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Tom & Helene Suh | all galleries >> homestead >> class_photos > 5th Grade Class at Donges Bay School with Mr. Bahrke in living color!
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22-JAN-2008

5th Grade Class at Donges Bay School with Mr. Bahrke in living color!

Mr. Fahrvergnügen, Mr. Bahrke, Mark Bornhoefer, John Walters, Sharon Lowe, Don Betts, Ted Papenthien,
Sarah Egan, Veronica Burton, Lee Campbell, Priscilla Boehme, Tom Saliture, Debbie Paulus, Barb Webb,
Josephine Calatola, Tammy Adair, one of the Hardy twins, Kim Freyer, Paul Mueller, Bill Hoff,
Lynn Feltz, ???mystery girl???, Marie Warwick, Christine Scholle, me, Carson Fleming, Mike Strunk?,
Jeff Schmidt. Can someone help me out. Who is the girl with the red dress and white collar? Alison???



What happened that year? Mr. Bahrke is a lefty (I believe). He plays touch football with us and
can throw the ball a country mile (or so it seemed) even behind his back. We are quizzed on
US geography. Mr. Bahrke pulls down a large US map and points to states with a long wooden stick
with a black rubber tip. We are asked the state and the state capital. We have challenges where the room
is split into two groups along opposite walls. Mr. Bahrke asks questions of the team players
one-by-one. If you get it wrong you had to sit down. It is the classroom version of dodgeball.
And it's fun (but not as much fun as real dodgeball). We do a LOT of reading. The assignments are in
small boxes on color-coded 5"x7" cards. We work through them at our own speed. The colors are
basic at first (red, blue, yellow) with large text and simple themes. They get progressively
harder. Paul Mueller is already on "aqua" and heading for "chartreuse" (where the text was
tiny and the content advanced) before most people have started on pastels. Ted Papenthein is
undefeatable in table tennis and likes to say "possible, but not probable" which tended to
annoy people. Paul Mueller is the most avid reader and completes all the "Big Red" series about
an Irish Setter; inspires others to read. Paul later claims to have webbed feet and then shows us
that they are actually partially webbed. (Everything is crystal clear a few years later when the
movie "Deliverance" comes out...da-da ding-ding ding-ding ding-dang-ding.) We do poster reports
on famous explorers like Columbus, Magellan and Leif Eriksson. Kim Freyer has the neatest handwriting.
After presentations are done Ted Papenthein is all too happy to announce that Amerigo Vespucci
discovered America and not Columbus. Bill Hoff performs a magic trick for the class with a handkerchief
giving the illusion that a live mouse was inside. My parents inform me that Sarah Eagan's dad
is the Mayor of Mequon which only partially explains why nobody can beat her in the 40 yard dash.
Josephine Calatola beats everyone in knuckle wrestling, boys included. Together with Sarah Eagan's
thrashing in the 40 yard dash, I (and many other male counterparts in the class) are psychologically
scarred for life. Barb Webb's family runs a hamburger chain. We hope she would bring in a sack of
burgers on her birthday for the whole class. It never happened. Don Betts keeps bragging that his
dad is a "boxer" and any dispute usually ends up leading to "my dad can beat up your dad". It later
turns out his dad works at Downing Box Company. Nerd genes start to get expressed. People start to
volunteer to be audio-visual assistants (a.k.a. A-V assistants) and leave their hard-earned posts
selling milk at the lunchroom entrance. They are quick to explain the difference between an
overhead and opaque projector, and work to perfect their timing of the "pings" on the record player
with the next slide on our filmstrips. Our classroom was the closest to the exits for the playground,
a key feature. We are also close to the library and school nurse, as well as the art rooms.
Mr. Ridgely comes to our class so we can try out musical instruments. After you blow on a horn
the mouthpiece is rinsed in water then dipped in Listerine. We had library time where
"Charlotte's Web" and "James and the Giant Peach" is read out loud for the class. We sit
"Indian style" on the floor and listen. A carton of milk goes up to 4 cents that year,
a 100% increase, yet still a bargain.



source: Google


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Guest 09-Jan-2010 03:09
Sarah Egan is a palliative care doctor in New York City. 40-yard dash skills come in handy when crossing the street here.
Tom & Helene Suh03-Apr-2008 21:21
The unnamed girl may be "Rebecca Storm". I am visiting my folks this week and had a
chance to go through some old school papers and found a class list.
Josephine Calatola 25-Mar-2008 03:32
Ok, who remembered about the knuckle /arm wrestleing. I look so innocent LOL.
Tom, thank you again for putting this all together and to all who were kind enough to send these pictures in.
Guest 17-Mar-2008 22:10
What ever happened to Sarah Egan, does anyone know??
Guest 17-Mar-2008 22:09
I cant remember if there were three fifth grade classes or only two. I can remember switching teachers for math class . But if there was another class, who was the teacher? I remember having a gym teacher, Mr Finger, who sang Go You Chicken Fat Go!!!
Guest 12-Mar-2008 05:53
One of the twins 3rd row, 1st on left is either Wendy or Laurel Harkins. Marie Waraxa is 3rd row, 2nd from right, and Carson Roemming is bottom row, 2nd from left.
Mary (Semrad) Fredrick 28-Jan-2008 15:50
I was not in this class, But I do recognize Mike Truntz, (not Mike Strunk).
Tom & Helene Suh26-Jan-2008 08:36
Mr. Bahrke, Thanks for you interest in our class and for all the good times. I am actually a righty, but my son is lefty so you will get partial credit. It goes without saying that it would be our honor if you could come by the reunion. Tom
Guest 26-Jan-2008 01:03
Thanks Tom for the great memories of 1970-71! Your reflection of me being a lefty is correct...weren't you a lefty too?! My wife and I would like to attend your reunion

if the date works out. A hello to all in my class at Donges Bay!
Respectfully,
Bill Bahrke