Giard School
Giard School Holds First Reunion
Giard - Over 100 people attended the Giard school's first reunion held on the school grounds July 11. Edna Olmsted Heitmann, Keystone, and Robert Harris, Eastman, Wis., co-chaired the event, assisted by Bob Meyer and Eleanor Koether of Giard.
Talk of old times and laughs at past experiences were the order of the day. After a potluck dinner, people convened under the tent (supplied by Luana Co-op) for the program. Conducted by Edna Heitmann, the program alternated singing of old favorites with presentations of former teachers and students. Bob Meyer accompanied the singing with his portable piano.
Frank Davies, 99, McGregor, oldest living alumnus, was unable to attend. Records indicate he was in first grade in 1899 with teacher Bessie A. White. Luella Kother, Marie Becker, Olga Becker Ferguson, Ruth Wickersheim Hagensick, and Eddie Kother were introduced as having attended in early years, beginning for Marie and Olga in 1910.
Former teachers present were Ruth Wickersheim Hagensick, Eleanor Henkes Koether, Constance Radloff, and Margaret Blackwell Luce. Edna Reinke Farris, Prescott, Ariz., and Gerene Schultz Martindale, Postville, sent messages. Most honored teacher was Margaret Luce for teaching from 1950 - 1962.
Geneva Bernhard Christensen and husband Ed came the farthest - from California, with Dorothy Davies Noeding, Phoenix, Ariz., a close second. States represented other than Iowa were Pennsylvania, Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The most siblings present from one family were the Sautter brothers Fred, John and Terry, and Hudspeth sisters Betty Scallon, Boscobel, Wis., Pat Elbert, Blue Earth, Minn., and Joyce Kunkel, Minnesota.
Pictures and other memorabilia were displayed inside the building which dates from 1866 and is one of the few schools in Clayton County still on its original site.
Harmon Arroyo of Trees Forever presented a proposal for memorializing individuals by planting trees in their honor on Giard School, now Giard Township Hall, grounds. an enthusiastic response followed. Anyone interested may contact Greg Rickels, or Greg or Kathy Koether, address McGregor.
~Clayton County Register, Wed., July 22, 1992
~contributed by Reid R. Johnson
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