Lance was a good friend in high school. I think he moved into a house his dad built in 1961, just a couple of blocks from me on Grove Street. My dad was a builder too, so we shared that. We rode the bus together and got to know each other. He loved cars and we used to go to stock car races in Shakopee at Raceway Park and in Elko. He was born mechanical. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in mechanical engineering.We car pooled together for a couple of years. He had a good career at Tennant Co.designing machinery before his accidental death. In high school he got an old abandoned 1930's Ford Model A coupe. That first summer he got it running as an original car, but the next summer it became something else- a "street rod" with a high performance engine, hydraulic brakes, new transmission, suspension and tires, but he left the body primer gray.We spent many summer evenings along with Dan Fertig working on the car, shooting baskets, and listening to the radio. I. learned to weld. Those were good summer nights. When the car got running we would go over to the new Burger King on 66th Street in Richfield for burgers. Lance and I also played in a rock band together. It was called the Griffins. Lance played lead guitar, I played sax and sang vocals, Steve Luck played electric bass, Ted Thayer played rhythm guitar and Scott Simpson(younger class) played drums. Lance couldn't read music but he could listen to a record and know exactly what to play and helped the other guitars with their parts. He was a great natural musician. We also had a smaller group called the Topaz Trio with Lance, myself, and Jim Buelow on drums. We had a number of gigs our junior and senior years, here and there for fun, and a few bucks.
Dan Fertig (Fertig)
Lance died in 1998 is a result of a motorcycle accident.
Michael N. McLean (McLean)
I still have the newspaper article about his accident.
Lance's grandparents and my grandparents used to take us up to Alexandria fishing when we were in the 5th and 6th grade.
Wayne Fridlund (Fridlund)
Lance was a good friend in high school. I think he moved into a house his dad built in 1961, just a couple of blocks from me on Grove Street. My dad was a builder too, so we shared that. We rode the bus together and got to know each other. He loved cars and we used to go to stock car races in Shakopee at Raceway Park and in Elko. He was born mechanical. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in mechanical engineering.We car pooled together for a couple of years. He had a good career at Tennant Co.designing machinery before his accidental death. In high school he got an old abandoned 1930's Ford Model A coupe. That first summer he got it running as an original car, but the next summer it became something else- a "street rod" with a high performance engine, hydraulic brakes, new transmission, suspension and tires, but he left the body primer gray.We spent many summer evenings along with Dan Fertig working on the car, shooting baskets, and listening to the radio. I. learned to weld. Those were good summer nights. When the car got running we would go over to the new Burger King on 66th Street in Richfield for burgers. Lance and I also played in a rock band together. It was called the Griffins. Lance played lead guitar, I played sax and sang vocals, Steve Luck played electric bass, Ted Thayer played rhythm guitar and Scott Simpson(younger class) played drums. Lance couldn't read music but he could listen to a record and know exactly what to play and helped the other guitars with their parts. He was a great natural musician. We also had a smaller group called the Topaz Trio with Lance, myself, and Jim Buelow on drums. We had a number of gigs our junior and senior years, here and there for fun, and a few bucks.