Friday, September 28, 2007

DHS52 - 55 Year Reunion held September 6, 2007 at the Deadwood Social Club




Top Image: Most of the women who attended the Class of 1952 and friends dinner at the Deadwood Social Club Sep 6. It was a great to see so many of our classmates again.

Second Image: These are the men who attended the Deadwood Social Club dinner on the 6th.

Bottom two Images: Our Class Queen Sherry Snapp Blair (center), Attendants Gay Kent Bossart (left) and Doris Dunn Olmstead (right). Included are their photos from the 1952 Bear Log

Posted for Top Toppila Class of 1952

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Dale Kirchenbauer Obituary

David Klein DHS54 reported today that Dale Kirchenbauer DHS46 of Santa Paula passed away on Sept. 14, 2007 see http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgn23t6p_5hh7dhw for details.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

NEW!! Reunion Images are Now Available for Web Viewing

View over 200 captioned images of the Reunion happenings and attendees. You do not need to download, just scroll and view. Many of the attendees are unidentified and some may be misspelled. Send comments to dickdblog-dhs@yahoo.com I will update the captions as I receive them

Viewing of images is available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdunw/sets/72157602125777526/detail/ . You can also play them as slide show on black screen. You can also view a thumbnails and select to enlarge. "detail" is suggested for the image sets with labels.

Photo Credits to: Don Gross, Bill Beshara, Flossie Wictor, Vince Gravelle, and a few of mine. More images are expected from Karl Moser and Morris Toppila.

Friday, September 21, 2007

DickD Editorial overview of the 2007 DHS All School Reunion held in Historic Deadwood SD

Chairman Bill Beshara and his committee and helpers of Janet Chyba Thoresen, Carolyn Johnson Dirkson, Marcia Moore Darlin, Don Gross, Jim Veitl, Karen Shockey Balderson, Roselle Stalder, Larry Ryan, Hank Frawley, John Fillmore, Dick Schlax, Yvonne Spaulding Hendrickson, Merno Stalder, Sherill Person Dunwiddie, Vince Gravelle, Dick Dunwiddie, Barbara Shedd Allen and many others helped to provide a best ever DHS All School Reunion.

Deadwood High School Classmates from the years 1935 through 1972 attended the Reunion events with well over 200 registered. Jim Sherman DHS39 announced he was the oldest in age but no specific ages were revealed.

Karen Shockey Balderson DHS58 also accomplished a DHS Roster update in a propietary database format that now includes 895 classmates that are still living. Classmate supplied information is still far from complete and for some is only a Zip code. There are no known plans for someone to make the roster into a publishing or web view format. The general Reunion Committee function ceased at the end of the banquet.

DHS47 had a 60th celebration/open house, DHS52 a 55th reunion dinner, and the DHS57 had their 50th reunion banquet concurrently with the All School Reunion. Celebrity entertainer and Deadwood native Gary Mule Deer attended with his Mother (see separate post).

The picnic and banquet dinner food was excellent with lots of buffet choices. The weather was sunny and warm for the picnic in the Deadwood City Park. The Gulches Banquet Facility was nicely presented and well staffed. The decorations committee headed by Janet Chyba Thoresen DHS55 provided a wonderful homecoming setting in the school colors Orange/Black and many thoughtful touches.

The Reunion badge names were familiar but many of the current faces are not. At both the picnic and banquet it was nearly impossible to get around and meet everyone as the time seemed too short and the discussions too lively.

I did not have a working camera so have to depend on others for digital photos. A large problem remains unsolved. I cannot identify many of the people in the pictures as the name tags are not readable on the image. I will try to provide a picture display link when I work out a process for the large number of images in hand and anticipated. Watch for future posting on this matter.

In summary, Bill Beshara DHS55 said it best in his email words to his committee and extends, in part, to all that attended:

“ To my esteemed reunion committee:

I believe that we had a very successful 2007 All School Reunion. It is very heartwarming to watch old friends meet and talk about old times like it was yesterday. I couldn't have been more pleased with the turnout at both the picnic and the dinner. As you might suspect, I personally had a great time, especially at the dinner. Put a mike in my hand and I am dangerous. It was difficult at times, but very rewarding and I will have memories to last me a lifetime. I sincerely hope you also had a wonderful experience.I want to thank each of you for all your hard work and participation. I know that it took time from your daily routine, but I hope you agree it was worth it.

As always

Bill “

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Celebrity Attends DHS Reunion

Celebrity entertainer and Deadwood native Gary Mule Deer attended the DHS Reunion. He is shown with his mother Lola Miller DHS?? and relative Ruth Miller. Gary also attended Black Hills State College for most of the 60's as a Freshman. One wonders why he didn't play the legendary Johnny Cash in the recent hit movie.

See website http://garymuledeer.com/ for his interesting career and funny film clips. He was raised in the Black Hills and got his first start in the Deadwood Buffalo Bar but spent most of his earnings in a pin ball machine. At the end of his first night Ruby took him to her establishment to entertain the girls and their guests. Funny first start story and history, too bad we only saw a regular person at the Reunion.

Inferno update

Dave Klein DHS54 just submitted this picture of the entrance to the Inferno he took on a recent trip to the Black Hills. He said it was difficult to find.


Looks like the passing years and surroundings have not been too kind.

Submitted by Bob Chyba


Bob Chyba DHS53 commented on book signing: Congratulations Yvonne.....your pics look good. I'd never recognize Dick. He grew up on the street in back of us and I was at his house almost daily in summer. His mom was our Cub Scout Leader. I started building a soap box derby racer and when school was out for the summer, I went to stay with my grandma and uncle by Yankton. Dick took what I had done and finished it. Won the derby in Lead with it and went on to the Nationals. In Akron OH I think. The town merchants bought the wheels and material for us kids and we built them in the basement of some bldg on Main St. The guy that was the overseer was Lyle Elwood. I remember he was the Postmaster and a nice guy. Funny I even remembered that.

~~~Dick D comment: Bob first meontioned Lyle Collins who is a nice guy too and is related to the Lee Street "Pop" Collins - Grab it and Growl. "Pop" hated Democrats so every Roosevelt dime he got went into the Slime Creek. Well at least some of them. A few years before "Pop" died he shared his recipe for Chili with me. It was in ingredient amounts to make a large "brick" of chili to store in refrigerator so that he never run out of chili. The first ingredient is lard which would really ring the trans-fat bell of today.~~~

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Yvonne's Book Signing

Yvonne Spaulding Hendrickson's DHS53 book signing at the Deadwood SD Adams Museum on September 8, 2007. She added personal notes to the books and the proceeds went to the Museum.


Dick Dunwiddie DHS54 arrived to purchase his signed hard back copy and enjoy the museum setting.