Chapter 4: Reminiscing back to those memorable high school days

As I deal with my inoperable and incurable stage IV colorectal cancer with liver metastases, addressing the emotional stress at times can extremely debilitating. 

I’m in my 497^th day since being diagnosed, with the vast majority of those days have been a challenge for me both mentally and emotionally. 

It has been a constant challenge to get myself in a proper frame of mind to deal with the stress of battling soon to be terminal cancer. 

I’m coming off a “marathon day” that included 5 ½ hours of magnesium infusion followed by three hours of tests, X-Rays, and consultation with my ophthalmologist in regards to my recently diagnosed age-related Macular Degeneration. The affliction will likely cause me to lose my vision within three to five years.

I was really feeling stressed out and my mind flashed back to a time that contains incredible memories for me.  I caught myself smiling several times as I flashed back to those school days at Durand High School in the mid to late 1960s.

I wasn’t a “jock,” or one of the “beautiful people” when in high school. In my mind I was simply a shy, friendly guy.

 Many of my friends were the kids I went to grade school with at Lima (till the 7^th grade). The Lima kids were forced to transfer to Durand in my sophomore year as the result of Lima High School closing. 

Terry Bauer, Galen Koller, Duane Poeschel and Herb Nelson were my closest friends at DHS.  I always felt more comfortable with the “Lima” kids than those “big city” Durand kids.  When Lima forced non-parish kids out of Lima grade school and high school following the 1963 school year I was enrolled in 7^th grade at St. Mary’s in Durand.  I still remember being nicknamed and rudely kidded about being one of those farmer – Lima kids.  I still carry emotional scars from those years.

I remember there were several outstanding athletes from Lima that could have been “stars” at Durand High School but the city kids didn’t want to “give up the lime light.”  I thought that at the time – and still think that “sucked.”

One of my fondest memories was having Sunday afternoon softball games at John H. Pattison’s ball field. It was us Lima Kids vs. a team from the Eau Galle area.  I not only played second base for the Lima team but also was the “head of maintenance for the Pattison ball diamond.  I mowed the grass including twice on game days. I lined the field with the same lime that farmers spread on their fields.  I put posters up on the telephone poles and trees near our place.  Dad often scolded me for hammering nails in his majestic elm trees. I always fantasized that our press box was on the roof of our adjacent barn.

I don’t even remember who won or lost.  I just recollect fondly the memories of being part of something special with my friends and classmates.

I flashed back to memories I had of my senior year in high school.  I had to make a decision on where I was going to go to college. My ACT score was a surprisingly good 27.  While my parents hoped I would choose the University of Wisconsin where they both graduated from, I was intimidated by the sprawling campus in the big city.  I wanted to attend UW-Eau Claire. I expected to be admitted and was.     I wish I would have taken my college years more seriously.  One of my great regrets is how much I let my parents down.  I’ve always hoped that my parents understood how motivated I was entering Brown Institute of Broadcasting. I owe any success I had to them.

Some of the flashbacks that I have from my senior year (1968-69) at Durand High School?  The incredible football team that was unbeaten and ranked the No. 1 team in the “small school” rankings. The Panthers continued one of the longest win streaks in state football history.  It led to the Associated Press to actually rank Durand in the “large school” rankings where they finished the season ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll.  The boy’s basketball team qualified for the WIAA State Basketball Tournament for the first time since 1937. 

Our band and student body was housed at the Dane County fairgrounds adjacent to the (still standing) Dane County Coliseum.  One of my best memories was of a front page photo of me and Nancy Langlois in the Milwaukee Journal. We had sad looks on our faces during the Panthers 1^st day loss to Kimberly. The look on my face had little to do with my sadness over Durand’s loss. I was actually looking at someone in the Panther band in the East stands of the UW Fieldhouse!  Dad bought 20 copies of the paper to hand out to his Durand Café breakfast buddies.

I actually had some confidence in my senior year at DHS. I was just beginning to gain confidence in talking to girls.  One of my best friends in my senior year was actually a girl. Not boy friend,  girl friend. We were just friends. I still remember one morning in Dawn Gansluckner’s English class we were all goofing around as class started.  Mike Krisik yells over to me, “Hey Denver, who was that girl you were hanging around with after school last night?”  The whole class busted out laughing!  My faced turned red like a tomato and I never did answer!  While embarrassed I remember thinking to myself the 1969 version of “who’s the man, I’m the man!” Pretty pathetic huh?

My good friend Terry Bauer hosted an AFS student in our senior year. George Misa was from the Philippines. Nice guy but very quiet.  The spring of our senior year my mom and dad hosted an AFS party at our big brick home “out on Hwy 10.  We must have had 10 or 12 AFS students from schools in the Eau Claire area at the party that night. The party was downstairs where my dad’s bar was located.  I didn’t realize it at the time but several students, both girls and boys, thought the bar was  “self serve!”  I remember thinking these AFS students are sure having a good time.  The party abruptly ended when it was discovered that a boy and a girl had founf their way to a bedroom in the apartment in another section of th basement. Oops.

Even though it was in my basement, I can’t remember if I was disciplined for the incident.

Nowadays it might have sparked an international incident.  Perhaps the AFS party “incident” could be described by the Russian term Détente (French pronunciation: ​[detɑ̃t], meaning "relaxation" - the easing of strained relations.

As I was waiting for nearly 90 minutes to see my ophthalmologist, I started thinking back to my classmates at DHS. Most are now retired, a number have passed away, and I realized that I know little about what ever happened to the vast majority of my former classmates. I know many went on to successful careers. I wish there would be a way of obtaining that information.

I wonder if many of my former classmates are familiar with my accomplishments in life?