June 1950 - America was enjoying unprecedented prosperity. The big war had been over for five years. But the Soviets now had nuclear weapons. America was at peace - until June 25 when the North Koreans swarmed across the 38th parallel and had the Republic of Korea (ROK) army on the run.
September 1950 - Under the aegis of the United Nations, America got into the fray. With the ROKs, our guys defending the Pusan perimeter were on the verge of being pushed into the sea.
Back home, the kids from the Normal, St. Victor's, and surrounding country schools joined those of us who had completed eighth grade at Lincoln Junior High. The MHS class of 1954 was formed. We had entered kindergarten on the eve of the big war, but it was over by the time we hit fourth grade. We were now starting high school at the beginning of another war. How long would this one last?
The football coach always welcomed St. Victor's - those Irish lads promised to add some size to a population dominated by short Schweitzers. Joe Donny was one of those "little guys," but inch for inch, pound for pound, was as tough as they come. He had a promising start and would have made a great addition to the Cheesemakers but had to drop out as his dad insisted that he be home for milking.
Not all Schweitzers were small. Bill Ienatsch was a real cheesemaker, out of a factory near Monticello. He and Tarz Flannery provided some much-needed size to the football Cheesemakers. Tarz later made his mark for the Irish as a star "Swiss wrestler."
The football Cheesemakers did well, quarterbacked by Lowell Stuessy, but not well enough to satisfy Coach Steensrud. The basketball Cheesemakers under coach Lee Mitchell fared better, going to the state tournament with seniors Dick Moritz, Mike Kubly and the inimitable Wally Marty. They had some pretty capable help from the class of '55 - Robert Koller, Herb Ableman, and Bob Anderegg, who later starred for the Michigan State Spartans and professionally for the Knicks. Capable help, indeed!
Vo-ag and FFA were central to us farm kids. I didn't learn much in vo-ag but it wasn't my fault. Robert E. Davenport, and later Ken Allen, seated us alphabetically. How could you learn anything seated for four years between Roger Wyss and Werner Vogel? Just kidding - the deficiency was my own.
Most of the ag students ended up doing something else, but a few actually farmed - Roger and Werner, Gordy Prien, Royal Ritschard, and my neighbor on those rocky hills north of town, Bobby Brunkow. Allen Schuetz was the brains of the bunch - he became an endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins University.
Frank Dillon took on the toughest task of all - administering impossibly complex farm programs to independent-minded farmers. To achieve this, and also become the second highest enlisted man in the Wisconsin National Guard, I maintain that he had to exercise technical, bureaucratic and political skills equal to, or even exceeding, those of my grade school pal, the charismatic Lt. Gov. Jimmy Goetz, and that's going some.
And the girls - years later when the feminists insisted that females are as smart or smarter than males, we guys wondered what the fuss was about. Of course they are - we knew that since kindergarten. Susan Blumer and Joyce Babler became professors of music. Diane Snyder became a dean of nursing. Ruth Donny became a hospital administrator. I lost track of most of 'em, but we had a long list of teachers and other professionals.
These girls in our class were smart and a universally gorgeous bunch. Of course being totally backward, I didn't know what to do about it - maybe a good thing or I would have been in trouble all the time.
By spring of our junior year, the Korean truce was signed. Maybe we wouldn't have to go to war after all.
But then again, maybe we would. A couple of weeks before graduation in 1954, the French were kicked out of Indo China. Hardliners were urging President Eisenhower to take up were the French left off. We would graduate just in time for that.
But wait a minute - Ike got elected on the promise of getting us out of Korea. The general said "no!" He thought another land war in Asia to be a bad idea. For this, none of our class died in combat.
But the draft was still on. Because of low birth rates during the Great Depression, there were few males of military age during the mid-1950s. So a bunch of us put in our time - no big deal, it was viewed as part of growing up. Some did more than that. Wendell Gobeli had a Navy career. Dillon went to the top of the National Guard. Class president Nate Lindsay proved his leadership as an Air Force lieutenant general, carrying out some demanding assignments with the space program.
The class of '54 is of the generation sandwiched between "The Greatest Generation" and the "Baby Boom Generation." It was pre rock n' roll. We went through school without the cacophonous dominance of television in our living rooms and kitchens. Maybe because we were among the last who went by the old rules, and because there were so few of us, nobody ever paid much attention to our generation.
But that's OK with us. We had it pretty good - uncrowded classrooms, hit the military age between wars, and the job market during economic expansion. Life was tougher than now, yet much simpler, if that makes sense to anyone but us.
So it's reunion time - nostalgic memories and reflections - what was, could have been, or might have been. Always fewer of us, all asking the perennial question, "Where has the time gone?"
Who knows? All we know is that somehow it has.
- Monroe resident John Waelti is a native of Monroe Township. He can be reached at
jjwaelti@charter.net.
September 1950 - Under the aegis of the United Nations, America got into the fray. With the ROKs, our guys defending the Pusan perimeter were on the verge of being pushed into the sea.
Back home, the kids from the Normal, St. Victor's, and surrounding country schools joined those of us who had completed eighth grade at Lincoln Junior High. The MHS class of 1954 was formed. We had entered kindergarten on the eve of the big war, but it was over by the time we hit fourth grade. We were now starting high school at the beginning of another war. How long would this one last?
The football coach always welcomed St. Victor's - those Irish lads promised to add some size to a population dominated by short Schweitzers. Joe Donny was one of those "little guys," but inch for inch, pound for pound, was as tough as they come. He had a promising start and would have made a great addition to the Cheesemakers but had to drop out as his dad insisted that he be home for milking.
Not all Schweitzers were small. Bill Ienatsch was a real cheesemaker, out of a factory near Monticello. He and Tarz Flannery provided some much-needed size to the football Cheesemakers. Tarz later made his mark for the Irish as a star "Swiss wrestler."
The football Cheesemakers did well, quarterbacked by Lowell Stuessy, but not well enough to satisfy Coach Steensrud. The basketball Cheesemakers under coach Lee Mitchell fared better, going to the state tournament with seniors Dick Moritz, Mike Kubly and the inimitable Wally Marty. They had some pretty capable help from the class of '55 - Robert Koller, Herb Ableman, and Bob Anderegg, who later starred for the Michigan State Spartans and professionally for the Knicks. Capable help, indeed!
Vo-ag and FFA were central to us farm kids. I didn't learn much in vo-ag but it wasn't my fault. Robert E. Davenport, and later Ken Allen, seated us alphabetically. How could you learn anything seated for four years between Roger Wyss and Werner Vogel? Just kidding - the deficiency was my own.
Most of the ag students ended up doing something else, but a few actually farmed - Roger and Werner, Gordy Prien, Royal Ritschard, and my neighbor on those rocky hills north of town, Bobby Brunkow. Allen Schuetz was the brains of the bunch - he became an endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins University.
Frank Dillon took on the toughest task of all - administering impossibly complex farm programs to independent-minded farmers. To achieve this, and also become the second highest enlisted man in the Wisconsin National Guard, I maintain that he had to exercise technical, bureaucratic and political skills equal to, or even exceeding, those of my grade school pal, the charismatic Lt. Gov. Jimmy Goetz, and that's going some.
And the girls - years later when the feminists insisted that females are as smart or smarter than males, we guys wondered what the fuss was about. Of course they are - we knew that since kindergarten. Susan Blumer and Joyce Babler became professors of music. Diane Snyder became a dean of nursing. Ruth Donny became a hospital administrator. I lost track of most of 'em, but we had a long list of teachers and other professionals.
These girls in our class were smart and a universally gorgeous bunch. Of course being totally backward, I didn't know what to do about it - maybe a good thing or I would have been in trouble all the time.
By spring of our junior year, the Korean truce was signed. Maybe we wouldn't have to go to war after all.
But then again, maybe we would. A couple of weeks before graduation in 1954, the French were kicked out of Indo China. Hardliners were urging President Eisenhower to take up were the French left off. We would graduate just in time for that.
But wait a minute - Ike got elected on the promise of getting us out of Korea. The general said "no!" He thought another land war in Asia to be a bad idea. For this, none of our class died in combat.
But the draft was still on. Because of low birth rates during the Great Depression, there were few males of military age during the mid-1950s. So a bunch of us put in our time - no big deal, it was viewed as part of growing up. Some did more than that. Wendell Gobeli had a Navy career. Dillon went to the top of the National Guard. Class president Nate Lindsay proved his leadership as an Air Force lieutenant general, carrying out some demanding assignments with the space program.
The class of '54 is of the generation sandwiched between "The Greatest Generation" and the "Baby Boom Generation." It was pre rock n' roll. We went through school without the cacophonous dominance of television in our living rooms and kitchens. Maybe because we were among the last who went by the old rules, and because there were so few of us, nobody ever paid much attention to our generation.
But that's OK with us. We had it pretty good - uncrowded classrooms, hit the military age between wars, and the job market during economic expansion. Life was tougher than now, yet much simpler, if that makes sense to anyone but us.
So it's reunion time - nostalgic memories and reflections - what was, could have been, or might have been. Always fewer of us, all asking the perennial question, "Where has the time gone?"
Who knows? All we know is that somehow it has.
- Monroe resident John Waelti is a native of Monroe Township. He can be reached at
jjwaelti@charter.net.
