The Students of St John School, 1952-53

In an earlier article I introduced a booklet that was published in 1952 to celebrate the 75th anniversary (1877-1952) of St John Lutheran Church. The book belongs to Lee Meyer, and he scanned some of the pages and e-mailed them to me.

Two of the scanned pages seem to show the students of St John Lutheran School (on Columbia Ave) posing for class photographs. (The photographs were taken on the steps of Weller Hall.) There are five such photographs: 1) the Kindergarten, 2) grades 1-2, 3) grades 3-4, 4) grades 5-6 and 5) grades 7-8. The 2nd picture is cropped.

Lois (Meyer) Voeltz recognized herself and her own classmates in the kindergarten class. Since her class graduated from the eighth grade in 1961, that class graduated from kindergarten in 1953, which means that all these photographs must have been taken in the first part of the 1952-53 school year (I assume the booklet was published before the end of 1952).

Below I will provide each photograph and also a list of students in each class. Each list of students is the eighth-grade list of students of that class, as compiled for the 2009 anniversary of St John School. This list was described in a previous article of this blog. So, for example, the first picture shows the students in the kindergarten class in the 1952-53, but the name list shows the students of that same group of students when they were in eighth grade in the 1960-1961 school year. Of course, during the intermediate years some of the students stopped attending St John School and some other students began attending the school, in that class.

I will appreciate any help from people who can clarify these pictures and can match faces to names. To provide me such information, add a comment under this article or send me an e-mail to MikeSylwester@gmail.com.

You can click on any of the pictures below to go to the picture's Flickr page, where you can see the picture in larger sizes.

The teachers in 1952-53: Mr. Herb Kaiser, grades 7-8 and principal, Mr. Herman Schmieding, grades 5-6, Miss Lucinda Bartels, grades 3-4, Miss Edna Grotelueschen, grades 1-2, and Miss Martha Maehr, kindergarten. "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

(Update: In August 2012, Wayne Buls identified 21 more names for the classes of 1953-56.

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The Kindergarten in 1952-53 (Graduated in 1961)

Back row: Patsy Ahrens, Bev Boeka, Pam Bock, Lois Meyer, Connie Pollock, Kathy Brinkmeyer, Ron Beckman

Front row: Jon Vogel, Cheryl Ficken, Dick Hans, Doug Zimmerman, Bob Schlueter, Pat Bangert.

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Grades 1 and 2 in 1952-53 (Graduated in 1960 and 1959)

Front Row: Phil Rosel, ?, Candyce Reiling, Patty Kolb, Sue Westerhoff, Lorraine Eicher , Judy Justice, Terry Wied, ? , Ann Cannon, Virginia Tonniges, Wally Cannon,?, Rusty Darold Schulz

2nd Row: ?,?,?, Linda Meyer, Mark Brandhorst, Phil Griesse, ?,?,?, Mary Ann Schmeiding, Elizabeth Werth, ?

3rd Row: ?, ?, ?, ?, Iomo Jean Zillig, ?, Jim Wake, ?, Ruth Riggert, ?, Elvin Ahrens

Class of 1960: Kenneth Brauer, Annetta Cannon, Loraine Eicher, Judy Fosler, Gene Gehle, Alice Gehle, Nancy Hans, Gary Heinicke, Gerald Hillmann, Lynda Johnson, Judith Justice, Linda Meyer, Ronald Neujahr, Candyce Reiling, Dickie Rhodes, Philip Rosel, Mary Schmieding, Donald Schrader, Darold Schulz, Virginia Tonniges, Phyllis Warnsholz, Mary Westerberg, Sue Westerhoff, Terrence Wied

Class of 1959: Elvin Ahrens, Sandra Beckman, Mark Brandhorst, Walter Cannon, Roger Dankert, James Ehlers, John Eicher, Donald Erks, Bette Garber, Earl Graves, Terry Ihde, Carol Ihde, Jon Kruse, Kenneth Luebbe, Richard Mailand, Marilyn Prochnow, Franklin Reynolds, Ruth Riggert, Kathryn Rolfsmeier, Stanley Schlueter, Leon Schneberger, Shirley Schulz, Rodney Tonniges, Lawrence Uhlig, James Wake, Elizabeth Werth, Imo Zillig, Karmin Zimmerman

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Grades 3 and 4 in 1952-53 (Graduated in 1958 and 1957)

Front Row: ?, ?, ?, Dean Hackbart, ?, ?, Ivan Ficken, Jim Vogel, Roleen Brinkmeyer, ?

2nd Row: ?, ?, Evelyn Kroeger, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?

3rd Row: Danny Juergensen, Donn Kaiser, ? Kathy Vogel, ?, Carol Pieper, Barry Kolb, ? , ?, Gerald Buls

Class of 1958: Betty Beckman, Charlotte Brinkmeyer, Rolene Brinkmeyer, Gerald Buls, Donna Erks, Sandra Gruenewald, Dean Hackbart, Nancy Hackbart, Linda Hans Ehrlich, Glenn Hillhouse, Susan Imig, Judy Jacobson, Daniel Juergensen, Donna Kaiser, Brian Katt, Barry Kolb, Evelyn Kroger, Gloria Ost, Steward Pflughaupt, Gary Reiling, Roger Rhodes, Jeannette Rusch, Thomas Schlueter, Ken Schmieding, Robert Schott, Gerald Uhlig, James Vogel

Class of 1957 Philip Beck, James Diers, Roger Ehlers, Ivan Ficken, James Garber, Gordon Goldsmith, Roger Graves, Judy Hans, Dean Hillhouse, Robert Johnson, Marcia Kirch, Larry Luebbe, Linda Luebbe, Wayne Mueller, Dennis Otte, Carolyn Petersen, Carol Pieper, Alice Reynolds, Katherine Rosel, Maureen Schlueter, Joanne Schultz, Diane Sies, Ronald Suhr, Karen Sundermann, Kathleen Vogel, Eva Walsh, Gerald Werth

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Grades 5 and 6 in 1952-53 (Graduated in 1956 and 1955)

Front Row: ?, ?, ?, ?, Paul Griesse, ?, Julie Westerhoff, Charles Fenster

2nd Row: Harold Walker, David Rolfsmeier, Gordon Alschwede, Kathy Rosel, Leora Mueller, Carol Yauk, Sally Westerhoff, Margaret Beckmann, Wayne Buls

Back Row: ?, Gordon Bredow, Tim Wake, Philip Zillig, ? Diane Rigert, John Schmieding, Fred Kroger, ?

Class of 1956 Gordon Ahlschwede, Gerhard Backhus, Wayne Buls, Jerry Hackbart, C.Frederick Kroger, Jochen Landre, Stanley Litty, Lousie Meyer, Bernice Meyer, Rosalie Mueller, Leora Mueller, Jeanne Pfeiffer, Roger Pflughaupt, David Rolfsmeier, Don Schlueter, Harold Walker

Class of 1955 Margaret Beckmann, Robert Brauer, Gordon Bredow, Orval Buls, Charles Fenster, William Imig, Ann Johnson, Darold Kassebaum, Leonard Lamberty, Gerald Lehr, Richard Reinmiller, Diane Riggert, John Schmieding, Gerald Schultz, Lois Schulz, Thomas Wake II, A. Eugene Wendland, Sally Westerhoff, Julie Westerhoff, Carol Yauk, Philip Zillig

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Grades 7 and 8 in 1952-53 (Graduated in 1954 and 1953)

Front Row: Janie Griesse, ?, Dale Pieper, Dennis Werling, ? ?, ?

2nd Row: Roger Mailand, Roger Lindner, ?, ?, ?, Merlin Ziellig, ? ?, Ronnie Mueller, ?

3rd Row: ?, ?, ?, ?, Keith Brose, Dave Kroeger, ?, ?, ?, ?,

4th Row: ?, ?, Jim Juergensen, Orval Buls, Larry Goldsmith, ?, ?, James Schmieding 

Class of 1954 Floyd Abele, Keith Brose, Barbara Gade, Gary Hackbart, LaRue Hackbart, James Juergensen, Wilma Kassebaum, David Kroger, Louis Lamberty, Roger Mailand, Ronnie Mueller, Dale Pieper, David Reynolds, Beverly Jo Rolfsmeier, Susan Sahn, Karen Schaeffer, Jerold Schlueter, James Schultz, Barbara Splittgerber, Jerold Varner, Dennis Werling, Sandra Westbrook, Merlin Zillig

Class of 1953 Nancy Kay Aegerter, Maureen Ahlschwede, Richard Chloupek, Roger Duerr, Sylvia Fritz, Dean Gade, Larry Goldsmith, Janice Griesse, Kenneth Hackbart, Marjorie Hans, Marilyn Imig, Rodney Imig, Roger Lindner, Harvey Mueller, Dwayne Otte, Dorothy Pleines, Lorrence Pleines, James Schmieding, Wayne Schulz, Shirley Siebe, Linda Kay Sies, Doris Walker, Euleen Werth, Margaret Whittrock, Margaret Yauk