Oh to be young again, 1973!

Was the Morris High School Class of 1973 special? Of course every graduating class of our school is special. Each one had/has its own distinct qualities with distinct experiences in the growing-up years. Can kids today even relate to the fears of boys back in the day? The fear of being drafted and sent to Vietnam? I think the worst of that was over by the time we actually reached graduation day of 1973. Not that Southeast Asia conflict was over, mind you. The fall of Saigon happened in 1975. Man is such a fallible creature. 

Today our democratized media exposes us to all kinds of absurdities in the human condition. Perhaps I'm alluding to our national government leadership. But there's nothing like the angst of fearing the military draft during Vietnam. We continue to pay the price for that war even today. Many men who survived it were never the same. The most offending politician was Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat. How? Why? 

But the Morris High School Class of '73 concluded its high school journey with a decent amount of pride and resolution for the future. 

I met up with one of my classmates recently for a graduation reception. This was in my neighborhood of Northridge Drive. Craig Murphy and I sat together at this wonderful event. I told the father of the grad how Craig and I had completed high school together. And then without missing a beat I asked Craig to recite the class motto of the Class of '73. I knew he'd have this at the tip of his tongue. He recited: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." 

Pretty edgy, eh? It was a trait of baby boomers back in the day to be edgy, unconventional. Well, even boat-rocking. You had to be there? Maybe. 

The boomers were so plentiful. We saw the rapid growth of state colleges because of us. And now look what's happening: St. Cloud State will be tearing down about half its campus. Of course they still need the money to do this. And they're trying to get it from their usual donors. How discouraging: donating $ to tear down a campus they supposedly love. But the leadership there has made it clear: the old "glory days" are not coming back. 

Today our high school is "Morris Area High School" and we're joined in athletics by Chokio-Alberta. A very nice arrangement. I had the pleasure of attending the recent C-A graduation at the Chokio building. For so many years I covered the C-A graduation for the Morris newspaper when the event used the Alberta building. Same with Homecoming coronation and pep fest and basketball. Bleachers on just one side of the gym. But remember: for a big part of Morris school history, bleachers were pulled out on only one side for GIRLS basketball. And that actually surprised me considering that Morris with its UMM fashioned itself as such a progressive place. Chalk it up as a mystery. 

The MHS Class of '73 is up in years and our ranks are getting thinned by the toll of time and the inevitability of death. We can report that recently we have lost Helen Loher and Sue Sullivan. RIP re. both. I didn't know Sue back in the day. I knew Helen somewhat. Eventually we retreat into the mists of time. 

Edie Martin spoke for us at graduation: "Don't be a milquetoast!"

This is a photo taken at the steak restaurant of Circus Circus Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas Nevada! Your blog host is second from left. I'm wearing my Hoffman Harvest Festival 5K run T-shirt incidentally. Singing the praises of Hoffman in Las Vegas! At left is my fellow MHS Class of '73 member Art Cruze. Art and I are joined in photo by Art's parents Carl and Leona. Art and I made several trips to Las Vegas (baby!) together. My dad's leisure time preference was hunting and fishing. I ended up quite the opposite. Dad's heart was in the right place.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - musicstuff54@gmail.com 

Ever had a song dedicated to you?

Dave Buechler at piano, Ralph E. Williams

 

A retirement reception was held for my father outdoors at UMM, not on the mall but close to it. Mom insisted that I attend, so I did. I felt uncomfortable in these situations because I was outside the preferred "caste.". 

The atmosphere was pleasant. At one point we heard loud music from someone's "stereo" a couple blocks away. Kids with the loud sound systems back then often liked to flaunt it. We heard a loud BeeGees tune. And someone quipped "that's one of Ralph's earlier works." Ah, Dad and his "works" - he was a prolific composer of published music. He had something like 90 published works. 

Our MAHS band under Wanda Dagen performed one of those a couple years ago:"Testament of Nations." Thanks Wanda. Some of my father's works can be found being performed by church choirs on YouTube. Not long ago I found one example from the Amarillo TX Methodist church. It's like achieving a little bit of immortality: having your own musical ideas published, isn't it? I would take this over having a book published. 

Dad has been gone for 13 years now. His music surely lives on. 

My father had a massive impact in elevating the profile of our humble little campus in its earliest years. The school's promoters/lobbyists were uneasy about whether our venture of UMM could have staying power. Southwest Minnesota fought with us for getting this plum. I know it meant the world to the Morrison family of Morris. 

Dad's No. 1 contribution, among many in UMM's infancy, was to take his "men's chorus" to two World's Fairs. The first one probably made the biggest statement. The year was 1962 when Dad's chorus traveled to Seattle for the World's Fair. Click on the link below to read the whole blog post I wrote about this for my companion blog "Morris of Course" just a couple weeks ago. You'll see archived press clippings on top and at the bottom. I assure you that venture was a big deal. Thanks for reading. 

https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2026/06/fledgling-umm-put-on-show-in-1962.html 

 

The clipping you see at top here is from my father's "last days" at UMM leading to his retirement. I don't have the year handy but I'm pretty sure it was 1978. Jimmy Carter was president! The BeeGees led a disco wave. You know, disco pop music could really be pretty artistic IMHO. Nothing wrong with music that gets you to dance. 

Using my magnifying glass to read the caption on the clipping, I can report that it was Dave Buechler, UMM senior, who wrote a musical composition dedicated to my father. The UMM concert band proceeded to perform his work which I'm sure was boffo. Buechler titled the piece "Three Short Movements for Band." It was part of his senior project. Way to go Dave. 

Dad's retirement capped his 18 years with UMM. But his involvement with the U was deeper. He got his undergraduate and Master's degrees from the U and taught at the U of M-St. Paul School of Agriculture in the 1950s. That's when I was in preschool. I do have memories of it. The St. Paul "School of Ag" was winding down just like Morris' West Central School of Agriculture. Times were changing. Well, as they often do. 

Are times changing now so as to make the future of UMM uncertain? This past academic year showed some possible fissures. Our chancellor says there are no plans to close UMM. Then again there's the old saying that no one's life or liberty is safe when the legislature is in session - something like that. So I don't know. 

Our spring graduation is scaled down from what it once was. Believe me I remember the past. 

I established a family fund to make sure the Williams name stays relevant and appreciated. If you examine my blog post on the men's chorus World's Fair trip, you should surely have an appreciation of what Dad meant. Well, Mom too of course. All I can do is keep the Fund going. 

Will I win respect this way? Not with the longer-of-tooth UMM people or at least a significant number of them. There are always some good people around like David Brown. As for the pretentious and stuffed-shirt types, maybe they'll feel an obligation to show some respect for me. It is a long shot. To those people I would say "Eat your heart out." I might cite Sue Gooch. Yes I remember.

 

Addendum: Del Sarlette recently informed me that Dave Buechler was in the UMM jazz ensemble when it performed the Don Ellis chart "Final Analysis." This was in the pre-Jim Carlson days of UMM jazz. Clyde Johnson gamely directed the most challenging piece with its unconventional time signatures. I was there! I wrote a whole blog post about the historic performance which was at the recital hall. 

Del said "the concert was the only time we got the ending right!" Tom Garberick was on drums. Tom recognized a little "riff" toward the end and then guided the band to its smooth ending or smooth landing! I saw Tom at the recent funeral for Donna Christensen. The funerals for the boomers' parents can feel like high school reunions! Bruce Christiansen and I immediately remembered our Jimmy Stewart impression.

I also reminded Bruce of when he was employed at the Morris Theater, he'd put school hallway gossip up on the marquee and then step back and take a picture of it! 

Del Sarlette in the spirit for the July 4 holiday!

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - musicstuff54@gmail.com 

Getting where you need to go in Morris

The great WCCO Radio personality "Dark Star" reported one day about a lone person seen walking alongside a busy road in the Twin Cities. I was amused. "Dark Star" reported this in a light way - he could put many things in a light context of course - by suggesting this individual was forlorn, a lost soul of sorts. There might be a story behind him. 

And so a conclusion to be drawn here is that our urban planning in the U.S. is based on everyone driving their own personal motor vehicle. Pedestrians are like an afterthought. You want to walk somewhere? Please explain yourself. 

Are you so sure the U.S. should stay so dependent on fossil fuels? With what is happening in the Middle East? Well we won't see a wholesale withdrawal from the personal motor vehicle model. 

On Sunday I was driving downtown from my residence like I have done for what seems like time immemorial. And I see a group of young people walking along the service road just east of McDonald's. Have you noticed that the service roads out in that neck of the woods have become a much bigger deal? ("Big deal" is Upper Midwest Scandinavian-speak.) 

These changes can happen slowly. We adjust to the new norm pretty seamlessly. Our City of Morris has made clear that the highway development on north end of town is quite the big deal now. (There we go with "big deal" again.) Our City of Morris has left downtown with its liquor store and gone out to the fringe. 

Thrifty White Drug pulled this act too. We used to have two pharmacies in "downtown Morris." The old City Center Mall place has effectively been replaced by Homestead. John Schmidgall remains the go-to guy. By force of habit I still use Thrifty White Drug. 

I may look forlorn myself someday along the highway as I want to cross over to Thrifty White Drug. This will be when I no longer drive. I shouldn't have to hit you over the head to make clear to you we have an aging population. Don't you notice the Morris Transit vehicles with a fair amount of frequency? 

If all our businesses including the city's liquor store remained concentrated "downtown," a senior citizen might arrange for a "lift" to downtown Morris and then proceed with their list of things to do. But look at our two pharmacies, along with the new Dollar General which looks like a valuable option for shopping. 

If I'm downtown and then decide I need to go out along the highway development, I'll walk. I'm still in good enough shape to do that. But I'll have to cross the highway at some point, on foot. The highway is often quite busy. I know, you want to get out your little violins. But the population is aging. 

Me, I won't even consider buying a new car if there's a risk that I'll fail the vision test at the DMV for license-renewal time. That's a very real concern based on the cost of a new car today. I maybe shouldn't confess my health shortcomings but frankly my vision is tanking. I'm age 71. 

Urban planning should of course make accommodations for people "on foot." There was a time when this attitude got some traction. It's a "progressive" idea. All such ideas are dying in the age of Trump, even if your average person sees merit in them. Your average person gets too influenced by "MAGA." But I have written enough on that. 

Getting back to the group of kids I saw along the service road Sunday morning, I thought it obvious that these service roads were not designed with pedestrian traffic in mind at all. And, more and more business activity is moving out to the highway in the windswept expanses north of town. 

What does "downtown" mean anymore? What does the "business district" mean anymore? I write more on this in my June 12 post on my companion blog "Morris of Course." Here's the link and God bless all of you.

https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2026/06/what-really-is-business-district.html 

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com 

State of America for the 250th

So we're approaching the nation's 250th birthday. I remember the 200th event in 1976 and how it happened during a cynical time in American history. I made this comment in the back shop of the Sun Tribune newspaper once and Jim Morrison agreed with me. Decades have their peculiar traits. 

The fall of Saigon happened in 1975. You can find YouTube accounts w/ archival media coverage of that mess: people literally clinging to helicopters seeking escape, helicopters being pushed off ships to make room for more desperate refugees. Today our presidential administration would try to shield the public from all this news. 

Oh, but the public's right to know? In theory, yes, that would be the sound principle. Logic does not score the kind of points that it once did. Look at how our Supreme Court behaves now. With time we will probably see a drift back to something approximating the Jim Crow laws in the South. We cannot rule anything out at present. 

Why do I bother writing about this? I am only imperiling my own situation out here in coyote country where MAGA has such strength, to an extent because of our churches. Ah, the Christian church: what will become of it? I wrote out my last check to First Lutheran of Morris and learned within a short time that the members would only be spending half-time there in the future - the rest of the time we'd be going to the Methodist/UCC church. 

ELCA churches got "tarred" with the reputation of being left-leaning politically or "progressive." It's the kiss of death out here in coyote country now. 

Just think of First Lutheran with its truly grand tradition, and I mean that. We used to have "UMM Sunday" which was a celebratory event. It stood out on the calendar. It no longer exists. And if I try pointing out this and other shortcomings to the FLC people, well the reception I get is one of discomfort, of just not wanting to talk about it. Out of sight, out of mind. 

First Lutheran Church essentially got rolled over by the MAGA forces - of course that means "Make America Great Again." A lot of people poured money into a totally new church just outside of Morris, and then these mostly well-heeled folks poured money into a new "steeple" for the new church. Why? What tangible benefit does that steeple bring for anyone? 

Of course, the church I am speaking of is Good Shepherd. 

Just as it is fruitless for me to prompt discussion of the drift of rural Christianity, it is fruitless really for me to be in any sort of political conversation with anyone. It is past time for finding that productive. I may have already dug a hole for myself by doing that. I have seen evidence that my access to various online platforms is limited. In a couple of these situations, the barriers went away after a while, possibly because I was not alone and pressure was brought to bear on the people doing this. 

And we know with 100 percent certainty that the Trump folks will do anything to tamp down any voices that are skeptical toward them. This type of thing clearly happened in Germany of the md-20th Century. The U.S. has also allowed "concentration camps" to be established. Shouldn't you all be concerned about how all of this is likely to end? 

The president initiated the whole Iran thing because he did not want a previous black president to get credit for anything having to do with Iran. Or John Kerry, a white person who once had the Democratic presidential nomination. 

Trump got three million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton. And the electoral college is nothing more than a vestige of Civil War reconstruction. 

Martina McBride

And so our current circumstances, which I can do nothing about, are in place for America's 250th birthday. Martina McBride withdrew from an official event because she saw it was going to be slanted in favor of MAGA. She said that she hoped that such an event would be the kind that "brought all Americans together." My God, who can argue with that? When I was a young adult, no one would. Today? We are in such different times. 

Really all I can do is observe. And if I really knew what was good for me, I wouldn't write my thoughts. Maybe stop writing completely. It might be too late. We see headlines every morning that should scare us. Blame the reflecting pool thing on "vandals." Some people just eat that stuff up. Well a lot of people out here in western Minnesota do, the people that plow their hard-earned money into a new church steeple. They are total flat-Earthers. Maybe I should say "bigots." Or, "maggots" as a takeoff on MAGA. But where will this get me? 

Martina McBride is a huge name in country music. After she withdrew for the 250th event, she gets slammed by the Trump people as a "lefty." Follow the script everyone. I guess I'm a "lefty." 

But I will not vote Democratic if the party continues to show signs of being tight with teachers unions. There are some things that I just will not do. The more money that teachers get, the less is left over for support staff who are very important people with school programs. At least I can see that. 

So to you Republicans, you do still have hope for getting my vote.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - musicstuff54@gmail.com

Faces of discipline from our old school

"Ruling the roost": Wally, Carl and Oscar.

 

Morris natives who are boomers will be moved as they observe the photo you see here. This "triumvirate" held reins of authority in our public school. I don't recall ever seeing this photo in a school yearbook. It was emailed to me recently. And so here we have two principals and the superintendent from the 1960s. 

It was the decade that saw young men fearing the draft for getting sent to Vietnam. Can you believe this nation accepted the war for so long? Is there anything comparable to the immense nature of that tragedy today? I'll take some of the nonsense and stupidity of the DJT presidency by comparison. Some of it. Are you sure we don't have a ticking time bomb going from the stupidity and mendacity? And that the excrement has not hit the fan yet? 

Inflation going up, pressure for multiple interest rate hikes growing? Are you sure you can countenance this? Will you regret standing idly by? 

Well, a whole lot of school parents stood idly by in the Vietnam war years of the 1960s. Had all the young parents of the nation risen up, the USA would have had to do a turnabout. We know what really happened. The fall of Saigon did not happen until 1975. 

The '60s? Forget the sentiment and nostalgia based on popular songs like "Scarborough Fair." They don't bring a tear to my eye. It was just entertainment. 

Lyndon Johnson punched the accelerator for growth of our military commitment. A "World Events" poster was on display in my elementary classroom ("East Elementary") that literally taught me the word "escalation." We escalated the war effort to be sure. I had an interest in watching TV network news, much more than the average kid. So I'd come home from school after another dreary day, switch on the TV. The news shared the casualty numbers from Vietnam. 

The boomer generation of kids in Morris spent countless hours in the old set of buildings that are now gone, razed. Today you could hardly guess that the old school property was the hub of school life. Right now it is the epitome of multi-family complex living. I would suggest it is the wave of the future. And it's not so terrible. It's a stone's throw from the large established set of apartment buildings that are just to the north of UMM. We see duplexes in that part of town too. 

Let us never forget about the old Morris school which first sprouted in 1914 and then expanded in erector set fashion. I thought it had its charms. But nevertheless it was hopelessly outdated at the end. Time marches forward. 

East 7th Street was the main entrance to town from the east when my family first came here. 

The boomer children had a quite regimented experience in school including quite harsh, even physical discipline at times. Wow, the teachers and administrators of today can't even approximate that behavior. I gather the school people today live in fear, like of lawsuits. Oh but would we want to go back to the previous practices? I think not. 

The boomer natives of Morris will instantly recognize Wally Behm at left in photo. The high school principal for the boomer youth has a special place carved out in each community's history. The boomers gave the school people an embarrassment of riches. I mean with our sheer numbers. We were products of the post-WWII resurgence in America's fortunes, the creation of the great American "middle class." Is the middle class now eroding or already extinct? 

Wally made an unforgettable impression with how at the end of each year's graduation ceremony, he'd smile broadly as he looked across the rows of grads and proclaimed "let me be the first to congratulate you, the ALUMNI of the class of (insert year)." 

He left the school under some discomfort. I think a school board member named Mary Ann Scharf had it in for him. She had an abrasive personality. 

Wally was commanding, stately in his sheer presence with white hair in his later years. 

The guy at center in photo is Carl T. Johnson, typically identified with his middle initial because there were three Carl Johnsons in town. He had a son who played trombone in band and ended up marrying my Class of '73 classmate Jane Edmister. Carl was a no-nonsense guy. Junior high principal. Ah, the awkward junior high/adolescent period of life. I don't wish to dwell on it. 

Let's turn our attention to the gentleman at right in photo, Oscar Miller. He was superintendent who preceded Fred Switzer. He may look like an old stodgy guy in photo but he really had a PR personality and sense of humor, would be a super emcee anytime. Unfortunately he was not paid to do that. His job was school finances and eventually his work came under a cloud because of that. 

Years later I had it explained to me. Too cozy with the local bankers? Harold Luthi shared that background or opinion. "I don't have anything against the bankers - they're good people - but we're in business for the kids, not the bankers," the estimable Harold, former school board member, shared for me. 

Whatever, being a school administrator has its rocks and shoals to contend with. I believe Oscar left here for Onamia. 

Is it right to feel nostalgia about the 1960s? Well, no. Forget the music of "Paul Revere and the Raiders," I can't get the Vietnam war out of my mind. So can I live with the Trump foolishness of today? It is very hard to put up with. Maybe the USA should be divided into two countries like what happened to Germany and Korea. The U.S. tried imposing that on Vietnam and we failed.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com 

"June 19" has special ring to it!

Oh my, look at what the calendar tells me this morning. It is June 19 which for many people is significant because of "Juneteenth." I strongly doubt that our top leaders in the Federal government will say much about the holiday. I would guess they'd prefer it does not exist. Same for MLK Day. 

I actually question the existence of MLK Day myself. A holiday to memorialize a person who worked to get basic rights for a class of people who should have had those rights all along? Seems to me mostly a source of shame. Today of course we live in a rainbow culture that is not broken down as "whites" and "blacks." I heard the term "Negro" when I was growing up. 

But hey, June 19 has significance for my own family. It is my late father's birthday. He came into the world in the summer of 1916, the youngest of five sons of Martin and Carrie Williams of Glenwood, so close to Morris. The country boy became quite the city person as he grew into adulthood. In the 1950s he directed the prestigious Apollo Male Chorus of Minneapolis. 

A stereotype has appeared to grow about my father, that he was almost totally focused on directing men-only groups. He of course was proficient in directing basically anything. In UMM's early times, there was a "concert choir" but not billed as such. Back then the term was "mixed chorus," because it seemed all names needed a gender reference. 

 

Ralph E. Williams

My late father's birthday is today, 6/19.

 

Dad did a lot for UMM's visibility by directing the UMM men's chorus. Please do not assume that was a narrow specialty for him. He directed the original UMM orchestra in the institution's earliest days. They put out a vinyl record album just like the men's chorus. I have had the album sleeves on display at the Morris Public Library. 

I encourage you to check out my new post on my "Morris of Course" blog. It includes an image of the newspaper item from when UMM presented its first-ever music concert. It was in early November of 1960. It had to be right at the time of the presidential election: JFK vs. Richard Nixon. As I remind readers in my post, the Minnesota Twins were not yet in existence. That would come in 1961. The Vikings too! Imagine life in Minnesota without either. 

Here is the link to my blog post and thanks for reading!

https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2026/06/umm-music-debuted-with-flourish-in-1960.html 

 

I am running some photos this summer from my personal archives. There is more to come on Dad and his exciting exploits with his UMM vocalists. Trips to two World's Fairs! Governor Elmer Andersen was excited about our men's chorus. Nothing like getting attention from the governor himself when you're trying to "sell" a new institution like UMM. 

I remember watching basketball at the "P.E. Annex," now razed of course. I remember going to an upper floor of the building now known as "multi-ethnic" and looking to the south to see UMM football played at "P.E. Miller Field." All of the music and theater was at Edson Auditorium and I thought it worked fine there. 

I was always an "outcast" in the eyes of the most rigid "academic" types at UMM, the wine-and-cheese party folks. They felt my parents indulged me too much. They were right but why get mad at me for that? 

Someone should have seen to it that I got prescribed some "behavior meds." Never happened. And once I reached junior high I began hitting roadblocks in academics. 

I had almost forgotten the term "new math," then I came upon it again recently. And as I suspected, the "new math" was concocted out of the Cold War that created so much misery for my generation. I was shamed by my academic struggles to where I sort of retreated inward and just survived. Technically I did survive. The school would not have wanted to lose the state aid money for me being there. 

I developed social anxiety disorder. I should have kept attending my father's concerts regularly. But I was made to feel like I was such a "loser" in school. Well, maybe I had below-average intelligence. I still should have been allowed to have some self-esteem. 

After I had worked for the Morris newspaper for several years, I could not contain my dislike for the public school teachers. They were an absolute pain in the butt, dull and humorless to go with their most obvious annoyances. I think this was a problem all over but it was worse in Morris. Someone told me that our superintendent Fred Switzer had to "answer to the intelligentsia" in Morris, primarily because of UMM's presence here. 

Oh but here's the good news: I sense a much different attitude emanating from UMM today. The old pretentious wine-and-cheese academic crowd has receded. UMM faculty seem sincere and friendly with everyone now. And I am impressed about how each UMM sports event is preceded by an announcement about how fan behavior has to be courteous toward all, or you'll be asked to leave. I used to wonder why campus security did not intervene when lousy and disruptive behavior showed itself. 

And I will state again that Chancellor Jack Imholte went along with much of the offending behavior. I know from some remarks he made at a reception at his house once. The reception was on the eve of an important football game. Some opposing players were present. After they left, Imholte commented on how those guys "had trouble putting a sentence together." 

It was just an informal reception. And besides, those guys were our guests. At least I could see that. 

So on a positive note, let me emphasize that over the past year or two I get overall very good vibes from our campus and its people. Makes me all that more comfortable as the spokesman for the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund to benefit music at UMM. I could feel downcast at the "death" of symphonic winds which was once such a showcase. But I cannot feel glum. 

Everyone who sponsors a fund like this for UMM is assured that even if the institution closes, the money will be applied with value somewhere within the U. In my case, I'd be happy if the fund went to benefit music at the Twin Cities campus. That's where my father spent his undergraduate years. He also got his Master's from the Twin Cities campus. In the '50s he taught music at the U of M-St. Paul School of Agriculture, the "School of Ag." These were my preschool years and I really do remember them well. 

Here in Morris we had our own "School of Agriculture." Such institutions reached the end of the road. The Morris community felt angst. We worked hard to get a branch of the U here. And we succeeded. Now we feel some worry about our future. 

Well, good luck to chancellor Mike Rodriguez. I have faith in him. Now let's enjoy the rest of the summer.

Dad rehearses the UMM orchestra in year one of the school.

Dad and I during our St. Paul years. The piano was pretty essential furniture!

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - musicstuff54@gmail.com 

The glory of "Marcho Vivo" in Morris' past

Here's your blog host B.W. proudly wearing the Morris High School marching band uniform. I'm posing in front of the family's Northridge Drive residence where I still am. At the time of my graduation I did not have a "reception." My uncle and his spouse from Glenwood were the only visitors and bless their memory for that. The void of having no reception is probably why I really enjoy attending 3-4 receptions nowadays. I had to "walk all the way next door" for a really fine one, for Addison Cihak. The Cihaks did everything right including having balloons out by the mailbox! Congrats to all these kids. I sat next to my own high school classmate and fellow '73 grad Craig Murphy. He and I enjoy reminding people of our edgy class motto: "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." Our principal Wally Behm always said that motto was a tough sell for him. Wally had the distinctive niche of being principal to the boomer generation kids in Morris. These administrators had unique - ahem- challenges. Wally fell out of favor with the community by the mid-1980s. I don't think my generation had any issues with him. Education can be a turbulent environment. I think Wally loved our marching band. Our band director John Woell is still with us, God bless.

 

Holy mackerel, the furnace came on last night. Is it accurate to say we are in "midsummer' now? Or is that term reserved for July? And once we get to the county fair, we begin noticing a "nip in the air" at night, so fall is coming. A pretty narrow window for what we think of as summer, I'd say. 

And yet, look at what a lot of people spend on their "lake places." Morris legend has it that this class of people was not interested in supporting Prairie Pioneer Days (PPD) anymore. When the wealthiest class of people loses heart for doing something, I suppose the institution dies. I am amazed at how the old PPD, so vigorous at one time, just up and died. It really truly was so special at one time. 

Oh, and here's another summer institution in Morris that was once boffo: marching band! Hey, in writing about marching band I am not suggesting that we should root for a comeback for the institution. That's because I believe that changing times have really made the institution impractical. Oh I certainly believe in it. But kids had other interests pulling at them. I guess No. 1 would be sports camps. 

The No. 1 name associated with the heyday of Morris High School marching band is Bob Schaefer. He even wrote our school song for MHS. Is it "school song" or "fight song?" I think the pacifist attitude is to be encouraged. I grew up during the Vietnam war. If you think at present that Donald Trump and his people are bats--t crazy, just think of when we sent waves of young men to Vietnam where odds were high that terrible things would happen to them including death. Our society basically acquiesced to that for a long time. 

I know, you don't want to talk about it. And the U.S. lost the war. I grew up following the war on the evening TV news. 

I also became active in our marching band when the director was a successor to Schaefer. That individual was John Woell. I feel Woell kept the standards basically just as high as Schaefer. But for some (mysterious) reason, he did not earn the same iconic status as Schaefer. He just was not as endearing. 

Schaefer left here for Brookings SD. That's the home of South Dakota State University. I remember Schaefer's marching band rehearsing on summer mornings before I was old enough to take part. All the way from my home on Northridge Drive, I heard the exciting sounds of the band playing its signature tune of "Marcho Vivo." There was a trumpet flourish that stood out in the tune. 

Our drum major Scott Groth

Let me assure you that marching band was really "big" in this community at the time. And it can't be brought back? An attempted comeback was made in the 1980s when Cal Schmidt was director. The winds of time had turned on marching band. 

Back at the time I graduated from MHS - 1973 -  girls varsity sports was in its infancy, like a young fawn trying to stand up on wobbly legs. It had to be that way because girls were just getting acclimated to the whole culture of sports. I remember the referee Dave Leuthard saying "you have to call traveling every time, or they'll never learn." 

Girls were bound to take to sports over time and they surely did. Perhaps the last step in the evolution was for this lass named Caitlin Clark from Iowa to become the nation's No. 1 celebrity or hero for a time. And she's still doing great after some injury misfortune. Her last two games have been fantastic. Maybe we'll see her on "Saturday Night Live" again (with Michael Che). 

 

Was it art? 

A portion of the "academic" music world has always had reservations about marching band. They'll argue that it is not true music enrichment. Well, the kids play the same tune over and over again, right? Well, I say "so what?" It isn't rarefied-air music enrichment and it probably does not try to be. It's putting on a show, entertaining the folks who line the summer parade routes like at the Glenwood Waterama. Or, at our now-defunct PPD in Morris. 

Can Morris really deny that it is a "loser" community in some respects? Look at the horrible downer of an article in the Star Tribune about our U of M-Morris and its tumbling enrollment. Can we stanch the bleeding with that? UMM had 155 graduates most recently. SDSU in Brookings had 1600. Those "Jackrabbits" are out-pacing us.

 

John Woell leads the band

Oh to witness it now!

I have had a neat fantasy in my head: Have the MHS marching band from the early '70s travel forward in time to today and have it perform at the head of the PPD parade. Actually it's a fantasy to even imagine the PPD parade but indulge me please. 

I think the Morris residents at the park and along the parade route would be absolutely wowed by the sense of excitement! We had terrific "majorettes" like Lori Torgerson, plus the "flag girls" ahead of the musicians. People would almost be in disbelief at the quality of it all. But from today's perspective it is "gone with the wind." 

Sad? In a sense. But it is most certainly reality. And maybe the kids, especially the girls, are better off with their sports camps. 

I'll never forget the sound of "Marcho Vivo" emanating from town in my young years. And then I became part of the show as I got older. We played in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Here's from the Morris Sun Tribune newspaper re. that adventure. The headline was "Morris band wins honors at Winnipeg."

 

The Morris High School band won third place in concert competition at the "Manisphere 100" International Band Contest at Winnipeg, Canada, June 26-28. In a field of nine bands within its class, which were rated one through nine, the band from Osage, Iowa, won first place, North Scott High School from Eldridge, Iowa, won second place, and Morris won third place. In addition to bands from Minnesota, other states represented in the contest were Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In all, 24 bands took part in the three-day event. On Saturday evening a massed band of 2500 players, made up of all the bands, played a concert in the Winnipeg Stadium. Climaxing the contest and festivities was the parade on Sunday afternoon in which nearly 200 units took part. The Morris band arrived home at 3 a.m. on Monday.

 

Our uniforms were hot!

John Woell in retirement paid a visit to Sarlettes Music in Morris where he enjoyed talking with past pupil Del Sarlette. Woell has been blessed with a long retirement. He led us at Winnipeg and so many other places. I believe we played the Aquatennial in Minneapolis. The Sarlettes store is like a museum in some respects, a valuable resource. Look at the uniforms on display. Woell would sometimes discipline students by fining them "a quarter." He'd look at you and say "you, a quarter." I don't think a teacher could get by with that today. Today it seems, or based on what I hear, "the kids walk all over the teachers." It is hard to have sympathy for the teachers based on their union and their constant grievances. 

 

And I wasn't even Jewish!

I was in junior high playing under Bob Schaefer. I remember a concert at the old, now-razed auditorium where we went through some rudimentary pieces. And I remember Schaefer turning and facing the audience and saying "and here's one I'm sure you all know, 'Hava Nagila.' "

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - musicstuff54@gmail.com