MEMORIES OF OUR 'WONDER YEAR'S

DDHS   1961 - 1965

It is hard to believe that it has been 50 years since my time at DDHS. Life has 'happened' to me over the years since then, but just thinking of a reunion with so many who were part of my life during those four 'wonder years' brings to my mind so many snapshot memories, and short film clips of those very special days at Delavan-Darien High School.

The first day of high school was exciting, intimidating, and a little scary. Knowing I had to find my locker, change classrooms every hour, find the right classroom, remember my locker combination, and meet so many people for the first time, well, it was almost overwhelming. But then, we all had to do it. It reminded me of getting on the diving board the first time at the Mill Pond and knowing there was a line behind me, the only thing I could do was take a deep breath, shut my eyes, hold my breath, and JUMP!   But, in spite of all our trepidations, we all made it thru that first day, and that first week at DDHS. And, before we realized it, four years had passed and there we all were on June 10, 1965 marching on to the football field to receive our diplomas. So many wonderful memorable experiences with so many special people!

I remember the pride I felt in my school. I had learned the traditions and the history of DDHS, and I had a sense of the high expectations of everyone who walked the halls at DDHS. We were expected to do well in everything we did, and no matter what, to do our best no matter the outcome. It was our time of growing..... UP!! So, now, here we are, a lifetime later. So many memories have flooded my mind of that time and those special years in all of our lives.

Travel back in time to 1961. As Freshmen, it was the 'big school', with lots of hallways and a lot of other strange kids going thru the same as we were in our 'growing up years'.  It was all those classes that we had to take as we looked thru our 'curriculum handbook' that we were given. We knew our path, we knew the classes we had to take, and the ones we could elect to take.

As Freshmen, it was Typing class, Civics, Developmental Reading, and Algebra, and a foreign language, and gym class, and band and choir. Then there there were all those after school activities we could participate in. Our teachers. Maybe you had Mr. Walsh for Developmental Reading, Mr. Prahl for Typing, Mr. Rondeau, Ms Shoys, Mr Dever, Mr Hess, Mr Hessner, Miss Myhre, or Mr. Matheny for Latin, Spanish, French or German.

As Freshment, we were the 'underclassmen'. The guys looked on in amazement at all those good looking junior and senior girls, and we noticed that the senior guys had beards and some of them even had to shave everyday!

Then there were those required classes. History with Mr. Briedenback and Mr. Huckabee, Algebra I and II with Mr. Pierson and Mrs. Kelsey, Geometry with Mr. Clifton, Health with Mr. Scharfenberg, Home Ec with Mrs. Scheurell, Civics with Mr. Peters, Speech with Mr. Scott, German with Mr. Hess, French with Mr. Matheny, Spanish with Mr. Rondeau, Latin with Mr. Dever, Shop Classes with Mr. Gannon, Biology with Carl Larson and Mae James, Chemistry with Mr. Tesch or Mr. Moum, FFA with Mr. Holman, Band with Mr. Spevacek, Boys PhyEd with Zim or Coach Tom, and Girls PhyEd with Mrs. Berkompas.

It was Friday afternoon pep rallies and Friday night football games. It was building those Homecoming floats. It was the Homecoming parade, and the big game and the crowing of the Homecoming Queen. It was the Homecoming Dance. It was beating Whitewater in football and Elkhorn in basketball. It was our great swimming team that always went to state. It was Carl Larson's basketball teams that always fought so hard, but more often than not, seemed to be on the short end of the score.

It was racing to the lunch line, and the lunch room ladies, Mrs. Kooistra, Mrs. Hipp, Mrs. Wendorf, and Mrs. Siert. It was the Christmas Dance, the Valentines Dance, and the Sadie Hawkins Day Dance. It was the Junior Prom. Remember the 'mixers' in the 'commons area' after the football and basketball games.

It was knowing that our FFA was always the best under Mr. Holman. It was Varsity Club, GAA, Student Council, Quill and Scroll, AFS Club, and the big all school musical play every spring. It was out cheerleaders and the Debate Team. It was the National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders, and Future Homemakers of America.

For me, it was finding someone to share a locker with because the one I was assigned to was somewhere just north of Darien.  For the guys, it was gym class and swimming naked, fearing (but hoping) that the girls swim class that followed us would walk into the pool before we left.  It was the swim meets going on at the same time as the basketball games, and the wrestling matches. It was choosing a partner for square dancing in gym class. It was the 600 yard run in gym class, and the physical fitness tests we took every year in gym class.

It was separate Health classes for boys and girls, so we could learn about the 'growing up' stuff. It was meeting at Eat 'n Time after the games for a coke and fries. It that special date at the Outdoor Theatre. It was Driver's Ed with Webb Schultz or Mr. Sturtevant when we were sophomores. It was passing the state driving test at the library getting our 'license' to drive. It was 'cruisin' around Delavan and listening to WLS and Dick Biondi. It was asking that special 'someone' for a date, or being asked 'out' by that really cute upper class guy. It was double dating. It was the Junior Prom. It was going to the 'teen dances' at the Fairgrounds in Elkhorn and at the Lake Lawn Ballroom. It was seeing so many great bands and meeting all kinds of new friends at the Majestic Hills dances in Lake Geneva.

Remember the Malibu's, the Van Tels, and the Romans. It was the tradition of our champion football teams and Coach Zim and Coach Tom prowling the sidelines at the games. It was the 'new' Borg Football Stadium and Tennis Courts. It was riding the bus to away football and basketball games. It was the annual musical play each year and being amazed at our talented classmates. It was the debate teams that seemed to consistently win their competitions, and the band the would march under the stern direction of Mr. Spevacek around the neighborhoods close to the school as they practiced marching and their performances. It was the 'Assemblies' where we watched the African dances, listened to guest speakers, and watched and listened to the college choirs and orchestras perform for us. It was the Cometeer every Friday, and the  ERA, our yearbook. It was the signing parties at the end the school year. It was choosing our class ring when we were Juniors.

It was those enduring friendships we formed back then that are renewed at each reunion. In many ways, it is all those years between then and now, but mostly remembering back then. It's going thru all those classes, learning so many new things, forming so many new friendships, and making so many memories that make our 'wonder years' at DDHS always remain a memorable part of who we are today.

More quickly than it seemed possible, we started our Senior year at DDHS. We were the upper classmen and we had grown up....  A LOT!!!!  There was the uncertainty of what was to come after high school. All we could do was to line up and jump because we knew there was a long line behind us!

Our Senior year was a time when we knew that it was really the last time we would be doing many of the things at DDHS. It was a time to pick a career or a college, a time to find a job and get married, or join the military. It was a time of applying for scholarships, sending applications to different colleges, getting measured for our graduation gowns, picking our senior pictures, going to Homecoming and Prom with that special someone, and finally......  Graduation.

It was a memorable day of something ending, but of so many new beginnings. It was a time filled with unforgettable memories and lifelong friendships. It was a time of saying goodbye to so many, not thinking that we would never see them again. Those four years at DDHS will always be a treasure of memories for each of us.

Our time at DDHS was a time filled with so much history. It was a time of 'sputnik', the Cuban Missle Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, his brother Bobby, and Dr. Martin Luther King. It was a time of the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights and LBJ's 'Great Society'. We listened to the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Supremes. It was a time of Bob Dylan, and Tony Bennett, Neil Sedaka, and Paul Anka. A time for the Byrds, the Association, Bobby Vinton, The Jefferson Airplane, Jim Morrison and the Doors, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. We watched Dick Clark on American Bandstand, the Smothers Brothers, Laugh In, Marcus Welby, MD, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, Hawaii Five O, Andy WIlliams the Osmonds, Bonanza, Star Trek, Gilligan's Island, My Three Sons, The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, The Fugitive, Lost In Space, and Hullabaloo. We stayed up late to catch Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. It was a time of the 'cold war', and when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. It was a time of the 'Iron Curtain', the Berlin Wall, and Kruschev, and President Johnson, and the war in Viet Nam. It was a time of the race riots in Watts and in Detroit.

It was a time for war protests at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chasing Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a regular season. It was a time of Sandy Koufax, and Bob Gibson, and Denny McClain winning 30 games for the Detroit Tigers. It was those 'amazing Mets'. And could we forget the great Bears-Packers rivalry. It was a time of Gale Sayers, and Dick Butkus, and of Paul Hornung and Bart Starr. A time of George Halas and Vince Lombardi. We watched the first Super Bowl between the Packers and the Chiefs. It was a time of the first heart transplant, and getting the news that some who were part of our life at DDHS had been killed in Viet Nam. We remember Tom Madison, Gary DuCharme, Carl Hallberg, and Allen Decker.

Our years at DDHS was a time like no other that fills each of us with so many memories that we will always carry with us, all together and all by ourselves. Now that we have crossed that milestone in life to be eligible for Social Security, and we can't remember why we walk from one room to another, or where we left our keys, or we pause mid-sentence not knowing what we were going to say next, I'm sure that I have forgotten more good memories from our time at DDHS than I have penned here. We wake each day thankful that we are still breathing and thanking God for one more day. We have gained so much from the 'school of life', and we are thankful for gathering together again with all those long ago friends from our 'new and exciting' time at DDHS. Then and now has been a time filled with lifetime memories of our 'wonder years'.

Congratulations Class of '65 and Class of "64!

Bill Yazbec

DDHS '65