Wausa High School - Viking Yearbook (Wausa, NE)

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d £ach at the $utu%e One bright sunshiny morning in June, I decided to write a book! After scribbling ov$r four giant economy size sheets of typing paper, I decided I hadn't enough information on hand» It seemed to me that a long trip might help--besides, I wanted to take a vacation 1 packed my bags immediately and started out. By the time I got to Chicago, I was tired of traveling alone. Remembering Marilyn Shallberg's sense of humor and the fact that she had taken shorthand back in fcausa High, I decided that she would make an excellent traveling companion and secretary. I called her long distance at once. After much coaxing, she agreed to leave her job as secretary to the publisher of the NEW YORK TIMES, and I told her I would be in New York the next day and would see her then. It was almost noon so I went into a little tearoom called “Lynne’s Lunch Box. I was quite surprised to find that the charming and gracious hostess was Lynne Seagren, a former classmate. Lynne told me that once a week she broadcasts a television program from her tearoom. After a delicious luncheon, I boarded a plane for New York and arrived there late in the afternoon. I went at once to Marilyn's pent house apartment. While we were eating supper, Marilyn told me that Roland Begier had recently taken over Coney Island. We went out to Coney that evening and found Roland running a “souped-up roller coaster, which was his specialty. He offered us a free ride but we declined. I helped Marilyn pack the next morning and by noon we were ready to take off. We called the Anderson Cab Company--“All cabs equipped with swivel chairs --and in less time than you would believe possible, a cab careened around the corner and screeched to a stop in front of the building. As we climbed in we discovered that the driver was none other than Gary Anderson, formerly of Wausa High. We had only gone about a block when Marilyn groaned, “I wish I'd taken that roller coaster ride last night. Maybe I'd have gotten killed and I wouldn . have to go through this! A few minutes later there was a terrific crash--the Empire State Building now looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. As we climbed out of the wreckage, a hearse with yellow wheels and red sidewalls stopped behind us, and out jumped Wayne “Digger Wrick. He told us he was out looking for business, but since we were all alive he offered to take us the rest of the way to the airport. He put our bags in the front seat, Marilyn and I climbed in the back, and we started off. Pretty soon we went over a huge bump, then stopped- Marilyn and I couldn’t imagine what had happened until Wayne opened the door and shoved in a pedestrian. It seems he creates his business as he goes along. We were very happy when we reached the airport as the hearse was getting rather crowded. W'e said a hasty good-by to Wayne and rushed to our plane. A steward, who looked like a football player, showed us to our seats. We thought he looked very familiar, and as soon as the plane was in the air we called him over and asked him it he had ever been in Wausa. He told us tnat it was his home town and that his name was Lowell “Puff Erickson. Puff told us that his girl friend, a stewardess, was sick and that he was taking her place. We also learned from Puff that Norman Creutz was in Sing Sing--as a Warden, that is. (At least that's what Norman wrote his folks!)

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ELAINE OLSEN Mixed Chorus 2—3—4; Girls' Glee 1—2—3—4; lea Mouse of Sing Lo 3; Tune In 4; Band 1-2-3-4; Pej Club 1-2-3-4; Y-Teens 1— 2—3—4; Cabinet Member 2; Declam 5—4; Perfect Idiot cast 3; Annual Staff 4; Viking Echo Staff 4; Office A ssistant 2— 3—4; Librarian 3. A sunny disposition to match her sunny hair. GENEVA NEWMAN Mixed Chorus 2—3—4; Girls' Glee 1—2—3—4; lea House of Sing Lo 3; Tune In 4; Band 1-2-3-4; Girls’ Phys. Ed. 2-3-4; Pep Club 1—2—3—4; Cheerleader 2-4; Homecoming Candidate 1; President 3; Secretary-Treasurer 4; Y-Teens 1—2—3—4; Cabinet Member 2-3; One-act Play 3; Perfect Idiot cast 3; Annual Staff 4; Viking Echo Staff Co-Editor 2nd Semester; Class Treas. 2; Vice-President 3; Jr.-Sr. Banquet Waitress 2. “She s learned to say things with her eyes that others waste time putting into words. MARILYNSHALLBERG Mixed Chorus 2—3—4; Girls' Glee 1—2—3—4; Small Music Groups 4; Tea House of Sing Lo 3; Band 1—2—3—4; Pep Club 1— 2—o— 4; Y-Teens 1-2-3-4; Viking Echo Staff 4; Perfect Idiot crew 3; Jr.-Sr. Banquet Waitress 2. She may shock her elders, but never her classmates. LYNNE SEAGREN Mixed Chorus 2-3-4; Girls’ Glee 1-2-3-4; Small Music Groups 1—2—4; Tea House of Sing Lo 3; Tune In 4; Band 1—2—3—4; Girls' Phys. Ed. 2; Pep Club 1—2—3—4; Y-Teens 1—2—3—4; Cabinet Member 2; Vice-President 4; “Perfect Idiot cast 3; Annual Staff 4; Viking Echo Staff Editor 1st Semester; Class Vice-President 2; Librarian 3. A winning smile, a pleasant way, a kindly word for all. WILLIS STENBERG Mixed Chorus 2—3—4; Boys' Glee 1—2—3—4; lea House of Sing Lo 3; Tune In 4; Band 1-2; Basketball 1-2; Perfect Idiot crew 3. My life is one big day-dream. BETTY SOMERFEIJ) Mixed Chorus 2—3—4; Girls' Glee 1—2—3—4; Pep Club 1—2—3—4; Y-Teens 1-2—3-4; Cabinet Member 4: Perfect Idiot crew 3; Viking Echo Staff 4. There s charming fun beneath her seeming quietness. SHIRIJCY SWANSON Mixed Chorus 1—2—3—4; Girls' Glee 1—2—3—4; Small Music Groups 1—2—3—4; Tea House of Sing Lo 3; Tune In cast 4; Pep Club 1—2—3—4; President 4; Y-Teens 1—2—3—4; Cabinet Member 1—2—3; One-act Plays 1—3—4; Perfect Idiot cast 3; Annual Staff 4; Viking Echo Staff 4; Class Treasurer 3; Office Assistant 4; Librarian 3; Student Council 4; Homecoming Queen 4. find that nonsense at times is refreshing.’ WAYNE WRICK Boys' Glee 1; Basketball 1; Perfect Idiot crew 3. e knows more than you think.'

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The plane arrived in London ahead oi schedule, and Marilyn and I decided to take in a concert yet that evening. You can imagine our surprise when we found that the program featured Lowell H. Erickson and his all girl orchestra. We enjoyed the concert very much and afterwards went back stage to talk to Lowell. We told him of the former classmates we had met and we asked him if he knew the whereabouts of any of the others. He told us that Lou was teaching home ec. in the military academy at West Point, and that Lee was a dietician in a hospital for mentally unbalanced cats. Our next stop was Sweden. We docked at Stockholm, and there to greet us was Marilyn Anderson, her clarinet, and the Sweet Swedes. Marilyn had heard that we were coming, so had brought her band down to welcome us. She invited us to be her guests during our stay in Sweden, and we spent several enjoyable days with her. We learned from Marilyn that Elaine Olsen was modeling fur coats in Siberia. From Sweden we went to France. One day as we were sight-seeing in Paris, we came upon a cafe called “The Viking.” Curious as to the reason for the Swedish name, we went inside. As the hostess came toward us we recognized her as Geneva Newman. Geneva told us that the number of old friends who had visited her cafe was amazing. She said that our former superintendent, Mr. Johnson--who, by the way, is now Secretary of the Navy--had stopped by just the week before. Dennis Lindquist had been there too. He had spent the last three years searching for a crack in the iron curtain. When Geneva talked to him, he was on his way back to the United States for a sledge hammer. He declared that if he couldn't find a crack in the iron curtain, he would make one! Taking up our travels again, we went to Italy. While touring there we met Betty Somerfeld. She was working for her masters degree in photography, and for her thesis she was searching for the answer to the age-old question, “What made Mona Lisa smile?” Uur next jaunt was a non-stop flight to China, We really got a bang out of our arrival there--Margie Erickson’s fire-cracker factory blew up just as we landed. We had quite a chat with Margie, It seems that fellow from Norfolk was really Chinese, and he and Margie had gotten married and moved to China soon after Margie’s graduation. From China we flew to Hawaii, where we landed amid such yelling as we hadn’t heard since the last basketball game of the season when we were seniors at WHS. An attendant informed us that all the noise was coming from a cheerleading school next to the airport, Marilyn and I decided to go over and have a look while waiting for the plane to re-fuel. We went to the main office where we found the name, K,V. Tad- lock, on the door. No one was in so we went out where the girls were practicing and, sure eno.ugh, there sat the former coach of the Wausa High Vikings, We didn’t aave much time to talk to Coach, but he did tell us that Willis Stenberg was manufacturing jeep rockets in Honolulu, As we began our flight back to the good old U.S.A., the stewardess turned on the plane’s television set. The program was a wrestling match with masked lady wrestlers. One of the wrestlers was singing while waiting for the bell. Her voice sounded strangely familiar, but we were still surprised when the wrestlers unmasked at the end of the match. The songstress was Lajean Larson! As soon as we landed in Los Angeles we went to the post-office, as we had asked to have all our mail forwarded to the West Coast, We gave our names to the clerk at the general delivery window and as he looked for our mail he asked if we weren’t from Wausa. Wh«n we said we were, he told us that ht was Leigh Lorenson, a former classmate. It seems the city of Los Angelet heard about Leigh’s post-office experience back in Wausa, We learned from Leigh that Douglas Lindquist was broadcasting kangaroo races in Australia, Leigh was busy so we collected our mail and left the building, Marilyn was very absorbed in a certain letter that she had received, and she ran right into a young Admiral of the Navy, As the Admiral helped Marilyn up, I recognized his shy smile as that of Dean Linquist, We didn’t stay long in California as we wanted to spend a week in Wausa before going back to work. On the plane as we were flying to Nebraska, we met Carol Moline, She told us that she had a television program and was singing and playing the guitar. Carol now has long blond hair. It seems she got a complex from that “poodle cut” she got back in '51, She told us she had become a blond because blond hair shows up better on television screens--but we wonder. We hardly recognized our old home town when we arrived there. It has become quite large since Shirley Swanson founded the Wausa Women’s College, We, of course, went to see Shirley, who is president of her college. As we talked over our high school days and the present status of all our classmates, we agreed that we were pretty proud of being alumnae of good old Wausa High! Patricia Beecher Marilyn Shallberg