. Conroy was my first art teacher.  It’s wonderful to read comments from all of the people she influenced. I wish she was alive today so I could tell her that I was (unbelievably) just awarded the largest monumental sculpture commission ever offered in Santa Fe, New Mexico….go figure.  You can’t underestimate the power of one dedicated teacher.

Colette

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Colette, Can you please fill us in on the monumental sculpture commission that you were awarded? Gary

Folks, I found an exhibit of Colette’s that I have pasted on the bottom of this message.  Gary

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From Mel Kuhn (70): 

Howdy Gary & All,

As being a very shy child and teenager I tended to kind of stay in the corner and kept a low profile throughout my school years so I don’t have [don’t remember, did someone mention huffing a lot of gold spray paint?] many tall tales to regale. Although I do seem to remember a small fire in shop class one day. It seems that Mark Schimetz wouldn’t believe me that liquid gas doesn’t burn, it’s the fumes that burn. Well for some reason or another [did someone say something about huffing gold spray paint?] we had dumped some gas on the ground right outside the shop door and we decided to test out my theory. I quickly threw a match into the puddle of gas and out it went. Mark must have threw his match a little slower and low and behold we had fire, we had a lot of fire. I can’t remember the rest of the details [did someone mention gold spray paint] maybe someone can fill us in. We must have gotten into some kind of trouble, but maybe seeing as this was the only such incedent that I was ever involved in———–what was that about gold spray paint??

Mel Kuhn[70]

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Dear Gary,

    In 1955, a new addition was put onto the old white two story school house.  It was an Assembly Hall with classrooms extending to the east forming two rows of rooms with a hallway down the center.  It was completed at the end of the class of 1956′s Junior year.  We were planning the prom at this time and Mr. Conroy and Mr. Jerstad gave their permission for us to hold our prom in the Large Assembly Hall.  I don’t remember much about the decorations, I do remember having records as our music.  Can anyone else remember more then I do.  It seemed like a huge addition at the time, this was the first Home Ec. Rooms we’d ever had and our first home ec. class with Pat Ward as our home ec. teacher.  At the end of our Senior year she was expecting a baby so didn’t return to Dunseith.  She taught us to knit, and insisted that we pluck our eye brows, and shave our legs.  She complained that altho we were all able to cook we weren’t much for having centerpieces on the tables, etc.  She wouldn’t take into consideration that our home ec. class was first thing in the morning after Marching Band Practice which didn’t give us much time to be decorating the breakfast table!  I did appreciated learning to knit and sew.

Bonnie Houle Class of 1956

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From Dick Johnson (68): 

Gary and Friends 

Back in the mid 60s, I wanted to hunt deer one fall but had no deer
rifle. Dad didn’t have a gun big enough for deer and he didn’t care that
much for hunting anyway. I decided I was going to buy a deer rifle
myself, so I went up to the hardware and they didn’t have anything I
could afford. I went across to Gambles and told Art Henning I needed to
buy a deer rifle. He showed me what he had and the cheapest one was
around $80. I said, “Art, I don’t have anywhere near that much money.”
He looked at me for a while and said he might have something that would
be more in my price range. He reached in behind a counter and pulled out
an old German Mauser 8MM with wood nearly to the end of the barrel! He
said the guy traded it in because it kicked too hard! I told him I
wasn’t scared of that and asked him how much he wanted. Art said I could
have it for $15. Now that’s more like it! I was aiming at the picture on
the wall and planning my best shot, when Art said, “now I suppose you’ll
need some ammo.” Well, yeah I suppose! He set a box of shells on the
counter and then got this sly grin on his face! Again I said, “how much
for the shells?” Art said, ” 8 bucks!”  ART!–
$15 for the gun and $8 for the shells??! Oh well, I bought it and shot
my deer. Now for the rest of this story. The next year I traded
something to a friend and got a Winchester 30-30, so the old Mauser was
sort of extra. Dan Bogus gave me $20 for it and now he was the proud 15
year old owner! We always went over to Boguslawski’s right after school
everyday and watched the Three Stooges for a half hour before basketball
practice. Alice always had a large coffee can full of cookies waiting on
the footstool for us. She and Ed were at the school doing the cleaning
by then so we were there alone. One night Dan came in from school and
went into his room and came out with the Mauser rifle and then went down
in the basement. About half way through the Stooges, there was the
loudest BANG I have ever heard. John and I both jumped off the couch ran
for the basement door. The entire house was full of dust from the
concussion. Every seam in the sheetrock on the ceiling sifted out dust!
When we opened the door to the basement you could hardly see for the
dust. John went down first with me on his heels. John fell down and so
did I! Dan had set a pop can on the step and shot at it. The cellar was
dirt walled and there was dirt behind the steps. This is where Dan had
been shooting his .22 and I guess he thought he could do the same with
the 8MM!! The reason we fell down was that Dan shot a little low and
blew one tread clear out of the stairs! I remember both the relief of
finding Dan, OK, and then the tongue lashing John gave Dan, there in the
dust! Just kids doing what kids do while they are trying to grow up in
old Dunseith! Again, thanks Gary!

Dick

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Gary,

Was Mrs. Masvelten, Gladys Masvelten?  Did she have a daughter named Marjetta?  If so, she was my fourth grade teacher in Bottineau.

Thanks.

Neola

To Ginger:

You are on target with our second grade experiences.  Angela and I transferred form Notre Dame Academy in Willow City into 2nd grade.  First grade was pretty advanced.  We were writing long hand–no printing–by mid year, and had phonics coming out our years.  In 2nd grade I was relegated to “rhythm sticks.”  We were lucky that first grade was so tough.  We were almost ready to go to 3rd grade when we got to Dunseith.

Notre Dame was a Catholic boarding school, and the reason some of us went was because in Currie Township all that was available to us was summer school.  That is why I was sent to boarding school.  There were five in our first grade class:  Rene Casavant, Angela, Joanne Houle, Stephen Berube and me.  Second grade was in the same room.  Some of the second graders included Doreen Houle and Joe and Gerald Casavant.  The teacher was a wonderful nun, Sister Albert.

Now the nun that supervised the boys dorm ( Gary Houle was one of my dorm mates.) was another story.  Sister Hector’s wake up call involved a one-by-four.  That is how I became a morning person.  It was pounded into me.  Of course waking up to find that the toilet bowls had frozen over helped us wake up too.

Interesting how we all survived.

Allen