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FROM CLASSMATES
Jane (Hoplin) Hansen, noting her life-long friendship with Jackie (Hanson) Kuhns, who’s passing was noted in the last letter.
“I grew up with Jackie in Glenwood, MN. We walked to kindergarten, were in band and choir, and then headed to Luther. We married men who were best friends from Glenwood and remained friends for life-until death.”
Mark Reisetter’s Question: “At UofN, did you get to know Professors Al Kamil (Biology) and Rick Bevins? As a trout guide here in MN, I had them hire me to show them our trout streams numerous times - I think Al was here six times.”
My Response: Those names are not familiar to me. I googled them and noticed that Al Kamil has a Wikipedia page, and Rick Bevins is currently Associate Vice Chancellor of Research. Quite lofty achievements!
Hal vonBohnhoff (Tucson, AZ). “March came in like a lion here with 3 inches of snow! It was mixed with rain so it may have been more but 3 inches is what stuck. There’s something surreal about cacti in the snow.”
Steve Bakke in response to the shirt picture: “My first choice was the 1913 U.S. golf Open Championship, but it was played in the summer in New York at ‘The Country Club.’ It was a novel and a movie (‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’) about young amateur Francis Ouimet defeating well known pro golfer Harry Vardon going head-to-head in the final round. Vardon is famous for developing the Vardon Golf Grip.” (Steve did realize November is not in the summer and eventually got the correct answer about the shirt picture.)
Dick Boyum: Since my last letter, Dick has shared a bit of humor (or, like me, at least an attempt at humor). WARNING: If you like good humor, you may want to SKIP this. In the interests of time - and space - I have converted Dick’s “joke” to what I consider the “Cliff Notes Version” (anyone remember using Cliff Notes?). Dick stopped at a brew pub wearing a Luther sweatshirt and a Luther baseball cap. There was no one else in the bar except the bartender. Dick ordered a beer. After taking a sip of beer he heard a voice say, “I really like that Luther sweatshirt you're wearing.” Dick took another sip of beer and the voice said, “I really like that Luther baseball cap you're wearing.” Once again, Dick looked around and saw no one besides the bartender. After a few more sips of beer, he heard the voice say, “For someone as old as you, you still look pretty good.” Dick finally said to the bartender “I think I'm a pretty stable person in spite of being a little quirky, but I've heard a voice speak to me three times and there's nobody here.” The bartender asked what the voice said. After Dick told him, the bartender pointed to the bowl of peanuts on the bar and said, “There’s your answer, the peanuts are … COMPLIMENTARY.” (I warned you.)
More seriously. I know many (most?) of us have positive memories of our time at Luther, some even despite difficult personal issues during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. I have come to understand, through an email exchange with Dick, that personal issues of sexual orientation and gender identity existed for some classmates, but were not widely discussed, acknowledged, or supported at Luther, or in general during the 1960s. Over the years since graduation, several classmates have shared with Dick how difficult those issues were for them during their time at Luther.
I thank Dick for his generosity in being open to conversation with any classmates who wish to take advantage of his counseling background and expertise in addressing those issues, or who just want to reconnect with Dick. Dick’s email address: BOYUMRK@uwec.edu.
If you have any information you would like to share with classmates, please let me know via email at wluckner2@unl.edu.
WARNAC WISDOM
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