FROM THE NORTH END: THIS CORNER HAS HAD A NUMBER OF INQUIRIES REGARDING THE BURKE MEN’S ASSOCIATION’S ANNUAL FISH FRY. The annual fish fry will be held on St. Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 17th. Serving begins around 5:00 p.m. until ??? It was an excellent year for ice fishing so there will be plenty of fish for everyone.
WE APPARENTLY COULDN’T GET ENOUGH fishing this winter as a group of us are heading north to Devil’s Lake, North Dakota next week to fish with the famous “Perch Patrol.” We’ll have a full report when we get back. Fishing aside, this corner is excited about seeing the ever growing, large body of water.
WITH THE RECENT SNOWS and the fact that we have a lot of winter left, along with a forecast of a wetter than normal March, and the heavy snowpack in the Rocky Mountains and western North Dakota and Montana we could see some high water levels on the Missouri River. This corner is looking forward to what promises to be an excellent year for spring fishing, particularly for catfishing.
BASKETBALL FANS ARE IN THE HEIGHT OF THEIR GLORY with district and regional games beginning and the state tournaments are just around the corner as are the college tourneys which lead into “The Big Dance.” It makes March go by quickly!
THE GREGORY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY is embarking on another interesting project following the putting together of a map and descriptions of all the little inland Gregory County towns and various landmarks. The next project is to locate and a construct a map of rural schools that were an integral part of Gregory County history. While a committee has been meeting on a regular basis and working diligently to locate all the rural schools(some townships had six schools) it is a daunting task. Anyone having information on the rural one room schools are urged to contact Jerry Peterson, Rich and Bev Rubel, Dave Dobesh, Doug Spitzenberger or this writer so we can include them in our project.
While doing a little research on the rural schools, I “stumbled” on an article in the Gregory Times-Advocate on the final county wide commencement of the eighth grade students in rural schools. The ceremonies took place in Burke on May 26th 1970, and Lt. Governor James Abdnor was the speaker.
Since state law at the time only required students to complete the eighth grade, Lt. Gov. Abdnor strongly advised the students to continue their education through the twelvth grade. Diplomas were presented by County Superintendent Ellen Jones to: Rebecca Meyers-Dixon 57, Pamela Hysell, Perry Lee, Tamera Steffen and Kevin Sudquist-Dallas 69, Larraine Bortz, Dennis Hanson, Renee Stevicks, Billy Warnkvist—Jones West Central 84, Kevin Allum and Terry Neuharth-Klug 91, Gayle McCarthy and Merle Nelson of Miller 91, Lois Drews of Hawk 95 and Kevin Miner and Alice Vakiner of Carlock 109. Rural schools at Carlock, Hawk, Dixon, Dallas and Jones West Central operated the next school term but apparently no commencement was to be held.
Once we get the one-room rural schools located we plan to locate and construct a map of all the cemeteries located in the County. This corner has been much impressed with the leadership and enthusiasm Society’s members. After being nearly dormant for a number of years the Society is moving ahead with programs and projects to preserve the history of the county. See you next week!
Author: Jack Broome