WHAT’S NEW WITH YOU???
The Bismarck High School Class of 1981 monthly update
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide a positive, safe and supportive environment for all classmates in which we can share our personal lives. The staff reserves the right to publish only information that we feel is within the supportive spirit of this newsletter. Information which we feel is intended to be negative, class polarizing, mean-spirited will not be published at this site. That is not the avenue we want to take with this newsletter. The staff.
Volume 59, January 2006
Happy 5th year Anniversary to all of you!
This all began in January of 2001, who would have guessed we would still be here in 2006! Awesome! It's only because you continue to support us with your news and your stories that we have continued to thrive and survive. We are a very lucky class to have such a commitment to one another!
Dan, Wendy and myself will hopefully be here as along as there is a need. We look forward to working with you in the days and years to come as we all continue to move forward together.
Have a great winter!! Lauri, Dan, and Wendy
Name: Phillip Case
Career/Occupation: M.D.-Psychiatrist
Home: Utica, New York
Family: divorced
Greatest Accomplishments: Getting through medical school and paying off my
school loans!
People whom you admire and why: The Dalai Lama, as he is selfless, constantly works
to help others. Forgave Mao, who stole his country and tortured his people. Monty Roberts,
who started the humane way of starting and training horses, eliminating the abuse. Ghandi,
for freeing India using non-violence. Buddha, who gave up wealth and power to find a way
to freedom and liberation and then taught for years to others.
What do you have in your pockets: Too many keys! Being a shrink you have many
locked doors everywhere, which need keys.
Fantasy (or reality) job: Running a horse farm.
Latest book you've read: Right now I''m reading "Digital Fortress" by Dan
Brown. I love his books. Can't put them down. Before that "The Man Who Listens to
Horses" by Monty Roberts-amazing story.
Favorite music/musicians: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; Gordon Lightfoot; R.E.M;
Simon and Garfunkel; Willie Nelson; Dan Fogelberg; Joanie Mitchell; Nora Jones; Cat
Stevens; John Denver.
Recommended movies: Gladiator; Million Dollar Baby; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon;
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; The Horse Whisperer; The Matrix; The Big Lebowski; Almost
Famous; My Cousin Vinny; Unforgiven; Slap Shot.
Favorite cities and why?: New York City, I lived there for 14 years and there is so
much to see and do. It is one of a kind. London, a more civilized version of New York with
clean tube (subway) and so much history. Innsbruck, Austria, had a great time there for a
couple days many years ago, skied on the glacier and got drunk with some friendly locals
in a small pub!
Beijing, loved seeing the Forbidden City, the lama and white cloud temples and the great
wall. also they have a great zoo and aquarium-hand fed the elephants.
Where have you traveled?: I haven't traveled much due to being broke in medical
school and residency but I've been to Cancun, London, Beijing, India, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, Montreal, and many places in the U.S. I liked San Francisco, the
Oregon and Washington coast, Yellowstone, Miami, Washington D.C., Boston, Vermont, skiing
near Denver, briefly in Nashville and Lexington, Kentucky.
Favorite place to vacation? Any place you would recommend?: I just got certified
for scuba diving last year and though I have never been there I want to go the great
barrier reef off Australia for diving, sounds incredible. I loved London although I didn't
see much of it as I was there for a Buddhist empowerment for the medicine Buddha.
Innsbruck Austria. NYC.
I also want to go to Nepal next when the violence dies down. China was fantastic,
definitely see the great wall and climb it!
Favorite foods: I'm a vegetarian now so ice cream, pumpkin pie, veggie burgers
(boca), pizza with veggie pepperoni's, veggie turkey dinner with dressing, cranberries,
tirimasu, some Indian food (aloo gobi, kadi pakora, mattar paneer, naan), chocolate chip
cookies, brownies, kuchen.
Hobbies/second career: Only in the last year I started scuba diving and riding
horses. so I'm a rookie at both. but I'd love to do either as a career. I'm currently
buying a quarter horse right now called "smoke" if he passes his vet check! I
was also doing kung fu and tai chi down in New York City for some years. I'll probably go
back to doing tai chi when I finish doing my 100,000 prostrations for my Buddhist
practice. hah!
What if any community service organizations are you involved with?: Well my
job is sort of like that as I work for the state taking care of very sick psychiatric
patients. I donate to Green Peace, Amnesty International, the Utica Zoo, the Red Cross,
the Democrats, and my Buddhist groups.
Pet peeves: Senseless paperwork at work, my cat waking me in the morning with head
butts in the face!
Memories of Bismarck (good ones): The parties I went to, but I don't remember them
too well. hah! Playing golf at Riverwood and Tom O' Leary, playing pinball at Midway Lanes
(is that the right name?), making pizzas at the south A & B pizza, playing basketball
and poker with friends. Climbing out under the Missouri River Bridge and sitting on the
concrete piling with
a friend, dinners at the east 40.
Memories of BHS (good ones): Had a great time on the band tours, going to all of
the football, basketball, and hockey games, getting thrown out of sociology when we
couldn't stop laughing.
Who were some of the people you hung out with?: Steve Durow, Keith Remmich,
Brad Wolfer, Jim Farnsworth, Jeff Siefert, Greg and Bonnie Adolf, Janet Barth, Teresa
Schneider, Mary and Lucy Schmidt, Mike Ehrmantraut, John Western, Ross Tolstad, others
too. I knew people from all of the clicks.
Were you involved in any extracurricular activities, if so what?: I was in band
playing trombone (not very well) hah! Also I was briefly on the golf team. I quit that
though when I started working at Hardees, then A & B Pizza. I also was running on my
own back then every day.
Favorite teachers at BHS and why: I can't remember them too well! I liked the
basketball coach, was his name Gorder? I really don't remember them too well. it's all a
blur, locked in the unconscious I guess! You'd have to ask me college professors! I'm
getting too old.
Favorite high school hangouts: Playing pinball at midway lanes, working at A &
B Pizza, playing poker and drinking beer with friends, going to the wood house for a
burger and fries, Riverwood golf course, parties at the desert (except the night I got
busted) hah!
Here’s looking at you babe!!
Wanted you to all know that we have some new pictures on our Kodak gallery site. Sheri Halbakken has been busy uploading old photos from junior high and high school-yikes! Those photos can be found in an album called Wachter Junior High Memories. Scott Carlson, also sent in a recent family picture, Paige Jones has a grad. picture on the site, I uploaded our new family photo, Sherri (Nordstrom Stastny) sent in a photo of your daughter Emily's hockey team, and Leroy and Brandy (Brenda Jundt) Gross sent in their family picture, along with the following message; "We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Our daughters are Jessica age 21 attends Minnesota State University, Moorhead and Sara age 20 attends Jamestown College." The new family pictures can be found in an album called "Classmates, 2005".
REUNION NEWS!
Wow, our 25th is here and it's time to celebrate! Our 25th reunion is
planned for June 30th and July 1st, in Bismarck. If we have your mailing address, you will
receive some information via postal mail by late January, early February. If we do not
have your information, or it has not been verified, please contact us via this web site.
See ya in 2006!
CONGRATULATIONS
Paige Jones and her significant other, Darrell Allen, have announced that they are making it official! They became engaged Halloween weekend and have begun to plan a summer wedding for July 1st. Paige promises to keep us posted!
The story below is all about Todd Zarfos and a wonderful
accomplishment that he had at work! Enjoy!
Bismarck native part of record
By KATIE BROWN
as reported in the Bismarck Tribune on November 12, 2005
A former Bismarck man experienced the dates of Nov. 9 and 10, 2005, twice. Todd Zarfos
wasn't doing time-travel, but he was a part of a crew responsible for breaking a world
record in another kind of travel.
Zarfos is the chief project engineer on the Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner, which on Thursday
broke the world record in aviation distance.
"When we left, it was the ninth," Zarfos said. "Then we traveled into the
10th, back into the ninth and landed on the 10th."
The 777-200LR left Hong Kong Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. local time and arrived in London
Thursday around 1:30 p.m. local time. The plane traveled east to London crossing the
Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean.
The plane traveled 11,664 miles in 22 hours and 43 minutes.
The previous record was 9,420 miles set by the 747-400 in 1989. That plane traveled from
London to Sydney. The 777-200ER surpassed that record in 1997, flying 10,823 miles from
Seattle to Kuala Lumpur.
However, the 1989 record was maintained because the 777-200ER was classified in a lighter
weight category for its record attempt.
During the flight, the crew experienced two sunrises. Zarfos said he slept less than two
hours during the entire trip.
"Setting a record like this is a pretty big deal," he said. "Time went much
quicker than I expected."
The crew of 35 flew more than halfway around the world. Nine pilots, a flight attendant,
members of the media and representatives from airlines scheduled to receive the 777-200LR
Worldliner were on board. Also on board was a representative from the National Aeronautics
Association who verified that the record was broken.
Zarfos said it wouldn't have been necessary to have nine pilots, but they wanted to be a
part of the event and ensure the pilots had the rest they needed while in flight.
The chief pilot on the flight was Frank Santoni, and Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann served as
project leader.
Darcy-Hennemann said the flight went smoothly.
"The performance of the plane during the record flight was exceptional," she
said. "It took the support of a great team of people to make this historic flight a
success."
As chief engineer on the project, Zarfos was responsible for overseeing all of the
engineering on the 777-200LR Worldliner, both systematic and structural.
He said he was not at all apprehensive when the plane took off.
"I had complete faith in the aircraft and crew," Zarfos said. He said there were
no mechanical problems and aside from some slight turbulence over the oceans, there were
no weather-related problems.
"We couldn't have asked for a better flight," Zarfos said.
He said he felt a lot of pride in seeing a project he had worked so extensively on end in
success.
"I've put my heart and soul into this for a long time," he said. "It's
great to see it work out."
Zarfos credits much of his success on this project to his midwestern upbringing.
"I feel lucky and blessed," he said. "The Midwest value system, work ethic
and my great family life gave me what I needed to succeed in this."
Zarfos' family moved to Bismarck when he was 10. He graduated from Bismarck High School is
1981 and attended the University of Minnesota where he got his degree in electrical
engineering. He got his master's degree from the University of Washington and joined
Boeing after college. He married Tammie Doll of Mandan and the couple have two children,
Joshua, 19, and Nicole, 16.
"I want kids in North Dakota to know they can accomplish things like I did,"
Zarfos said.
Zarfos' mother, Bernie Zarfos, still lives in Bismarck. His wife's parents, Chris and
Diane Doll, live in Mandan.
"It's a big honor for a Bismarck boy to reach something like this," Bernie
Zarfos said.
She said Todd climbed the ladder at Boeing quickly after graduating college.
"All I can say is I'm just so proud of him," she said. "I wish his dad
could be around to share in this dream."
Zarfos' father, Roger Zarfos, died in 1987. Bernie Zarfos said her son always has been
intelligent and motivated to get things done.
Now that the record has been broken, the 777-200LR will be delivered to commercial
airlines. The first one will be delivered to Pakistan International Airlines in early
2006. More than 700 have been ordered throughout the world by 43 different airlines.
In service, the 777-200LR will be able to carry 301 passengers and baggage up to 9,420
miles.
LIFE HIGHLIGHTS
"I'm now settled into my new life here in east-central Alabama. It is still a bit of a shock but I keep finding (and trying too) find things I like about the move. I am loving the cool fall weather for a change. We are adding on to our house, almost doubling the size so that has been keeping me busy, I'm the general contractor for the job. I also try to pick-up an odd job here and there for my property service business. My son, Peter is in K-5 and really likes his school. It's a small private school called Springwood. He is making lots of friends. My daughter is still at home with me most days, learning to drive nails (in the dirt) and charm the workers. Valerie is working a few days a week back as a nurse. She has been out of the regular work-a-day world for almost 6 years now so that is taking some adjustment. Church also keeps us pretty busy. This is the bible belt so there is always something church related to attend. All and all it is working out nicely. Although, calling myself retired from the military doesn't feel right for two reasons, first, I don't feel old enough to be saying I'm retired and second, I've been working more hours and days now than I did when I was active duty." I'm hoping we can have a 25th reunion, I'll try my best to be there if it happens. Hope everyone enjoys the holidays and maybe we can get together with some of them next summer. Take care and keep up the good work. Jennifer (Haines) Skarr is a home school mom. She was wondering if anyone else from our class is home schooling their children? If you are, let me know, and I will pass your e-mail address onto Jennifer. Curt and Denice (Rebel) Friez sent us the following life updated. For those of you who love college ball, this is for you! Keep a watch out, you may be watching Curt and Denice's son play in the near future. "Just thought I would drop you a line and let you know we are all doing fine up here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I guess the big news for us (Denice and I) is that Nicholas Friez our eldest son is receiving a lot of interest from several Universities to come and play football for them. Nick has been playing varsity football since he was a freshman and has received several awards during his high school career. Nick has also attended the Michigan Wolverine Football Camps and the NDSU Bison Football Camp this past summer. Nick received the most improved lineman award as a sophomore and this year he received "Honorable Mention for both Offense and Defense in the All Eastern Upper Peninsula Conference". Nick was also named the "Offensive Player of the Year", a great honor for a lineman. Nick led his team in defensive tackles in numerous games and dominated
the offensive line with his 6'4" 330 lb. frame. Denice and I are extremely proud of
Nick. He is considering coming back to attend college and play football in North Dakota. I
will let you know later which University he picks. Liz (Wicks) Kramer also sent in a life updated! She has been busy with a new house, and praying for the safety of family members who are headed for Afghanistan. "I have a few things to report. First, we have moved to a new home, just busy, busy trying to finish the two lower levels, seems like we will never be finished. Also, my brother, Tim, and nephew, Josh, are both in the same National
Guard unit based out of Bismarck and have been deployed to Afghanistan for a year. The big
send off was a few weeks ago. They will be in Fort Lewis Washington until March and then
go to Afghanistan. They are in the 188th Sec-For. Any prayers would be greatly appreciated
for their safe return, and of course for all the other soldiers serving in the middle
east. Sherri (Nordstrom) Stastny gave us a quick update on
life at her house!
ON THE MOVE Julie (Mjolsness) Lindstrom is on the move! Here is her update. "Just an update...we have moved to a diff. house in St. Louis Park. We’re excited since we'll. finally have more space and it’s in a very quiet neighborhood one block away from a Nature Center where we like to do hiking, snow shoeing, etc. We'll. also two blocks from the Jr. High where our boys will eventually go...no Jr. High bus ride, yeah! Andrew is still attending the same grade school and Joseph will soon be there, only two more years to go. We are busy unpacking boxes and pulling carpet, but hey, the tree is up and the house is decorated! Hope all is well with you! Merry Christmas" Phil Case has also made a move also and he made a job change! He is now living in Utica, NY and working for the Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center.
MEDICAL UPDATES Kaye (Bibelheimer) Knudson had a little health scare in Oct. Here is her story: "Oct. 27th, I just got out of the hospital after a 6 day stay. I got STONED that is Kidney stoned and to top it off a very bad infection that was almost as bad painful as the stone. I had a stone of 1 centimeter (pretty big I'm told) . I got out on Tuesday and Just stopped up at my office to do a few things, then home to rest. Took a lot out of me and recovery is slow but sure! Keep me in your prayers as I have a stint in my kidney, in order to help it pass. They had to use a radioactive device to bust the stone up as much as they could to help it pass. I told the gals at work I've been stoned, pulverized and strained. Hoping to get the stint out before we leave for Mexico on the 11th of November. Glad it didn't happen in Mexico.. I probable have died."
"Michael is at about the same shape he was when we were home in July. He can walk slowly and uses a cane some of the time. He tires very quickly and his leg is still somewhat swollen and painful (he broke it in 13 places). He has minimal use of his left arm and he has medical problems off and on. Basically, he can get around and take care of himself at a minimal level, but he is weak and has on-going secondary health problems." . Dorothy (Reisenauer) Kosse is also recovering from surgery that she had done in Nov., here is her update."…I am going in for knee surgery on Monday the 7th. I have a couple meniscus tears in mine left knee. I hope to only be laid up about 7 to 10 days per the doctor. This is a laproscopic surgery." Update: Dorothy did great and is completely back to normal!
Hurricane Updates Myra Kordonowy LeCaptain and Scott and Connie (Hoovestal) Beierle had a hurricane scare in Oct. here are their updates "We are OK. For us here in Central Florida, Hurricane Wilma was not so bad. Winds were around 60- 65mph. A lot of rain also, but our property (just over 2 acres) drains very well. Our neighbors had a lot of standing water, and we seem to never have that...we are blessed. Our biggest challenge throughout the hurricane deal was battling with our insurance company. We are finally close to getting to some sort of an agreement or settlement for our structural damage from last year's hurricane Charles. One year and 3 months later, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. It was all worth it, in the end, the inside and outside of our house will be like new, and everything will be up to Hurricane code and status. Just listening to the news about the Tornadoes that went through KY and Tenn., killing, and injuring too many lives, helps me feel very lucky with what we went through. Thank-you for much for thinking of us... Keep up the great work on all of the 81' news...I enjoy all... Myra LeCaptain Received on Oct. 27th from Connie (Hoovestal) and Scott Beierle I've been gone since the beginning of the week. However, just wanted to let you know that we have our power and water back and are safe with no damage. |
OUR SYMPATHIES
Our sympathies to Steve Gilbert and his family. His mother passed away on Sept. 30th. Here is the note Steve sent me: "My Mom passed away on September 30th. She lost her fight with breast cancer. Please support the fight against breast cancer in any way that you can."
Our sympathies to Mary (Glatt) Zelmer and her family.
Her mother, Murriel Glatt passed away on Oct. 31. In Bismarck.
Our sympathies to Dorothy (Reisenauer) Kosse and her family. Dorothy's mom, Catherine Reisenauer passed away on Dec. 16th. in Bismarck.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
January Birthday's - Steve Pflipsen, Stephen Gilbert, Scott Westbrook, Randy St.Germain, Basil Hipple, Blaine Clausnitzer, Kelly (Soby) Broeckel, Lyle Schadler, Fred Harvey, Marla (Helm) Stockert, Marla (Backhaus) Anderson, Sheri Halbakken, Julie (Rask) Fladeland, Tammy (Eckroth) Roehrich, Kaaren (Chase) White, Jon Kaseman, David Becker, Jennifer (Haines) Skaar, Todd Zarfos, Liz (Tippett) Ketchum and Chris (Doerr) Wood.
February Birthday's - Todd McKinnon, Brenda (Buechler) LaFromboise, Pam (Eckroth) Schroeder, Curt Frieze, Mary (Kerzman) Rostad, Greg Johnson, Tammy (Lund) Reis, Kevin Nelson, Claire Gervias Blouin, Roxanne (Almer) Giles, Terri (Albrecht) Keller, Lisa Ilse, Mary (Kerzman) Rostad and Dana (Scheck) Becker.
March Birthday's - Duane Gross, Vonnie (Spier) Greinsteiner, Derrick
Lindemann, Char (Beck) Garrett, Brad Wolfer, Sandy (Johnson) Johs, Pamela (Erhardt) Doll,
Alan Bain,
Eric Fernandez, Mark Roehrich, Kipper Wilson, Kelly (Malard) Anderson, Tim Oster,
Jody (Ismir) Lockwood, Chris Grondahl, Daniel Verhoeven, Don Nelson, Duane Staus,
Scott Beierle, Mary Falhsing, Liz Miller, Chuck Glaser
.HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!
We hope you have a wonderful day!
A little birthday humor!
Compliments of Corrine (McClean) Zerr
Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D.
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my lawn.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs
washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table
that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage
can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take
out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my
desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't
accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should
put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke a vase of flowers on the counter
catches my eye - they need to be watered.
I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my
reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I
spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I
won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the living
room where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the lawn isn't watered,
the car isn't washed,
the bills aren't paid,
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only one check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
I don't remember what I did with the car keys,
and my neighbor called to tell me he turned off the hose
that was flooding the driveway.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I
know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem,
and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message to everyone
you know, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!
GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
January
Don and JoAnn Nelson - 21 years
Liz (Tippett) and Bob Ketchum - 22 years
February
Shari (Janke) and Steve Schmit - 10 years
Chris (Doerr) and Brian Wood - 13 years
Cheryl (Weichel) and Jim Streifel - 15 years
Rhonda (Levin) and Medardo Mendieta - 18 years
David and Yvonne Becker - 19 years
March
Jay and Lisa Yeager - 8 years!
Our sincerest congratulations to all of you!
We are having great fun doing this for all of you! We are more than welcome to your ideas! Feel free to let us know your thoughts and impressions on where you would like this newsletter to go or what you would like to know more about! Also, if you are willing to be interviewed, contact us, we would love to hear from you! See you next month! Lauri, Dan, and Wendy keckmann@packersrock