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July 2003.  

Dear Classmates,

And you thought these "corny" E mails would stop after the reunion? I am sitting at my computer "grooving" to the tunes on Bob Voge's reunion CD. A few important items:

1. First of all, plan on coming to the next two reunions. The 45th will be in Harlan the summer of 2008 and the 50th will be at Homecoming the fall of 2013. Save those weekends! I'll try to have the exact dates to you no later than the November or December before.

2. Keep checking the website. www.HarlanCyclones.com. Pictures of the reunion will be posted by our "webmaster" (Al Burchett) over the next few weeks (months?) as they come in. Please send in a very brief "biography" (if you haven't already) to classof63@bigalb.com or to me and I will send them on. You can check to see what you classmates have been up to by going to the website and clicking on "visit the yearbook" and the clicking on "bio page." Pictures of the reunion should be found by clicking on "visit the yearbook" and then "select a page."

3. I will be sending mailing addresses (and E-mail addresses) of classmates to all of you by E-mail very shortly.

4. If you come across any classmates who are not on the list, please get me their address.

5. If your mailing or E-mail address changes, please let me know so we don't have trouble finding you for the 2008 reunion.

6. My mailing and E-mail address will be changing between now and 2008 and I will notify you of changes, but just in case, you can always pass on your change in address to Michelle (Markham) Mores at Click here to email Michelle. and 4026 Ridgeway Drive, Harlan, IA 51537. The reunion was a great success. Please read on for a "blow by blow " account. Thanks to all of you who made the effort to come. I can only hope that each of you had half as much fun as I did. Thanks to Al Burchett for the web site. Thanks to Michelle (Markham) Mores for making all of the arrangements for meals etc. Thanks to Steve Mores for taking our class picture. Thanks to Bob Voge for providing all of us with our CD's (I've received lots of appreciative comments from those attending about how much this meant to them.) For those of you who didn't come to the reunion and wonder who Dennis Larsen is and why he wasn't in the year book----Dennis moved away from Harlan in 1957 and has maintained very close ties with the community and our class. It was great to have him and his wife, Diana, join us.

Friday night began with our first meal (one of many!) at Hansen's Coffee House on the north side of the square (I think this building used to be a paint store when we graduated). Bob Voge, Jim Myrtue, Bob Schwarte, Randy Kelley, Michelle (Markham) and Steve Mores, Dennis and Diana Larsen, John and Stella McKeown, Charlene (Schnack) and Judd Freeman, Connie Christiansen (Klein) were present. Linda (Brouhard) Pearson joined us later. We adjourned to the Harlan Country Club for after dinner conversation. It ended up being an evening of "true confessions" as some of us related stories about what we had done in high school that we shouldn't have been doing. Some of us more perfect classmates were "shocked." If you want to find out the real "dirt" about what your classmates were up to in the early 60's you will have to come to the next reunion. It was a great evening. On Saturday, many of our classmates spent the day with their families and, for those who didn't have commitments, we had a day full of "events." The morning began "bright and early" with breakfast at Mickels. We had a good turnout. There was an issue with Steve Mores refusing to share a very delicious looking fruit roll (the size of a dinner plate). I think by Sunday morning, when the reunion was winding down, most of us had forgiven Steve. After breakfast we were all supposed to meet in front of Marty Burchett's womens' clothing store (the Fourth Generation) at 10:30 to begin a tour of the downtown square and then a tour of our family neighborhoods. I had visions of an "intellectual" historical and architectural tour of the downtown buildings; we had brochures produced by the Chamber of Commerce for the walking tour. Anyway, my first mistake was meeting in front of a women's' clothing store on the Saturday of Crazy Days. By 11:00 or 11:30 I had gotten the group away from the racks of women's' clothing and over to the site of the old Polar Club on the north side of the square to begin the "tour." The first sign of "trouble" was when the tour first started and Mary (Christensen) Anderson asked when and where we were we having lunch (she had missed the breakfast at Mickels). By the time we got to the site of Farner's Department Store the conversation had degenerated to the girls recalling specific slumber parties that occurred over 40 years ago (these were some pretty great stories!) and the guys trying to remember where the car dealerships had been. We did eventually make it to Joe's (a really nice restaurant on the east side of the square) for lunch. John and Stella McKeown, Mary (Christensen) Anderson, Mardi (Andreasen) Allen, Charlene (Schnack) and Judd Freeman, Mary Louise (Wittrup) Landfried, Randy Kelley, Jan and Bob Bertch, Dennis and Diana Larsen were on the tour at this time and Lorna (Boardman) and Dave joined us briefly at lunch. Please forgive me if I have forgotten anyone. Lunch was great. Mary Louise had brought pictures of her family and some great pictures of some of our class from early grade school (we sure were some cute kids!) It was at this point I wished I had asked everyone to bring pictures to the reunion. Oh well. The tour was to continue after lunch. Two of our group (I will not mention who) had to leave to take naps to prepare for the big event. I do plan on having "designated nap time" for the next reunion. There was a great picture of four of our "girls" sitting on the back of Marty Andreasen's red convertible (I hope this picture will end up on the web site later so you can all see it). We completed the tour of the square; total tour time was two to three hours. It seemed that in front of every store there was a story to share or we would run into someone from Harlan we knew; I think Randy Kelley knows everyone in Harlan. By the time we completed the tour of the square the group had dwindled to the Freemans, McKeowns, Mary Louise and Randy. The loyalty of this small group was touching. Anyway, we marched on. We walked the neighborhoods north of the square, west to New Park School, south to Durant, west to 12th, south to Baldwin and back to downtown. We had a great time remembering who lived in which homes, remembering our parents and our friend's parents, and recalling stories from grade school on. Our "collective memory" was pretty good. We had meant to also visit old Laurel school and the neighborhoods south of Baldwin but time ran out; it was about 3:30 PM and we had to get ready for the evening's event. What a night! We met at the Harlan Country Club at 6:00 PM. It was quite a feeling to be in one room with 36 of my classmates, some of whom I had not seen for 40 years. We all did a pretty good job recognizing each other. One of the highlights of the evening for me was having Georgia (Lytle) Jackson reminding me of a date we had in high school when I asked her to a movie and took her to the "The Ten Commandments." How cool was I? Dinner was served at 7:30. We had 36 classmates with a total of 53, counting guests. Here is the list of classmates attending (I have not included married names) Kathy Anderson, Kristine Anderson, Mardi Andreasen, Bob Bertsch, Lorna Boardman, Linda Brouhard, Al Burchett, Mary Christensen, Sandy Christensen, Connie Christiansen, Don Engemann, Judd Freeman, Charlene Schnack, Gene Graves, Bryce Hansen, Phil Hansen, Donna Holt, Claudia Carmichael, Rusty James, Randy Kelley, Dennis Larsen, Georgia Lytle, John McKeown, Jim Myrtue, Julie Nelson, Kathy Rasmussen, Joan Rau, Judy Juel, Bob Reid, Bob Schwarte, Jeannie Sisson, Bob Voge, Ann Ward and Mary Louise Wittrup. How about that for a wild and crazy group?!! The food was great. We had a choice of prime rib or chicken Alfredo and the choice was more than some classmates could handle. It took forever for some to make up their mind and I had to keep "nagging" some classmates by E-mail and phone messages up to the last minute--chicken or beef? You know who you were. You know, some times you just need to "step up to the plate" and make these decisions, come what may. Seating at the banquet was "open". I had thought about different seating options, like separating guys and girls, or having special tables for band, football, cheer leading, etc or having spouses of classmates sitting at special "boredom" tables, but the open seating seemed to work out ok. It was good to get reacquainted with the classmates at our table. The "bachelor" table was next to ours. Bob Voge, Jim Myrtue and Randy Kelley had come without their wives. Bob Schwarte sat with them with his guest, Terry. I felt sorry for Terry since she was the only woman at the table and I had heard some of the stories these guys were telling Friday night. If you are good enough to come back to the next reunion, Terry, I'll seat you with a more "sophisticated" group. After dinnner, Linda (Brouhard) Pearson led us in "Name that Tune" (I was batting "zero" on that one) and then trivia. Does anyone remember what high school teacher was called "chicken legs," or what female teacher had a bald spot on the back of her head, or what teacher had "silver hair, a sweet smile and not a brain in her head?" We were a cruel group this night; it was important to be there to defend yourself from the way every one remembered you! (It will be important for all of us to attend the next reunion to protect ourselves from Linda's trivia game and the memory police). Who had the most children? (I think this was Connie (Christiansen) Klein with 5.) Who had the most grandchildren? (Randy Kelley with 9). Who came the farthest; Randy Kelley tried to steal this one since he had never been to a reunion before but the class decided the question meant actual physical distance and the honor went to Mary (Christensen) Anderson who came from Seattle. Some other long distance "reunionists" were Bob Schwarte, Linda (Brouhard) Pearson and the Reids from California, Randy Kelley and Bob Voge from Florida, Mary Louise (Wittrup) Landfried from Cambridge, MA, Dennis Larsen from Flatrock, NC, Bob Bertsch from Willis, MI, and Judd and Charlene Freeman from Silverthorne, CO. As the evening proceeded and we reflected on the day--the day we had spent with our families or on the "tour" remembering our parents, our teachers and the town we grew up in, we all sensed the importance all these people and our community had in determining who we are today. Judy (Juel) Reid expressed how fortunate we were to have come from a small town most eloquently in poem at the end of the evening and this was one of the several times the familiar lump came to the throat over this very special weekend.

Before the evening ended, Steve Mores got us together for our traditional class picture on the steps of the dining room of the Harlan Country Club. There was some "fighting" amongst ourselves about whether we should be grouped according to age? height? sex? Jim Myrtue wanted to be next to Al Burchett since he thought this made him look thinner. OK, so some of us haven't completely grown up yet! The evening ended early for some of us who had stayed up long past our usual 8:30 PM bedtime and others, who had had an afternoon nap, partied much later. Sunday morning was our last time together--breakfast at Mickels. The turnout was incredible--three long tables of great looking members of the Class of 63 and some of their spouses. I think this was the world's longest breakfast (9:00 AM to almost noon). It was hard to say goodby and accept the fact the entire event was over. What a great weekend! For those of you who attended, please feel free to send along your "stories" of the reunion to Al or I and Al can include them on the website.

So long until 2008,
John