A Grateful Reunion

by Jenny Lescohier, reprinted permission of Daily Union see full online story at bit.ly/2mlJIXs

Darrell Krause, Tom Witte

For many, it’s hard to imagine getting together with people from school 57 years ago, but for Lakeside’s class of 1962, it’s both timelessly poignant and as familiar as yesterday. In July, about two-dozen alumni gathered for a reunion at St. Paul in Fort Atkinson, the first site of the school. That school has been razed, but those who attended haven’t forgotten the lessons—and even the good-natured hijinks—they shared together. The students appreciated the opportunity this new school brought. Tom Baker recalled wanting to continue his faith-based education past grade school, but his parents weren’t able to afford it. “I lived in Fort and wanted to go to Lakeside, but my dad said ‘no,’” he remembered. “Finally, he said if I could make my own tuition, I could go. So I raised strawberries to make the money.”

He continued: “Prof. Huebner was like a father to me. He was always very positive. He encouraged me to take Latin—when I could hardly speak English!—but he helped me and I did pass, because of him. He taught us four years of religion, and I still try to read scripture every day. Religion was the only class I ever got A’s in. I really enjoyed going to Lakeside, and my son went there, too.” Terry Gueldner, master of ceremonies for the reunion, said he’s grateful he and his classmates were given a choice of high schools. “We prayed about it a lot, made a choice and we haven’t regretted it since,” he said. Others remembered some of the good-natured pranks they played, common among high school students everywhere. Mary Anne (Froemming) Kunz, for example, relayed how one Christmas, a bunch of students decided to decorate the school bus windows with pine tree boughs. “Afterward, we got called into Prof. Huebner’s office and you could tell he wanted to laugh while he scolded us,” she said. “He told us it was not a good choice.” “We got into some trouble,” Roger Lemke recalled with a chuckle. “There was that one time a bunch of us broke into the kitchen in the basement of the old school and tried to see who could get the most eggs into the band’s tuba. Someone ratted us out; I’m not sure who.” But Huebner was wise and kind while finding those “teachable moments.” “He told us to ‘always look at the sunrise,’” Lemke recalled.

Bright-faced freshman in 1958

Above, 1962 graduation service at St. Paul's, Fort.

From the first principal’s pen

Prof. Lloyd Huebner, now 94, was called to serve as first principal. He wasn’t able to make it to the reunion due to healthrelated limitations, but he and wife Inez were there in spirit and in the hearts of the students he taught. “We had 41 freshmen in 1958,” Huebner recalled. “The plan was to add more each year, and I was to be the principal and teacher. And I taught everything . . . math, science, English and religion. I was also pastor of the school.”

It wasn’t long before the school moved to its current site in Lake Mills, where it was renamed Lakeside Lutheran High School. Classes began being taught in that building in 1963.

“I appreciated working with and teaching high school-age kids,” he explained. “It was always gratifying to teach them the importance of God’s word. Parochial school was common for gradeschool students in those days, but there was nothing in the area beyond that. I’m glad we were able to offer that opportunity to young adults.”

Prof. Lloyd Huebner