Elkhorn High School - Elk Yearbook (Elkhorn, WI)

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What Happened To The Class Of '44 In the merry month of May in the spring of '54 my colleagues and I had a wild urge to return to Elkhorn and see what our former classmates were doing. The war being over, we had plenty of gasoline and tires to make the trip. L As we reached the city limits a siren sounded and a police car drew up beside us. To our astonishment we saw it was ZlTCH RIDGWAY, chief of police of Elkhorn, welcoming us back to the scenes of our childhood pranks. We asked Zitch what NORMA BURNS was doing, and he informed us that RENA LASCH and NORMA were in Hollywood resting after their third big hit with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After leaving the chief we went in search of a lodging for the night. We decided to stay at the Hotel Weaver, formerly the Loraine Hotel. We were met at the door by the owner GORDON WEAVER, and found he was doing a prosperous business. .lust then MARY FERGUSON, his as- sistant, popped in to show us to our rooms. When we had unpacked our bags we went in search ofa beauty salon. Just down the street the Do-Re Salon caught our eye. Upon entering we were greeted by the KARGES twins, LORRAINE and DOREEN. After a facial and manicure we said goodbye to the twins. Outside, the aroma of food wafted on the spring breeze, sharpened our appetites, and we were forced to make a decision. should we patronize The Villa or the Eat Shop? We compromised and decided to have dinner at the Villa and to lunch at the Eat Shop the next day. We walked into the Villa and IONE McKENZlE, Elkhorn's number one hash-slinger, came up to take our order. As we were paying the bill we asked who had made the delicious pie. lone informed us that our old classmate, HELEN PALENSHUS, had been chief cook and bottle washer at the Villa for the past five years. We left the Villa and thought we would bowl a game. RUTH SCHOENBECK and TILLIE KOOPMAN were running the bowling alley as partners. They told us that the fact their business was dropping off was explained by the competition of the pool hall across the street, owned by BOB EISTEDT and CLARENCE THOMPSON. We found that our pin boy was Clarence Freitag Jr., son of our former classmate, the DEACON. His work proved iust as satisfactory as his father's had. A wild yell issued from the next alley and we saw that the red head who had iust made a strike was MARIAN ENRIGHT, another member of the class of '44, We weren't surprised to see that RUTH IVES and DORIS HARRY were the other bowlers. We greeted e 1 ther ioyously and on inquiring, found that the three were nurses at the Walworth County Hos al and were spending their evening off duty in Elkhorn. They told us that we must see the movie that was showing because DELORME GETCHELL, current screen idol, had the lead. We arrived in time for the second show. The girl in the ticket office was BEULAH WOODMAN, with a sparkling diamond on her left hand. We offered our congratulations and asked her who the lucky boy was. She wouIdn't tell us his name but confessed that he was another member of our graduating class. GLEN OLSEN, owner of the theater, greeted us at the door and took our tickets. He told us that he had remodeled the building two years ago and the seating capacity was now doubled. An usher came to show us to our seats and it was none other than BOB KOONS. The movie was exceedingly good and we were very proudiof our old classmate, DELORME. Out on the street again, the gay lights ofthe Juke Joint caught our eye. We were glad to find that the ice cream parlors and drug store stayed open until midnight, a great improve- ment over the old days when we were in high school. We felt like having a double rich choco- late malted and went in. The proprietor, BILL LUDTKE was behind the counter. He insisted on treating us and led us to -a table. The girl who came to take our orders was DORIS WARREN. Bill confided that she had been working for him for a year and was the best soda ierk he had ever had. By this time we were tired and the comfort of our hotel room was inviting. In a few min- utes we were in deep slumber. A tap at the door awaked us next morning and Mary Ferguson brought in our breakfast on a tray. We were eager to examine the tray and found a weekly edition of the Elkhorn lndependent , now edited by NANCY CORY. After breakfast and a shower we decided to go out to the Schneck Dairy Ranch. We had already heard about BOB'S latest book entitled Three Easy Ways to Milk a Cow. A drive in the country at this hour of the day was most invigorating. As we progressed we heard the hum of airplanes. To our right was the Loupitz Airport. We drew up to the side of the road and watched a plane come in for a landing. Pilots MARILYN OPITZ and DOROTHY LOUKOTA stepped out of the plane.

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Eleanor Schulz leaves her roller skates to Bob Conner, plus a first-aid kit. Nancy Seltmann makes a gift of her huge red hairbow to Doris Dobrick to use when she goes deer hunting. Wayne Stearns leaves his bashfulness to John Harrington. Hope it doesn't cramp your style John. Clarence Thompson wills his ration book and four good tires to Bob Christensen for emerg- encies only! , Marilyn Vogle, the songbird of the Senior Class, divides her vocal talents between Alice Hull and Marie Mukansky so they may sing duets in their spare time. Doris Warren has finally agreed to give up her male rogues' gallery and the lucky receiver is Eleanor Clauer. Gordon Weaver gives his natch to Henry loukota with hope that Henry will give it the good use it has been accustomed to. XX Phil Welsh wills his ability to collect blondes to Jim Campbell. Beulah Woodman leaves the three freckles on her nose to Ed Bleser to add to his collec- tion. Mary Alice Zwiebel bestows her determina- tion to get what she wants on Don Breidenbach. lt comes in very handy, Don. Robert Schneck gives Gerry Nelson and l.eora Anderson six written lessons on how to ride horseback without acquiring bruises. Gordon Redenz, who knows all the ropes after his training on board ships, leaves some of his valuable information to Warren Newman. Don Enright gives his blond hair and dimples to Mary Rathbun. Danny Millard leaves his athletic ability to Bob Colvin. ln witness, whereof, the parties aforesaid have hereunto set their hands and affixed their seals on the year above written. wi 61--rv-...d -'

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Our time was short so we speeded on. All of a sudden a boy dashed into our path after a stray baseball. We swerved to miss him and struck a telephone pole. Luckily, we were un- iniured, but the car was badly damaged. The frightened boy told us his name was Johnny Pierce. Because of the resemblence we knew that he must be the son of GENE PIERCE, now a prosperous farmer. We went into the farmhouse and called a garageman to come for our car. When a wrecker arrived, who should be at the wheel but KEN KEHL. He told us that he now owned the Standard Service Station. A farm truck came down the road and the driver offered us a ride to Elkhorn. lt was another old schoolmate, DON BABCOCK. After a breath- taking ride he deposited us at our hotel. This eventful morning had gone fast and it was lunchtime. We had an enormous appetite and hoped that the Eat Shop served good food. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw who was running the place. lt was those three former sailors, GORDON REDENZ, DON EN- RIGHT, and DANNY MILLARD. GORDON was the manager, DON did the cooking, and DANNY took care of the money. They told us that this combination had been working fine for three years. As we left the Eat Shop we felt that we should see a doctor for a check-up after our accident. We walked along and saw the name Dr. ROBERT GETZEN, M.D., on a shingle. Well, well, so BOB was a doctor, we'd have to go up and see him. He checked us over and declared that we had not been iniured in any way. He also advised us to go and see ED CASEY if we wanted a good lawyer. We weren't surprised that ED was defending people because he always had liked to argue, but our insurance company would take care of the damages so we had no need for Ed's services. Back at the hotel again, everyone proceeded to write letters and cards. We walked to the post office to mail them and JIMMY MILLER greeted us through the bars of the stamp win- dow. It reminded us of the good old days when JIM used to deliver mail. As we turned to leave, the door lettered Postmaster opened and a young woman came out. We couldn't be- lieve our eyes, but it really was GLORIA SCHRAMEK, postmistress of Elkhorn. The JONES' monument works was still situated next to the post office. TREVOR was lifting a small tombstone as we passed by. He informed us that he had half interest in the business. It seemed that he and BOB REED had a business agreement. BOB was running a funeral home and the two professions worked very well together. As we walked along we noticed the printing on a window which read, ISABEL BRONSON, Advice given in all matters. At last IZZIE had found an outlet for her ideas. We went in and found her sitting behind a desk and looking very businesslike. lt seemed only gave advice but also knew all the news in town. She told us we shouldn't gram at the Municipal Building that evening, for there would be many important pe That evening we went to the Municipal Building and found a seat in the theater. The mistress of ceremonies turned out to be NANCY SELTMANN, who had been touring the country and speaking to the Women's Clubs of America. With a snappy speech she introduced Elkhorn's mayor, the honorable PHILLIP WELSH. He was the youngest mayor that Elkhorn had ever elected. lt was rumored that the women's vote had put him into office. Judge JOE NEWMAN followed the mayor with an inspiring speech in which he demanded a law to prevent heli- copters from landing in the city park. This concluded the serious side of the program and it was time for the big attraction. WAYNE STEARNS and his All Girl Orchestra had been playing at the Riverside in Milwaukee and had traveled to Elkhorn for this program. lt was quite an honor for the city because WAYNE'S orchestra was in demand in the most exclusive night spots of the country. Singing with the orchestra were the Swing Sisters, better known to us as MARY ALICE ZWEIBEL, MARILYN VOGLE, and JOANE HAMPEL. When the Swing Sisters finished several selections came the featured attractions. ALICE McVICAR began to beat it out on the drums and WILMA SCHMIDT and JUNE McCABE stepped into the spotlight to do their famous dance, The Barrel House Boogie. When the dance finished we took time to look over the other members of the orches- tra. ELEANOR SCHULZ was slappin' the bass, BETTE ANNE BURNS was givin' out on a licorice stick, NANCY BARTELSON was blowin' a mean trumpet, HILDA PAPENFUS was literally all over the piano, and JUNE NEWMAN was playing a sweet sax. With all these accomplished artists we knew why Wayne's band was such a success. The program was over at eleven and we hurried to our hotel to pack, for the next day we had to leave Elkhorn. We were up bright and early the following morning. GORDON brought our car to the front of the hotel. As we drove away we were filled with satisfaction, for our mission had been successful. The knowledge of WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CLASS OF '44 was ours.