From Marshall Awalt (51):

Lois yes I remember that crazy incident well when the geese chased us that night.It was a long walk and if memoir serves me right it was very late when we did get back to Dunseith.In those days I don’t think there was much planning ahead everything seemed spur of the moment some one came up with an idea and away we went.Life seemed so care free and everything so much fun.The car I had at the time was a 1932 Cheverlot coup with a rumble seat plus a spare tire in each front fender (which some nights we used both before getting home).We used to pack four people up front and lord only knows how many squeezed in the back.Most nights we just drove up to the San Haven where the road was a y in those days turned around then kicked it out of gear on the way down the hill to see if we could coast all the way down main street.Other times it was swing through the San Haven and down lovers lane to see who was there.

After reading your story I went looking for a picture of that old car but can’t find one.I was wondering if you might have one?I know we used that car in our freshman initiation.

Traveling to basketball games back in those days was an adventure as the weather in North Dakota could be bad and there was a caravan of cars to carry all the players and cheer leaders plus the fans.I don’t remember them ever canceling a game because of weather. one year during the tournament we had to stay in Rolette over night as a blizzard came up.No school buses in those just the good people like Glen Shelver.

Thanks for the memoirs

Marshall

Message from Rosemary (Wayne) Smith: Folks, this message leads into the one that follows.

From Dick Johnson (68): djcars@srt.com

Gary and Friends,

I’m sure most readers can remember the city skating rink on the south side of the old police station. We had a warming room on the south side of the fire hall with a plank floor and benches where we could put on our skates. I remember it was heated by a small propane heater and was fairly warm, especially compared to the below zero temps outside. A couple days back, we had a picture of the Bill Longie family posted on this site. One memory I have of the skating rink also includes a girl who was a Longie or a relative of the Longies. We were all skating one evening when she lost her balance near the ‘chain link’ fence that surrounded the rink. She reached for the pipe at the top of the fence just as she fell and missed the pipe but stuck the heavy wire fence top deep into her inner wrist! I remember her hanging there and screaming for help. We helped her up off the wire and got her shoes on so she could go home. It was a nasty injury and needed attention. I  wondered if this could have been the girl now identified as ‘Patty’ in the Longie photo? Ron Longie or Sharon Longie Dana, can you shed light on this one. The girl was about 15 when this happened in the 63-64 time frame. If I remember correctly, she was in Dunseith visiting family at Christmas. Thanks Gary!

Dick

From Dean Stickland (73):

Hi Gary,

I sure do appreciate your sustained efforts in providing this wonderful service to all of us.  I keep pretty quiet but enjoy the daily email.

There is one small correction I’d like you to make on the class list of ’73.  You have me listed as Stickland Dean/Roberta – my wife’s name is actually Marion.  I believe Deane Striker’s wife is Roberta, so you can just move her up the list a line.

Deane and I are cousins – his paternal grandfather (Doug’s dad) was Ermin Striker – a brother to my dad’s mother, May Striker Stickland (later Hughes).  Deane is one day older than I and neither of our mothers knew the other was in the hospital at the same time giving us similar names. We went through 12 grades of school together, fished and hunted together and in later years have shared a few phone calls around birthday time.

Like others, I enjoy reading stories of so many folks from the Dunseith area.  I suppose many of us could fill a book with short stories of our growing up years there.  There’s so many fond memories, like days with Dad on the mail route, summer days down at the “crick”, working at the Red Owl store, hunting, fishing, snowmobiling all over the hills . . . the list would get quite long.

Thanks to those who have a clear recollection of our younger days and are able and willing to share them with the rest of us.

Dean Stickland ’73

From Rod Hiatt (69): 

Good day Gary When I seen Dicks story about Little Chip, I had to tell you about our trip last week. Rick(my younger brother) and his wife and I left here with a load of colts heading for Tuscon on Thursday morning. We went to the edge of Denver and met up with Little Chip(Mike Johnson) and traded Ricks wife for him(Chip and Ricks wives are sisters) and headed south for Tuscon. Chip had already been up for about 20 hours but was completely wired for this trip. We drove all through the night, one guy sleeping and one guy was suppose to stay awake and keep the driver company.  Chip was looking like a bobble head doll with a broken recorder that worked part time, when his head would bang against the window he would wake up talking and seconds later he was back to the bobble head again. When daylight came it was Chips turn to drive and pulling 32 feet of trailer with livestock was something Chip hadn’t done much of the last 20 years as a Denver City Boy. If this were a test, the starting slow and stopping easy would have been failures, but the in between part was passing.(He still knows how to cuss out drivers who don’t drive to his liking)  He was Ricks extra eyes when the directions that were given were wrong(some people blamed me for that) and getting that big rig turned around in private drives, or doing a U-e on a busy Tuscon 4 lane road. We finally found our destination and unloaded half the colts there, rested 2 hours and headed to Las Vegas with the remainder. Just north of Tuscon it was Chips turn to drive again and Rick was sleeping, so there for it was my turn as co pilot and map reader. I am almost positive that I told Chip left, but anyway it was nice touring that little town before we found somewhere to turn around and go Northeast instead of Southwest. We made it to the west edge of Vegas at 2 a.m. unloaded, ate and slept until 6 before we headed back to Denver. Chip did remind us that a breakfast Burrito in New Mexico and 2 a.m. supper in Vegas just wasn’t exactly what he would consider a well balance diet. We thought that he was just a cheap date. As we got into the heavy Denver traffic that night, again Chip was the direction man and just about the time we were coming to a split, he falls to sleep and Rick goes left instead of right.  Well he finally got us steered the right direction and we did get 8 good hours of sleep at his house. The next morning Rick, his wife Susan and I headed back to Bottineau and with only 1 minor mistake, I’m sure that the atlas I was reading had mistakes, as the highway we were on was not suppose to take us to the main terminal of Denver International. People sure stared as we came zinging through with 32 feet of trailer. Sometimes wished I didn’t have Hiatt Farms plastered on the trailer. Anyway we traveled 4050 miles, went through 9 states, did it 4 days and Chip called and wanted to know when the next run would be. He either is lacking company from back home or he banged his head on the window harder than we thought. One thing was sure, having him on this trip was a real blast as he hasn’t changed a bit from when he left here over 20 years ago and I don’t know if we could have done it without him. So if you go through Denver you need to give Chip a call, and he will show you small town hospitality in the big city.

Rod, I found a Dunseith article in one of the 1965 “Turtle Mountain Star” achieves, on line, that will be of interest to many.  In that article you are listed several or more times as Roddy.  I did not realize that you went by Roddy back then. In this article you played the part of the father and your sister Vonnie the part of a bride in a skit you guys put on.  Does that ring any bells or bring back any memories to you or anyone else? You and Vonnie also played a duet. I will be posting that article in a few days.  Gary

Provided by Neola Kofoid Garbe: 

ALLEN MORIN, 54, Dunseith, died Oct. 30 in his home. Funeral Thursday, 10 a.m., St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, Belcourt. Visitation Wednesday, 6 p.m., with a rosary service at 8 p.m., both in the church. (Elick Funeral Home, Rolla)

RAYMOND POITRA, 70, St. John, died Tuesday in a St. Paul, Minn., hospital. Funeral Monday, 10 a.m., St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Belcourt. Visitation Sunday, 6 p.m., with a rosary service at 8 p.m., both in the church. (Elick Funeral Home, Rolla)

Picture provided byLaRose Ketterling (46):

                                   Dunseith High School Class of 1975