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 Information which we feel is intended to be negative, class polarizing, mean-spirited will not be published at this site.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.

Hi everyone, wow, we heard from all kinds of people this month! Cool! Some were sharing news for the very first time, I love that kind of participation! I am always humbled by what you share, by the paths your lives are taking, and by the simple fact that you are all caring for one another. Never a moment goes by when I am not thankful for each and every classmate from 1981! I can’t tell you enough how lucky we are to know each other and to have friendships that have lasted almost 30 years. Those are blessings to each of us!

All is well here in WI. Summer keeps me busy as Rachel plays lots of sports and is off to camp as often as we will let her go! Also, Kylie just finished her first church camp and she loved it! All I do is drive, ( I should really apply for a taxi cab license), but this is summer! It’s what we do! Can any of you relate??? Oh well, such is life!

I hope you are all well and that life is a wonderful thing wherever you call home!

The BHS Class of 1984 is having our 25 year class reunion over Labor Day weekend, and we are also inviting other classes from the 1980's because we know many of you as well. Just search for our Facebook Page called "Bismarck 25 Year All High School Reunion" which explains the details. Please join us at the Elks Club on Friday night from 7pm-close and/or Saturday at the Broken Oar from noon-close, with a good live band starting at 8:00pm. No cost to attend other than the food and drinks you purchase at your option. If you can't find the Facebook Page, then search through my friends for it, or email me at bmann@bis.http://www.facebook.com/l/;midco.net and I'll send you all the info you need.

Okay, you can now find us on FACEBOOK at our invite only site, Bismarck High School, Class of 1981.
Come and join the fun! We miss you!

My son Josh is graduating from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science degree in Material Sciences and Engineering.
He had his first day at Boeing today…..a second generation employee J Todd Zarfos

Hi Laurie,

I have never put any information in this website yet. As we are getting older, I have been thinking about classmates and all the years that have already gone by. I have been reading up about everyone and what’s been happening. Sad to hear about recent news about Jim Larsen and Basil Hipple and the other folks. My prayers are with them.

I just wanted to let you know that my daughter will be graduating this month of May from Century High School. Yeah! Class of 2009! My husband and I are very excited about her accomplishments in Art. She plans to attend the Art Institute in Minneapolis. She is very talented in that area. I'm not sure where she got that talent from. Anyway I thought I would let you know. Good to keep in touch. Carla (Schumacher) Kelsch

My daughter Katie, graduated from BHS (third generation from BHS, my mom graduated from BHS in 1942) and will go to Moorhead in the fall. What an exciting and scary time in life, brings back a lot of memories! She is undecided for a career choice but she is going to add a Spanish major to whatever she decides as a career. My speculation is that she will select a helping profession (she's a bit like her mother, crappy at math, good at people). She's worked in dietary at St Alexius for the past 2 years so a dietitian is a possibility. Penny (Bergquist) House

My daughter, Sarah Roehrich, graduated from the University of Mary on May 2^nd with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. She took her boards last Wednesday and found out on Thursday that she passed. She is working at a hospital in Little Falls, MN. She also got engaged at the end of May so her life’s been a little crazy lately. The wedding is in May of 2011. Tammy (Roehrich) Haid

Kendra Zerr is a 2009 graduate of Coronado HS. Her future plans are to get her AA at Pikes Peak Community College here in Colorado Springs; followed by their radiology tech training after that. Mom is insisting on the AA. She just got a job at Greenshades School (pre-school) so I am also proud of her for landing a job in our terrible job market. Corrine (McClean) Zerr

Linda (Demke) and Joe Dietrich celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on May 19th. Joe surprised Linda with a trip to Las Vegas, which included Linda spending a day training dolphins at the Mirage and them getting to meet Donny and Marie Osmond after seeing their show. We also took a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon, landing in the bottom and served a champagne breakfast. We stayed at the Paris, our room overlooked the Eifel Tower and the fountains at the Bellagio. We have traveled many places, but Las Vegas is definitely a must see again destination. We have a trip to Mexico planned for next month, no we're not worried about the media flu, better known as the swine flu. We're counting down the days until we leave. We have been there before and it's quite wonderful.

KODAK MOMENT

Don’t forget to check out our Kodak site. We always have new photos to share. Dan and I are researching this issue, and I are working on taking all the photos to a new pass worded link on our BHS web site. Once this is finished and ready to go, we will let you know!

New this month – Tom Gerhart has some new photos on the site, as does Brenda Buck and Bob Raber.

Here is the latest update on Sara Jensen-Fritz’s book!

My colleagues and I are presenting at a national conference in Philadelphia on July 15th. We will have a book signing there as well.
Things are going well with our book YOU AND YOUR MILITARY HERO. Our company is also in the process of creating 6 pilot DVDs for K-5 character education in the schools. It will be with puppets and include celebrities (after they accept our 'pitch' ;-) Anyone out there who has connections with someone famous who would be a good role model for kids, please let us know. We need all the internal connections we can get. You can email us off of our website. www.uflipp.com We are also working on our second book...so busy summer.

Terri Benson-Holmstrom has made a job change! Here is her news.
I am the General Manager of the Dakota Wizards, which is a D-League for the NBA.
It's been crazy getting everything in place and knowing the ropes but I'm loving it!

The following is from Barb (Morlock) Steinke.
Our First Annual Kidder County Relay For Life was held on June 5, 2009, and it was a huge success. Everyone had a good time and is looking forward to doing it again next year. We raised over $42,000 for cancer research! That is phenomenal considering the country is in a recession and Kidder County only has a population of 2200 people.

The following life update is from Barb (Matejcek) Schmitcke
A couple of things, first my Mom's Cancer is currently in remission. Second, my son Kevin just got engaged. They are planning a July 2011 wedding.

The following life update is from Mary Kraft
My son Jamie is 29 years old and working for Dean Foods in Bismarck. Ashley is 19 and will decide on college next year, just working right now. My granddaughter Bailey is 7 years old. I've been at Bank of North Dakota for two years now, but 19 as a state employee.

The following update is also from Penny (Bergquist) House and John Brintnell.

Thomas is taking summer biology and working as a ranger for the ABATE motorcycle education classes and McDonalds as he has his eyes set on a Harley. John and I are preparing for our Iron Butt motorcycle ride this summer. John has had a job change, he's now the Human Resource Officer for the State Water Commission. John's daughter Sarah is active in her SADD chapter and doing summer biology too.

I am currently serving in Afganistan with the 424th MEDLOG and station down in Kandahar.
I will be here until the December time frame then moved back down to Qatar before heading back to the states.

Brenda just wanted to let everyone know, that she was divorced in Feb. BUT....she is well! She bought a house in Scottsdale, is back where she belongs and is loving life. She also retook her maiden name, so Brenda Buck is back!! She is also "happily" dating a man from ND and life is going great!

Melody (Carlson) and Troy Karlberg have announced the marriage of their daughter Tara to Duane Lindsley on June 27th.

Prayer Request
The following prayer request is from Pam (Zimmerman) Seratt’s son.

I would ask you to pray for our son J.P., he's in the Wyoming National Guard. They are in TX now for training and will be leaving for Kuwait the 26th of June.

Many of you may remember Curt Abfalter, class of 1980. He was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that effects the skeletal system. Curt will be going to Mayo Clinic this fall for stem cell transplant. The Bismarck Hockey Boosters are having a fundraiser golf tournament to help raise funds to off-set Curts mounting medical expenses. If you can attend or send a donation on his behalf, I am sure he would be grateful! http://www.bismarckhockeyboosters.com/

This is Bob (Buchholz) Raber writing to you from a town just east of Los Angeles, Ca. I have been here now for more than 25 years, married to a beautiful wife and have a 20 year old daughter and a 17 year old son who just graduated high school. In 1984 I accepted Jesus and became a Christian and in 1992 was ordained as a Pastor in our local church. I had no idea what God had planned for the next few years. Like you we are all hoping to make a difference with our lives and when we breath our last hear those words from heaven “well done good and faithful servant”. I would love to hear what God has done in your lives so send me an email some time. “breakthesilence4@hotmail.com”

The main reason I am writing today is to let you know some news about me for July. I have had the blessing to travel into Africa for the last six summers working among orphan schools, drilling wells for drinking water, distributing food, and sharing Gods love with people in many diverse places. The people are beautiful and so willing to let you into their lives. Last year people and businesses donated enough money for us to buy and distribute 63,378# of corn and many other items such as beans, cooking oil, soap, sugar, and candles. Your life will never be the same as you look into the eyes of a lady who is caring for five orphans and she hugs you because they will all get to eat and see each other by candle light.

On July 15^th I will leave with four others for 15 days and we will travel to Zimbabwe, Africa. We have good friends there who are pastors and care for thousands of people in four main regions. If you want to look on a map we will be in Harare, Bulawayo, Mbizingwe, and Hwange. This country has been struggling economically for many years due to political and draught circumstances. Today there is more than 90% unemployment, failing water and power supplies, and people have to travel out of the country to buy food in many cases. Also cholera broke out this year in the densely populated areas but progress has been made in fighting that.

Last year we started an educational program because the majority of schools were closed because the government could not pay the teachers. This program now involves 80 teachers who are continuing with education even where the public schools have closed and where those have no money to pay for school fees.

This year our goal is to buy as much food and school supplies as we can and try to encourage people to keep going in their faith. If you think about it do a Google search on Zimbabwe to see where we are and ask God that we may be His hands and feet. I have uploaded some pictures to the BHS site and you also may see some live video at www.ranchointernationalministries.org and click on the “serving teams” tab.

Have an awesome summer!. I look forward to hearing from you. Bob (Buchholz) Raber

I'll be in Bismarck from June 30 until July 29th. Would love to catch up and/or play some golf if anyone else is around in July.
If anyone wants to find me, contact Lauri

We received a letter from our 3rd Scholarship recipient!! She of course was thrilled and her thank you is below! What a cool thing that we do!

We have enough money left to do one more $500.00 scholarship, that one will be given out in the spring of 2010. Hopefully at some point we can gather another $500.00 which can be given in a scholarship in the spring of 2011 right before the big 30th reunion. :)) If anyone wants to donate, let us know, we will make sure it gets into the Class of 81 fund and that you receive a tax write-off for the donation. As a side note: Rhonda Levin knows our recipient for this year and she said that she is a wonderful girl who is very much deserving!! COOL!!!

May 27th, 2009

To the Bismarck High Class of '81 Alumni,

As a recipient of one of the Dollars for Scholars scholarship, I thank you for donating the money for my scholarship. The current cost of a college education is pretty expensive and I really appreciate the financial help I have been given. Everything helps!

I myself recently graduated from Bismarck High. My time in high school has helped prepare me for college. The classes I took were both informative and (for the most part) interesting. I was happy to find that after four years, I managed to be one of the classes valedictorians. In addition to academics, sports have played an important role in my life. I competed in gymnastics and track for quite awhile and have learned a lot: commitment, perseverance, leadership, how to deal with failure and the satisfaction that comes with success. (My track team took first place at the state meet this season!

Hopefully, my success in sports will continue. The University of South Dakota which I will attend this fall, is going to let me walk on to the track team. Aside from athletics, I am excited to experience the other aspects of college. Currently, I am undecided about my major, but I am seriously considering pre-med or possibly physical therapy. It seems like a medical related career would be a good way for me to go. New classes, new people, and living on my own......it's all a little scary but I think I'm ready. I'll be a coyote now, but I'm sure you all know how it is - forever demon!

Again, thank you for your generosity. I am truly grateful for this scholarship.

Sincerely,

Megan Meyer

KODAK MOMENT

Jim Larsen as he continues to recover from lung cancer and a brain tumor.
Jane (Huckeby) Dacosta’s husband Russ and he continues the fight against cancer.

HANG IN THERE EVERYONE, SEE YA IN THE FALL!

KODAK MOMENT

Jim Larsen as he continues to recover from lung cancer and a brain tumor. Jane (Huckeby) Dacosta’s husband Russ and he continues the fight against cancer.

HANG IN THERE EVERYONE, SEE YA IN THE FALL!

Jim Larsen as he continues to recover from lung cancer and a brain tumor.
Jane (Huckeby) Dacosta’s husband Russ and he continues the fight against cancer.