The Class of 62 History

The Yearbook gives a year-by-year accounting of the 13 years the Class of '62 was on the Northwood campus. Providing teacher names and a listing of new students annually, the History also provides a few stories of each year.

5th grade found us a class divided, some members housed somewhere in the main building (called the "big building" in the class history), and about a dozen of us in a 5th/6th combination at First Lutheran Church, a quick walk away.

Because it was within walking distance, every noon those of us in the combination found ourselves walking back and forth for lunch, and the picture above of Leidal, Helgeland, and Lien is one that was taken when we queued up to gather our food. Coats were required when the weather chilled so we would survive the walk. Lunch was served in the gym of the new elementary building, which beat the heck out of the basement cafeteria in the "big building" that we had used previously.

It was also during this combination year that the federal government began requiring school districts to serve a daily milk break, presumably to expand the dairy markets. Most brought cookies or crackers to eat with the milk, which for some reason seemed to have a tainted taste. Mike Wall, who was in the 6th grade section of the combination, became renowned for his TV-like commercial extolling the virtues and great taste, after which he would do his off-camera vomiting.

Unfortunately, this class history tells us nothing of the story of the Kensett students prior to the merger in 1958. Perhaps they didn't exist, were waiting patiently for 9 years for school to start for them, or simply had no history until they became a part of Northwood-Kensett. But join us they did, and at the least, the Class History gives us the names of all those students, who as we reported earlier, we couldn't pick out of a lineup as "Kensett" kids, for the most part, because they were just part of the class. All is well that ends well, and that includes the 13 years.