The Final Resting Place of Mark Lemke

[The following is a letter that was written by Lee Meyer on October 31,2007, about the funeral of Mark (Gonzo) Lemke, who died on May 14, 2007. Other information about Mark's life and death was provided in an earlier post.]

I thought I would write a short letter here about my recent to trip to South Texas and the funeral of Mark Lemke. As you know he died last spring and the funeral was delayed until this fall because many of his friends were River people like Gonzo and returned to the Terlingua area after a season of leading river rafting trips in other places and rivers in the United States. Please pass this along as you see fit.

[Six photos of the funeral are in Lee Meyer's Picasa album.]

Jeff Taebel and I arrived early enough to allow to two full days of hiking in the Big Bend National park and the adjacent State park. The landscape is high desert with mountains that range up to 8,000 feet. The valleys and plains are covered with desert fauna and the higher altitudes look more pine forest like. It is a wide open area, including deep narrow water cut cannons, distantly remote, (the nearest decent grocery store is a 100 miles away) and a hard and wonderful setting to be in and as I learned a place to live a life.

His name was Gonzo -- with the name Mark and the place of this birth, Seward, unknown to most who knew him in this town. As I mentioned information about his background to some of the friends in Terlingua, they seemed polite but generally uninterested for it seemed it was irreverent to what they knew the person who was Gonzo. It matters more what he was than where he came from. These details and facts were not important to those living in the moment.

He was a powerful personality with a love of fun, the people around him and living fully. I was told about this wild blond hair, his wonderfully colorful sweaters, about adventures and experiences and enthusiastic friendliness toward all. He may have epitomized this place for, in my experience, every conversation and encounter with the people of Terlingua was full of friendliness and kindness. One woman told me how she threw herself at him only to be spurned because he had a girlfriend.

One Buddhist told me he was Buddhist-like, with a strong spirituality. It was a place where some of the assumptions of living in United States -- including organized religion, life as a consumer and a health-insurance-dependent culture -- are to some degree to be thrown asunder prior to settling down here. Other virtues of self-reliance -- the importance of knowledge and doing something well -- are in evidence.

At the same time the attendance at his funeral was a monoculture, for it was completely white, high-tech yet oriented to a low-impact life, heterosexual in its orientation, mostly childless, more than likely at least 2nd or 3rd generation born to the United States, oriented toward marijuana use combined with herbal medicine with the common element of beer. While the area had a large population from Mexico, as we had seen the pervious night at the Friday night dance at the Boathouse, that part of the population was not present for his funeral.

Gonzo lived on the other side of a small range of mountains from the town of Terlingua on a 40-acre tract of land, down a long gravel road adjacent to several of his friends who lived, it seemed, in other single shelters spotted around his local.

His place included a roof-covered parking area that was mainly for rain catchment, a small outbuilding, a covered eating area and a structure that was called a Yurt by those gathered with us, but really appeared to me be a high-tech tent-like structure, 20 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall with a frame of wood and a skin of rubberized fabric that included screened flaps for ventilation. With the inclusion of a solar-panel system, the yurt featured both air conditioning and heating and a refrigerator. The furnishing included a Lemke-family cast-iron frame bed, table, old wonderful dressers and storage units for food and the other essentials. The deck located on the east side included wonderful desert plants and a built-in hot tub. Friday evening out at his land we enjoyed many stories about Gonzo and the life, the setting sun and rising of the full moon.

The service was straightforward and untangled with any religious rituals that are the basis of most funerals. It started around 5 p.m. in front of the Starlight Bar with people gathering on the porch and adjacent parking lot. Gonzo’s cremated remains were placed in a life jacket in the middle of his large rubber raft set on a trailer pulled by his white Toyota truck. His brother John drove. The sound of the tires crunching on the gravel was the only signal beyond the slowly moving truck that the procession was on its way down the main rocky road of the town to the ghost-town cemetery, a five-minute walk from the Starlight Bar.

About 200 folks followed the raft. Once at the gates of the cemetery, his closest friends lifted the raft. I joined in but was feeling more like a representative from the life Gonzo came from than a member of this community. One of the raft carriers was a woman by the name of Kelly who was holding a brilliant display of red roses. In response to my inquiry, she told me with a passion in her voice that she loved Gonzo as so many of us did. I could feel her love and loss.

After John's reading of a few e-mails from friends of Gonzo that recalled events in his life, a few lines of remembrance by others, a reading of Be Here Now from Dama Ras and the singing of a sweet ballad by James Taylor, the assembled group took turns placing handfuls of the rocky clay earth over the created remains, which were placed in a small hole had been dug the pervious day by one of his friends named Taz.

People then moved off to the Boathouse Bar for a potluck dinner with music, Keg beer, fireworks and a personal highlight of a “ring of fire”. A Ring of Fire is a riverboat tradition to entertain your customers at night. It consists of stuffing steel wool in the fat end of a kitchen whisk, attaching a long string to the handle end, soaking the whole thing in lighter fluid, lighting it up and then spinning it to make the ring of fire. In this case there were a dozen or so people doing this at once on the exterior dance floor so that it appeared to be a field of fire all at once. It was a commemoration to Gonzo. A long evening of eating and drinking ensued but ended for us by 10 p.m. since we needed to leave by 5 the next morning so I could be back in the Twin Cities by Tuesday morning.

Gonzo choose a path in life that was completely different than anything I could have remotely imagined. It did seem like that life his father led in Seward, which included a man with a friendly manner, given to good times, lots of puns and jokes and a goal of living life to the fullest.

Michael Stelmachowicz, RIP

I learned recently that Michael Stelmachowicz died on December 30, 2009. His family lived next-door to my Sylwester family for four years, from 1964 to 1968, on North Columbia Avenue. Before that, they lived for a couple of years in a house that was six houses away from our house on Faculty Lane.

My Mom and Michael's wife Betty became best friends when our family's lived nearby on Faculty Lane, and that close friendship lasted during the years that we lived on North Columbia. They liked to go to auctions together, and I think they took some classes at Concordia at the same time. I remember that Betty was a very vivacious, extroverted woman, while my Mom was much more quiet and reserved. I think that Betty helped my Mom engage socially with adults again after spending many years at home raising children,

The Sylwester family had six boys and one girl, and the Stelmachowicz famiy had four girls and one boy. My sister Tricia played with the Stelmachowicz girls a lot, and the Stelmachowicz boy Cary played with our family a lot.

All the Stelmachowicz girls, beginning with Betty, were extraordinarily pretty and vivacious. Candy and Cheryl were cheerleaders, and I assume that Crystal eventually became one too.

Michael Stelmachowicz was not bad looking, but he was not extraordinarily handsome either. Also, he was rather quiet and mild-mannered. So, I wondered how he had managed to get Betty to be his girlfriend and then even his wife. His success in that area of his life gave me hope that even I might at least think about getting the very prettiest girl.

Anyway, Michael Stelmachowicz apparently was a good leader and manager of other people. He rose up through the ranks of the College's and Synod's administration. He became the Dean while he was our neighbor, and then he left and held some other positions in other places and returned to serve as the College's President from 1978 to 1984.

Even though my family was living in Oregon during the latter period, I was aware that he had risen to that position, and I was very impressed. I knew he was not a pushy, aggressive personality, and so I figured that he had risen to that top position because he was an extraordinarily effective manager and leader.

I have placed his obituary on this blog's page for the Stelmachowicz family.

I intend to write some more about the Stelmachowicz family in future articles in this blog.

Herman Glaess, RIP

Herman Glaess died in Lincoln on August 8 at the age of 83 . I have placed his photograph and obituary on my Family Glaess webpage.

After the Sylwester family moved out to remote North Columbia Avenue, we lived across a cornfield from the Glaess family. During the months when the corn was not grown high, it was about a five-minute walk between the two houses, so we were essentially neighbors. Mark Glaess was in our house many times, and I was in the Glaess house many times.

All the Glaesses had great senses of humor. They loved to joke and laugh with each other and with everyone they came into contact with. I think this characteristic began with Mr. Glaess, because I saw him joking and laughing many times.

Edna Grotelueschen, RIP

The Nebraska District of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church published this obituary :

Edna Grotelueschen Pieper, Commissioned Minister-Teacher Emeritus, departed this life on August 8, 2006, in Seward, Nebraska. She was born on May 7, 1915, in Leigh, Nebraska, to Emil and Rosa (Wilke) Grotelueschen. She married Lester Pieper on September 23, 1989, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Goehner.

She graduated from Concordia Teachers College (now University), Seward, in 1949, where she also received a Masters Degree in 1958. Schools served include: St. Paul, Ute, Iowa; Emmanuel, Ft. Wayne, Indiana; and St. John, Seward, where she served for 31 years before retiring.

Mrs. Pieper is survived by her husband; step-son and wife, Dale and Susan Pieper, Bergheim, Texas; step-daughter and husband, Carol and Dean Hillhouse, Lincoln, Nebraska; five step-grandchildren; seven step-great-grandchildren; two brothers, Eugene and Maxine Grotelueschen,Columbus, Nebraska, and Martin Grotelueschen, Leigh, Nebraska; two sisters, Evelyn and Rev. Paul Mueller, Sioux City, Iowa, and Rose Marie and Fred Graft, Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, Clarence Grotelueschen and Gilbert Grotelueschen; and two sisters, Anna Bock and Velma Frese.

Steve Sylwester remembers:

Miss Grotelueschen was my First Grade teacher. She was the First Grade teacher for approximately 1,000 children during her 31 years of teaching at St. John's Lutheran School in Seward, which is a magnificent achievement.

The most amazing thing about Miss Grotelueschen was that she somehow grew shorter as I grew older. In fact, we were about the same height when I became an adult!

The things I remember about First Grade include:

learning to read with Dick, Jane, Sally, and Spot;

making puppets to tell the Chicken Little story;

having Show-and-Tell once a week;

and — my most favorite thing of all — Miss Grotelueschen's daily Riddle Box.The Riddle Box was great fun and wonderfully intriguing! Every morning, Miss Grotelueschen would give us clues about what was in the box, and the clues were given in the form of a riddle. We were allowed to shake the box during the course of the day to gain clues from listening to how the object moved when it was rattled, but that was it. Miss Grotelueschen would repeat the clues if asked, and would sometimes add a clue. At the end of the school day, we would make our guesses, and then the box would be opened. I do not recall that there was any reward for guessing correctly, but the Riddle Box did not need a reward — it was just plain fun!

Mark Lemke, RIP

The obituary in the Estes Park [Colorado] Trail Gazette:

Mark “Gonzo” Lemke, 51, died May 14, 2007, in Albuquerque, New Mexico five days after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage. His brother John and sister-in-law D’Anne, along with his Terlingua, Texas, friends Janet Sullivan and Elizabeth Thompson were at his bedside during his final days. Gonzo participated in the ultimate recycling, as donations were made of most of his physical self to people all over the United States.
He was born Jan. 5, 1956. He was raised in Nebraska. Gonzo left after high school for Estes Park where he got interested in rock climbing and river guiding. He was a river guide for many companies, on many rivers, all over the western United States and logged thousands of hours rowing through all classes of water. He competed in Project Raft in Costa Rica and Turkey, which focused on international goodwill. For many years, he boated for Far Flung in Terlingua, rafting the Rio Grande. He also worked in search and rescue in Antarctica for four summers seasons and two winter seasons. He worked as a River Ranger and a back country ranger for the National Forest Service during the last several years and spent a season or two as a forest wildfire fighter.
There will be a celebration for his life on Oct. 28, 2007. His ashes will be buried in the Ghostown cemetery.

An excerpt from the obituary in the Terlingua [Texas] City Limits:

... raised in Nebraska, Gonzo left after high school for Estes Park, Colorado, where he got interested in rock climbing and river guiding. He actually roughnecked some —- as he said, "A hippie was a strange sight in the Oil Patch!" He also refinished and sold antiques in California and Alaska.
He was a river guide for many companies, on many rivers, all over the western United States and logged thousands of hours rowing through all classes of water. As Janet found out a couple of years ago when she stopped at the Nantahala River in North Carolina, the eastern river guides all knew Gonzo too. ...
Having lived in Terlingua during most of his time since 1991, he built a yurt (complete with hot tub) on property that he bought out in the desert. During one of his times of work on "The Ice" it seemed that coming up with road names was imminent in Brewster County. Gonzo and Janet were talking on the phone and since they were the only ones living in the particular valley at the time, she explained the situation and asked what he would like to name the road. He quickly said "Patchouli Gulch." The nickname stuck and it is now the official 911 address!
Gonzo's real name was Mark Lemke. I asked Elizabeth where he got the name Gonzo, and she explained, " In his early 20's he freeclimbed 1000 feet with no ropes or climbing gear whatsoever, and when he returned down to his comrades, who were so impressed with his ability, that they said "Wow, you're really Gonzo." And he's been called that since.
Elizabeth Thompson said of her friend,"He was an enormously loyal friend, a character and a land of character. His wild crazy hair, smart as the dickens, well read, and was well traveled". Janet reflected that he stood for joy and peace and being mellow with everyone and everything —- "Life is Large" was one of his favorite sayings.

The following was written by Mark's brother, John Lemke:

... In May [2007], d'Anne was en route to Croatia for two weeks of bike riding with a friend and had made it as far as Minneapolis when she received an emergency phone call regarding my brother Mark. He was en route from Terlingua, TX, his winter home to Oregon (for a summer of river guiding) via his place near Steamboat Springs. He had an episode while driving which caused him to swerve off the road and into a field, where a sheriff found him wandering around his truck. Shortly thereafter an ambulance arrived, Mark went into cardiac arrest, and was rushed to Carlsbad and then air-lifted to El Paso in a coma.
While going through Mark's things d'Anne's cell phone number was discovered and she was contacted. She in turn contacted me and we both headed to El Paso, where we were joined by Mark's Terlinqua neighbors and good friends Janet and Elizabeth. Mark was in an induced coma while they attempted to pinpoint the problem. This lasted for two days and many tests, when it was discovered that he had suffered a ruptured vessel in the back of his head (sort of an almost-aneurysm). A specialist at the U of NM hospital in Albuquerque agreed to operate on Mark and he was airlifted there.
Following a successful stint surgery they were able to let the induced coma dissipate. Unfortunately, Mark remained in a coma and further tests indicated that he was more or less brain dead at the time of the original incident. Of course we couldn't be certain until they could let him out of the induced coma, so it was Saturday before we knew for sure (the incident was Wednesday morning). All that remained at that point was to manage his formal death to maximize organ donor potential, so official time of death was not until the following Tuesday.
The fact that Mark died in a fashion similar to that of our mom meant I had to get a CT angiogram to determine whether or not it might be hereditary and putting me at risk. Fortunately for me the test returned negative.

The following was written by Mark's childhood friend John [Seikai] Luebke:

As you probably remember, Mark and I were next door neighbors and close friends growing up. We shared a cabin in Estes Park during the winter of 1977, but I hadn't seen him since then, although I did get a couple letters from him.
I had inexplicably been thinking of Mark for a few weeks, and then found out that he had died. Even though it's been 30 years, Mark still has a place in my heart, given all the time we spent together as kids. I also remember a time when Koe's brother David -- who was affectionately known as Iddo -- showed up at our cabin in Esters Park along with another Seward guy named Steve Kraft. They were, at the time, pretty countrified and pretty funny.

An appreciation written by my brother Steve:

Some of you might recall that John Lemke was my childhood best friend, and that I lived at his home when I visited in Seward as a teenager. John had one sibling, his brother Mark. Mark was in Tricia's grade, along with Dave Heinicke and John Luebke and others, though I am not sure just what if anything Tricia remembers about those days.
I knew Mark in the "sort of" sense. He was quiet around me, and he lived a very different life than anyone I have ever known. To Koe's [Steve's wife Koe Heinicke's] and my thinking, Mark lived the life that his father R.J. Lemke wanted to live -- and actually might have lived if RJ had not met Mark's mother and had somehow gotten married. I believe in marriage, but some people really should not get married; their destiny almost forbids it. Well, RJ married, but Mark never did.
If Mark had lived in the early 1800s, he most certainly would have been a mountain man / fur trapper and trader /friend of the Indians / solo explorer / expedition guide / wagon train leader / cowboy on Texas to Montana cattle drives / Texas Ranger / saloon gambler. He would have done all of that on a "feel like it", "sometimes" basis -- and he would have never married, no way! He would have been well-liked, and would have treated strangers kindly. And his helpful manner would have earned the trust and admiration of most people.
The characters in Lonesome Dove come to mind: decent men who loved life more than they could ever love just one woman, and whose lives were Big and Adventuresome in every remarkable sense of those words.
When others were playing team sports while growing up in Seward, Mark was setting traps for beavers and raccoons down at Plum Creek. Mostly, he worked his traps alone, but was never lonely doing it. Occasionally, Koe's brother Dave went along, and maybe others did too at times. After Mark graduated from high school, he split for the Great Big World and the life he was destined to live. I cannot imagine that he ever spent even one day in college, or that he even thought to do such a thing; his life was "out there."

The world is a better place because people like Mark Lemke can still find a place to live in it. Woe to us when that is no longer the case. And, as sad as it is, it is probably a better thing that people like Mark Lemke leave us while they are still able to "get up and go." R.I.P.

Tim Heinicke, RIP

Tim Heinicke died in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 7, 2008. Here is his obituary:

Timothy Brian Heinicke was born on November 29, 1950, in Tokyo, Japan to Gerhard and Eleanor (Kolterman) Heinicke. Tim lived in Las Vegas, Nevada were he was a elementary teacher in special education.

He graduated from Concordia Teachers College and received his Masters from Wichita State University.

Tim passed away in Las Vegas on May 7, 2008, at the age of 57 years. He is survived by his mother, Eleanor Heinicke of Seward, Nebraska; brothers and their wives, Gary and Nancy Heinicke of Lincoln, Nebraska and Ronald and his wife Patricia Heinicke of Olathe, Kansas. Tim was preceded in death by his father, Gerhard Heinicke.

Below are some excerpts from his resume, which apparently was written some time after 1998:

My training in the field of education began in 1964, attending high school at Concordia High School in Seward, Nebraska. It is a private preparatory school for potential teachers. I also attended Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska, which was exclusively established to train professionals in the field of education. In 1979, I earned a Master in Education degree with emphasis in Educational Psychology, at Wichita State University. Post-graduate studies at Northern Arizonia University in Educational Administration were acquired in pursuit of a position in Educational Administration.

After receiving a B.S. degree in education from Concordia Teachers College, I began teaching seventh and eighth grade students in a private school in Wichita, Kansas. Two years later, I gained employment as a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teacher in a rural Kansas public school. I served in this position for three years and then became employed in the Wichita Public Schools. I taught a combination - fifth and six grade for nine years in this school system. While there, I was nominated as the outstanding educator by the P.T.A., and received special recognition by being selected by the Wichita Eagle/Beacon with monthly articles concerning my class-room techniques and procedures.

In 1984 I moved to Tempe, Arizonia and began teaching a fourth grade class. I was assigned a sixth grade class and did extensive planning for the "Outdoor Education Program" while at Starlight Park Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizonia. I was selected as Assistant Principal in the Cartwright School District in Phoenix and served in this capacity for four years.

I am currently residing in Santa Teresa, New Mexico and am Assistant Principal of Santa Teresa Middle School. This is my third year in this position. Our student population is mainly Hispanic with a strong Hispanic heritage. The opportunity to work with this unique population has enriched my understanding in working with people of another culture. I feel quite proud of the fact that this year I was awarded the "Assistant Principal of the Year" award in the state of New Mexico.

During the 1997-98 school year, I was awarded the "Assistant Principal of the Year" for New Mexico. This honor is awarded by the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the McDonald's Corporation.

Tim was a year or two (probably two) ahead of me in school, but I remember him from two activities, in both of which he constantly displayed his hilarious sense of humor.

I remember him from the high-school football and wrestling teams. He was the heavy-weight member of our wrestling team. Maybe he was even our team captain. I was the light-weight member of our team, so we never wrestled against each other.

And I remember him as a fellow worker in the campus cafeteria. There, where he did not have to worry about any coaches' control, his prankster humor was displayed constantly. My brother Steve remembers that I often came home from that job and told funny stories about Tim Heinicke's antics.

James Blomenberg, RIP

My brother Steve sent me this message:

James Blomenberg died on Monday, April 13, 2009, of a heart attack. It was the day after Easter,and James was not feeling well, so he drove himself to the local hospital near his home in Indiana. He died at the hospital. Evidently, he was somewhat overweight (hard to believe).

His dad still lives in the Blomenberg family home in Seward, and is in his 90s.

Here are excerpts from the obituary in The Republic newspaper of Columbus, Indiana, where he lived.

... James was born in Columbus, Ind., March 13, 1953, to Gilbert P. and Bertha Marie Koch Blomenberg. He was baptized April 5 of the same year at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Columbus. On May 7, 1967, he was confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church in Seward, Neb. He attended church at St. John's Lutheran Church at White Creek in Columbus.

James graduated from Concordia High School in Seward, Neb., in 1971 and from Concordia Teacher's College in Seward in 1975. In 1977 he earned a master's degree in instructional systems technology from Indiana University and in 1987 earned an associate's degree in statistical process quality control technology at Ivy Tech.

James joined Cummins Engine Company in 1981 and retired from Cummins Jan. 1, 2009. ... James gained APIC's certification in two areas of MRP. He was also ASQC certified and an ASQC member, treasurer and board member and served as national quality month co-chair.

In 2001, James earned the position of Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Prior to employment at Cummins, James taught mathematics at ABC-Stewart for two years.

His hobbies included restoration of antique furniture and clocks and he was a member of National Association of Clock and Watch Collectors. He collected religious books and music and was interested in genealogy, Bartholomew County history and Lutheran Church history. He also followed Hoosier Salon art and special-interest automobiles.

In retirement, he was authoring a book about the life and art of his grandfather, T.J. Koch.

Family was of great importance to James. He viewed his role as a husband, father, grandfather, son, nephew, godfather, brother, uncle and great-uncle to be one of God's greatest gifts. Whatever the role, James brought humor, words of wisdom and comfort to all.

James was a devout Lutheran who valued Lutheran doctrine, Lutheran education and Lutheran history. The Lutheran Church's musical heritage was also of great importance to him. ...

Online condolences may be sent to the Blomenberg family at www.barkesweaverglick.com. [Click on the Obituaries button on the home page. On the next webpage, click on the "Blomenberg, James M." link. On the next webpage, click the "View/Send Condolences" link under his photograph.]

James married Janeen L. Miller Aug. 14, 1976.

Survivors include his father, of Seward, Neb.; his wife; children, Emila (Logan) Fowler of Columbus and Paul (Amy) Blomenberg of Denver, Colo.; brothers, Dr. Theodore (Saundra) Blomenberg of Decatur, Ind., John F. (Susan Ann) Blomenberg of Seward, Neb., and Dr. Daniel (Deanna) Blomenberg of Norfolk, Neb.; sisters, Dr. Paula Blomenberg (Charles Rager) of Tampa, Fla., Rhoda (Dr. Dominick) Toulouse of Seattle, Wash., and Andrea (Drew) Woodburn of York, Neb.; a granddaughter, Katerina Fowler, and a grandchild to arrive next month; 11 nephews; 18 nieces; six great-nephews; and two great-nieces.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Bertha Marie Blomenberg, and a sister, Sarah Ann Blomenberg.

I had been thinking about Jim Blomenberg recently because of my blog. I think he would have liked reading the blog and might have participated by writing some articles. He was a funny and sociable person who livened up every gathering of people, telling jokes and stories. His whole family was that way. Both parents were jolly types.

I remember visiting his home and remember him visiting our home. Both our families had lots of kids, and both homes were loud and full of activity.

His parents made all the kids study music seriously. When I dropped by he often was practicing his piano, playing very difficult pieces. I was envied him for playing so well, and he envied me for not ever really having to practice my trombone!

None of the Blomenbergs were in my class, so I knew Jim through my brother Steve, who was a good friend.

I also remember his older brother John, who was about two years ahead of me. John too was unusually funny. I remember also that John surprised everyone when he belatedly joined the Concordia High School football team and turned out to be a star player.

John Garmatz, RIP

John Garmatz died recently. I think it was in early February 2009. He died of Alzheimer's Disease at an unusually young age.

He was a very good friend of mine, and he spent so much time at our house that I consider him to be an honorary resident of Faculty Lane. After I heard about his death, I sent a memorial message to his sister Susan (Garmatz) Jordan. Since that message included a lot of childhood memories, I quote it here.

John Garmatz was a very close friend of mine, especially during third through eighth grades.

In Seward, I often visited your home, and he often visited mine. We played games, like Risk and Monopoly, and just hung around together.

We had paper routes in the same area of Seward, and we often met and talked in the mornings while delivering newspapers together.

John turned me on to Mad Magazine. I would visit your home and read his Mad Magazines, and eventually I too decided to invest some of my own paper-route money on buying Mad Magazines and all the related comic books.

We had similar senses of humor. We made each other laugh. That's why he was one of my very favorite class mates. He was rather popular among all his class mates because of his sense of humor.

We both played in the St. John's band. He played tuba rather well, and I played trombone rather badly.

We spent a lot of time together at the indoor and outdoor swimming pools in Seward. We both loved to swim and dive.

We played on the football and wrestling teams together. We both were mostly "bench warmers" and we would laugh together on the benches during the competitions.

One of my funniest memories from seventh grade is that we went together to buy our first jock straps together. We both were too embarrassed to buy them from a sales woman, so we went all over Seward trying to find a store where we could buy them from a sales man. Unfortunately, we couldn't find such a store, so we had to buy them from a woman. In this dire situation, John was the one of us who got up enough courage to approach the sales woman for the purchases.

Neither of us had any success getting girl friends in high school. Concordia celebrated a Sadie Hawkins Day, when the girls got to ask the boys on a date. A couple of the cutest, older coeds asked me and John out on a double-date, just for fun. They were two senior-class cheerleaders. I remember that one was Ruth Klammer, and she took John, and another cheerleader took me. Of course, the double-date was a big joke for the two cheerleaders, but John and I were good sports about it, and we agreed to go and have a good time. The two girls did think we were funny and lots of fun. This incident goes to show that John and I were recognized to be a couple of close friends who laughed together a lot.

I left Seward after my sophomore year of Concordia High School. I returned to Seward visit a couple years later. I was surprised to find that he, like me, had become very interested in politics. We both were opposed to the Vietnam War. I was impressed that he had collected and organized a lot of publications about political issues and was keeping them in his dormitory room. I think he was far more interested in politics than any of his class mates at Concordia.

A few years later, I visited him in Lincoln. A few years later, when he was living in (as I recall) North or South Carolina, I met him again, but I don't remember the circumstances. I think that maybe he visited me in Virginia.

He told me about his work helping American Indians and counseling abusive husbands, and I was impressed that he wanted to devote himself to socially useful work.

The last time I saw him was in Portland, a few months after he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. I was staying with my parents in Seward, and we passed through Portland, and I was able to stop and visit John for a couple hours. We had a very nice conversation. Although he had the disease, our conversation was entirely normal.

I meant to stay in touch with him, but unfortunately I did not do so. By that time, our lives were very far apart. What we had in common was our shared memories of Seward in the mid-1960s.

Those are very pleasant memories that I always will treasure. John was a very nice guy, who had many friends, and I am happy to say that he was one of my closest friends. I don't remember even one bad moment between us -- I remember only many, many laughs and much, much friendship with him.

Rupert Giesselmann, Steve Rathje,
John Garmatz and Mike Sylwester
at a flag football game
in eighth grade

Sue wrote back to me:

As a sister, you don't get to hear these stories. I remember John and you going on you paper routes. I still cry when I think of John.

He had been living with my husband and I for 21/2 before he had to go into the care center in December 07. Rich and I, and sister Ellen and her spouse were there the afternoon of the night he died. We had a memorial service at our Church (Rich is the Pastor) in Van Meter, Iowa. We will bury his c remains in the church cemetery when the weather gets warmer.