Joyce Daemicke Rodgers

Thank you for sharing this beautiful picture, Nancy.  I, too, was in Mrs. Demerest's class, and my primary memories of Sue are from that 8th grade school year.  I admired her then for that warm, friendly spirit that others have described.  I'm certain she remained a lovely woman throughout her life.

I grew up in the same neighborhood on Windsor Road as Mark Bergstrom.  We were friends all through our childhoods, teen years, and into early adulthood.  I have home movies that show Mark at my 4-year-old birthday party or later, climbing onto a school bus on our way to Lyon Elementary School.  Our parents were friends, and we even took a couple of family trips together.  I remember one, in particular, a winter trip to Lake Geneva, where we enjoyed tobogganing.  I remember another time we stayed at the Wagon Wheel resort and enjoyed swimming in their indoor pool.  

We played endlessly together in the neighborhood.  We were part of a pack of six kids (5 boys and me) who challenged each other at croquet, softball, basketball, etc.  In our childhood years, there was also a lot of fantasy play.  A particular favorite was playing "Sky King."  In our early teens, we began playing evening games of "Ghost in the Graveyard."  I would look forward all day to playing again in the evening!  

Mark and I were similar in our academic achievements:  similar grades, similar SAT scores, and one apart in the class ranking at graduation.  We were not intensely competitive, but we were aware of each other as fellow students as well as neighborhood friends.  

After graduation, we moved far away from each other and led very different lives.  We were not in touch after our mid-twenties, although we each heard about the other through my brother Dale Daemicke (GBS 1971) who did stay in touch with Mark until the end.  

Mark was relatively young when he died of cancer, and now his brother Phil Bergstrom, (GBS 1970) is also deceased.  Each of them will always be a big part of my memories of growing up on Windsor Road.

Joyce Daemicke Rodgers

I grew up in the same neighborhood on Windsor Road as Mark Bergstrom.  We were friends all through our childhoods, teen years, and into early adulthood.  I have home movies that show Mark at my 4-year-old birthday party or later, climbing onto a school bus on our way to Lyon Elementary School.  Our parents were friends, and we even took a couple of family trips together.  I remember one, in particular, a winter trip to Lake Geneva, where we enjoyed tobogganing.  I remember another time we stayed at the Wagon Wheel resort and enjoyed swimming in their indoor pool.  

We played endlessly together in the neighborhood.  We were part of a pack of six kids (5 boys and me) who challenged each other at croquet, softball, basketball, etc.  In our childhood years, there was also a lot of fantasy play.  A particular favorite was playing "Sky King."  In our early teens, we began playing evening games of "Ghost in the Graveyard."  I would look forward all day to playing again in the evening!  

Mark and I were similar in our academic achievements:  similar grades, similar SAT scores, and one apart in the class ranking at graduation.  We were not intensely competitive, but we were aware of each other as fellow students as well as neighborhood friends.  

After graduation, we moved far away from each other and led very different lives.  We were not in touch after our mid-twenties, although we each heard about the other through my brother Dale Daemicke (GBS 1971) who did stay in touch with Mark until the end.  

Mark was relatively young when he died of cancer in September 2014 and now his brother Phil Bergstrom, (GBS 1970) is also deceased.  Each of them will always be a big part of my memories of growing up on Windsor Road.

Joyce Daemicke Rodgers

Posted on: Jul 29, 2020 at 3:09 PM

Went to DePauw University in Greencastle, IN from 1968 to 1969 while my high school boyfriend was in Vietnam. Married him in July 1969 (Robert Borden, Main East Class of 1967) whereupon we moved together to Tempe, AZ where we attended Arizona State University. I graduated with my BA in Elementary Education there in 1972. We then moved to Cedarburg, WI where I began my teaching career in fall of 1972. I taught in Grafton, WI for 6 years, during which time I completed my Master of Arts in Special Education at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. Also during that time, I divorced my first husband and married my 2nd husband (Gary Peterson) and had my first child, Aurore In 1976. In 1978 we moved to Mt Horeb, WI where I taught and had my second child, Kevan in 1979. From 1980 to 1987, I taught in New Glarus, WI. It was there that I was recognized by the local, and eventually the national PTA as a finalist for the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Outstanding Educator of the Year award in 1986. The National PTA convention that year was held in Little Rock, AR, thus my award was presented to me by the then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton.
My second husband was a journalist who worked for various publications around the country. This took us to Anchorage, Alaska in 1987 where I took a break from teaching to work as a legislative assistant for a state senator representing downtown Anchorage. During the legislative session, I worked in Juneau.
Another journalistic assignment for my husband took our family to California in 1988. There I established a nonpublic school in Napa, CA for severely disturbed adolescents, where I was the administrator and teacher for the next 17 years.
My marriage to the journalist ended in 1998, but life goes on, and the next two decades were transformative and very wonderful. My kids completed college, established their careers and married and had children of their own. I married a great guy in 2004, with whom I have traveled the world and done much service work through Habitat for Humanity Global Village, El Porvenir in Nicaragua, and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.We have also traveled for education with Road Scholar and for pleasure. We have worked for organizations in support of environmental and social justice issues.
I have recently celebrated my 70th birthday and am happily settled in Soquel CA near Santa Cruz where my husband and I take daily walks either by the ocean or amongst the Redwoods as we quietly pass time during the pandemic shut downs.