Lutheran High School
Lutheran High School South
Lutheran High School North A History of Our High Schools A compilation of facts and memories
5401 Lucas and Hunt Road St. Louis, MO 63121 314-‐382-‐6650 lhsastl.org
A Note to the Reader The book you are reading is a final “rough” draft of the history of the Lutheran High School
Association. It commemorates the Fiftieth Anniversary of Lutheran North; the Sixtieth Anniversary of Lutheran South; and the Seventy-‐Fifth Anniversary of the Association. After completion in late 2016, it will be published. In February 2015, when commissioned to write this, I developed a process to compose the work. First, I compiled information from yearbooks to create a “bare bones” outline of the major events. After completing a draft, I sent appropriate sections to representative participants of each era: administrators, teachers, students and key observers. They corrected and amplified the materials. I interviewed a variety of participants, compiled a new draft and then distributed it to the contributors. They critiqued the work. This is the final product of that process. As of July 2015, more than sixty individuals have critiqued the material. The narrative about South is currently being evaluated by a variety of participants. After submitting to them the corrections for the new “South” draft, I will post that material online in spring 2016. I composed my narrative from the perspective of teacher/student. I highlighted the chief policy decisions and daily activities that shaped the thriving ministries. There are “holes” in the narrative. Before 1995, few, if any, yearbooks included events after February of a particular school year. Copies of many student publications and Association circulars are no longer available. So, many recorded observations have been compiled from oral histories reported by manuscript readers and interviewees. Additional incidents and events may still need to be recorded. If any reader determines a specific incident or individual needs to be included in a final draft, he or she may submit a 150-‐200 word description about the subject. Please email or mail the typed or word processed submission to Philip Gruenwald, Lutheran High School Association Communications Coordinator at: pgruenwald@lhsastl.org OR Lutheran High School Association, 5401 Lucas and Hunt, St. Louis, MO 63121. If not included in the final draft, the material will appear in the publication’s “Memory Book” supplement. To release this history in a readable form, I have been permitted to use an annotated bibliography. I will leave at the Association office most of the material I used to write the history. Perhaps a future graduate student will supplement those materials with additional research to compose a truly scholarly work about the Association. Any and all errors or omissions in this work are entirely the responsibility of myself. It is my hope that all who read this will be inspired to support this ministry, a ministry that shares with teenagers the Good News of the Christ. A paraphrase of Luke 2:10 is entirely fitting to commemorate these anniversary celebrations: “For behold—the high school ministry brings to all good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people: For unto us is given Our Savior, Christ the Lord!” September 2015 Jim Prahlow (S ’72) Teacher, Lutheran North, 1993-‐2015 S. D. G.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: For Behold: The Ministry Begins, 1945-‐1965 Lutheran High School Post-‐War America Local Lutherans Organize Forward With Faith and Confidence Activities, Clubs and the Seminary “We (Almost) Win!” Expanding the Ministry The Academic Focus 9515 People and Society on the Move A Cooperative New Start The First Lancers Faculty Core 5401
100 103 106 109 112 114 117 117 120 121 126 129 134
I. N. J. Chapter 1: For Behold: The Ministry Begins, 1945-‐1965 Lutheran High School North Post-‐War America After World War II, Americans faced unique challenges. With the atomic age came the Cold War and the Iron Curtain; the Chinese revolution and Berlin Blockade; NATO and the Marshall Plan; Korea and the Red Scare; desegregation and voting rights; the space race and Cuban missile crisis. Domestically President Harry Truman faced reconversion and confronted a revived Republican party. Dramatically upsetting heavily-‐favored Republican Presidential nominee Thomas Dewey in 1948, Truman could not fully implement his “Fair Deal” program as strikes by organized labor, anxieties about social unrest and tensions about international conflicts made many Americans fearful of real and imagined threats. Republicans regained the White House in 1953, a World War II hero and former NATO commander now President. Dwight Eisenhower brought California Senator and strident anti-‐communist Richard Nixon to fill the Vice Presidency. The post-‐war period of apparent general prosperity obscured difficult problems. Americans faced issues caused by the Soviet launch of Sputnik. They also had to confront the realities of segregation raised by the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the events surrounding the Little Rock Nine. After World War II veteran and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy used a series of historical television debates to defeat Nixon in the 1960 election, he challenged Americans to explore the era’s “new frontiers” and confront Soviet aggression, end the causes of poverty and partner to end disease. He also had to lead the country to a resolution of the issues dramatically revealed by the leaders of the civil rights movement. Kennedy’s assassination forced successor Lyndon Johnson to deal with those challenges. During the politically and socially disquieting years, returning soldiers joined sweethearts and spouses and started families. Many of the veterans who attended college on the G. I. Bill now sought jobs and homes. The families, who raised “baby boomers,” competed for housing with the many who had moved from rural areas and small towns to work in urban defense plants and military facilities. Housing stock was at a premium. Many were often forced to live in tiny apartments or temporary Quonset huts. Entrepreneurs seized the opportunity, building developments in suburbs ringing the country’s industrial cities. Celebrating the end of gas rationing, Americans resumed their love affair with the car, commuting to jobs from suburban ranch-‐style bungalows. They patronized drive-‐in theaters and drive-‐through restaurants. To build badly needed roads, Congress funded Eisenhower’s interstate highway program. The first official construction project was a portion of I-‐70, a four-‐lane divided highway that linked St. Charles to New Florence, Missouri. Television changed home entertainment and, especially in the South, air conditioning tamed blazing summer temperatures. Missouri Synod (LCMS) Lutherans moved confidently to embrace new opportunities in the post-‐ war era. As part of the Chicago Centennial Synodical convention celebration in 1947, President John W. Behnken announced to the delegates of the 1.6 million member denomination that he received appropriate travel permits and would spearhead a “Church Marshall Plan.” It provided food rations, relief supplies and spiritual guidance to refugees, particularly the German Freikirche, in war-‐torn Europe. Some pastoral candidates of the ‘30s, unable to be placed in financially-‐destitute calling congregations, finally received assignments. Coeds, who had just recently been admitted to Concordia-‐Seward and Concordia-‐River Forest, quickly filled their quota of 30% of the respective student bodies. Participation in the Synodical Conference had borne fruit with the creation of the deaconess program (1926), new hymnal (1941), two community Lutheran high schools and the planting of new missions in black communities.
Despite the desperate times of the Great Depression and tensions of World War II, members could be buoyed by the not-‐so-‐distant memories of purchasing Valparaiso University in 1925 and noting the thousands who attended the dedication of the new Seminary campus in Clayton in 1926. The Lutheran Laymen’s League (LLL) financed Lutheran Hour broadcasts in liberated Europe. The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) directed special relief collections and clothing drives to assist orphans, particularly the local St. Louis Lutheran orphanage in Des Peres. Mission boards opened stations in Cuba, Guatemala and Venezuela. Synodical delegates to postwar conventions enlarged the Mission Council to include representation from the Armed Services, Blind and Deaf Missions, Church Extension Fund and Communications (chaired by Professor O. C. J. Hoffman) committees. It was an effective organization. During the decade following World War II, the Missouri Synod grew at a rate of three new congregations every week. The formation of the Board of World Relief, the assignment of official visitors to Lutheran World Federation conferences and the creation of the Department of Social Welfare heralded a response to the needs of the many recovering from the war. Rev. Walter A. Maier’s promotional abilities successfully maintained the Wheat Ridge Ministry sustained by the Walther League. The members collected funding to purchase a Chicago headquarters. Synod did not officially address segregation. It had been viewed as a civic social issue. However, by 1957, districts had taken financial responsibility for the Synodical Conference missions for blacks and offered to the congregations full membership in Synod. Local Lutherans Organize St. Louis Lutherans faced the same opportunities and challenges. Members of congregations discussed starting a community Lutheran high school. It would not be the first attempt and that intimidated some individuals. In 1867, city congregations started a small German-‐language Gymnasium, located to the north of Trinity-‐Soulard, its student body separated by gender. In its second year of operation there were thirty-‐five boys and twenty-‐four girls enrolled in the two-‐year program. The public examinations, to which all church members were invited, impressed local pastors. Their support helped the ministry continue. Reorganized as Concordia Academy in 1880, the membership changed the name to Lutheran High School in 1881. Six years later, partly as an accommodation for LCMS “founding father” C. F. W. Walther, the members, hoping it would become a seminary prep school, renamed it Walther College. Located at 716 Barry St., it maintained a dormitory for out-‐of-‐town students. At its high point, nearly two hundred students attended. In 1909, supporters moved the institution to share the grounds with Concordia Seminary near Jefferson and Winnebago. With nearby Holy Cross, Concordia Publishing House (CPH), Lutheran Hospital, the Altenheim and even a cemetery, the institutions created a local life center for St. Louis Lutherans. In 1916, as anti-‐German anger grew during World War I and financial support dwindled, Walther College closed. Until 1946, the closest Lutheran high school for prospective students was Synod’s boarding facility of St. Paul-‐Concordia, Missouri. In 1945, nine community Lutheran high schools existed in the forty-‐eight states. Each faced daunting challenges. There were shortages of building materials, teacher candidates and, during the Great Depression and war years, financial support. A good example of this was in the new Florida-‐ Georgia District. Rev. Dallas Gibson (Trinity-‐Ft. Lauderdale) created his “mom and pop” high school operation by building his own classroom desks and remodeling his parish building; teaching classes full time alongside his wife (who received no pay); all the while continuing his parish duties and planting new missions in Florida. When he died of a heart attack, the high school closed. Despite these types of challenges, the few high schools, included as participants in the Lutheran Education Association (LEA), formed the High School Conference (the original name of Association of Lutheran Secondary Schools, or ALSS), to encourage exploration and development of future ministries to adolescents. Locally, the Depression and World War II limited construction resources. Lutherans slowly warmed to the task of creating a high school. In 1939, Rudolph Kuhlmann, a member of Our
Redeemer-‐Overland, inspired by Lutheran Hour broadcasts, donated two dollars of seed money to the LLL for the purpose of starting a Lutheran high school. In 1943, restrictions on building materials and accessible space almost extinguished the idea. But sustained applause at a local school concert greeted an LLL chapter president’s announcement about the possibility of creating a Lutheran high school. That response rekindled interest. A year later, several city congregational boards of education appointed an exploratory committee. That membership merged with the LLL representation at the first official association meeting in February 1944. Alvin Welp, chairman of the local LLL, served as committee chairman. Other members included John Fleischli, a business executive who was president of the St. Louis Board of Education; Robert Steinmeyer, a member of the LCMS Board of Parish Education; Herman Bade, LCMS Western District Superintendent of Education; Seminary professors Paul Bretscher and Alfred Rehwinkel; local pastors Clarence Peters, E. L. Roschke and Paul Streufert; and teachers John Grundmann, Leonard Dierker and William Kramer. The committee developed a program of studies and a tentative budget. It resolved that each partner congregation choose four delegates to participate in establishing the high school. Initially, the committee asked each congregation to “raise an annual contribution . . . [for the high school] to be determined by the individual congregation.” This method proved inadequate to fund the association. Soon congregations were asked to contribute a fixed amount per communicant member. Thirty-‐nine congregations pledged to join. Operating with the slogan “Forward with Faith and Confidence,” committee members visited congregations to solicit financial pledges and recruit prospective students. Inspired by the incorporation of the Lutheran Association for Higher Education (LAHE) on January 29, 1945, some envisioned the extension of Lutheran education beyond high school. Within a year, forty-‐eight congregations joined the Association. Confidence in the operation grew as many realized there were thirty thousand communicant members who could support the school. With three thousand high school-‐aged teens in fifty-‐two area-‐Lutheran congregations the trustees hoped that six hundred might eventually enroll. All they needed was a building. One was available. The English Tudor structure, built in 1901, served students of the Washington University-‐owned Mary Institute at Lake and Waterman avenues until 1930. The building had been used by the U. S. Army Communication Corps during World War II. It became available for purchase in 1945. The Association trustees met and proposed to fund the purchase of the building and grounds, remodel and equip it. A local bank financed the entire purchase without one cent being deposited in its coffers. The bank officials commented “. . . if St. Louis Lutherans were behind the project, that was sufficient guarantee.” Beginning on November 11, the first day of the annual Lutheran Education Week, Chair Victor Eggerding started the three-‐week $500,000 fund drive in which twenty-‐nine congregations participated. Almost 1,500 men and women personally visited the members of their congregations to solicit subscriptions. The first drive garnered $275,000. The remaining debt was amortized through funds from the operating budget. In January 1946, delegates from forty-‐four of the forty-‐eight Association congregations directed the Board to start classes that September. The Board offered the first principal call to Dr. Paul W. Lange, a former Lutheran elementary school teacher, director of curriculum for the Gary, Indiana, public school system and one of the “founding fathers” of the LEA. When he arrived in April 1946, the Army was still in the process of moving out of the facility. It would take a herculean effort by volunteers and Board members to refurbish the building. All Board members participated and encouraged many others in sponsoring congregations to participate. Two original Board members, Dr. William A. Kramer (future Associate Secretary of Schools in the LCMS) and Richard Oberman, vice president of Mercantile Trust, helped direct the many volunteers who swept, cleaned and painted. A third, Herbert W. Waltke, graduate of the former Walther College and now an investment banker, provided a unique link to the past by helping revive Lutheran secondary education in St. Louis. A dedication service took place on August 25, 1946. Dr. O. P. Kretzmann of Valparaiso University was the principle speaker. Lutheran High School opened on schedule with 248 freshmen and sophomore students and an operating budget of $80,000. Tuition for Synodical Conference members was eighty-‐ five dollars per year and $160 for all others. Until 1960, the congregations annually funded 50% of the operating budget. Lange would shepherd and teach with eleven faculty. The seven men were
Gordon Baillie, Hubert Buenger, John Grundmann, music director William Kirchhoff, Athletic Director Erv Leimer, Vernon Lintvedt and Erwin Sagehorn. Four women taught classes: Edna Beane, Helen Dirks, Esther Feddersen and Gladys Simmler. Forward With Faith and Confidence The H-‐shaped facility had two “postage-‐stamp” size gymnasiums on the second floors of the “legs,” separated into boys’ and girls’ gyms. According to many, students rarely if ever used the showers in the locker room. After all, the girls’ changing room only had one showerhead. Students met in classrooms on the first floor and in the “cross” leg, while the building also housed office space, a library and a small basement cafeteria. The entire facility had hardwood oaken floors. The biology lab was on the first floor of the south leg while the chemistry lab was located on the western side of the “H”. Commercial educational activities that included shorthand and typing were located in classrooms on the second floor near the boys’ gym. The auditorium, usable now after the removal of the temporary floor installed by the Army, had a stage and balcony. The Army apparently had, while vacating the premises, left the seats behind so it was fully equipped. Students entering the balcony had to be constantly reminded to move to the middle of the seating area to better facilitate crowd movement. The auditorium also served the general Lutheran community. The annual three-‐day Missouri District Teachers Conference was held there each fall. The gyms also became Lutheran community centers for Walther League basketball and volleyball contests. As enrollment exceeded expectations, three classrooms were added in the basement area and another “half room” was adapted for religion classes. Rumors of a swimming pool covered over to serve as locker space probably had origins in the creative memories of those who had seen It’s a Wonderful Life. A paved yard behind the school did include one tennis court. It was rarely used for any official activities except for the class “jumps” as students advanced to the next year’s class status. Many of the new students helped prepare the building and some time during the first two years began to refer to themselves as Crusaders. Barbara Kuehnert (C ‘50) designed the first Crusader logo. Students did not drive to school. They arrived by streetcar and bus, with many of the coeds hoping to wear the new “junior” outfits popularized in the St. Louis garment district. But instead, they wore long slim skirts and bobby socks because shorts and slacks were prohibited. It would take severely cold weather two decades later before the dress code would be revised to permit the girls to wear slacks. The boys wore straight-‐legged trousers and long-‐sleeved white shirts, preferring the sleeves to be rolled up to the elbow. Some concerned teachers noted the students did not always follow the dress code. A vice principal called a special assembly to deal with the growing number of infractions. In his opening statement he asserted, “The level of the dress at Lutheran High must be lifted!” When faculty finally calmed the students’ laughter, the principal managed to clarify the dress code. Radio, the predominant broadcast medium of the era, played a role in the early years of the new school. Morning chapel services, broadcast over KFUO, began each school day. Student interest in the radio broadcast encouraged some to investigate starting a radio station at the school. In a couple of years, Lutheran High would have its own station. However, radio was not used to announce school closings because there rarely were, if ever, bad weather cancellations. A vintage St. Louis ice storm in the early ‘50s permitted Art Repp and classmate Paul Schisler to ice skate from the Sem all the way to Waterman—and walk the last block to arrive safe and sound. Many participated in the music program headed by William Kirchhoff. In October 1946, he organized the Girls’ Glee Club and two years later formed the boys’ counterpart. He also made possible private piano lessons for a variety of students who were taught by an adjunct instructor. Attendees of the Christmas concerts walked from distant street parking while caroling brass quartets serenaded them from adjoining street corners. An annual highlight of the performance was the nine-‐ level, pyramid-‐like platform that served as a base for the Singing Christmas Tree. The choir always concluded the Christmas concert with a performance of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. Kirchhoff’s choir,
in particular, helped put Lutheran High on the St. Louis culture map. Several times the choir sang with the St. Louis Symphony orchestra at Kiel Opera House. One performance was Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. Rich Wallace (C ‘49 and future teacher and principal at Lutheran North) and David Wiesner (a member of the first freshman class and future Association superintendent) attended the fledgling institution. They, as well as the rest of the student body, had to follow an expanded student handbook that provided guidance the next year as Lutheran High added its first junior class. Besides outlining traditional items like graduation requirements and the dress code, it included an elaborate, three-‐page section describing cafeteria etiquette. The lengthy portion described good seating posture; discouraged “line crashing;” and encouraged the breaking of bread into quarters before eating so compliant students would “develop a foundation of social grace that would serve [them] well for years to come.” Perhaps teachers supervising lunch during the inaugural year had witnessed a variety of rather interesting behaviors spurred by the menu’s steady dietary staple of peanut butter served in a myriad of ways. The Lutheran High Crusaders continued to experience a number of “firsts.” In April 1948, the Drama Department, directed by Ann Constable, presented its first play: We Shook the Family Tree, starring Doris Rockwell, Bob Kelpe and Martha Wolter. Holders of the sixty-‐cent tickets received prime seating. The next year the first graduating class adopted the motto, “If Christ be for us, who can be against us?” While the seniors anticipated graduation, nine celebrated charter membership in the first “L” club and could reminisce already with the school’s first Crusader yearbook. Incredibly, the seventy-‐eight seniors of that first class graduated from a high school accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It was the first high school in Missouri to be accredited prior to graduating a class. Activities, Clubs and the Seminary Lange and the faculty nurtured the development of social activities that encouraged participation in the Walther League. This fostered cooperative ministry with Association-‐member congregations and League-‐like programs. The groups took field trips and outings to places like Meramec State Park, Granite City Steel, Altenburg, Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau during the annual Tour Day. The Junior-‐Senior Banquet became an annual rite, with local dignitaries like Mayor Raymond Tucker addressing the upperclassmen. At first, there was no “prom.” Most congregations discouraged or forbade dancing because the members feared it would “lead to sin.” For a brief period, the Von Behren family from Unity, at their own cost, hosted a dance at a different site after the banquet ended. Later, when South Principal Michael Stelmachowicz (who was serving as assistant pastor at Our Redeemer) was asked about the dancing issue, he simply responded there were religious reasons for such a prohibition. After all, even a PE course for square dancing had raised concerns with some Association congregations. But a year later the prohibition against dancing was lifted. Co-‐curricular clubs provided additional informal social opportunities. To create a club, students recruited members and then asked a faculty member to sponsor them. Clubs and membership grew rapidly during the early years of the high school because there were so many male students who did not join an athletic team and because girls’ athletic opportunities were very limited. As teachers left the staff, students had to recruit another sponsor or they could not continue meeting. Often the clubs simply reflected the fleeting interests of students. For example, following the war years, on Tuesdays the Rifle Club practiced at the St. Louis Armory at Grand and Market. On Wednesdays, Roller Skating Club members paid twenty-‐five cents to skate for two hours at the Arena Roller Rink. Philatelists, reflecting the interest of stamp collecting kindled during the ‘30s, met twice a week to trade stamps and discuss upcoming releases of commemoratives. The nationally-‐ renowned Christmas display windows at the downtown Stix, Baer and Fuller and Famous-‐Barr stores, viewed by many of the boys when they were younger, inspired some to form the model
Railroaders Club. Woofledusters (amateur magicians) practiced to perform for upcoming assemblies and banquets. Several clubs promoted more formal educational interests. The Library Assistants Club cataloged entries in the 2,700-‐volume library. Those Interested in Medicine Club (TIM-‐-‐all girls through 1960) discussed training and schooling for the health profession of nursing. Burgeoning high school enrollment forced Crusader and Courier (the student newspaper) staffs to meet after school. By meeting at that time, more students had the chance to work in the enterprises. Classroom space remained available for regular classes during the school day. And students desiring a journalistic experience still had the opportunity to take another class during a regularly scheduled period. The successful programs and clubs generated publicity about high school activities. Local radio stations selectively broadcast classroom sessions and performances. The American Problems class broadcast on KXOK its discussion about the value of extending Social Security. The Girls Glee Club performed on KFUO and KWK, sang at the Veterans Hospital and, for an Easter Sunrise Service in 1949, performed on a national broadcast. By the mid-‐‘50s, the high school finally had its own radio station on 590, KLHS. Occasionally early course content resembled club-‐type activities. Fortunately those evolved quickly to provide quality classroom experiences. Members of the Science and Math departments, often lacking adequate equipment and supplies during the early years, developed creative curricula that evolved to effective teaching strategies. From teaching students how to design decorative candles and cosmetics, the instructors soon refined elaborate student entries in the St. Louis-‐area science fair at Washington University. The early math focus reflected the influence of the shop classes. Students designed stained glass windows for the school and created geometric ornaments for the entryway Christmas tree. Students initiated some clubs that became almost permanent fixtures later at Lutheran South and Lutheran North. Because the new “popular method of studying . . . [was] through movies,” the Projector Club assisted instructors in running the two sixteen-‐millimeter film and two slide projectors. The club’s significance extended to another era. Until the mid-‐‘70s, member students of respective “daughter” clubs at South and North could miss classes to assist a teacher showing a film. An early debate club, under the moniker Toastmasters’ Club, practiced in the cafeteria after school. A generation later the state activities association created a forensics competition and the organization become a permanent fixture. The Sabre Honor Society, its membership determined by those who maintained exceptional grades, carried out local service projects. Los Charros, a Romance language club, met weekly to study Spanish and Latin culture. The Future Homemakers of America raised funds through bake sales to send a member to the annual national convention. The Mission Club canvassed the Brentwood area to help start a new congregation. On a few occasions, successes of clubs organized for specific culminating activities led to more-‐ inclusive “all school” undertakings. Teachers Iris Guenther and Jonathan Messerli bravely escorted thirty-‐five seniors to Chicago for the first of many out-‐of-‐town trips. The “Westward Ho” club, also advised by Messerli, even planned a post-‐graduation excursion to Yellowstone Park, the Badlands and the Rockies. Like many travel groups, these were temporary organizations created to complete a specific trip. The enjoyable travel experiences encouraged the school administration to contact its counterparts at Chicago’s Luther North and Luther South and discuss playing annual basketball games. As the Crusadder basketball team experienced more success, it began making an annual trek to the Windy City to play the distant rivals. During the ‘60s it also involved Lutheran South, the friendly rivals traveling north for the competition. During these early years of Lutheran secondary education, Concordia Seminary and the high school had a special collaborative relationship. Many students had field workers helping in their congregations. Professor Richard Caemmerer and wife Dorothy served on the faculty, while Rev. Dr. Arthur Repp, Sr., was one of several who served on the Board. Instructor John Hoyer’s father
Theodore and brother George were professors at the Sem. The track team practiced on the cinder oval just north of the KFUO facility and, as Lutheran High enrollment grew to 820 students in 1957, the tennis team used the Seminary courts. The football team, saddled with several consecutive losing or “no win” seasons during their traditional six-‐game schedule, turned to the Seminary for an occasional assistant coach. Myron Marty noted that in 1957, his first season as a coach, they almost forgot to practice their most-‐used play from the preceding year. It was the kickoff return, as opponents scored so many touchdowns in the Crusaders’ winless season. After the Girls’ Glee Club helped dedicate Concordia Field House, Lutheran High held an annual Sports Festival in Clayton. The Fall Festival had long been a fixture on the Lutheran High campus with boosters raising funds for school needs. It continued as an “open house,” but organizers moved the spring activity to the Seminary facility that had abundant parking and seating. It was during these years that Crusader “home” basketball games were held at the Seminary gym as preliminary games to the Preachers’ games. The “Sem” became the unofficial headquarters of local Lutheran basketball excitement. It annually hosted a Lutheran elementary basketball tournament involving as many as sixty teams from the bi-‐state area. Many of the participating students later played on the field house floor as part of the Crusader/Lancer “Sem Game” series that started in the ‘60s. “We (Almost) Win!” In 1946, Superintendent Lange asked Brentwood High School coach Erv Leimer to serve as athletic director. The former coach of Bismarck High School’s Missouri State basketball champions embraced the challenge of building Athletic and Physical Education departments. With no playing fields and tiny gyms in which the walls marked the out of bounds, Leimer had to be creative. The basketball team practiced at Bethany Church on Natural Bridge or at the Sem. It played an entirely away schedule. Football, baseball, track and tennis teams jogged and walked to Forest Park to practice until the Booster Club donated a school bus for transport. The Booster Club, comprised of fathers of students who were members of athletic teams, worked closely with the school administration to coordinate volunteer staffing for event management. It also raised funds for specific equipment necessary for athletic activities. Success in basketball came early. The 1948-‐1949 basketball squad earned the school’s first trophy by capturing the Bayless Invitational Tournament. Sporting the iconic maroon and gold uniforms, the relatively small school competed in the state athletic association that at that time had only a single classification. Rabid fans followed the team wherever it played. They used their fifty-‐ cent weekly passes to transfer between streetcars and buses to travel to the games. The team cobbled together an eight-‐game winning streak, qualified for the post-‐season regional tournament and finished with a loss to McBride High School. Dressed in white letter sweaters and maroon corduroy slacks, cheerleaders like Mollie (Herrmann) Rohde (C ’49) and Ann Burkhart (C ’49) accompanied the teams to games. They led the “shouts” or “yells.” Besides supervising cheerleading for the girls, Jeanne Wuestling (Knapp) organized the Girls Athletic Association (GAA) intramural program in 1949. The girls played volleyball, softball, table tennis, badminton and basketball, clad in one-‐piece gym suits. Few scores were recorded. With the boys’ teams always having precedence for the bus, Lucille (Kreyling) Lochmann (C ‘50) remembered the day the girls’ softball team got to use the school bus—to the consternation of the boys. A year later they played a four-‐game schedule against schools like Principia, ending with a 1-‐3 record. In 1953, Leimer left to coach at John Burroughs before serving as athletic director at Parkway Central High School. His organizational abilities, coaching record and mentoring of student-‐athletes earned him induction into the Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. Leimer left the Athletic Department in capable hands.
In 1954, World History instructor and baseball coach Herb Moldenhauer, who also served as the school disciplinarian, led the unranked squad into the State playoffs. His charges upset favored Clayton, Rolla and McBride high schools to reach the finals at Sportsman’s Park at Grand and Dodier. Declared as “Lutheran Day” at the ballpark, many Lutheran fans of foe Cape Central filled much of the stadium with Lutheran fans of upstart Lutheran High. With the third game in three days, the Crusaders turned to sophomore starter Gary Schoen who went two innings. Rich “Rookie” Beumer (C ‘55) took the mound in the third. Down 4-‐0 in the sixth, Gary Zellinger’s inside-‐the-‐park grand slam tied the game, Crusader fans rushing onto the field to greet him at the plate. Cape Central, the state’s largest school that had won the basketball tournament in March, responded with the winning run in the seventh. The St. Louis Post-‐Dispatch sports scribe noted, “Goliath won the day, but Little David had him sweating.” That appearance in the State championship might have punctuated, in a sense, the “end of the beginning,” except for another Crusader squad’s Phoenix-‐like rise from the ashes—the football team. Coach Bob Klinck’s outmanned charges won only one game in four years. Lutheran Central had joined the ABC League in 1957 (South followed in 1958), when the squad produced the school’s first winning record. Success continued in 1958. Bill Leistritz and Larry Brown spearheaded a 4-‐2 campaign highlighted by the team scoring a record 143 points. Leistritz kicked several field goals and many extra points even though his practice in Forest Park amounted to aiming at a light pole. In its first year of football competition in the league in 1959, Coach Mike Marty led the Crusaders to a 5-‐ 3 overall record. But their lone win in a 1-‐3 league season was a 13-‐6 victory over Country Day School. Marty’s charges reprised their exceptional performances the following season. Playing home games on the Wellston High School field, they defeated Codasco again the next year, capping a four-‐ year run of 20-‐9. One of its linebackers was Jim Manion, a future Lutheran North coach and faculty member. (Unfortunately, it would be another twenty years during the 1980 season before the Crusaders could defeat Codasco again.) Athletic successes like these brought celebratory gatherings. The Athletic Department initiated a Father’s and Son’s Banquet, the counterpart to the Mothers’ Club sponsorship of the GAA Mother-‐Daughter Banquet. Expanding the Ministry The population in St. Louis was moving to the suburbs. Many left their two-‐ and four-‐family brick flats to purchase ranch-‐style homes in spacious suburbs. They would commute to work. During the post-‐war years, St. Louis was the nation’s second-‐largest automaker. Almost thirty thousand worked at the local GM, Ford and Chrysler plants on Union Boulevard, in Hazelwood and Fenton, respectively. Almost as many worked locally in the breweries (particularly Anheuser-‐Busch), downtown shoe factories and stockyards across the Mississippi River. Until the Browns left at the end of the 1953 season, St. Louis had been “first in shoes, first in booze and last in the American League.” Other large local employers included Frisco Railroad, St. Louis Car (Baden), St. Louis Ship, General Steel Castings (Granite City), Carter Carburetor, Ralston Purina (at Checkerboard Square), Scullin Steel and Wagner Electric. Emerson Electric, located in Ferguson, and McDonnell-‐Douglas, near Lambert, marked the movement of population westward along the West Florissant/Natural Bridge corridor. Post-‐war reconversion meant job stability and the chance to commute from those burgeoning suburbs. Large planned developments in St. Ann, Bellefontaine Neighbors and Dellwood on the north side, Ballwin to the west and Crestwood to the south brought the total of outlying county suburbs to eighty-‐five. Members of the Missouri Highway Commission noted the persistent traffic delays on arterial roads and proposed a pinwheel of freeways from a downtown spoke: Mark Twain (I-‐70) to the northwest, Daniel Boone (U. S. 40) to the west and Ozark (I-‐55) to the south. Soon the families raising the baby boomers in the suburbs could shop at the new malls in Northland (Jennings), Westroads (now Galleria, in Richmond Heights), Crestwood Plaza (Crestwood) and South County (Mehlville). Lutherans moved to or sponsored suburban missions that soon became self-‐supporting parishes, with parochial schools readily serving as high school “feeders.” Large city congregations like Bethlehem, St. Stephens, St. Matthews and Ebenezer supported Central. But the proverbial handwriting was on the wall. Since 1932, when Unity-‐Bel-‐Nor had opened, the number of suburban
congregations exceeded the number of urban anchors. Grace, located at St. Louis and Garrison avenues, purchased land in Bellefontaine Neighbors. In 1954 its members broke ground at Highway 67 and Chambers Road. Soon, Grace Chapel joined Atonement-‐Florissant, St. Jacobi-‐Jennings, Immanuel Chapel-‐ and Zion-‐Ferguson, Faith-‐Beverly Hills, Grace-‐Wellston, Unity-‐Bel-‐Nor, Hope-‐St. Ann and the rural but soon-‐to-‐be suburban Immanuel-‐Olivet, Our Redeemer-‐Overland, Salem-‐Black Jack and St. Peters-‐Spanish Lake to serve North County. English District congregation Pilgrim followed suit, purchasing land in 1963 that later became the site of Chapel of the Cross. Congregational and mission growth in the southern suburban ring followed the same trends. As truck farms became suburbs, the rural and small-‐town congregations grew in membership. As Lutherans moved into the suburbs many transferred to Salem-‐Affton, Concordia-‐Kirkwood, Webster Gardens-‐Webster Groves, Concordia-‐Maplewood, Gethsemane-‐ and Peace-‐Lemay. Soon, their membership added up to equal the rolls of south side city anchors Trinity, Emmaus, St. Trinity, St. Luke’s, Holy Cross, Christ, Our Redeemer, Messiah, Hope, Ascension, St. John and new city mission Timothy. With Central’s enrollment at the capacity mark as the 1953-‐1954 school year began, the Association voted to build two new schools. One would be built to the north and one to the south to accommodate 1,600 students. The Association committed to raising almost $4 million to build the two new facilities. The Board hired the Beavers, fundraisers who organized the Association congregations by their respective circuits. Each congregation selected a development committee chaired by a representative. The representatives met every couple of months in the home of one of the circuit members. At the meetings they committed their own pledges, recorded campaign progress and planned additional publicity. Several churches posted publicity materials to motivate parishioners to give generously. Our Redeemer-‐St. Louis posted a traditional thermometer poster to mark progress. Concordia-‐Maplewood used the image of a track oval (including the long straight for the 220 yard dash!) to mark successful collections of funds to attain specific financial totals. But when the drive ended, only $1.8 million had been collected. The financial shortfall forced the Association to examine the regional demographics. A large “blue collar” belt extended from Union and Wells to Grand and Dodier, many holding membership in the largest city congregations like Bethlehem, Zion, Immanuel, Ebenezer and St. Jacobi. They were adequately served by Central. The most rapid congregational growth, though, was taking place in South County while the targeted North County area was still sparsely populated. With less than half the goal pledged, only one school could be built. The more urgent need for a new high school was to the south. The north would have to wait. The Board considered three sites. The first was near the southwest quadrant of the Hampton/Eichelberger intersection, but that was determined to be “too far in” as population moved to the suburbs. The second was in the Gravois-‐River Des Peres area because that is where the City and County bus routes merged. But less expensive real estate further out encouraged the Board to select a site south of Gravois on Tesson Ferry Road. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held in December 1956. The 1956-‐1957 Crusader, marking the last time all Lutheran secondary students attended school together, included a frontispiece of an artistic design of the planned “Southside Lutheran High School.” It celebrated the total enrollment figure of 820 at Lutheran High but lamented how the three-‐minute passing periods were too short. As many as three students had to share each hall locker. More than seventy tried out for the basketball teams and the tennis team was so large it had to practice at the Sem and Forest Park. And, despite Norman Junghans two medals at the State track meet in 1948, lack of access to facilities forced termination of the track program. However, the large number of students permitted the addition of a second stage performance in the spring. After presenting Twelfth Night for the annual fall production, the Drama Department presented, in March, The Mikado. Soon the department performed more modern pieces including the contemporary Diary of Anne Frank.
The Academic Focus Lange developed four academic tracks supervised by his thirty-‐one-‐member faculty. With each graduating student required to earn seventeen credits, College Prep required a focus on history, religion, math, science, English, and a choice of Spanish, Latin or German. The Special Ministerial Program, nurtured by Concordia Seminary profs on campus in the language, history and religion departments, required all three languages. The Commercial Track required a business focus involving typing, bookkeeping, shorthand, secretarial practice and transcription. The General Track incorporated a combination of these specialty areas but gave students a few more elective choices. The Crusader editor announced with pride that all students would matriculate with a quality liberal arts education, focused on the Christian life. Many witnessed the unique dual roles so modeled by teachers and the first graduates. For example, shop teacher Frank Hoppe taught the boys in several classes. He taught art in the same classroom, so the girls frequently used shop tools to fashion their art projects. He also lived in the basement as the on-‐site custodian. Loyal alumni returned for reunions and gatherings soon after graduating. Some of those early graduates returned not just for reunions but to teach at the high school: David Weisner and, after a stint in the military during the Korean War, Rich Wallace. 9515 Aggressive expansion plans incorporated two key components: congregational support and congregational cooperation. In September 1957, 118 freshmen attended classes at educational facilities at south city congregations: forty-‐four at Our Redeemer and seventy-‐four at Hope. The LAHE paid for renovations at both facilities to better serve the ninth graders. But, for PE class, students from Our Redeemer still had to hike to the old Sem gym across from Holy Cross. They probably did not understand this at the time, but each time they made the trek students re-‐covered ground English Synod delegates walked on May 15, 1911. Holding their convention at Our Redeemer, the delegates voted to join the German-‐language LCMS in convention at Holy Cross and became the English District. Their march down California Avenue so long ago led to the formation of a unique ministry, particularly for the St. Louis area at that time. The committed students who made the same journey almost five decades later symbolically did the same. David Rohde, who coached and taught four years at Lutheran High, was one of several at South who had to take the twenty-‐minute drive between the educational centers to teach classes. A shortage of large communal space meant almost no contact between the two groups. They participated in only two socials that first year. Despite the obstacles, the first class of Lutheran South adopted the nickname of Lancers and chose gold and black as school colors—gold for the continuity and unity of the two Lutheran high schools, black representing individuality. The students chose to serve as “soldiers in God’s army.” The Lancers, as they referred to themselves, did not have the convenience of a hot lunch program and had only limited extracurricular opportunities. They organized a chorus, a girls’ glee club, a Student Council, lower-‐level basketball team and a pep club. Bad weather and a shortage of building materials delayed construction and the school building could not open in February 1958 as planned. They finally entered the facilities the following September. Like at the original Lutheran High just twelve years before, faculty and volunteers scrubbed down classrooms and dodged still-‐working construction crews during the first weeks of school. Freshmen and sophomores totaling 230 students entered Lutheran South, with a staff of sixteen supervised by new principal Rev. Michael Stelmachowicz. One of the new teachers was former Lutheran High student David Wiesner who taught Social Studies and PE and coached the basketball team. Rohde (English and Social Studies), Eugene Brott (Science and Math), Robert Wendt (Science and Math) and Wilbert Wehmueller (English and Social Studies) formed various departments to
fulfill Lange’s vision for education. Rev. H. A. Rehwaldt of Our Redeemer, whose son Carl attended in the temporary make-‐shift facilities, pitched in as a religion teacher. Bob Flach headed a six-‐person custodial staff. Initially the cafeteria needed only three cooks: Ruth Pieper, who served for the first two decades; Erma Huelskoetter and Ruth Brommer. But within three years the staff included six. Other changes quickly followed. Lange accepted the new position of superintendent of the LAHE, with offices at Lake and Waterman, and baseball coach Moldenhauer became principal of the “new” Lutheran Central. The new Lutheran South facility faced east, fronting on Tesson Ferry Road. It was only a short walk north to Gravois Road and the Ten Mile House, a local “greasy spoon” noted for quick service. Set back almost one hundred yards from the road the four-‐girder gymnasium linked the north parking lot with the educational wing. According to engineers at Kirkwood-‐based SSE, one of whose owners was Eugene Siebold, the structure had enough strength to serve as a tornado shelter. As students walked south into the building, they passed administrative and counseling offices on the left. To the right, the large u-‐shaped cafeteria wrapped around a full service kitchen. After passing the bookstore, students entered the two-‐story educational wing. To the east on the first floor were the math classrooms and science labs. The second floor included social studies and English classrooms and storage. The west wing first floor section included foreign language classrooms and, at the far west end, the art and shop classrooms. The second floor west wing housed religion and more English classrooms as well as the typing and business rooms. The basement included two large classrooms and two smaller areas. To the east was the choir room that included risers. To the west was the band room that included storage lockers. At the northwest corner of the building was the boys’ locker room and exit to the athletic field. The girls’ locker room was on the south side of the gym. The western section of the twenty-‐five-‐acre campus was the football, soccer and baseball field. It was situated in a north-‐south arrangement, the home bleachers on the east side, visitors’ on the west. When the building committee finally purchased the sod for the athletic field, coaches bused the football team to the sod farm at the Lutheran orphanage in Des Peres, loaded the plats onto a truck and then, back at South, placed the sod on the designated areas. For a year, it became a “work in progress.” A backstop at the northwest corner of the property sheltered home plate. Snow fencing just east of the football sideline would later serve as the left field “wall.” The chief parking area was north of campus. A smaller parking lot lay between the educational wing and the football field. The shot put circle was located at the northeast corner of the football field while the discus throwers tossed off the parking lot toward the south end of the football field. A cemetery owned the land west of the campus but at that time did not use it for burials. That cemetery would later provide “borrowed” space as the cross country runners, hosting occasional home meets, loped along the tombstones enroute to the finish of the two mile course that ended on the football field. To the south was a subdivision of new single-‐family homes. To the north was Gern Nursery and to the east, across Tesson Ferry, behind a single row of homes, was woodland. Christ Memorial Lutheran Church was less than a mile to the south on Tesson Ferry. The students worshipped, studied, practiced and ate under the shadow of a large white wooden cross, constructed in honor of the late Robert Klinck, a Lutheran High instructor. Athletic opportunities opened up as Wehmueller and Braunschweig coached B and C football teams. Brott started a seven-‐man cross country team, Weisner took the reins of the baseball squad and Coach Schlie headed up the new B basketball team. GAA had two groups: freshmen and sophomores. In addition to the clubs started on the double city church campuses during the difficult first year, new groups included the twelve-‐member Baton Twirlers, the five-‐member Recorder Society, a ten-‐ member Band, an all-‐girl Bowling League, Science Club, Projectionist Club, Bookstore Club and Library Assistants Club. New arrival Conrad Carlton headed the Art Club. Chief editor Ruth Allwardt led the Troubadour staff, the first Lancer publication group, advised by Rohde.
People and Society on the Move As the United States entered the era of the space race and waged the Cold War, the local economy received a boost. The McDonnell-‐Douglas plant in North County, awarded work on the Mercury project, became the state’s largest, employing more than thirty thousand. Curators of the University of Missouri system finalized the plans for a satellite campus in Normandy that opened in 1963 as the University of Missouri-‐St. Louis. The new Junior College District opened three community colleges in metropolitan St. Louis. Lambert Fields’ passenger and freight traffic overwhelmed the old facilities so the city added a new terminal building. Gaslight Square in the Central West End (CWE) included almost one hundred music clubs, bars and restaurants. Urban renewal in the Mill Creek Valley and the construction of the Pruitt and Igoe apartment towers provided hope for those seeking better housing opportunities. The city prepared for its bicentennial, local officials inviting President Lyndon Johnson to the festivities that coincided with the commemoration of the hoped-‐for final completion of the Arch grounds. But as people moved to the spacious suburbs, St. Louis city lost almost one-‐sixth of its 1950 population, falling to just over 700,000. The population of St. Louis County followed a reverse trajectory, almost tripling from the 275,000 in 1950 to more than 700,000 by the mid-‐‘60s. When Northwest Plaza near the airport opened in 1965, it held the distinction, briefly, of being the largest retail space in the world. Developers began planning for Jamestown Mall, located in what was at the time farm fields and cattle country near the intersection of North Highway 67 and North Lindbergh Boulevard. Others planned a similar mall at the intersection of soon-‐to-‐be-‐completed I-‐55 and South Lindbergh Boulevard. The LCMS, like St. Louis County, continued its rapid growth. By the mid-‐‘60s, a 60% increase in baptized and a 50% increase in communicant membership garnered totals of 2.6 and 1.6 million, respectively. While new school growth “only” increased by 18%, school enrollment rose by 80% to total 157,000 students. Significantly, new teacher education programs at Synodical schools, Valparaiso University and the Milwaukee Lay Institute (including a new program for educating secondary teachers) provided new candidates, doubling the total number of called teachers to almost six thousand. With such growth, more than 150 administrators and employees crowded the Synodical headquarters at 210 North Broadway. A Cooperative New Start With two high schools now, Lange moved into the new position of LAHE Superintendent where he would serve until 1962. Under the leadership of principal Herb Moldenhauer (1957-‐1959), Lutheran Central provided instructors and services for fledgling Lutheran South. Occasional joint activities and personnel brought together Lutheran congregants from across a now broad area. By 1960, both schools provided school bus transportation from more distant Lutheran elementary schools. As buses replaced the last streetcars on the Hodiamont line, Lange worked with Bi-‐State to extend service out to the “far reaches”-‐-‐first to Grasso Plaza and, later, Northland Plaza. County bus service ended runs at 5:00 p.m. Students at Lutheran South, in particular, had trouble getting home after later practices or club meetings. Several resorted to hitchhiking back to the city bus terminal on Hampton. Unfortunately, after dark, fewer drivers were willing to pick up the “hitchers.” Mornings were more fruitful. A few young men actually got picked up regularly by the same drivers on a daily basis. Many of the students at South and Central had been encouraged by Lutheran elementary school teachers and parish pastors to attend the high schools. Co-‐curricular and extra-‐curricular instructors also steered students toward Lutheran secondary education and fostered cooperative efforts between the two high schools. Jazz musicians from Gaslight Square, including Sammy Gardner, taught part time band instruction at local Lutheran elementary schools. Those instructors trained budding musicians for Ralph Lee’s (he moonlighted as a banjo player at a local Shakey’s Pizza Parlor) bands at Lutheran Central and later Lutheran South. Central’s yearbook editors included South’s
student body in 1958, 1959 and 1960 Crusader editions. During the 1960-‐1961 school year, South’s students created the first Lance yearbook. After South graduated its first class, editors at both schools frequently exchanged news columns in the respective school newspapers, Courier and Troubadour. Moldenhauer and Stelmachowicz nurtured further parental involvement with the ministry as the Parent Teacher League, serving as a liaison between staff and parents, provided an opportunity to “. . . discuss problems relating to the growth and training of Christian teenagers.” Alluding to future challenges, it also provided a contemplative way of discussing disagreements over issues of faith. One of Moldenhauer’s most effective events he implemented was for parents to participate in a “back to school night” in September. Parents walked through their child’s class schedule, attending on a basis of ten minutes per class, meeting the teacher their child would have that year in a particular academic discipline. It was very successful. It always the best attended parent meeting of the year. As the school year progressed, it facilitated a continuing dialogue between parents and teachers to deal with any classroom issues that arose. As enrollment at the two schools grew, it became impossible to hold joint services and assemblies at either location or at the Sem. Soon, principals led their respective senior classes at separate baccalaureate services and then held a joint graduation at Kiel Opera House. New Lutheran South Principal Roland Eggerding (1961-‐1989) helped plan the early Kiel celebrations. Student Council at Central creatively shared social occasions with Lutheran South. Several times the members decorated South’s gym for the Junior-‐Senior Banquet and shared facilities at Union Station or the Seminary field house. After a revision of the Student Council constitution, Central’s Student Council consisted of the four traditional officers and two representatives from each homeroom. Four committees—for education, worship, service, fellowship—created projects, programs and drives. South’s student leadership followed the same protocols. Cooperation between students at the two high schools fostered a unity of purpose. South side Lutherans owed much to the north side. Support from the north side helped provide southsiders with their new high school. Now, under the auspices of the Association front office, congregational representatives again solicited pledges for the north side building program. While the campaign continued, student groups and auxiliary activities funded their own programs. An annual magazine campaign, pitting each class against the others, raised money for Student Council activities that included sending three officers to the Ft. Wayne National Convention of Lutheran Student Councils. Carwashes, sales of “long-‐lasting light bulbs” and the merchandising of chocolate bars were popular options. At the Fall Festival sponsoring groups supervised games like mini-‐golf, hat toss and a dunking booth. German and soccer socials made the schools a social “center of Christian Education.” A “Faith Forward” drive in 1964 designated all chapel collections to the Lutheran North building program. Other Student Council-‐led collections and drives helped the education of two students in Latin America; provided food for the Lutheran City Mission; distributed clothing to Lutheran churches to distribute to the destitute. In another creative way, students, by drinking enough Pepsi, raised enough money to sponsor a foreign exchange student who attended Central the next year. Musical groups provided yeoman service for special occasions. Lee’s band marched, with the South contingent, in the annual Veiled Prophet Parade and, for several years, a Clean Up Parade. Starting in Forest Park the groups, accompanied by baton twirlers, were one of only six high school bands that trekked the more than two mile route through the Central West End. Lee initiated German, Dance and Jazz bands. The glee clubs and choir occasionally performed on WIL, KFUO and KMOX. The Central choir “cut” a record of Christmas selections. In 1958 the Central choir sang at the cornerstone laying of the new Tesson Ferry campus—and on October 21, 1962, at the groundbreaking of the new campus in the rolling terrain between Northwoods and Jennings. Lutheran Central renewed North Central Accreditation in 1960. New principal Kermit (K. C.) Meyer (1959-‐1964) was confident the high school community would continue to “do all to the glory of God.” A former principal at Ebenezer Lutheran School, he had valuable experience in marshalling resources to improve academic performance. The accreditation also triggered discussions about the
philosophy of Lutheran education, promoting the idea that, indeed, all instructors in the school were teaching a Christ-‐centered curriculum that included all aspects of a student’s life. A good example of that was the series of chapel dramas John Hoyer used in worship at Central. A new physics course revealed the creative methods the faculty had adopted during the past decade. The Science Department, including Gil Daenzer, taught no longer by “giving facts” but by leading experiments that helped students create a basis for scientific conclusions. It was the beginning of “experiential” or “hands on” teaching. The approach motivated the students to excitedly anticipate the new classroom activities. Sometimes they were too excited—and one pundit noted that Daenzer soon posted a sign in the front of the room: “More Lab. Less Oratory.” He also started a new club, the Piston Pushers, that worked on cars. However, with only the asphalt space behind Central, poor weather—and a 4:00 p.m. deadline for him to drive his home-‐bound bus route-‐-‐it was not as long-‐lived as the classroom developments. Crusaders experienced extra-‐curricular successes as they became familiar with their ABC League counterparts. As the League entered its fourth decade, Crusaders on all levels and Lancers, initially on non-‐varsity levels, competed against long-‐time members Western Military Academy, Principia, Codasco and John Burroughs. Coach Louis Schroer’s basketball quintet won Central’s first League championship, and while Central’s first cross country team in 1960 “earned more character than wins,” the squad, promoted as a way for the cagers to get into shape, soon won an ABC title. Baseball won three titles in a row and Athletic Director Wayne Vogelsmeier, who had coached football, scheduled all Central home games at South’s new field. He then started a soccer program. GAA added field hockey and, with basketball, girls had two interscholastic opportunities for competition. One of the participants in both sports was Barb Klingsick, who also served as a class president. As the Board supervised the preparations for constructing Lutheran North in 1962, Lange accepted a position at Valparaiso University to head the Education Department. He retired in 1977 but continued to volunteer with the schools’ recruiting services until 1984. When Lange left, principals Meyer and Eggerding shared the responsibilities of the position of superintendent until 1964. That year, as the Central staff and student body prepared to move to the new campus, the Board called Meyer to serve full time in that position and called Edward Werner to serve as the principal of the new high school. An important precedent had been established. As Board members sought candidates to serve as staff leaders at Central, and later at North, they would almost always select from “in house” personnel. Most called administrators would be identified from the staff, indicating an Association commitment to developing its leaders who had intimate knowledge about the local Lutheran and St. Louis community. The pattern of elevating teachers to leadership positions also helped encourage other high schools and colleges to strongly consider called staff of the LAHE to fill vacated positions. Central, South and later, North, became a training ground for teacher development. Dave Rohde served on Synod’s C. F. W. Walther Sesquicentennial celebration committee. Myron Marty, Jerry Pfabe, Don Prahlow and Jack Greising all earned Ph.D. degrees in history at St. Louis University (SLU). Father Francis Bannon, chair of the History Department, called the group “Lutherans in Residence.” All later taught collegiate graduate and undergraduate courses at a variety of Midwestern institutions. Gil Daenzer, Chuck Hoger, Bill Ahlbrand and Gene Brott (from South) were several who earned their advanced degrees in other subject areas and also taught collegiate students. Lange, Moldenhauer and Rich Wallace, among others, moved into administration, assisted the development of teacher education programs and started or revived high schools and associations in Detroit, Cleveland and Orlando. The First Lancers “I, a Lancer of Lutheran High School South, am grateful that God through Christ has called me to serve Him and has granted me the privilege to attend this school. Therefore I surrender my life to God and pray that during my years at Lutheran High South He may mold and shape it to a useful
Christian life.” The Lancer creed, highlighted on the third page of the school’s first Lancer yearbook in 1961, was part of its dedication to the Lutherans of St. Louis who had made the new high school possible. Each day 375 Lancers and the faculty met in the basement chapel/band room for opening worship. Visiting pastors provided homilies two days each week while male faculty led the other three days of worship. Like Central, South formed a PTL and Mothers’ Club. The PTL, whose leadership consisted of the principal, secretary, president (its first officer was Albert Schicht) and vice president, was organized to keep the parents informed about the educational functions of the school. It also facilitated meetings between faculty and parents to confer about student classroom performance. The Mothers’ Club, chaired by first president Nancy Hartman, met the third Wednesday of every month. It coordinated the magazine campaign fund-‐raiser (the Lancers lost to the Crusaders the first year) and the annual fashion show. Some of the funds defrayed the cost of the new GAA Banquet each spring. At that time they could celebrate successes of the Mary Woods-‐led intramural program that included fall and spring softball, and winter competitions in basketball, volleyball and tumbling. Woods’ baton twirlers performed at a variety of assemblies and halftimes of the boys’ games. The Boosters Club was a loosely-‐coordinated cooperative effort between the two high schools. First Lancer president Ben Pieman was charged with coordinating the fund raising for the extra-‐ curricular activities at South. The organization sponsored the Fall and Sports festivals, Father-‐Son Athletic Banquet and provided attendants at home games and some school activities. As one of its first purchases specifically for South, it provided new uniforms for the twenty band members and new robes for the thirty-‐member chorus led by director Frederick Petersen. With enrollment smaller than that of Central, many of the classes, clubs and organizations closely coordinated their activities. Conrad Carlton’s Ceramics and Silk-‐Screening classes provided elaborate decorations for the Christmas Concert and decorated the initially empty hallway walls with creative posters. Charles Froehlich led the Religion Club that had been formed by classroom students interested in exploring more thoroughly the theological issues raised in a variety of religion classes. New biology instructor Roland Jagels, along with Arlene Neben, guided intramural activities for those not involved in extra-‐curricular athletics. Bowling Club met each Tuesday evening at Red Bird Lanes. On-‐campus competitions included ping pong, horseshoes and a basketball tournament. In their first year as a united student body, the Lancers selected Bob Heimburger as the first Student Council president. He, in coordination with faculty advisor Bill Wendt, led the home room representatives in developing a Buzz Book, funding a milk machine, financing “extras” for the lunch program, sending representatives to the Detroit convention of Lutheran Student Councils, creating a chapel committee and hiring special buses for students to ride to the games. Most activities were publicized by Dave Rohde and the staff of seventeen that compiled the Troubadour. Those students met a rigorously demanding production schedule. Each month they put out a 1,500-‐copy run of school news and activities. They distributed the newspaper to faculty, students, Association congregations and schools. Dorcas Mueller advised the dozen who comprised the staff of the new Lance. The highlight of the sports section in that first year was the Coach Bill Wendling-‐led basketball squad’s Chicago Tournament trip during a 4-‐14 campaign. When enrollment finally included seniors, it was an exceptional class and an exceptional year. Five earned recognition as National Merit Scholarship Semi-‐Finalists. A sixth, Denver junior transfer Judith (Wangerin) Meyer would, four decades later, return to St. Louis from New England. After a career in higher education, she would serve as Association President. The South community could also celebrate the high school’s North Central accreditation. Like at Central ten years before, accreditation was granted to South prior to the awarding of diplomas to its first graduating class. Lance editors Carol Hrivnak and Linda Klammer, advised by Mueller, noted these items in a retrospective “looking back” portion of their Foreward. They incorporated the three steps of the new facility’s formation—the ground-‐breaking service during the snowy day in 1956; the student ninth
grade centers at Hope and Our Redeemer; and the January 18, 1959 dedicatory service of worship and thanksgiving attended by more than three thousand—as a way to “focus forward” on the cross. Dedicated to “Paddlin’ Parson” Rev. Stelmachowicz (he had won some of the intramural ping pong tournaments), the Lance commentary noted the sacrifices his family had made for the ministry on the south side and the focus on excellence in education that garnered the accreditation. It had been an auspicious beginning. Students and staff had occupied the building for a semester prior to its formal dedication. The January 18, 1959 dedicatory service revealed the incredible excitement generated by the opening of the new facility. Gravois Road was ill equipped to handle heavy west-‐bound traffic attempting to make the left turn onto Tesson Ferry Road. Many attendees driving out from the city faced long delays getting to the service held in the new gym. As they arrived, they parked on the unpaved lot and tramped through mud to enter the building. It was “standing room only.” Rev. Dr. Arthur C. Repp, an Association Board member and dean of students at the Seminary, served as dedicatory speaker. He proclaimed, “May those who come to learn and those who come to teach at Lutheran High School South ever appreciate the wonderful works of God. May those who are graduated from this school catch the vision of its purpose and dedicate their life to the glory of God.” This partisan enthusiasm carried over into the daily activities at the new school. Parents and students quickly created a community strongly supportive of South and Association plans. Student involvement, a strength noted in the accreditation of Central a decade before, was one of the strengths at South. Rapid membership growth in existing organizations and the formation of many new clubs shaped the unique service focus of the Association schools. Many girls, in particular, with very few extra-‐curricular opportunities at that time, joined the groups. An all-‐female Service Club, advised by Arlene Neben, helped teachers and administration by providing clerical services. The GAA grew so quickly it had to meet two days a week, upperclassmen on Monday evenings and freshmen and sophomores on Thursdays. Chess Club (Thursday matches), German Club (cookies, folk songs and caroling on Fridays), Debaters (Rev. Richard LaBore supervised the lively forensics action in the spring), Recorders (Wil Wehmueller’s group included sixteen) and Carlton’s Poster Club (Tuesdays) promoted civic involvement in the context of a larger community. LaBore’s Thespian Club also performed the first recorded drama activity at South, presenting Meet Me in St. Louis that spring. An enthusiastic reporter noted, “Using a unique ‘theater in the round,’ the action would spill into the [audience’s] laps!” Student Council presented a number of assemblies, including the GE assembly that focused on modern science (a traveling science library graced the facilities for a few months); a typing assembly that demonstrated the skills of a locally renowned world-‐class typist; the magazine campaign kick-‐off assembly (South finally defeated Central in that contest). At the Fall Festival after the football contest (which later became the Lancer Day Homecoming game), clubs and organizations staffed the games, contests of skill and demonstration booths in the “Big Tent” on the back lot. Most attendees stayed for the BBQ served by the Boosters. The year was also notable for setting high standards in the ABC League and at the State levels of competition. Gene Brott’s fledgling cross country squad, “averaging 8-‐10 miles per day,” won the first Lancer varsity League title, the first of four in five years. The second, under Fred Cates, included the leadership of Mike Rose and Roger Komorech. Art Schroeder helmed the last two winning league campaigns, Mel Cottom, Jim Streufert and John Engelhardt leading the pack. “Super soph” Russ Kuecker joined Cottom at the front of the racing packs in Schroeder’s second season. Despite competing in a District that had more than thirty schools (all St. Louis city and county schools of all sizes competed in the same qualifying meet), Cottom and Kuecker led the squads to State meet berths and Kuecker earned the first of three All State medals. Baseball coach Rev. Jack Faszholz, a former member of the Cardinals, led his charges to ABC runner up with a 7-‐3 record, Fred Stutz and Heimburger earning All ABC laurels.
A first senior class meant the establishment of new traditions. Seniors and faculty met for a “senior brunch,” and members of the graduating class went to Messiah for baccalaureate service. Graduation on June 6, 1961, took place at Kiel Auditorium, the two Association schools sharing the stage bleachers for the first of many joint ceremonies. Faculty Core As the student body of six hundred entered South’s halls in September 1961, (incredibly, almost three hundred eighth graders had attended the first frosh visitation the previous spring) many of the faculty who would remain on staff for long terms of service had already or would soon arrive. Because Stelmachowicz accepted a call to Concordia-‐Seward, new principal Roland Eggerding now headed the administrative staff. Eggerding had a breadth of experience in Lutheran high school education. A ’45 Concordia-‐River Forest graduate, he had played football, basketball and track for the Cougars and set the long-‐standing Concordia javelin record. Those experiences buoyed his first teaching position at Racine Lutheran High where he started the PE Department and the first football and baseball teams. After the six-‐year stint in Wisconsin, he served in a variety of administrative positions at Walther Lutheran High in Melrose Park. The Guidance Department included Rohde, Wehmueller (who served also as Registrar and Dean of Students), religion instructor Fred Grundmann, and basketball coach Wendling (who led the squad to its first winning season). Practical Arts included Neben (bookkeeping, shorthand and typing); Bob Guilfoil (industrial arts, technical drawing); and Nola Fischer (typing, office practice, business law). In Fine Arts, Lee, who also served as band director at Central, joined veteran art teacher Carlton and new choir director Henry Engelhardt. Engelhardt, using the new “baby grand” in the choir room, immediately founded a Boys Quartet, Triple Trio, Boys and Girls Glee clubs and a German Choir. He also used all musical groups in performing the first spring musical extravaganza, Gilbert and Sullivan’s H. M. S. Pinafore. It would not be the last! The Math/Science sections were taught chiefly by Jagels and newcomer basketball coach Herman Meyer. Don Oetting, commuting from St. Charles, headed the Social Studies Department while Nancy Corbett helmed the English. Foreign Language teachers Leonard Kutscher and Froelich (noted for his passionate celebrations of Beethoven’s birthday) joined LaBore, Grundmann, and Faszholz in the Religion Department. Myra Nell, whose GAA basketball and soccer teams played short interscholastic seasons, taught PE. Faszholz “moonlighted” in the PE department and also led the baseball squad to its first ABC title. Within a year, Walt Pankow (Guidance), Roy Pfund (Science), Dick Otto (PE) and Art Schroeder (Social Studies and Math) would fill out the core of the faculty roster. The biggest change, though, was in the Association front office. In the fall of 1962, “founding father” Lange left to lead the Education Department at Valparaiso University. Suddenly Eggerding and his Central counterpart, K. C. Meyer, shared the responsibilities of the superintendent. They had to complete the campaign to finance the construction on the North campus and supervise the initial design of the new facility. Eggerding was fortunate to have an experienced group of instructors supplemented by many new energetic arrivals. Cooperation between the two campuses also helped, as South’s curriculum reflected Central’s arrangement into Commercial, College Prep and General tracks. Lee counseled Central about the future of the band. The Sports Festival, held at the Sem, featured a professional tennis match, pitted each school’s best female “six” cagers against each other and saw the evening end with a Central faculty basketball victory over the South newcomers. Later, the Central Student Council provided ancillary assistance as the Lancers hosted, under the watchful eye of advisor Grundmann, the annual National Lutheran High School Student Council Convention in November 1961. Senior religion classes (as mentored by LaBore) and the Student Council helped guide a homogenous white, Lutheran student body to an awareness of what was happening in society locally, nationally and internationally. LaBore required students to take field trips into the community to help them better understand and empathize with those whom they did not know. Trips to National
Stockyards (to understand the role of blue collar workers in the business of marketing), the morgue (to see the reality of news reports), and City Hall (to witness the civil rights demonstrations) dotted the calendar. Visits with Otis Woodard in North Grand Avenue’s Watertower area especially provided eye-‐opening experiences of life outside the sheltered confines of Tesson Ferry. The experiences helped students learn sensitivity for other people’s realities. But LaBore was not always serious. He exhibited a sense of openness in the classroom beginning all periods with “high fives,” prayer and “humor for the day.” With this approach, Thespians again performed “theater in the round” comedies that included You Can’t Take It With You and Arsenic and Old Lace. They also added to their repertoire the more sobering J.B. and Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. In a “Broadway coup,” with the special courtesy of the publisher, LaBore directed the first amateur performance anywhere of John Osborne’s Luther. Student Council reps created a series of projects to heighten awareness of local issues. They regularly collected clothing, food and religious literature to provide assistance to the members of All Nations Church in the Pruitt-‐Igoe neighborhood. They adopted the same South Korean orphan for almost a decade. They brought on campus political candidates like long-‐time Missouri Representative Thomas Curtis and hosted citizenship weeks. Lancers sold crosses to help fund the new building planned to go up at Lucas and Hunt. They also helped collect, with Central, clothing for an LWR drive and supported the Synodical “Faith Forward” movement. Those proceeds went to destitute Lutheran congregations and schools in Alabama and the following year helped establish campus missions across the U. S. Under Engelhardt’s leadership, the sense of school community blossomed. In his second year he employed the glee clubs (ninety boys, 120 girls), new inner choir (forty members), chorus (110) and band (forty) in presenting The Pirates of Penzance. Non-‐singers and non-‐performers took part, too, as did usherettes, ticket-‐takers, and the newly developed Stage Crew (twenty members) under direction of Carlton. Stage Crew members had the opportunity to miss class for specific duties. Over the years they developed the unique ability to sign up for a great variety of “specific duties” that excused them from more challenging classroom tasks and responsibilities. They also learned where to “rest” so they could recuperate in time for their next “specific duty.” But the productions went off without a hitch. With the musicals involving more than half the student body, parents became enthusiastic program boosters. Moving gondolas (The Gondoliers) and wagons (The Music Man) highlighted memorable moments. Standing-‐room-‐only crowds, watched carefully by the usherettes (Keep those doors closed!), rankled late-‐arrivals who would not be admitted to the packed house. To outsiders, it appeared everything paled in comparison to the elaborate presentations and all-‐ encompassing music program. But they did not. Other extra-‐curricular and co-‐curricular participants, mentored by the committed faculty, established high standards of excellence. Meyer led the basketball squads to several League championships. He even took two consecutive teams to Regional titles. Led by Greg Hoffman and Gary Koch, the ’63-‐’64 basketball team led South to its first State playoff game at Washington University Field House. A loss to top-‐ranked Ritenour ended the season. The following year the squad, led by Larry Trapp and Larry Thies, lost a last-‐minute decision to Beaumont, again in the first round of State play. Despite the disappointing losses, the two squads served as the foundation for the emergence of South’s basketball program. Meyer initiated the first high school summer basketball camp in the St. Louis area, offering the feeder schools a chance to become part of South’s basketball program. “The Rev.” Faszholz also established the tradition of quality Lancer baseball. He led his baseball squads to two more League titles through the 1965 season. Within a year, the energetic pastor also founded the school’s first soccer squad, home games played at “the Greens” near River Des Peres. It had been a long road for “The Rev.” to get there. Born and raised in Jennings, his family attended St. Jacobi. At the age of seven his family moved to California. He attended Concordia-‐Oakland high school and junior college before being drafted by the
Boston Red Sox organization in 1946. When traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, they assigned him to their AAA Rochester Red Wings squad where he pitched for most of his nine-‐year professional career. In 1953 the Cardinals took him to spring training in Florida where he met Jack Buck, the new announcer for the Red Wings. When camp broke he joined the Cards in St. Louis where he pitched for a month and a half, rooming with outfielder/first baseman Joe Cunningham. After the brief stint in the majors, “The Preacher” was reassigned to the Red Wings where he finished his career. During his baseball career he took classes each fall at the Seminary. In 1958 he was ordained at St. Trinity to serve as assistant pastor. He also taught religion at Lutheran Central. Two years later, in 1960, he moved to Lutheran South. At both Central and South he served as one of several senior class sponsors. The sponsors had two grueling duties. The first was chaperoning the senior class trip. At Central and at South each May, the seniors traveled to Trout Lodge or later, Black River Lodge. The weekend included swimming, fishing, hiking, campfire cookouts and occasional canoeing. Each evening prior to devotions, cabin mates performed skits. The sponsors then took turns staffing overnight security shifts. They had to make certain the students, excitedly anticipating graduation, would not engage in any aberrant behavior. The second demanding duty was performed at Kiel Opera House. Senior sponsors were responsible for preparing the dais for graduation ceremonies and then collecting the graduates’ robes. The collection of the garments was particularly difficult. After the ceremony more than one hundred giddy, excited students hurriedly rid themselves of their black robes to rush off to see loved ones or attend graduation parties. Collecting and preparing the robes for return to the garment company ended hours after the sponsors had first arrived at Kiel. In later years, senior sponsors had an additional duty at graduation. Prior to the ceremony, they inspected students to ferret out “prank” items that might be hidden under their robes. The Troubadour staff, advised by Rohde, exchanged editions and editorials with Central. They also utilized comics, an Alums’ Corner and Nutshell News to enliven coverage of school news. These efforts culminated in tangible successes as the staff received annual First Place ratings from the National Scholastic Press Association. They also earned a First Place award at the Interscholastic Press Conference at Washington University. Editors Carla Schmid, Bill Lehr and John Brickler accepted the kudos. Literary accomplishments helped expand the Troubadour and Lance publications from a regularly scheduled classroom activity to a volunteer activity. Participants who now met after school soon numbered more than fifty in each organization. Anne Mangelsdorf and Chris DeNeui harnessed some of this interest when, like at Central Penorama became a free means of literary expression, they created Lit-‐Wits that would annually publish the Free Lance. Even more new clubs received faculty support. Brott supervised the Radio Club along with the Science Club. Carlton developed a new emphasis every year (i. e., leather, ceramics, or posters). Lee created a dance band. Ruth Schmidt combed the hallways to fill the rolls of the Talent Bureau to meet requests for Lancers to perform at functions outside the school. Little wonder, with role models like these, that Mike Albers (future Lancer teacher), All ABC League fullback Carl Holschen (future Crusader teacher) and Jean Ellersieck, among others, became teachers. As enrollment topped 660 at South, K. C. Meyer accepted the call to head the LAHE as its Superintendent. Eggerding continued to shepherd the flock at 9515. Ed Werner replaced Meyer at Central and supervised the move to the new “digs” at 5401. 5401 The move to the new campus on Lucas and Hunt had been a very difficult process. The twenty-‐ one acre property, purchased for $52,500, was honeycombed with ravines. It took the construction
company almost an entire year to complete the grading. On October 21, 1962, Superintendent Meyer guided the symbolic plow to complete the ground-‐breaking ceremonies. Kirchhoff’s Central choir finished with the benedictory. Poor weather delayed construction and the application of the finishing touches on the $1.5 million facility. Werner was not sure if the school should complete the move that spring. But he persisted. Vogelsmeier noted that some questioned the rationale for moving so late in the year and not finishing in the friendly confines at Lake and Waterman. But he recalled that everyone was thankful because the students could carry the many volumes of books into the new building. A spring move would also facilitate a smooth transition the next fall. The staff would have an entire summer to fix any little flaws discovered in the rooms and hallways. So, they proceeded with the move. Freshman Dan Harms (N ’69) vividly remembered a spring moving day. One morning, after a chapel service at Central, the students went back to their homerooms. Then they moved everything from their homeroom onto a rented truck and, in a school bus, followed the truck to North. When they arrived at North they got out, put the desks and other items in a corresponding room at North— and were dismissed! Rev. Art Repp led the dedicatory service on April 25, 1965. A 1952 Central graduate, his father was a Sem prof, member of the Association Board, and had led the dedicatory service at South. In the early ‘60s, Repp had returned to Central to teach Church History. Present at the Lutheran North cornerstone laying on September 27, 1964, the newly ordained pastor now served as campus chaplain, Religion Department chair and led the service. Lange returned to be the dedicatory speaker. Student leader Barb Klingsick assisted with the April dedicatory ceremonies. The senior, who graduated that June, was the daughter of O. Charles Kingsick, the Board representative at the service representing the “founding fathers.” He, too, participated in the festivities as first-‐year Principal Ed Werner accepted the keys to enter the new facility. Daughter Barb would soon join her father in playing major roles in the Association. He served as unofficial chief financial officer and, after retirement, assured quality education at North with generous contributions that helped refurbish the library and media center. Barb would, after teaching stints at Berkeley and Maier Lutheran high schools, return to teach at North. For more than thirty years she led classes in the Science and Math departments and coached volleyball. After Repp gave the benediction at the dedication, many students remained behind to help clean up. As crew leader Harms was doing so, Superintendent Meyer walked up to him and told him to take the keys and lock up the building. Meyer told him to give the keys to Werner the next morning. It was a different time! Repp, Meyer, Werner and the staff spent the next couple of weeks supervising the students as they completed the move to the new facilities. On May 27, 1965, Repp taught one of the first classes in the new building on Lucas and Hunt. All three of his daughters would later attend the school. It had not been an easy year. The heavy rain that cancelled the 1964 Central spring school picnic cast a symbolic shadow on the future. Financial constraints and design problems delayed construction of the new facility. Then, construction delays halted plans for an earlier move onto the campus. Fortunately, the 1964 Crusader provided a reassuring retrospective history of Lutheran High School. Commenting about students’ hope for the future in an ever-‐changing society, editor Shirley Van Cleve noted “. . . there is great unity in our diversity . . . in Jesus Christ.” That confession of faith buoyed the Lutheran North community as the student body became immersed in the challenges that confronted the St. Louis region, the church, the nation and the world. The editors noted the unity of the diverse community was in another shadow, under the cross, the new icon on the new campus looking over the old metal sign that stood for so many years in front of Lutheran High. The students, faculty, staff and Association faced severe challenges during the next eras as they transformed Lutheran North into a workshop of Christian living.
Annotated Bibliography, Chapter 1 International and national issues generally are summarized from James Prahlow, Fields to Harvest: LCMS Florida-‐Georgia District’s First 50 Years, Orlando: Florida-‐Georgia District Office, 1998, Chapters 2 and 3. Regional and local history are sketched from J. Frederick Fausz, Historic St. Louis: 250 Years Exploring New Frontiers, San Antonio: HPNbooks, 2014; E. Terrence Jones, Fragmented by Design: Why St. Louis Has So Many Governments, St. Louis: Palmerston and Reed Publishing, 2000; Tim O’Neil St. Louis Post Dispatch (SLPD) articles between 2013 and 2015 that traced the history of St. Louis during the last 250 years. August Stellhorn, Schools of the Lutheran Church-‐Missouri Synod, St. Louis: CPH, 1963 and Walter Baepler, A Century of Grace, St. Louis: CPH, 1947, provide additional background material about the LCMS, Western and later, Missouri, District. In 1926, Synod moved the Seminary campus from south St. Louis out to Clayton. The early history of the LAHE is outlined in its official commemoration of the 25th Anniversary celebration twenty-‐five years, released in 1971. Rev. Richard Labore provided the specific information about the formation of Walther College. Further details about the early years of the formation of the LAHE and the founding of Lutheran Central are included in the numerous newspaper-‐formatted articles included in the 50th Anniversary commemorative compiled by the office of Darrell Wallis and distributed to alumni, faculty and staff. It will be referred to as Fiftieth. Finally, general Association and Board actions are compiled in David Rohde’s nine-‐page “official” Association history released in 1997 and updated through 2009. This was, in reality, a “rough draft” for the final product authored by Rohde entitled, Written on Our Hearts and Lives: 1946-‐ 1996 (no publisher, 1996). Pp. 4-‐8 in this history summarize pp. 2-‐5 in the text. These latter documents may be found in Principal Tim Brackman’s historical files and include several ten-‐year alumni reunion summaries for Lutheran North, as well as Myron (Mike) Marty’s address delivered to participants at the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration dinner. Peter Griffin, ABC League Sports History: Football, St. Louis: St. Louis Country Day School Archives, 2015, provides football statistics and records about the ABC League members. Myron “Mike” Marty provided information about the graduate studies program at SLU involving Association instructors. Norman Junghans, runner up in both the 100-‐yard and 220-‐yard dashes at the 1948 Class B State Meet, also earned a fifth in the 1949 indoor 60 yard dash. However, in the materials available at press time, he is not listed as a graduate of Lutheran Central. Another “double medalist” in the sprints was included as an aside in a 1954 Crusader notation, but no other information was provided. Two Central graduates, in particular, experienced local or regional success in business and education. Rich Beumer, the relief pitcher in the ’54 State championship game, later graduated from Valparaiso University and the University of Missouri Rolla. He served as CEO of Sverdrup Corporation before becoming a vice chair of Jacobs Engineering Group between 1999 and 2003. During his latter years and when he “retired,” Beumer chaired and became a member of many Lutheran non-‐profits. His athletic exploits followed those of W. James Kirchhoff, son of the Central choral director. He was a ’53 grad who served as a class and Student Council president. A member of the basketball and tennis teams, he later graduated from Concordia-‐River Forest, taught at a Lutheran elementary school in Naperville, Illinois and earned his MA at the University of Chicago, and completed his doctoral studies at Northern Illinois University in 1976. Like Ed Reitz at North, Kirchhoff was active as a board member and president of the Illinois Advisory Committee of Non-‐Public Schools as well as a chief high school basketball official. During the ‘70s he reffed at Walther Lutheran High’s games during which Kirk Mueller was coaching. Kirchhoff also served as Superintendent of Schools, Northern Illinois District and as LEA president from 1980-‐1982.
Details about the early years at Lutheran Central and Lutheran South are compiled from Crusader and Lancer yearbooks. Eugene Siebold, one of the owners of Kirkwood-‐based SSE that designed the building, helped organize the first Fantasy Faire Auction in 1978. See http://www.cucougars.com/hof.aspx for the information about Roland Eggerding and Dick “Duke” Otto at South. Rev. Jack Faszholz (7/22/15) described, along with Carl Holschen, the sod farm incident. Herman Meyer summarized insights about the development of the Lancer basketball program on 7/17/15. Faszholz provided the particular details about his baseball career, Seminary education, senior camps and graduation exercises at Kiel. The quote from Rev. Dr. Arthur C. Repp at the South dedicatory service is from Written, p. 7. Dan Harms provided the Central-‐North “moving day” commentary on 6/30/15. Repp noted that the 1965 graduating class that had moved to 5401 one month prior to its matriculation received diplomas that stated the seniors graduated from Lutheran Central. He described the dedicatory service, while Rohde’s Written confirmed some details. Observations garnered from the yearbook documents, including only a few supplements that rarely extended coverage beyond the typical late winter terms of most school years, helped outline a basic time line. That material was clarified by a variety of interviewees and readers, especially Jayne Lauer, who gave graciously of their time to “proof” and then edit material. Special thanks goes to those who particularly assisted with Chapter 1: Gil Daenzer; Rev. Art Repp; Myron “Mike” Marty; Paul Crisler; Dave “Mac” and Jeri McCollister; Don and Jane (Kramer) Prahlow; Mike Russell; Judith (Wangerin) Meyer; Dick Craven; Steve Tirmenstein; Mike Prange; Art Schroeder and Carl Holschen. The last two and Prahlow clarified the musings about the early days at South. A citation-‐filled “rough” manuscript is available in the Association offices.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 2: I Bring You Good Tidings! 1965-‐1981 Lutheran High School North
Turmoil in the ‘60s and ‘70s Unique Challenges in the LCMS Local Issues of Race and Reform A Building of Faith Adaptation and Financial Constraints Student Life New Challenges at North New Tensions in Synod The ‘70s: The Workshop Changes Team of Rivals Building
201 202 203 205 206 208 210 211 212 215 216
Chapter 2:
I Bring You Good Tidings! 1965-‐1981 Lutheran High School North Turmoil in the ‘60s and ‘70s After the assassination of President Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson enacted the Great Society program. He promoted civil rights, moderate tax cuts, Medicare spending and federal aid to education. VISTA, JOBS, HUD, Medicaid, Headstart, Job Corps, food stamps and rent supplements targeted the needs of the desperate and unfortunate in the War on Poverty. A race riot in Harlem revealed problems these social programs might resolve in the future. Events favored LBJ’s election in 1964. With Soviet Premier Kruschschev falling from power, China detonating its first nuclear bomb, Arab-‐Israeli tensions growing and the Caribbean beset by economic hardship and political disorder, people feared change of leadership in tumultuous times. During the campaign, Johnson portrayed Republican opponent Barry Goldwater as a “warmonger” desiring confrontation and easily won the election. The win affirmed LBJ’s ideals. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 enabled blacks to participate in the political process. After the Supreme Court outlawed the poll tax in 1966 and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize, a number of blacks received appointments and election to the federal government. While these events began to heal the wounds caused by inequities regarding human dignity, tensions about economic issues in urban centers led to confrontation and three years of rioting in places like Atlanta, Watts and Detroit. Growing questions about Vietnam further disrupted society. Anti-‐war demonstrations and draft-‐card burning occurred throughout the country and, coupled with the Tet Offensive in 1968, prompted LBJ to not run for reelection. An anti-‐authoritarian youth movement encouraged many to live for the moment, experiment with drugs or engage in promiscuous sex. Some theologians claimed God was dead. When assassins killed Robert Kennedy and King, the Democratic Party fragmented and lost to a growing neo-‐conservative movement symbolized by new President Richard Nixon. For a brief moment, hopes rose as the Labor Department promoted minority hiring with the Philadelphia Plan, the Justice Department continued to desegregate schools and a cabinet-‐level task force promoted integration. Reynolds v. Sims provided equal representation in legislative bodies and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. But again, issues disrupted progress. A furtive invasion of Cambodia, Roe v. Wade and the Equal Rights Amendment polarized American citizens. Protests and violence marred the Olympics in 1968 and 1972. The Pentagon Papers crisis, Vice President Agnew’s imprisonment, the Kent State shootings, the Watergate revelations and Nixon’s resignation left the nation’s constituency disillusioned and bitter. President Gerald Ford tried to parry the criticisms of many who disparaged United States foreign policy or distrusted public figures. Highly publicized disputes about the government’s responsibilities in determining abortion rights, promoting economic reform and considering amnesty for those who fled the draft further undermined the Republican administration’s efforts to maintain credibility. Bicentennial celebrations revived American optimism. Villages, towns and cities across the country organized historical reenactments, community parades and pyrotechnic displays. St. Louis hosted a four-‐day “party.” Plane acrobatics, boat races, a street festival and musical performances prefaced each evening’s fireworks. On the Fourth, more than 800,000 jammed the Arch grounds to participate in the grand celebration. Democratic Presidential candidate and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter captured the attention of many who sought to jettison the Nixon legacy of secrecy and distrust. Carter promised to promote human rights through international policy, end closed-‐door diplomatic negotiations and restore the American spirit of opportunity. He defeated Ford in the election, only the second to
feature televised candidate debates, and the Democrats continued to control Congress. To develop a domestic spirit of reconciliation and trust, Carter granted a controversial amnesty to all who fled the Vietnam draft. The President developed his idealistic domestic program with a managerial style reminiscent of his governorship, creating the Department of Education and working for civil rights actions to grant more inclusive minority opportunities. He expanded this approach to reform foreign policy. He exerted diplomatic pressure to curb human rights violations in the Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact nations, the Middle East and Asia. Carter also signed a treaty to return the Panama Canal to Panama and guided Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Manachem Begin to sign the Camp David Accords. But events undermined Carter’s efforts. Ruinous inflation and high interest charges raised fears the President’s domestic policies would bring a recession and high unemployment rates. Some critics condemned his mediating role in the Middle East as international meddling and the Panama Canal Treaty as treason. While Khomeni-‐led Islamic revolutionaries drove the Shah from Iran, Nicaraguans started a ruinous civil war and Russia invaded Afghanistan. Carter’s foreign policies appeared to have undermined American credibility abroad. The 1979 recognition of Communist China despite its noted human rights violations raised questions about Carter’s integrity. When Iranians held United States hostages, the administration appeared powerless. Carter’s declaration of the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics did not rekindle support for struggles against tyranny but provoked more anger as the Olympics proceeded. Conservative Republicans capitalized on the frustrations expressed by the electorate, gained control of their party and nominated former California governor Ronald Reagan for the Presidency. His views found a ready audience. The country appeared ready for change.
Unique Challenges in the LCMS
Protestants in general and Lutherans in particular had traditionally been political and social quietists. Only a few like Reinhold Niebuhr criticized the isolation of religious institutions from contemporary affairs. Congregations confronted the challenges of racial integration, Vietnam, abortion and religious pietism. Many youth, if they did not leave the church, demanded workshops about those issues. Some also insisted upon liturgical reform on Sunday mornings and Bible studies conducted informally in non-‐traditional settings. Congregational concerns and national issues encouraged mainline churches to form interdenominational organizations to aid the destitute, minister to youth and adapt new worship forms. Many embraced the belief that society was a “workshop in Christian living.” The membership of the LCMS faced the new challenges with creative solutions. It focused on integration of races, cooperation with denominations, new forms of worship, social outreach, youth work and mission building. Synod had already accepted the Synodical Conference black congregations into full membership. Convention resolutions in Cleveland in 1962 encouraged fellowship talks with the American Lutheran Church (ALC); recorded the success of the Preaching-‐ Teaching-‐Reaching efforts; cautiously affirmed informal worship formats; organized Walther League Prince of Peace volunteers; sent Mission Builders to New Guinea. Only a few opposed a social agenda they feared was based on Social Gospel themes. Facilitating better opportunities to train youth for leadership and ministry positions, Synod financed the construction of Concordia-‐Ann Arbor and Concordia-‐St. Paul. Concordia–Bronxville became a four-‐year school. Synod supported the refurbishing of the Concordia-‐Milwaukee campus as its Board considered relocation. Synod also provided developmental support for the formation of Christ College-‐Irvine. Graduates from new Concordia programs provided Directors of Christian Education and worker-‐priests to serve mission stations and smaller congregations without overburdening financial resources. Motivated by the growing interest in and success of youth work particularly in the many communities with new Lutheran high schools, several Synodical college department chairs and admissions directors encouraged the development of secondary education program majors. As late as 1965 at the Synodical teacher colleges, there were officially only elementary teacher education/certification programs. The academic deans and faculties initiated program expansion
and within a few years each Concordia developed a secondary teacher education curriculum, most graduates being Synodically certified in two specific content areas as well as religion instruction. This helped meet the need for trained high school teachers during this period of most rapid growth of new community Lutheran high schools. Synodical delegates to national and district conventions approved efforts that cooperatively expanded mission outreach. To coordinate relief work, mission development and church planting, delegates to the Detroit convention in 1965 voted to join Lutheran Council USA (LCUSA) and approved Mission Affirmations. Convention resolutions at Denver (1969) and Milwaukee (1971) declared fellowship with the ALC; accepted the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELC) as a non-‐ geographical district; reorganized the Walther League as part of new Synodical agencies; approved female congregational suffrage. A media reformation included the adoption of Mission: Life curriculum, a new Lutheran Witness format, a revised Concordia Catechism series and the Worship Supplement. These new developments, when combined with Christmas Is television specials and the appointment of the first full-‐time Executive Director of Evangelism, provided creative ways to preach the Gospel. Unfortunately, new issues troubled a few. The Ebenezer offering only raised one-‐third of its goal. Some were concerned Prince of Peace volunteers might be involved in Social Gospel activities. Those who carefully read Synodical Handbook revisions questioned governance. Infrequent accusations of false doctrine directed against a few pastors and professors alarmed some lay groups that began to issue formal protests. The concerns found a ready audience and at Denver in 1971 a former member of the Norwegian Synod (ELS) and president of Concordia Seminary-‐Springfield, Rev. J. A. O. Preus, won a hotly contested election against incumbent Rev. Oliver Harms. For the first time in history, Synodical delegates ousted a sitting president. Two years later in New Orleans, the group supporting him formalized protests against the ALC. They also directed Synodical councils to investigate charges of false doctrine lodged against professors at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. As the new Synodical administration initiated disciplinary actions, the growing crisis undermined financial support. While Synodical delegates had been expanding the Concordia colleges to meet regional demands and permitting two-‐year prep colleges to expand to four-‐year undergraduate institutions, demand for dollars outstripped resources and created overwhelming debt service. Concordia-‐Seward and Concordia–River Forest lost 20% of their enrollments as prospective recruits attended the newly developed regional schools. As the financial resources dwindled and student enrollment was redistributed, two junior colleges—St. Johns-‐Winfield and St. Paul-‐Concordia— closed.
Local Issues of Race and Reform
In St. Louis, race had been a divisive issue in employment and housing opportunities, particularly since the black migration from the South that originated during the Great Depression. During World War II blacks held protest rallies at Kiel Auditorium and Carter Carburetor demanding jobs in local defense plants. St. Louis white covenant contracts and race-‐restricted neighborhoods kept blacks in an area just west of the city center and north of Delmar. Despite the 1948 Shelley v. Kraemer Supreme Court decision that ended segregationist covenants, whites defending Jim Crow traditions rioted after the city integrated the Fairground Park swimming pool. During this period local Archbishop John Ritter grappled with the vexing social issue of segregation among Catholics. He resolved it by implementing sequential changes. St. Louis University (1944) and Webster College (1946) admitted black students. In 1947, while desegregating the parish schools, Ritter eliminated organized opposition to his measures by threatening vocal opponents with excommunication. These actions prepared the region for further changes. They also made many aware of the daily challenges many black families faced while living in neighborhoods plagued by absentee landlords or poorly managed municipal services. To provide badly needed housing stock, calm racial tensions, eliminate slums and fulfill plans for modern development, Mayor Joseph Darst enabled developers to clear Mill Creek Valley. In 1952, the
city opened Cochran Gardens for whites on North Ninth Street; Pruitt Homes for blacks at Jefferson and Cass as well as the Igoe Project, the first to be integrated; Darst on Chouteau and 12th; Vaughn at Carr and 19th. More than thirty-‐three high-‐rise buildings were spread across twenty city blocks. In some ways, it worked. In 1955, without any fanfare, city public school administrators integrated the system, although housing patterns kept most schools black or white. A few quiet sit-‐ ins in restaurants by black women during the end of the decade effectively integrated lunch counters. But general isolation in public housing limited economic opportunities. During the King-‐led March on Washington, a local CORE chapter, including future Congressman Bill Clay, initiated a lengthy protest that started at the Jefferson Bank located on Washington Avenue. The demonstrations produced results, as demands by civil rights leaders shaped new employment practices. Unlike other urban centers, large-‐scale riots did not happen in St. Louis during the long, hot summers that followed. Continual meetings between city leaders, black clergy and civil rights groups, coupled with visible racial harmony on the highly successful Cardinal teams of the ‘60s, defused potential confrontations. Concessions to protesters demanding equal employment opportunities during construction projects at the Arch, Busch Stadium II and the Spanish Pavilion promoted peaceful dialogue. In a less dramatic but probably just as important way, the quiet, steady work done by Martin Mathews and Hubert “Dickey” Ballentine provided hope and help mentoring young children who might have had little hope and whose parents might have had little help. Believing that neighbor should help neighbor, the two created, in an area underserved by community services, a local boys’ and girls’ club that provided supervised athletic competition and additional opportunities for quiet study, local trips and social activities. They modeled a simple way to construct a new future. Lutheran Central provided opportunities for quiet study, local trips and social activities. At Central, between 1955 and 1965, minority enrollment grew. A few black students even transferred to Central during their junior and senior years. Issues of race received little official attention in school or Association publications. On the surface, racial relations appeared congenial. As far back as Central’s origins, the TIM Club regularly visited local hospitals, including Homer G. Philips. Math instructor Rich Wallace taught Sunday Bible classes and Rev. Hartmann organized summer VBS programs at Transfiguration Lutheran Church near Pruitt-‐Igoe. A future SIUE education department head took organ lessons from a Central instructor at St. Stephens in Gaslight Square. At Central, black students served in Student Council, edited the yearbook, participated in athletics, played in the bands, joined clubs and sang in the various choral groups. While racial tensions seemed to simmer below the surface in St. Louis, the students attending the “workshop in Christian living” lived consciously under the shadow of the cross. Minority enrollment at Central (and later, North) increased incrementally each year. By 1972 black students comprised 18% of the approximately 650 students at North. Local residents of the time noted that tuition costs seemed to prevent more black students from attending. There was no special scholarship program of any sort to alleviate financial responsibilities. Fortunately, a few LWML congregational chapters established tuition assistance funds. Unfortunately, the reforms dependent upon large-‐scale public housing in apartment towers eventually were overwhelmed by crime, poverty, poor maintenance and operating deficits. One mother told Central science teacher Gil Daenzer, “I used to have this run-‐down house with a small back yard and I could look out the window to check on my kids. Now I live on the ninth floor and my kids have to take a stinky, dangerous elevator to play on the playground.” For Daenzer, a second case he witnessed confirmed the challenges apartment tower residents faced on a daily basis. Once he had to confront a habitually tardy ninth grade student for her frequently late arrival times that disrupted labs and instruction. She responded, “Mr. Daenzer, there are those boys down there [at the bottom of the elevator in the Igoe complex] waiting for me. When they leave I run down to the Olive Street streetcar and sometimes I miss it!” As urban residents faced what appeared to be rising crime rates, falling property values and racial tensions, whites fled to suburbs as did blacks who could afford the move. Apparently, clearing out old neighborhoods to create new commercial areas and residential towers had simply been
another method of racial segregation. City administrators and federal officials realized the projects had failed and began the process of moving residents, many of the under-‐ and unemployed supported by federal rent supplements. Unfortunately, “steering” by less-‐than-‐honorable realtors directed them en masse to the scores of available suburban apartment complexes in unincorporated areas of north St. Louis County. By 1976, when Pruitt-‐Igoe was only a memory, many former residents had exchanged urban vertical slums for suburban horizontal ones. Incredibly, there was only one social service agency located in the northern suburbs where the majority of the former “tower residents” had moved.
A Building of Faith
When Lutheran Central relocated to its new building on Lucas and Hunt Road in May 1965, the old facility still served as Association headquarters. Superintendent Kermit Meyer maintained his offices at Lake and Waterman until 1971 when proprietors of the New City School purchased the site. Meyer transferred the Association offices to Clayton Road near the Sem. By 1975, available office space at CPH made it possible to consolidate Association services in a central location. While near the early “heart” of the LCMS at Jefferson and Miami, it also provided easy access for constituents from either North or South. Lutheran North was located a mile south of the country’s first mall, Northland Plaza, and about a mile west of the City of St. Louis. It was just north of the new I-‐70. The central location in the Missouri portion of the metropolitan area provided easy access. Lambert International was only seven minutes away. Green space sheltered the site. Directly across Lucas and Hunt from the school lay a cemetery with its perpetual sign: “Tis Better to Have and Not Need than to Need and Not Have.” To the south, beyond the only paved section of parking, rose a new apartment complex. Northern and western property lines bordered on Norwood Hills Golf Club. Immediately behind the west end of the building were three tennis courts, configured in an “end to end” arrangement. West of the baseball field on a lower level lay a six-‐lane cinder track, throwing circles (just off the end zones) and runways for broad jump and pole vault. A fence circled the football field inside the track. Steve Tirmenstein later placed markers on the fence to guide those who chalked lane and stagger lines. Trees curtained the western end, minimizing the effects of wind on field goals or races. The creek that tunneled under the football field channeled past an unused portion of the golf course and ran along the north boundary ravine. The custodians built a small bridge over the creek and the school’s cross country team hosted races that started on the track, scaled the south hill, turned north along Lucas and Hunt, traversed the lower level of the golf course and reversed to finish on the track. The campus, set in an idyllic wooded area of rolling hills, had only one challenge, and that during the winter season: a notoriously slick down-‐hill entry driveway across a narrow creek bridge leading to an unpaved parking area. That entry way was also the last of the remaining original ravines that honeycombed the original grounds. It had taken survey and grading crews almost an entire year to properly terrace the site before building construction could begin. The new education plant encircled a gymnasium. The two-‐story building included general classrooms on the south side first floor. The home economics room, a double-‐classroom complete with ranges and stoves, sewing machines and wall closets, occupied the southwest corner of the building. Second floor classrooms on the south side included a green house, science labs and a large storage area for equipment and chemicals. The first floor north wing housed a shop on the northwest corner with a double-‐classroom sized art room to its east. The architect followed to the letter the Board directive describing how the new facility would be built. He had been instructed that “[i]n the construction of Lutheran High North, the building design should be pleasing, but not ostentatious; functional, but not austere; anticipatory, but not whimsical. Ornamentation should be held to a minimum and, if used, should be symbolic of the purpose of the school.” But there had been an oversight in the original design of the facility. One contractor for the installation of the electrical system submitted a bid less than half of the other competitors. When
asked how he could submit that bid, he responded, “Well, there is no electricity in the shop area design which is usually the most expensive part of the bid.” The plans were modified and re-‐bid. The second floor included the typing and business classrooms at the west end overlooking the athletic fields. Social studies and English classrooms lined the north hallway, one classroom including a glass-‐walled printing office. The Drama Department had its own second floor haven in the “cross” hallway, complete with modern set lighting, a costuming closet, raised dais and window “outlook” from which to direct dramas in the gym below. The chief entryway included reception desks, three administrative offices and an alcove for health services. Fronting the school was the cafeteria and the terraced band room, large glass walls providing a window on this “workshop in Christian living.” A boys’ locker room adjoined the back fields while the girls’ locker room shared the gym east wall. Ten-‐tier bleachers lined the north and south walls of the gym that also served as the chapel, theater and band performance area. A “great room” that served as the library was located west of the cafeteria and across the hallway from the principle entry into the girls’ locker room. A full kitchen with griddles, ovens, sinks, refrigerators and walk-‐in freezer occupied the northeast corner of the building. A garage extended toward the east parking lot and a four-‐room custodial apartment sat over the “basement” steam room. Built for the future, a dropped ceiling provided ductwork suitable for central air conditioning the Association planned to install-‐-‐and finally accomplished in 2000! When used, collapsible metal gates hidden in recessed alcoves could restrict building use to designated areas during evening and weekend activities. Instructors could use state-‐of-‐the-‐art vinyl accordion “walls” to divide classrooms to teach different courses at the same time. When opened, a double classroom seated as many as sixty students. During one semester, math instructor Paul Crisler was pressed into service to teach Old Testament. Because Repp was teaching the same course at the same time, Repp agreed to teach a double class with Crisler serving as sergeant at arms. Ironically, the only lesson Crisler taught, the Psalms, occurred during the visiting committee’s reassessment of the school’s North Central accreditation status. Later, as the audio-‐visual department improved its stock, students could work in one class while listening to a film about another subject in the next-‐door classroom. Above it all towered the sixty-‐foot cross, reminding all about the reason for this ministry. As at Lake and Waterman, the school became an instant magnet for outside use. Bible institutes, Sunday school teacher rallies, high school and elementary school teacher conferences, band concerts and choral performances supplemented the daily chapel services held in the gym. The traditional Association Spring Sports Festival, long held at the Sem, moved to North. It included an art festival, carnival games, Crusader/Lancer track meet, GAA competitions between the schools, baseball game and booster-‐hosted barbecue.
Adaptation and Financial Constraints
Enrollment grew as Lutheran rural enclaves and missions matured into suburbanized congregations that supported large schools. Seventy-‐one congregations held membership in the Association. On the north side, principals and teachers at sixteen feeder schools strongly encouraged students to continue their education at Lutheran North. Bi-‐State buses brought students from the city and inner-‐ring suburbs. School bus service extended to Manchester Road. Faculty members, as they had before the move, drove several of the school buses. Central faculty member Myron Marty drove a bus to the Manchester destination in West County. Parked at a service station at the corner of Hanley and Natural Bridge, the bus sometimes had to be jump-‐started before he could make the run. Daenzer had driven a north county route to Central, serving Hathaway Manor students along the New Halls Ferry corridor. The new Lucas and Hunt destination noticeably shortened the driving distance. Wallace, too, had driven one of the original routes that serviced the old Central location. Starting at Central he drove out to the Lucas and Hunt site and then returned to the school. Each winter, while picking up riders at designated stops like the Pasadena Hills pond, he loved to welcome bundled up students with his trademark greeting, “Mornin’!”
Non-‐Lutherans were drawn to attend North by the school’s academic reputation, well-‐educated professional faculty and North Central Accreditation. Lutherans were drawn to attend North for the same reasons. More significantly, though, many attended because of the “Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade” Lutheran education tradition fostered by local congregations since 1946. Combined enrollment at North and South totaled 1,372 in 1971. On the twenty-‐fifth anniversary of the Association, Superintendent K. C. Meyer reported to the membership that the high schools had graduated more than 4,300 students, of which almost 20% went on to nursing and service careers and an additional 15% chose to pursue church vocations. Financing this broad St. Louis ministry was not inexpensive. By 1966, tuition had risen to $250. In 1976 it had doubled. The challenging aspect of this rate of tuition increase was that it only kept up with the rate of inflation and barely paid the bills. It left no funding for future planned development. Association finances challenged the faculty and administration. At a faculty meeting at Central as far back as 1960, discussions dealt with improving facilities and educational materials. The Science Department, in particular, desired more modern equipment and the ability to develop a “space age” curriculum. However, because the Association had been strapped with the then-‐intimidating task of financing two new high schools, the official administrative response was that “those changes would not be possible at this time.” Lange resorted to fourth source funding, severely limiting faculty salary increases and encouraging experienced teachers to look elsewhere to continue their ministries. Many who taught at the high schools during Lange’s tenure took summer jobs to supplement their income. Unlike most called parish teachers, they had no teacherage. They worked as bartenders, served as custodians, bagged groceries, parked cars at Grant’s Farm, painted homes and honed woodworking skills. Lange would not raise salaries because he believed these experienced instructors could be replaced by new teachers whose status on the salary schedule would help meet a limited budget. To give him credit, Lange actually encouraged local Lutheran businessmen to hire Association teachers for summer jobs. His approach for funding the high school ministries had always been fairly simple—and the budget was always balanced. After receiving permission to address congregational voter assemblies, he’d begin his presentation by stating, “No one objects to Christian education.” From there he was able to enlist their enthusiastic support. This continued as a second generation of principals took responsibility for the day-‐to-‐day operations while he dealt with fund-‐raising and policy-‐making committees of the Board. Unfortunately, for some observers these issues appeared to categorize the instructors as powerless pedagogues. And, instead of examining compensation issues or faculty development programs, Lange believed it was more important, for example, to discuss the building of bomb shelters. After all, during the height of the Cold War, Vorhoff-‐Dunker Corporation had offered to retrofit shelters into Central and South basements and add them to the new North designs. But tightening the Association’s proverbial financial belt had to continue. Bomb shelters, salary increases and curriculum development would have to wait. Despite the financial constraints, the Science Department “modernized” the curriculum and developed new materials. The surprising source of the financial support for the curriculum revision was the federal government. Prompted by the “space race” triggered by the Sputnik launch in 1957, the federal government funded the National Science Foundation (NSF). It provided science teachers with the opportunity to take summer coursework on college campuses. There they discussed innovative methodologies and classroom design. The success of the NSF encouraged additional government support in other areas including the language arts and social sciences. Daenzer used his NSF experiences to design the new labs at North. Ironically he never got to use the labs. He accepted a call to Concordia-‐Seward the summer following the May 1965 move to 5401. As one of his first duties, Daenzer would develop a course of instruction to educate secondary science majors to teach in Lutheran high schools. Nearby congregations noted the financial plight many Association instructors confronted year after year. Grace Chapel’s congregation, observing the personal financial sacrifices faculty made while serving the Association, offered free tuition to its elementary school for the children of all
Association teachers. Of course, Grace Chapel also received not just the gratitude of the faculty members who embraced this unique opportunity but also received the energies of those educator families. For the next three decades, Grace Chapel was home for more North faculty members than any other congregation. Faculty and their families served as elders, ushers and youth workers. They participated in and sometimes led choir and instrumental programs, dramas, Sunday school classes, VBS, confirmation instruction and even youth sports. Grace Chapel’s policy lasted until 2014 when, faced with new ministry challenges, its board of elders reconfigured the school tuition policy. It took a while, but the Association Board finally did its part in the early ‘80s to alleviate some of the concerns about faculty compensation. The Board membership approved a 50% discount for children of faculty to attend either of the two high schools. It also attempted to adopt Missouri District and ALSS salary guidelines for commissioned church workers.
Student Life
Faculty, staff and students, led by Principal Ed Werner, Administrative Assistant Richard Wallace and Athletic Director Wayne Vogelsmeier, entered the facility with an opportunity to continue Central traditions and develop new activities. Vogelsmeier, concentrating more on the coaching of soccer and baseball, took responsibility for lining the fields and encouraging the restart of the track program. Focus on soccer paid off before the end of the era, his squad soon managing eight wins in a season and capturing the school’s first ABC Tourney championship. Football coaches Wallace and history teacher Jerry Pfabe hosted, for the first time, actual home games. In 1966 the squad had its most successful season in six years, going 6-‐3. Still awaiting the assembly of an observation tower, coaches “spotted” and filmed the games while perched on top of the school bus. The Athletic Department also started a basketball tournament, usually finishing in the top three until a new ABC League tournament replaced it on the schedule. Head coach Don Oetting’s basketball charges almost annually played in the Regional finals. The squad’s performances generated so much excitement about the Chicago trip that three busloads of Pep Club members traveled to Chicago for the 1966 series. To defray the costs of the trip, Pep Club leadership arranged for The Corsairs band to play at a sock hop. The event set a record for attendance. Oetting’s success peaked during the 1969 season as the 21-‐8 group averaged 73.2 points per game. Success always ended at Regionals, though, where the Crusaders met McCluer High School. The Comets, at the time the largest high school in the state with more than five thousand students, were the dominant power. As the ‘70s began, a second group of exceptional basketball players arrived who were led by sharpshooting guard Grace Chapel graduate Mark Belew. However, in the days before the three-‐ point arc, the outside shooting Crusaders could not consistently defeat the cross-‐town rival Lancers who were in the middle of an exceptional run. Herm Meyer’s South squads finished State runner up (1970) and champions (1973). His team ironically also defeated a squad that included Dan Harms, one of several North grads who later taught for several decades at South. The Crusaders had it no easier against former doormat Priory with big center Bill Daake dominating the key and energizing their once moribund program. The one exception to this frustration was 1971 when the Crusaders took two of three from the Lancers. The lone loss came as the heated rivalry culminated in the ABC League Tournament at Principia. Another coach that had just won the first semifinal game was asked if he was staying to see the second semifinal between North and South. He responded, “I’m not leaving. Their contests are like a religious war!” The cross country squad hosted home meets, science teacher Don Nierman’s team going 8-‐3 in 1967 and later upsetting South at the St. Charles Invitational. As track teams hosted meets, sand and sawdust pits cushioned high jumpers and pole vaulters, and sprinters hammered block spikes into the cinder surface. The Lutheran elementary schools moved their annual track meet from traditional sites at Cleveland and Northwest high schools to the North campus, and the facility became the center of the annual Sports and Art Festival every May. Wallace, who served as trainer and tightly taped ankles for many athletes, coached the tennis team. As administrative duties absorbed more of
his time, “the General” (as a military vet his marching steps were recognizable from quite a distance down the hallway) relinquished the tennis reins to Central grad Jim Manion. A math teacher who also coached football, Manion mentored Dan Huber to three individual State tennis championships and in 1971 led the squad to State runner up. Joining Manion in the Math Department was the first Lutheran South graduate to join the faculty, new math teacher, football coach and former discus thrower extraordinaire Carl Holschen. The baseball team started a string of exceptional ABC League performances, sharing the title with Lutheran South in ’68 and ’69. B-‐teams showed promise, the fledgling football players winning the first ever North ABC championship. Budding pitcher Jim Crane (future owner of the Houston Astros) tossed a no-‐hitter. In 1969, two years before Crisler’s track team won its first ABC League title, the B-‐boys swept to a conference championship. The success in fielding a perennially competitive track squad encouraged Crisler to start the Lutheran North Relays, its first contest held at Florissant Valley’s all weather facility in 1971. The format, soon including girls, became the second longest local running meet, bowing only to the thirty-‐year older Clayton Invitational. Despite there being no Title IX mandate and no MSHSAA sponsored competition in any girls’ sports, the ladies were not left out. GAA began to yield its athletes to the new teams playing a full interscholastic league schedule. The girls fielded squads in field hockey (despite going an entire season with no campus field on which to practice), basketball (transitioning from six-‐ to five-‐player squads), softball (“sharing” the baseball diamond) and volleyball. Funding specific athletic needs or social activities soon became the responsibility of the various groups that hoped to finance their projects. Wallace and Vogelsmeier supervised L Club members as they sold concessions at home basketball games. The investment in a popcorn machine paid huge dividends as popcorn soon became the most popular product and its sales helped pay referees and replace uniforms. To raise funds for prom, the sophomores started an annual Root Beer Garden at Homecoming (also a new first). Juniors sold (and devoured) the traditional chocolate bars in the name of duty. Successes in funding encouraged additional creation of clubs, activities and donations. Irmgard Koch, a long-‐time English instructor to whom a Crusader was dedicated, started a Book Discussion Club. It was one of several other clubs, only a few “grandfathered in” from the Central years. Times were changing. Students desired opportunities to express themselves in print. Koch formed Penorama, a student-‐led organization that published short stories and poetry about issues and experiences at Lutheran North and in the community. It provided a valuable outlet for student concerns as below-‐surface tensions later erupted. Finally, to encourage more participation in Christmas giving, Student Council made sure Santa Claus annually visited the Christmas assembly. The anticipation of his arrival heightened student interest in donating more to local food and clothing drives. William Kirchhoff, the beloved Central music director who came to North and shepherded hundreds of singers in a variety of musical groups, “retired” and taught part time at South. The tremendous musical reputation he developed at Central continued at both North and South. At North, new choral director Fred Telschow led the program and, at the annual Christmas concert, concluded the performance with the traditional singing of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. It followed what was probably the highlight of his first year when he helped direct a massed choir vesper service at Bethlehem that celebrated the 450th Anniversary of the Reformation. Band director Ralph Lee led North-‐South musical collaboration, the two bands marching together at the Veiled Prophet Parade and later combining to dramatically conclude South’s musical performance of The Music Man. Some worried about the bands participating in the Veiled Prophet Parade as “long hot summers” punctuated the end of the ‘60s. Sousaphone players often found oranges, apples or nuts and screws tossed the direction of their gaping bells. The band continued to march during home and away football games and sections performed as dance and jazz ensembles. Field trips, service projects and culminating activities filled the school calendar. Courier staff visited the offices of the Post-‐Dispatch. Student Council members worked with children at a Kinloch recreation center and shared an exchange day with South. They spearheaded a local effort sending
care packages to soldiers in Vietnam. Students fasted for Biafra. National Honor Society provided ushers for activities that included the annual baccalaureate service held several times at Grace-‐ Pagedale. In June, graduates received diplomas at Kiel Opera House during joint ceremonies with South, with Lee directing both bands in the pit. And the North family mourned collectively the untimely passing of student Andrew Peterson and, shortly after, typing teacher Wilma Pickens. New Challenges at North The administration dealt with the normal high jinks of adolescent pranksters, long-‐time employee Frank Popp leading the custodial staff through “post-‐event” cleanup. Disciplining those who “peeled out” in the lower parking lot, sneaked “smokes,” “steamed” car windows or swam in the golf course lake kept the General busy. While tucking in shirttails was the most common dress code violation, student government representatives initiated revision of the constitution and dress code. Concerned students also revealed a more serious side. They discussed outright shows of disrespect for staff, debated the new mandatory chapel attendance policy, and, with staff support, appealed to the Board for a chance to hold Communion chapel services during special church festivals. These issues, though, distracted people from openly confronting the St. Louis-‐area and Synodical tensions that rapidly grew under cover of a burgeoning school enrollment. However, the tensions quickly absorbed administrative energies. As a few parents and an occasional pastor contacted the Board to question Werner’s leadership, the faculty, in 1969, felt strongly enough to pass a resolution of support for him—and publish it in the 1971 Crusader. The faculty fully endorsed his “. . . untiring . . . [and] enthusias[tic support] for scholarly experimentation, innovation and free inquiry . . . in spite of great pressures to resist change from those quarters that tend to feel that isolation and insulation of students from worldly concerns should be one of the chief purposes of a ‘sound’ Christian education.” They concluded “. . . the Christian witness demands a facing-‐up to the problems of society as we find it in this . . . half of the 20th century.” Student captions in Crusader capture these issues. Candid comments about John Hoyer’s provocative and interesting chapels stirred debate. The choice of politically or socially challenging plays seemingly as benign as The Mouse that Roared, The Children’s Hour and Tom Jones prompted discussion. A Student Council “slave day” auction of student talents for outside service, intended to provide more contact with local congregations and service agencies, brought some divisive student issues to the forefront. In 1971, as health issues forced Werner to relinquish his duties and return to the guidance office and classroom, the General returned to North after a brief stint at Maier Lutheran High School (Los Angeles). He would serve as principal. That fall, when Wallace left to attend the ALSS conference in Seward, Nebraska, frustrated black students staged a walkout. Led by Student Council president Eric Banks (see bibliographical note), they sat in protest in the gymnasium where they questioned policies, demanded a Black Studies course, started the formation of an ad hoc student group more attuned to their needs and loudly agitated for the hiring of black teachers. For two days, the community, on edge, had a series of workshops, study groups and student-‐led sharing sessions. Before the ALSS conference ended, Wallace rushed back from Seward. Parents of the students demanded an audience. He met with the group in the cafeteria. They could hear him walking down the hallway and then slam the door as he entered. In his arms he carried a folder of teacher contracts. He immediately offered to hire as teacher any parent willing to teach in the classroom at the current salary schedule—at which, upon hearing the paltry amount, the parents were taken aback. After a lengthy discussion during which Wallace repeatedly delineated the salary scale and the sacrifices the faculty made to carry on the ministry, the group finally realized how difficult it was to meet their immediate demands. Within forty-‐five minutes they agreed to continue discussions later in a less confrontational setting and walked to their cars. Wallace immediately initiated change. Wallace enabled concerned students to create the Black Awareness Group, comprised of most of the more than one hundred black students. The English Department, under the guise of the Courier and Crusader, encouraged written expression about the issues. Many students turned to Penorama-‐
type writing to voice frustrations and concerns. The 1971 Crusader, printed on most pages in stark black and white, made as its centerpiece a two-‐page black-‐on-‐white/white-‐on-‐black section entitled “Peace and Power in Christ.” The central poem, surrounded by troubling but valid concerns shaped in verse, symbolically joined the two pages. It pleaded: “power to the people, power to the black man, to get higher in the land; power to the white man so he can dig his fellow man; power to the black and white man so they can unite this God Given Land!! Peace and power!!” The administration and faculty renewed efforts to minister to the bicultural community. A Black History Month celebration, a classroom focus on more open discussion of contemporary topics and additional student activities broadened opportunities to express opinions and foster dialogue. Even traditional choir robes disappeared, replaced by white slacks and open collared shirts for the boys, short multi-‐patterned dresses for the girls. The community under the cross weathered, at least for a while, the first non-‐financial crisis in its twenty-‐five year history. As English teacher (and later principal) Ed Reitz reminisced a decade later, “We have what desegregation efforts are trying to accomplish across the country. People are paying to come here because they believe that a multicultural Christian education is the best possible education one could have anywhere.” Crisler reflected that while normal concerns at most schools were student-‐teacher ratio, at North it was, unfortunately, overshadowed by the white/black ratio that misdirected people from focusing on the reason for existing—to provide a quality Christian education. Mavis Thompson, a 1974 alumnus who served for years as St. Louis City Circuit Clerk and took part in the 1971 discussions, noted: “We felt a need to have a student organization that addressed the specific concerns of black students, and the school was supportive of that need. Faculty and students worked hard to bridge any tensions students might have felt.” Virtually the only black faculty member for almost twenty-‐five years at Central and North, librarian Velma Martin reiterated Crisler’s credo from Galatians: “You are all one in Christ Jesus.” While remembering heated discussions, she noted it was a good learning experience for both black and white students to get to know each other. During the tempestuous time, local news anchor Chris Condon rushed through the front entrance, cameraman in tow. Having heard there was trouble in the halls he sought out the first black student he could find. The hallways were empty. He finally found a sole student who was headed to the office on an errand. Condon asked where the “trouble” was. The student responded, “We don’t do things like that here,” and proceeded to the office. Condon left with no story. Condon missed the obvious story. The 1972 Service of Holy Communion on Senior Day, the ever-‐ present Christus Victor cross on the altar front and center, symbolized the diverse student body united by Christ. Pastor Repp’s focus on Word and Sacrament, incorporated in this and the annual traditional Christmas Communion service, was a fitting celebration of the work being completed in the workshop of Christian living. New Tensions in Synod At the New Orleans Synodical Convention in 1973, heated discussion about doctrinal clarity and ecclesiastical authority polarized many into two active traditionalist and progressive groups. These discussions focused primarily on Concordia Seminary-‐St. Louis President John Tietjen’s handling of the false doctrine charges leveled at Sem faculty. The convention delegates narrowly passed four resolutions condemning the Seminary faculty majority that supported Tietjen. They charged the Council of Presidents and Synodical administrators to establish boards of inquiries to conduct a specified interview process. The interview process, they hoped, would provide specific evidence of Tietjen either covering up or permitting the teaching of false doctrine. Traditionalists worked to remove Tietjen from his post and in February 1974 he faced suspension. On February 20, all but a few of the faculty and more than four hundred Sem students went into “exile” in support of him. Seminex held classes in temporary locations including St. Louis University and Eden Seminary. Student bodies at Concordia-‐Seward and Concordia-‐River Forest held two-‐day workshops of
prayerful deliberation to discuss the issues. Congregations hosted forums. Districts formed special study committees. The 1977 Anaheim and 1979 Dallas conventions revealed the Synod was at an impasse. The division between traditionalists and progressives widened as some Seminex professors were formally removed from membership. Other professors left to join or form other church bodies. As discussions about Synodical issues in congregations, circuits and districts led oftentimes to debate and then confrontation, traditionalists approved President J. A. O. Preus’ changes. Synod withdrew from participation in the almost-‐completed new pan-‐Lutheran hymnal, declared a state of protest with the ALC as it began to ordain women, and formally removed Seminex graduates from roster consideration. These actions mirrored the social and political tenor of the country. Sixties radical movements forced everyone to evaluate traditional forms of politics, worship, organizations, education, race relations and foreign policy. Some saw long-‐held traditions threatened by what appeared to be rejection of governance, structure and discipline. Spurred by revelations of corruption in the highest levels of government and the military during the Johnson and Nixon administrations, many Americans embraced leaders and programs they hoped would restore desirable portions of the old order and recover the perceived loss of integrity. Perhaps a majority, oftentimes tenuous, viewed Synodical issues the same way. The unfortunate fallout for the two high schools was the polarization of the Synodical congregations into the two distinct camps represented at the conventions. The Association congregations that had a majority of progressives left Synod—and the Synod informed the Board that the high schools’ classifications as Synodical entities would be ended should those “rebel” congregations continue to be included with membership rights. The very existence of the Association and high schools was in the balance. Wallace, South Principal Roland Eggerding and Meyer, until 1976 when he retired and was replaced by David Wiesner, used “. . . faith, persistence, logic and the will to exist, . . . maintain[ing Association] affiliation with the LCMS and allow[ing] in its constitution and bylaws other Lutheran congregations to continue their support and involvement as associate congregations . . .” The Synodical crisis was particularly disruptive on the north side. Congregations on the north side had a much more intimate working relationship with Synodical leadership and Seminary faculty. Many of the new Synodical officers worshipped weekly at north side congregations. During the early years of the growing Synodical tensions, Superintendent K. C. Meyer served on the Seminary Board of Directors and had seen the crisis brewing. He hoped it would not affect the Association and, except for individual pastors who occasionally raised the issue, he managed, like Wallace, to deflect focused criticism of the high schools. North seemed to be, initially, neutral ground. Tietjen and Preus children attended North—without incident. At one point, North senior Jack Preus was told he was going to attend Normandy High. On the first day of classes, Jack, who also played football, arrived, on his own, at 5401 and asked to be admitted. He was. His younger sister, though, enrolled at Normandy High that same year. A casual observer of the era would not have noticed the only three events that publicly reflected Synodical tensions in day-‐to-‐day operations at North: the sudden replacement of Lutheran Book of Worship with the older hymnal; leadership of chapel limited to faculty; and, after 1980, no future Communion services conducted in chapel. There was only one public confrontation. A group of traditionalist pastors called for a meeting with Wallace, who met them in the cafeteria. They desired to “clean up” the high school and make certain no false doctrine was being fostered in the hallways and classrooms. In no uncertain terms Wallace addressed their concerns, strongly noting these were teenagers to which the faculty was ministering. The campus would not become a battleground in the conflict. Wallace made the Synodical representatives and the pastors behave themselves when it came to the high schools. Creative leaders at 5401 fostered insularity from the outside tensions and maintained unity of purpose under the shadow of the cross. They lived in the shelter of each other. It had been a tenuous time. Unlike the South congregations that were not specifically divided into two camps, North’s constituent congregations had almost been forced to choose sides in the
Synodical crisis. South, too, had a homogenous white student enrollment, the vast majority of students educated in Lutheran elementary schools. North’s student body was a heterogeneous mix of white and black, those students educated in Lutheran and non-‐Lutheran traditions. Yet the Association managed to maintain these two uniquely different high schools. The two high schools brought good tidings of great joy to both distinctive communities. Velma Martin and Paul Crisler were prescient: “We are all one in Christ.”
The ‘70s: The Workshop Changes
A salesman’s phone call to Crisler triggered a new revolution. He asked if the school would be interested in a time-‐share arrangement that would connect a North classroom by telephone line to a mini computer. The potential arrangement could provide North faculty an opportunity to offer, as SLUH’s staff was already doing, high school computer classes. Crisler took the challenge. A school parent’s donation to the North Math Department helped purchase two teletype machines. The two teletype machines provided access via the phone line to the downtown mini computer. “Huey,” as one teletype was known, often sported a tie during festive occasions. Its ensemble was chosen by North grad and now instructor Barb Klingsick or later, by the third South grad to teach on the north side, late-‐‘70s arrival Mark Marting. That simple phone call also helped trigger the curriculum rewrite faculty and staff used to fill the needs of a student body and church polity dealing with local and national crises. By 1975, the curriculum guide included a great variety of new semester courses. Working feverishly, the staff completely reworked course requirements and outlines, changing some of the contents and sequences that had been developed a decade earlier or even “grandfathered in” from Central. The Registrar and members of the Counseling Department, aware of the increase in total credits necessary to graduate, assisted the six hundred students who chose from a myriad of new courses to fulfill requirements. English courses like Minority Literature, Creative Writing, Advanced Composition, Great Authors and later, Literature of Prejudice, enabled students to learn to express themselves in constructive ways, provided a deliberative solution to the questions raised by Wallace’s cafeteria audiences, and based ideas and essays on contemplative study. The Religion Department replaced the traditional sequence of chronological-‐like studies of Biblical and church history with Journey to Freedom; Acts; Moses, Elijah and Christ; Religion and Literature, and, to foster a better understanding of Synodical issues, Principles of Biblical Interpretation. Practical Arts added to its traditional offerings of Shop and Mechanical Drawing the new Care of the Automobile and Advanced Woodworking courses. The Natural Science Department, having undergone several revisions during the past decade, added Consumer Chemistry and Earth Science. Students registered for Ceramics, Crafts and Foods, Interior Decorating and had the option of choosing two years of German, French or Latin, the latter taught by long-‐time instructor Dorothy Caemmerer. Besides the Religion Department, the Social Science Department underwent the most dramatic revision. Gone were traditional two-‐semester courses in Geography, World History and United States History. They were replaced by a student requirement of taking six of the semester classes offered. Courses like Asia-‐Africa, Contemporary World Problems, Black Heritage, Minorities and American Foreign Policy addressed societal problems and foreign relations. The creation of Anthropology, Frontier and Psychology courses gave students the chance to follow their passions. Lutheran South followed suit, developing a required course, American History Backwards. (Initially it never got past the Civil War.) Following the national trends of late ‘60s social science curriculum development, instructors focused on studying material applicable to resolve current world and national problems, rather than helping students develop a comprehensive understanding of the past to understand the lessons of history. Incredibly, after the creative revisions, the typical North student could choose ala carte from such a “menu”-‐-‐and never take a formal course in United States History. Three new developments in the curriculum exemplify the changes during this decade of transition. The English Department added Remedial Reading to help students ill-‐prepared to deal
with the demands of the new curriculum. The Math-‐Science Department focused on teaching BASIC computer programming and developed access to a computer mainframe again in coordination with SLUH. The department also started a Math-‐Science Fair that, in its first year, accepted more than 160 projects. Many projects highlighted the use of computer-‐assisted solutions for science-‐related problems. By the late ‘70s, the Fine Arts program, seemingly always in transition, attained stability with the arrival of Mark Marting (S ‘72) and later, Steve Tirmenstein. Marting brought energy, showmanship and expansion of the traditional choral repertoire. He followed the lead of South mentor Henry Engelhardt and revived the tradition of musical productions. He also assisted Hoyer with the fall dramas. Tirmenstein inherited a struggling band of twenty-‐five students. When he told the band they were going to play at home football games he was told, “No one goes to football games.” In the summer of 1979 he organized the first band camp at Camp Wartburg in Illinois. Although he did not tell the band members ahead of time, he planned to use the camp to create a marching band. It worked and the Marching Crusaders marched for all home and playoff football games for nearly twenty years. One pundit described the early efforts of the band as a “march or play” organization, but, like the football team, the members persisted and improved quickly. Wallace also gave Tirmenstein the challenge of regenerating the defunct elementary band program. The rotating schedule made this difficult to do so a “flip-‐flop” schedule was adopted. During the six-‐period day only the third and fourth periods remained fixed. On the second day of the rotation, first and second periods would “flip,” as would the fifth and sixth. Then, first and second would “flop”, trading places with the fifth and sixth’s original spots. On the fifth day of the rotation, fifth and sixth, in their new slots, would “flip,” as would first and second. It was the only way Tirmenstein could teach band at the other schools without abandoning his own high school charges. The elementary band program quickly grew and soon included participation by ten schools. In 1979 the Science Department chair was looking for an event to alternate with science at the annual academic fair. Tirmenstein jumped at the chance to start an elementary music festival. After alternating once, the music festival became a yearly event so students would not lose the continuity of performing for a judge each year. In 1981 the administration added an art fair to alternate with science. Both Marting and Tirmenstein took groups on tour and regularly performed as part of community Lutheran celebrations, local festivals, at Six Flags and on media broadcasts. With his high-‐energy teaching style and musical productions, Marting developed a showman’s approach to co-‐curricular activities that at times drew interesting reactions from the General. The new student government constitution created avenues to make constructive change. Its four commissions (Welfare, School Policy, Human Relations, and Social) encouraged emboldened groups to implement ideas. This bore immediate success. The Ecology Club, Student Involvement Group (a service organization) and American Field Society (developing multiculturalism by hosting foreign exchange students) provided additional service opportunities. Assemblies like Energy Conservation triggered homeroom discussions. Chapel Folk Choir nurtured a participatory ethic in daily worship. Even the Pep Club got involved, soon incorporating boys in the membership as they decorated the facility for musicals, took fields trips to the zoo and led explorations at the Art Museum. Chapel collections supported the Judevine Center and other local social service organizations. Finally, an activity period on Thursday mornings permitted students to participate in intramural contests, rehearse for performances, get tutoring or even play table hockey, a game popularized by the Blues’ early success. The largest participatory event evolved during the late ‘60s. It had its origins when a few teachers and students displayed simple Christmas decorations. Soon, various musical groups caroled in the hallways. By the mid-‐‘70s, the school Christmas celebration “unofficially” started at the Christmas Concert which was usually hosted by a local congregation. It then spanned the last week of classes in December. Students decorated hallways, trees and the entryway. They collected cans for a food
drive (Al Smith’s home room collected a record 508 cans), caroled at shopping centers, sang in the halls and threw impromptu parties. The Christmas celebration culminated on the last day prior to Christmas break as the students participated in the all-‐school Communion service. On that day, students left behind the traditional platform shoes, halter tops, baggies, battle jackets and skinny belts, exchanging them for dresses, coats and ties. Marting’s reorganized musical groups led worship. Sounds of Sixteen, Chapel Choir, Band and Glee clubs offered praises about the “news of great joy that would be for all people!” Homecoming, too, evolved in the years following the move to Lucas and Hunt. Friday nights included the variety show and introduction of the court. At the football game (and, yes, Crusaders still had a tough time winning them until 1979) half-‐time festivities, classes and homerooms paraded in decorated cars and pickup trucks. Some vehicles pulled wagon-‐type floats in the lengthy procession around the track while cheerleaders tossed candy to families and friends. The band, and, after the arrival of Tirmenstein in 1977, Pom Pons and Drill Team, performed together on the football field. A couple of times, school members brought horses ridden by “Crusaders” to impress the visitors. After the game, students went home to clean up for the evening festivities and returned to North for a dinner and dance. By the early ‘80s, the Homecoming variety show was creating cultural conflicts. Skits done traditionally by white students were not embraced by the growing black community. The music and dance routines performed by the black students were not endorsed by the white students and parents. The other issue that troubled many was that the Homecoming King and Queen were not crowned until the dance on Saturday. Not only did they not “reign” over Homecoming but it was hard for parents to witness the event. Tensions had to be defused and the coronation issue had to be resolved. In 1983, a teacher suggested the pep rally and coronation should be on Friday night. It would allow parents to see every member of the court and every member of each fall sports team introduced during the festivities. Saturday, after the football game, students would return for the dance. The solution worked and set the pattern for the next four decades. Other changes to traditional celebrations were not so seamless. Three activities were dramatically affected. The first was the senior class Communion service. Synodical tensions during the era encouraged the administration to reevaluate the tradition. In addition, a few local pastors expressed concern about the validity of such a service in which they did not specifically distribute communion to their own parishioners. Some pastors also expressed reservations about the possibility of non-‐ Lutheran students receiving communion. After 1980, North no longer hosted Communion worship. The other two traditions affected by ancillary issues were the baccalaureate and graduation ceremonies. Baccalaureates, held separately from South, were usually hosted by Grace-‐Pagedale, Atonement-‐Florissant or Grace Chapel-‐Bellefontaine Neighbors. One of the more striking baccalaureates was at Grace Chapel in 1974. Graduating seniors processed while carrying candles “of the Holy Spirit” in a darkened sanctuary. Worship services like this particular one, held just prior to graduation, were more intimate, family-‐oriented celebrations in the context of congregational life. The joint commencement at Kiel Opera House ended the school year. Unfortunately, long-‐time rivals seated on the same stage during matriculation exercises provided an opportunity for unscripted performances. Graduation classes attempted to upstage one another. The throwing of rice, release of balloons and tossing of Frisbees during graduation ceremonies forced many to critically evaluate the staged disruptions. In a hotly debated move in 1977, the high schools started holding separate graduations on their athletic fields. Many hoped annual graduating classes could hold a joint baccalaureate service, but it would be almost two decades before that came to fruition.
Team of Rivals
Administrative discussions about ending the joint graduation ceremonies at Kiel heightened recognition of the rivalries that characterized Crusader/Lancer competition. Sometimes these tensions created mild acrimony between “North/South” constituencies. Occasional abrasive comments directed by individuals against “the other school” made many aware of the evolving
differences in the two schools. During the economic downturn of the late ‘70s, Association finances became a major concern. Fears of being “shortchanged” led a few Association members to recommend that local monies be kept in that particular local school. The issue helped many note the unique transformation taking place in the local Lutheran community. Until the mid-‐‘70s, Central and then North had more feeder schools and congregations than did South. Because of these advantages, North had a larger enrollment. At that time a few asserted that “northern” money was carrying along “little upstart” South. However, during the late ‘70s, divisive social and Synodical issues threatened the stability of Lutheran North. Suddenly, North’s falling enrollment encouraged reversal of the argument as some Lancers felt “their” money now carried the Crusaders. The Association membership resolved these issues much like a family. The membership dealt intensively with focused agendas. At times, “two sides” vigorously debated which financial priorities and budgetary needs outweighed the other. At other times members of one “community” commiserated with others who suffered a tragedy or misfortune. An example of this is when, during the ‘70s, both high schools lost students or recent graduates to illness or car accidents. Each time the Association “communities” turned to comfort and care for the mourning. The unified “family” also rejoiced when a North “hallway” faculty romance led to the wedding of English teacher Rachel Sauer and math teacher Fred Hinz. Several additional Association activities also alleviated the occasionally divisive competitive tensions. These focused, ironically, on the athletic fields where this rivalry so often played out. News about the activities brought good tidings to a renewed, unified community. The administrative staffs of both schools initiated cooperative efforts when Central (having the numbers) and South (having the space) combined resources during the early ‘60s. The Fall Festival and Spring Sports Festival brought constituencies of both schools together, the collective Association membership sharing communal meals, activities and displays. Similar cooperative efforts continued after Central moved to North, particularly with the Sem games and Spring Sports Festival. Then, in 1975, the basketball squads played before a St. Louis Spirits game at Kiel Auditorium. The larger venue encouraged additional discussions about cooperative efforts. In 1978, the administrations initiated an annual Lutheran Day at Busch Stadium. It pitted baseball squads in an annual contest that brought hundreds together in a festive atmosphere. For the Cardinal brass, it was a successful promotional experiment. The Crusader/Lancer contest, the first high school game permitted in the stadium, led to additional similar Cardinal-‐sponsored community “days” held during the regular season. A joint North-‐South choir singing the National Anthem prior to that first contest symbolized the Association’s communal spirit and unity of purpose. And, that same May, discussions about the common problem of Association debt service culminated in what became another longstanding tradition. Three couples spearheaded the very first LAHE Dinner Auction.
Building
As Athletic Director, Mr. “V”, as he desired to be called, dealt with the transition of the coaching staff. When Oetting left to teach and coach basketball at St. Charles High School, Simmons temporarily replaced him until Reitz took the position. Dave McCollister, “Mr. Mac,” arriving in 1975 after teaching at Our Savior Lutheran High School-‐Bronx, joined the Social Science Department. He took over the girls’ basketball program and added cross country and track to his duties. Tirmenstein and Marting helped Crisler with track and Al Polich (and later, returnee Holschen) with football, respectively. Berkeley and SEMO grad Mike Russell joined the football and baseball staffs and was charged with reconfiguring the PE Department. Mr. V arranged for a new boys’ golf group, girls’ tennis team and a revived girls’ track squad. When English teacher Barry Terrass arrived in 1979 he took the reins of boys’ soccer. Playing in the winter season, his squad often dealt with snow covered fields and Arctic-‐like conditions. He took over for Coach V, who had mentored the 1979 squad to a best-‐ever 9-‐4-‐1 record good for second place in the ABC. Mr. V, needing a field hockey coach, led that team in 1979.
In fits and starts, the athletic teams made progress. Russell’s baseball squads won two ABC titles during the era, the first in 1977. Reitz’s basketball squad captured a league title in 1978 and won the Regional. A year later, the squad won more than twenty games and in 1980 went 24-‐1 before earning a berth in the State Semis. Fearful of “jinxing” the team’s fortunes, no one discussed the issue that one of the team members was also the pianist for the school play. A Friday performance for the grade schools would not have been possible without the basketball player who was going to Columbia. School on that Friday had been scheduled as a teacher workday so students could go to the game. But when administrative heads finally discussed the conflicting schedule, Wallace, noting the Friday performance for the grade schools would no longer be possible, determined school would convene. The basketball team brought back a fourth place banner, the first Final Four finish since the 1971 tennis squad. Football, now headed by Russell, its players buoyed by a few more bleachers and a four-‐post press box (built by parent and coach volunteers), earned an 8-‐2 record in the 1979 season. It was the second of thirty consecutive winning seasons for North football. After two bitter losses ended the season, the squad vowed to beat nemesis Codasco the next year and return to the State tournament. They did. North defeated Codasco for the first time in the history of Lutheran North, 17-‐14. Led by future NFL signees Thomas Rooks, Bobby Joe Edmonds and Tony Buford and an outstanding defense, the squad defeated the Marshall Owls 14-‐6 in the 3A State Championship game at Busch Stadium. Russell’s accolades included being named the Sporting News St. Louis Area High School Coach of the Year. Klingsick provided steady leadership for volleyball and “Mr. Mac’s” 1980 basketball squad set a record for most wins (eleven) in a season. Angie Fairfax qualified for the first girls’ State track meet ever held, reflecting the boys’ success. The Crisler-‐led track teams won another league title in 1978 with his athletes beginning a tradition of competing in Columbia or Jefferson City each May. As the era ended, Mr. Mac’s tiny cross country squad managed to qualify a couple of individuals for the state meet. Graduates from this era like Keith Dierberg (N ’76) and John Londoff (N ’76) would take over local family businesses and grow them to impressive corporate success. Mark Belew (N ’72) and Jim Crane (N ’72), among others, nurtured small enterprises by promoting inclusive policies and developed exceptional corporate organizations. Like many others, they financially contributed to the Association and North to fill specific needs. Other graduates like Gerald Kirk (N ’80), Kevin Ballentine (N ’80), Karen Fritsche (Kersten) (N ’73), and Rachel Burgdorf (Pauluhn) (N ’81) returned a decade or more later to work as a Board member, fundraiser or in the principal’s office, respectively. As long-‐serving instructors and mentors like Martin Hokamp contemplated retirement from the ministry, still others like Bill Keller, Judy Knight, John Kersten and Mike Prange arrived to cultivate new opportunities in the field of the ministry. The transition years were ending. In 1980, Reitz replaced Wallace, who, having guided the community for almost a decade, left for new challenges. After designing a program to resurrect a dying Lutheran East-‐Cleveland, the General, using a restrained, patient persona, saved an almost bankrupt Orlando Luther. There he applied the lessons learned at Central, Maier and North to move that suddenly budding ministry to a new facility. Reitz, who recently finished his graduate studies, accepted the call to serve as principal just as local problems again threatened the very existence of North. It would be his job as chief shepherd of the flock to guide the community in the great joy of Christ during the next era of trying times.
Annotated Bibliography, Chapter 2 “Turmoil in the ‘60s and ‘70s” is based on Fields, pp. 55-‐66, 91-‐92. The Daenzer interview of 4/8/15 provides detailed information about the changes implemented in what later became the Concordia University System, as well as the commentary about Pruitt-‐Igoe. 250, pp. 125-‐128, 132-‐ 133 and several O’Neil articles deal with St. Louis segregation/desegregation issues. Bill McClellan recorded the Ballentine interview (and later noted the contributions of Belew and Crane) while
David Halberstam, October 1964 (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994) deals with the impact Cardinal players had on the local civil rights scene. Spanish Lake, a documentary movie viewed at Tivoli Theater, July 12, 2014, describes in great detail the methods used to move minority groups into the North County areas. Elisa Crouch, “Sumner marks rich past,” SLPD, 6/23/15 A1, A8 describes the migration of the black middle class of the Ville into the North County area. Rohde’s Association history detailed the move of the Association offices while Daenzer (4/8/15) and Repp (3/20/15) provided descriptions of the new facility. Daenzer provided the quote regarding the erroneous omission of electrical fixtures in the shop, while Written, p. 8 is the source for the Board instructions to the architect. Daenzer, Tirmenstein and Marty (5/6/15) all described the early bus services in “Adaptation and Financial Constraints.” Daenzer and Marty provided details about faculty part-‐time work; the impact of the NSF; and twenty-‐five outlined the financial budget and statistics. The “Student Life” quote about the North-‐South religious war is from a 1971 undated Post-‐ Dispatch fragment. Mike Russell provided the details for athletics during the ‘70s. “New Challenges at North” details about student shenanigans is from the Class of 1969 Tenth Anniversary Reunion Booklet and reminiscences of Repp, Tirmenstein and Crisler. The black student walkout and reactions are chiefly from Fiftieth. Repp retold the Condon story. Student Council president Eric Banks was one of the first ten black graduates from the University of Missouri Law School. His presence there had been made possible only by Charles Houston and Thurgood Marshall’s pursuit of a 1938 court case, Lloyd Gaines v. Canada (Registrar, University of Missouri). Its resolution stated that black students did NOT have to wait for either the construction of a separate law school nor use state-‐financed “scholarships” that would ship them out of state to attend desegregated law schools. While Gaines mysteriously disappeared on a trip to Chicago, his legacy, finally applied as the University of Missouri was integrated, provided Banks his rightful opportunity to pursue his graduate education. Eyes on the Prize—either the print edition or the 6-‐ hour video—provides additional information about the case and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. “New Tensions in Synod” is a summary of Fields, 96-‐99, 114-‐117. Rohde’s summary of Association reaction is found on p. 4, while Crisler (3/20/15) and Judith (Wangerin) Meyer (4/6/15) noted anecdotes about Jack Preus and K. C. Meyer. For those who desire to examine in greater detail the specifics about the Synodical crisis, start with a cursory summary in the supplement to E. Clifford Nelson’s The Lutherans in North America, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980. Concordia-‐Mequon professor James C. Burkee compiled an exhaustive analytical account about the causes, principle leaders and its long-‐lasting effects in his 2011, Power, Politics and the Missouri Synod. The 1998 Fields describes the impact of the Synodical crisis on a District and congregational level. Rev. Sam Hoard’s 2004 autobiography, The Truth Will Set You Free, (as well as his earlier Almost a Layman) provides insight into race relations during and after this period. It also comments about the status of black parishioners during the Synodical crisis. “The Workshop Changes” is based on two articles in Fiftieth. The summary of the impact on the Social Studies curriculum is from a retrospective 1995 Lutheran North Social Studies Report. Tirmenstein and Russell both commented about the early days of the football squad, revival of the band program and the reformatting of Homecoming festivities. Crisler and Russell, interviewed for Fiftieth, summarized the football championships and contests. The ‘70s saw quite a few individuals who went on to establish exceptional business and professional careers. Jim Crane, the B-‐team pitcher who tossed the no-‐hitter, was an All Conference basketball and baseball player at North. After graduating from Central Missouri State in 1976, he founded both Eagle USA Airfreight, Inc., and Crane Worldwide Logistics. As CEO and President of Crane Capital Group and The Crane Foundation, he purchased the Houston Astros in 2011. An entrepreneur and philanthropist, he has generously donated to his alma maters: Grace Chapel, Lutheran North and Central Missouri State. Scott
Negwer, a ’75 grad, completed his studies at Blackburn College in 1979. He became CEO and President of Negwer Materials, Inc., located in Ferguson. He also helped found The Drake Group. A former chair and board member of the Association, he was selected by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to serve on the Ferguson Commission. Fifteen others from his family attended North. Sheryl (Mueller) Reinisch was the daughter of Mr. Eric and Mrs. Dolores Mueller, former principal and kindergarten teacher, respectively, at Grace Chapel. After graduating from North in ’76 (she chaired the Senior Assembly Committee), Reinisch attended Concordia-‐Chicago and then the University of Central Florida (where she earned her master’s in early childhood education while teaching at St. Luke’s-‐Oviedo). In 2006, at Portland State University, she received her Ph.D. She serves as Dean of the College of Education at Concordia-‐Portland.
COMING SOON!
Chapter 3: I bring you good tidings! 1965-‐1984 Lutheran High School South This era at South can be characterized by a shift in its constituency. The homogenous urban Lutheran-‐educated white student body became a quickly-‐growing institution with a majority of the student body hailing from suburban congregations. Principal Roland Eggerding shepherded the flock. “First generation” faculty adapted Central’s curriculum to the student needs of a new era. A vibrant Fine Arts program, inspired by Kirchchoff’s Central chorus groups, is led by Henry Engelhardt. Successes at the State level first in baseball, then basketball and finally cross country, spearheaded the athletic department led for most of the era by Rev. Jack Faszholz. During a ten-‐year period ending in the mid-‐70s, GAA would be phased out in favor of girls’ interscholastic athletics. Key Association supporters helped create the Stadium baseball games and Fantasy Faire Auction. After Superintendent David Wiesner completes the first major facility expansion, Vic Peper arrives to usher in a new era in which Lancer enrollment exceeds eight hundred.
Table of Contents
Chapter 4: Great Joy During Trying Times, 1981-‐1993 Lutheran High School North
Malaise to Motion During the ‘80s Hope for Reconciliation A Crisis for St. Louis The Mission Changes Desegregation A New Era at North An Unexpected Interlude Expanding the Workshop Good Tidings at 5401 Educational Adaptation In Parentis Locis Finances and New Leadership Moving into the ‘90s Cosmopolitan Foreign Exchange The End—and the Beginning
401 402 403 403 404 405 406 407 409 410 411 412 413 414 415
Chapter 4:
Great Joy During Trying Times, 1981-‐1993
Lutheran High School North
Malaise to Motion During the ‘80s
As the ‘80s began, many believed the country suffered from a malaise caused by ineffective international and domestic policies. Dependency on foreign oil, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a Nicaraguan civil war and the Iranian hostage crisis made the U. S. appear to be a fading superpower. Long gas lines, rising unemployment, the Iranian hostage crisis, inflation and a disheartening boycott of the Moscow Olympics discredited the Carter administration. Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan won the election when the majority responded in the negative to his famous question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Reagan appeared to provide direction as he confidently dealt with daunting issues. The Iran-‐Iraq war threatened to spread regionally. A suicide truck driver killed 250 marines in Beirut. Assassinations of world leaders in India and Egypt and an assassin’s attempt on John Paul II’s life created an atmosphere of fear. The attack on a Korean passenger jet, bombing of a Pan Am flight and hijacking of a TWA jet and the Achille Lauro made many feel vulnerable everywhere. But Reagan provided substantive leadership. He met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and, after successfully labeling the USSR the “evil empire,” softened enough to support Soviet policies of perestroika and glasnost. He encouraged the democracy movements in South Africa as the Mandelas and Archbishop Desmond Tutu demonstrated the evils of apartheid; the Philippines, as widowed housewife Corazon Aquino won a dramatic election; Pakistan, as Benazir Bhutto became that country’s first female Prime Minister; and Poland, where Lech Walesa led Solidarity and his country to economic and political freedom. Domestically Reagan jump-‐started the economy by revising the tax structure and reintroducing trickle down policies. Despite an assassin’s bullet that almost took his life, little in Reagan’s presidency appeared to go wrong. The Columbia space shuttle success revived the sagging space program. The Senate approved Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court Justice. Reagan weathered the Air Traffic Controllers strike. The business boom in technological industries helped some regions recover from the malaise. Personal computers, car phones, walkmans, CDs and the fax became commonplace. The information age provided twenty-‐four-‐hour cable news (CNN), sports (ESPN), weather (TWC) and music (MTV). A countrywide newspaper, USA Today, graced newsstands. But new challenges threatened people’s growing confidence in restoring ethical mores, economic growth and community stability. Actions by Presidential candidate Gary Hart, sprinter Ben Johnson, manager Pete Rose, investor Ivan Boesky and Marine Lieut. Col. Oliver North made many believe traditional values were rare commodities. A stock market collapse in the late ‘80s bankrupted many tech startups. The issues of failing educational systems and crumbling infrastructure were turned over to local authorities for resolution. The Challenger explosion and growth of drug trade-‐oriented gangs forced a reexamination of safety procedures, manufacturing codes and police tactics. Internationally, the Chernobyl melt down and success of Columbian drug cartels undermined confidence in multinational regulatory agreements and cooperative law enforcement strategies. Famine in Africa, ozone depletion and destruction of rain forest habitat created an urgent need for international scientific and diplomatic cooperation. However, community activities throughout the United States sustained an optimistic tenor. Americans celebrated their athletes’ many victories at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Millions participated in events marking the Bicentennial of the Constitution and Centennial for the Statue of Liberty. The ready election of George H. W. Bush in 1988 sustained an emphasis on patriotism and
measures to protect the free world from communism. Within a year of the election the Iran-‐Iraq war ended, the Cubans left Angola and the Soviets left Afghanistan. The Soviet empire crumbled away, the decade-‐long unrest throughout Eastern Europe triggering internal economic collapse. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. A chain reaction of Soviet-‐controlled totalitarian “dominoes” fell: Rumania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. And, in parallel activity, apartheid-‐controlled South Africa did, too. Protesters in Tiananmen Square were not so fortunate. With low unemployment and inflation rates, Bush focused on resolving foreign policy issues. He liberated Panama from strongman Manuel Noriega and drove Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. Destructive earthquakes in the Philippines and Japan, flooding in India and Bangladesh and drought in Somalia and Ethiopia galvanized U.N. and American service agencies to provide temporary relief. In the United States, hurricanes damaged the Southeast. Flooding rivers inundated the Midwest. Killer earthquakes delayed a World Series and destroyed large portions of California’s metropolitan areas. Bush rallied Americans to provide relief, many sending financial contributions to service organizations serving distant victims or, locally donating time and efforts to assist recovery. Emotionally moved by local crises that nurtured empathy about world tragedies, American citizens developed a spirit of participatory activism. Hope for Reconciliation The August 1981 St. Louis Synodical Convention marked the end of an era. Delegates elected Concordia Seminary President Dr. Ralph Bohlmann to replace the retiring Preus. As Second Vice President they selected Rev. Dr. Joseph Lavalais, the first black Lutheran to be named to any such rank. By a slim 8% of the votes cast, delegates ended fellowship with the ALC. They also approved Preus’ last proposals to complete an internal consolidation of board duties. Falling income and membership totals required delegates to create a new Department of Stewardship and Financial Support. On the local level, many congregations depended more frequently on volunteers to maintain service ministry programs. Issues about gender participation and multicultural ministry troubled delegates. In 1984 the formation of the Commission on Women dealt with questions traditionalists raised about the role of women as convention delegates, school teachers, and congregational voters. In a forum during the 1989 Wichita Synodical Convention, Lutherans for Life President Dr. Jean Garton expressed alarm about the number of seminarians who favored repealing women’s suffrage. After noting women comprised 75% of volunteers and 80% of the elementary teachers in Synodical congregations, commission members openly fretted about the future participation of young women in the church. They were concerned that those individuals who faced restrictions would probably pursue secular opportunities or even join other church bodies. They also hoped IRS legal issues would be surmounted so commissioned women could receive tax benefits similar to those of their male counterparts. The delegates to Wichita sensed Synod was at a crossroads. For two decades Synod lost alarming numbers of members through the “back door.” They simply quit attending congregational activities and, after a lengthy period of time, were removed from membership rolls. A few delegates also noted that since 1971, except for the celebration in 1977 of the Centennial of Black Ministry, official Synodical concern about multicultural ministries rapidly faded. Synod had not developed effective inclusive multicultural ministries except in a few specific Hispanic, black and Latino communities. To better promote racial understanding and multicultural ministry, the delegates approved several new programs. They changed to four-‐year status the only historically black Lutheran college, Concordia-‐ Selma. They approved the adaptation of cross-‐cultural course requirements at Concordia-‐Mequon and Concordia–Ann Arbor. Finally, in recognition of the approaching fiftieth anniversary of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS), delegates voted unanimously to encourage each congregation to settle one refugee family during the next triennium. Perhaps the Bohlmann administration could construct a more mission-‐focused Synodical polity by expanding these tardy
measures. If not, it would require local congregations and schools to design plans of local outreach or even simple survival.
A Crisis for St. Louis
The St. Louis of deep roots, long histories and industrial production was on the brink of disaster. By 1980, the region was reeling. St. Louis was in the process of losing more than eighty thousand jobs. The poverty rate rose to almost 25%. Only fifteen years before, the November 1965 issue of National Geographic Magazine described the new spirit of a city celebrating its bicentennial. With the completion of the Gateway Arch, Mansion House Apartments, Busch Stadium II, Gateway Tower, Pet and Equitable buildings, downtown seemed poised for a renaissance. But events along local rivers symbolized the disappointment of the ‘70s. The unfortunate bankruptcy of the relocated World’s Fair Spanish Pavilion and the loss of the replica ship Santa Maria revealed how city fathers’ big dreams seemed headed for disappointing dissolution. Even the minesweeper Inaugural that had survived the storm that destroyed the Santa Maria became a magnet for protestors. And in 1982 on the Meramec River, officials permanently evacuated the citizens of Times Beach because of dioxin contamination. The severe ‘70s recession forced businesses in older downtown office buildings to close or move out of the city. As contracts ended and no one ordered additional materials, plants like long-‐time industrial giant Scullin Steel simply closed. Downtown buildings and nearby plants had no prospective tenants so developers used demolition permits to knock down the old structures—and build parking lots. The once great river city entered the era of The Parking Lot. At that time, local unemployment was almost 8%—and black unemployment was double that. The production of the last Corvette at the plant on Natural Bridge Avenue and Union Boulevard symbolized what happened across the region. Completed on July 31, 1981, the last Corvette signaled the gradual downsizing of the local industrial workforce. While industrial jobs had at one time employed as many as one-‐third of all area workers, by the end of the era fewer than 10% worked in traditional factory jobs. Blacks were relegated to a second-‐class status and residential patterns effectively segregated most schools. During these increasingly desperate years, the city lost 170,000 people. Property and city income tax revenue plummeted, reducing funding for street and sewer repair, school athletic programs, street lighting campaigns, building preservation, park maintenance and removal of abandoned facilities. Lack of tax revenue curtailed police protection. Forest Park’s roads, pavilions and sewers deteriorated. Former beautiful venues in the Grand entertainment district sat unused, ready for demolition, including the Fox. The Rand Corporation in 1972 and the Brookings Institution in 1981 noted St. Louis was the most distressed city in America. Things were so bad that movie mogul John Carpenter, looking for a place to film scenes for Escape from New York found his barren, urban landscape in downtown St. Louis. His most pleasant find was Union Station, deserted, desolate and unused. People fled the city for county spaces and the city itself had only 457,000 in 1980—at a time when St. Louis County had one million residents. But little by little, investors and developers took a chance on reinventing the old venues and buildings. They initiated a revival. Bob Baudendistel, encouraged by KMOX head Robert Hyland, led several partners in rebuilding the Fox. It triggered a rebirth of the Grand entertainment district and Grandel Square. Others refurbished Union Station. It reopened as an indoor mall in 1985. St. Louis Centre, another indoor mall, was designed to become part of the new civic center. By 1994, its patrons could anticipate visiting the TWA-‐monickered dome housing the St. Louis Rams. The Mission Changes Lutherans followed the same patterns. Urban congregations like Our Redeemer counted on a large percentage of parishioners who commuted from suburbs for Sunday worship. Its leadership combined some programs with Messiah, Emmaus and Holy Cross to serve neighborhoods housing families who needed legal assistance, food, clothing, daycare or even job training. Some parishes
including Pilgrim, Grace and Christ, closed. Others like Zion, Trinity and Bethlehem depended upon dedicated members who struggled to meet budgets or counted on District mission subsidies. In the latter two congregations, the membership retooled their mission and began to grow. Ebenezer remained open because of a large bequest, but its association arrangement with on-‐campus River Roads school returned to a solo effort as other congregations closed or could no longer support a day school. Many Lutheran parish schools closed. By 1993, north side Lutheran feeder schools had fallen from sixteen to only eight. A simple example will suffice to reveal the severe problems Lutheran education faced. Organizers of the Lutheran elementary school basketball tournament of champions had, in 1968, involved as many as sixteen squads representing four leagues comprised of more than thirty-‐five schools. They desperately struggled to restructure league play as more than a dozen closed doors. Urban schools that had in the ‘60s served more than three hundred students now housed only one hundred. Tiny schools in rural communities far from urban areas and the high schools had such an increase in numbers that students had to be educated in portables. Prohibitive distances between schools of similar enrollments confounded efforts at restructuring league play and tournament schedules. In St. Louis and the suburban inner ring, congregations and parish school boards in many cases faced precipitous declines in membership and enrollment. Some were tempted to consider or adopt programs of isolated survival rather than expand outreach to and recruiting of (and financially support) young or underemployed families. Under such circumstances, Lutheran North admissions personnel could not maintain enrollment. To complicate matters, a court case that had been filed in 1972 by parents of black children in St. Louis, chiefly represented by Minnie Liddell, finally reached resolution. It indirectly threatened to undermine North’s status as a community Lutheran high school.
Desegregation
In 1971, when a black mother did not want her son sent by bus to school in a rough neighborhood, families rallied and successfully opposed their children being sent out of their immediate community. For her son Craton, not yet a teenager, Liddell and the Concerned Parents of North St. Louis filed suit calling the system racially biased. The reason was fairly simple. Despite the enforcement of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, housing patterns separated the races and neighborhood schools reflected the make-‐up of the local population. Officials claimed they were powerless to change housing patterns. Thousands of whites, particularly in north city, moved to suburbs. As blacks from the South moved north, many settled in St. Louis. In 1972, few white students in north city attended almost all black schools, while only one in five students on the south side was black. The Delmar Line continued to divide. In the public schools, most teachers in each school matched the race of the student body majority. News of violence directed against Boston busing policies heightened tensions in St. Louis, but the U. S. District Court determined that magnet schools, the redistribution of instructors and efforts to end racial isolation appeared to resolve the dispute. The NAACP entered the fray. Its leadership was concerned that in reality, enrollment of whites had fallen to only 28% of the total city school population. Movement of whites to the suburbs effectively left St. Louis City with a black school population and the County with a white school population. The NAACP won when in September 1980, buses brought Cleveland High School white students to Soldan, and Soldan High School black students to Cleveland. It was peaceful—but simply begged the question as white student enrollment in city schools continued to plummet. The court reexamined the effects of the school transfer, or “deseg” program. Its judges determined that a real integration effort should include neighboring Jefferson and St. Charles counties to create a truly integrated metropolitan school district. Many bristled at this. Some leaders called for constitutional amendments at either local or state level that prohibited involuntary busing. In 1983, U. S. District Judge William Hungate established a voluntary student-‐transfer program that included St. Louis City and St. Louis County. He ordered the state to pay for it. For the next twenty years the state spent $100 million annually to bring black students to the county and white students to city magnet
schools. Despite some schools closing as people moved out of the city, a few schools gained reputations for perceived excellence. Lotteries determined who could attend these educational centers. For most, it had been the initial resolution of a long-‐time problem. Despite the apparent success of the compromise, in 1985 a self-‐titled reactionary group called the Council of Conservative Citizens determined to take control of the St. Louis school board. In 1989, local Shaw neighborhood real estate agent Earl Holt III ran a campaign to place a four-‐member anti-‐busing slate on the board. He and his supporters vowed to end busing for desegregation purposes, but only two won office. Within four years, after failing to gain a majority on the twelve-‐member board, Holt resigned and the movement lost momentum. Its leaders and membership would, for the next two decades, be monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-‐Defamation League. The two civil rights watchdogs noted the Council of Conservative Citizens was attempting to reincarnate the old White Citizens Councils that sprang up in the South during the ‘50s and ‘60s. Regardless of the realities of black/white ratios in the public schools, many black and white families now had a chance to choose alternative educational settings. With the depressed economy and high unemployment they could in good conscience end ties to parochial and private schools. Those parochial and private schools in the city and the inner ring of suburbs, the Lutheran and Catholic elementary and high schools that had long been part of the neighborhood communities, lost many potential students because the families in those areas now seemed to have a viable free educational option. As the Lutheran feeder schools in the city closed, congregational membership fell as many also moved across the Missouri River. With fewer feeder schools, Lutheran North’s enrollment declined. In 1981, as the courts implemented the desegregation plan, enrollment had fallen to 493 students. Significantly the student body continued to reflect, as it had since 1965, the community racial population distribution. Sixty percent of its students were white and the remainder black. As it had since its Central origins in 1946, the “workshop in Christian living” demonstrated that Lutheran education was synonymous with quality education. Despite economic hardships, Synodical tensions, fewer “feeders,” migrating population and now, free, apparent quality educational alternatives, the ministry at 5401 continued, staff and students buoyed by opportunities to witness in a dramatically changing region.
A New Era at North
The new era began with Principal Ed Reitz coordinating major decisions with Dean of Students Dick Craven. They worked with a veteran staff. There was a unique California connection. First Wallace, and then Reitz, Klingsick, Tirmenstein and Craven had accepted calls to serve at Maier Lutheran High School in Los Angeles. While there they dealt with the tempestuous racial and economic issues of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. They specifically resolved racial tensions in and around the school. At the same time they prepared for a move to a new campus. They had a unique perspective about bi-‐cultural ministry, many times meeting and planning at their “Friday Morning Breakfast Club” before going to teach. They transplanted this tradition to St. Louis as more of the group joined the North faculty. This informal planning and concern about individual students led to a reshaping of academic counseling personnel. Mike Prange counseled the students in the Guidance Department but desired the chance to spend more focused time helping students evaluate personal goals and their futures. Reitz worked with Prange to change the counselor’s office into a full-‐fledged Guidance Center. The full time counselor would not have any teaching duties and could immediately respond to a student or students in need of a ready ear. After Velma Martin retired, Reitz spearheaded moving the Counseling Center into the old library in the “great room” between the gym and cafeteria. Prange and Reitz believed it was important to have students and their families see the more accessible Guidance Department as a place where students would create a five-‐year plan to prepare for a post-‐collegiate career. Prange specifically directed students to apply to highly selective colleges and challenged them to fulfill lofty goals.
Reitz and Prange later encouraged new teacher Charlotte Ijei to take classes locally to become an additional full-‐time counselor. They wanted her to move gradually from the full-‐time teaching of business courses to become a dedicated counselor. By the late ‘80s she moved full-‐time into counseling. As part of this move to better serve students, and in the same physical area as the Guidance Center, Dick Craven implemented the new special education program. When the Educating Children with Disabilities law (P. L. 94-‐142) passed in 1975 it guaranteed a free appropriate public education to each child with a disability in every state and each community across the country. With this new emphasis on educating students with a disability, the Lutheran elementary schools of greater St. Louis provided special education services under the direction of the Lutheran Association for Special Education (LASE). The Association Board soon recognized the need and desire of many parents of students with a disability to continue their child’s Lutheran education at the secondary level. Prior to accepting his call to Cleveland, Wallace discussed this need with Craven who at the time was a new addition to the North teaching staff. After receiving a Master’s Degree in Special Education and certification in learning disabilities, Craven developed, implemented and supervised a Resource Room model for North. Sarah Whitney was the first certified special education teacher hired for the Resource Room, followed quickly by Chris Durst who served in this capacity for several years. At the time North was one of the first in the nation to provide a Lutheran secondary education for those students with a disability. Within this nurturing environment, students and parents regularly helped in day-‐to-‐day functions. They provided assistance in the bookstore, operated AV equipment and served as department clerics. Several parents helped as office assistants. The faculty nurture of individual student growth drove curricular change. The Fine Arts Department, under Tirmenstein’s initiative, restarted the dormant Jazz Band. Its members, performing before the Boosters, home basketball games and at local grade schools, added pep, soul and swing music to the traditional jazz format. Tirmenstein also merged separate, small glee clubs into a mixed chorus. Art instructor Pete Richenburg brought back the Art Club while John Hoyer, who occasionally “moonlighted” as a classical music announcer at KFUO, restarted Drama Club. Other departments developed co-‐curricular activities and organizations. New social studies teacher Tom Schultze reorganized the Mock Trial group and surprisingly, in its first year, won the metro championship. Elizabeth Thomas and Barry Terrass, new additions to the English Department, along with science teacher Mike Grupe, formally recruited NHS students to serve in the third LAHE Auction, a student service tradition that continued until it was folded into Saved to Serve activities in the early ‘90s. The Practical Arts Department included four faculty: newcomer Charlotte Ijei, later slated to move into the Guidance Center; Martin Hokamp, Lutrelle McGlokten and Dave Kuenzel. First floor classrooms along the northwest corridor included Drafting, Architectural Drawing and Shop. Typing and Business Law classes met at the west end of the second floor. Those teachers, in particular, incorporated attentive individualized instruction for each student. An Unexpected Interlude Just after second semester began in 1982, weather forecasters warned locals about possible heavy snow. On Saturday, January 30, the blizzard arrived, dumping almost twenty inches of frozen precipitation. It effectively closed all major transportation arteries. Hundreds of drivers abandoned cars in the middle of roads and highways, complicating snow removal. Rear-‐wheel drive cars could not navigate the hills on Lucas and Hunt. Businesses and stores closed. Cars and buses could not complete routes. Stranded drivers and passengers, abandoned in the middle of impassable thoroughfares or at isolated transit centers, hazarded treks to safety through growing wind-‐blown drifts. All schools, including North and South, cancelled classes on the following Monday. A few schools attempted to reopen on Tuesday. John Kersten spent an hour trying to drive a few miles to school. He parked his car in Northland Plaza’s lot and took another forty-‐five minutes to walk a mile through
the drifts to arrive at North. There he found school had been cancelled, the few who showed up being sent home. More snow fell. Later in the week, snow buried the three-‐foot tall bike rack at North. Custodian Bill Keller spent the rest of the week repeatedly using the tractor as a snowplow to clear parking areas and entranceways. North reopened a week after the initial snow, as did most county districts. St. Louis Public Schools did not reopen until a second week passed, chiefly because of the city policy of not plowing side streets. It had been the “blizzard of the century.” Expanding the Workshop In 1983, at Tirmenstein’s urging, Reitz encouraged the expansion of the daily academic schedule to include an elective “zero hour.” It started each morning at 7:45 a.m. and ended five minutes prior to first period. Because of scheduling issues, students had been forced out of band. With band meeting during zero hour, the change permitted many to remain in the ensemble. It also gave the music teachers more flexibility in getting out to teach in the grade schools. As the Missouri State Department of Education considered increasing graduation requirements, North’s faculty partially resolved the issue by adding additional advanced courses to the zero hour. Ironically that resulted in again requiring some upperclassmen to make the difficult choice between staying in band or taking other advanced courses. Even a handful of freshmen were involved in having to make choices between course work and athletic participation. Gym space had been in such demand that Kersten’s C team basketball squad practiced each morning between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Ironically, a couple of times the sudden onset of inclement weather forced cancellation of classes—while the team finished drills in the gym. Zero hour provided new opportunities for course work. Pete Richenburg opened the art rooms, students helping adapt the classrooms to more studio-‐like facilities to complete their independent studies. Holschen taught Calculus as the school administration expanded the offerings certified by St. Louis University’s 1818 program. Students could also more easily access the new campus computer center that Crisler opened in 1982. Fortunately for Tirmenstein, these new academic opportunities did not siphon many students away from his rapidly growing band program. The newly designated time for instrumental ensemble practice continued to work well. By 1985 the growth of the elementary band program provided many new trained instrumentalists for the high school program. This allowed for the high school Beginning Band class to be dissolved. Members of the new Intermediate Band soon practiced alongside the Advanced Band during zero hour. The zero hour band time also enticed twice as many girls to join Pom Pons. That squad no longer practiced after school but rehearsed at the same time as the band because of their many coordinated performances. Pom Pons now included twenty members because the performers no longer faced conflicts with other activities as they had when practicing after school. The complementary programs participated in several unique activities. The band and poms entourage traveled to Mizzou for a mass band performance. They also conducted joint half-‐time shows with counterparts at Principia and South. Poms, too, earned notoriety as they traveled annually to the Arch to participate in community events and performed in halftime shows of the soon-‐to-‐be-‐gone St. Louis Football Cardinals. Encouraged by the success and growth nurtured by the Fine Arts programs, the cheerleaders added new activities to their schedule. They held clinics at feeder schools and introduced prospective students to Crusader pep. Other traditional programs also flourished. Marting took the Sounds of Sixteen caroling at the airport and Westport. Concert Choir sang several Latin selections and a German cantata. It also took a trip to the Kansas City area to lead congregational worship at several churches and a chapel service at Lutheran High School-‐Kansas City. NHS members guided the frosh through orientation and their mixer; tutored students and acolyted for chapel; ushered at the academic fair and hosted visiting prospective students.
Homecoming week still incorporated spirit days. Themes like Kiddy Day, Dress Up Day, New Wave Day (including safety pins in noses), ‘50s Day, Twin Day, Reverse Day, Backwards Day, and Fairy Tale Day always culminated with Maroon and Gold Spirit Day. With falling enrollment becoming more of a concern, Spirit Week soon included on the Friday prior to Homecoming an Eighth Grade Visitation Day. On that day, student organizations and faculty hosted prospective students with “dog and pony shows.” That evening, the pep rally ended with coronation ceremonies of the king and queen. The next morning, cheerleaders decorated the campus and the students prepared cars, pickups and flatbeds as floats. The half-‐time festivities included a band/pom marching performance and, on the cinder track, a parade of floats preceding the court. The dance followed the football game. This sequence followed uninterrupted through the era, including the soon-‐to-‐be added ceremonial Friday night post-‐coronation bonfire. During the 1982-‐1983 school year, two unique experiences nurtured the community of faith. The Physical Education Department, in conjunction with Student Council, hosted the first health fair. Nurses and physicians conducted hearing, vision, blood pressure and scoliosis screenings. Counselors distributed information about suicide prevention, exercise programs, CPR training and substance abuse issues. The other experience, though, reminded all about the reason for this Workshop in Christian Living. Mike and Deb Grupe requested the baptism of their newborn son, Dan, during a chapel service. Repp made the arrangements and invited Deb’s grandfather, Rev. Paul Prange, to conduct the service. In a small reception that followed, the family of God celebrated the entry of Dan into the Good Shepherd’s fold. The memory of this event comforted the Crusader family when high school student Robert Brettelle died suddenly the next spring. Athletically, basketball successes highlighted the ‘80s. Following the boys’ squad State banner season in ‘80, Mueller’s ‘83 squad went 21-‐5 and won the Rosary Tournament. His group also had started the ‘80s tradition of dominating the ABC League, garnering ten titles by the early ‘90s. In ‘85, Seniors Kevin Morganfield, Kevin Richardson and Ron Kirk led the tightly knit squad to a State runner up trophy. Prange’s softball charges won their first North Area Girls Conference (NAGC) title in 1981 and a second five years later. The first title appeared to jump-‐start the girls’ athletic successes, particularly in basketball, volleyball and track. During the ’82-‐’83 season, Coach Mac’s minions, led by Kaye Klotzer and Sarah Hohenstein, won a record fourteen straight, swept two tournament wins and lost to State finalist Visitation by only five as they completed their season. In the ’84-‐’85 campaign, Jennifer Cordes, Christa Allen and Tanye Pralle led the team to a first-‐ever NAGC basketball title. Klingsick’s volleyballers also prospered. During the ’83-‐‘84 season they went 12-‐4 and for the first time won the NAGC, losing in the District final to the eventual State champs. The next year Klingsick’s “super six” set a record for season totals, going 18-‐5-‐1 and finally winning the Troy Tourney. The spring of ‘85, Cordes, Allen and Pralle powered the Richenburg-‐led track squad to multiple invitational titles. Thrower Marion Daniel and sprinters/jumpers Connie Teaberry, Stacey Gatewood and Andrea Stuart swept to wins at the Lutheran North Relays, NAGC and Lutheran South invitationals. They also earned State berths in multiple events. Long and high jumper Teaberry, in particular, started a string of All-‐State performances that led the squads to exceptional State team finishes. Her performances also led to a stellar KU career and a berth in the ’96 Olympic Games. The girls’ track team never lost an NAGC meet, sweeping every title between 1981 and 1987. Those squads also earned four District runner up plaques in the eight years between ‘83 and ‘90, and just missed State banners with a sixth-‐place finish in ’85 followed by a fifth in ‘86. As GAA ceased to operate, the school developed a separate tennis program and even welcomed female participants in winter weightlifting. During the transition to girls’ interscholastic athletics, some instructors were called to carry out extra duties. The busy Social Studies Department chair, Jeff Bullock, doubled as the girls’ athletic coordinator. Ever vigilant about the economic issues of the Reagan years, he attended volleyball and basketball games, sitting in the stands to supervise the fans, always with the Wall Street Journal in hand. Boys in track followed the girls’ successes as they, too, earned numerous accolades under the regime of the Marting/Klawiter/Tirmenstein triumverate. The squad, usually concluding its season during the halcyon days of Senior Assembly, baccalaureate and graduation, quietly developed a
tradition of quality performances. After taking three ABC titles in the ‘70s, the team won five of seven between 1980 and 1986. Garnering its first District championship in 1975, the team swept a first or second place District plaque in four of five years. State finishes in ’81 (7th), ’82 (5th) and ’84 (7th) made the squad a local power. In 1988, in what ranks as one of the finest individual athletic efforts in Lutheran North history, senior Robert Ross won the triple jump, long jump, 100M and 200M to individually take fourth place. In the process he set two MSHSAA class records and then went on to Howard University. Coach Terrass once ruefully noted that if the 4 x 100M Relay team had made three clean exchanges to qualify for State, the track team might have won the school’s second State championship. Mac, too, had some success coaching the runners. Senior Tim Potter had been the first Crusader to qualify for the State Cross Country meet. When Terrass ended his coaching stint in soccer, he took over for Mac and guided Anthony Virdure to several State berths and the first All State CC honor for a North athlete. Sister Lia followed immediately in his footsteps, earning her State medals as the decade ended. Administratively, Mr. “V” helped shift the JV soccer season into a split scheduling format. He noted prohibitive cold, snow and ice eliminated skill development and wreaked havoc when ADs attempted to reschedule cancelled games. The ABC League adapted. Outdoor season competitions preceded Christmas. Then the squads competed indoors before finally, several years later, shifting all competition to a fall season. The girls continued to excel. In ’85, Allen and Cordes led Klingsick’s squad to yet another stellar season, winning a conference crown and the Troy Invite. That winter Colette Neal, Sheryl Frazier, Becky Moog and Yogi Bess joined the duo to go 22-‐6 and, for the first time in school history, won their own Christmas tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight. Coach Mac’s teams competed well in the new and powerful Metro Women’s Athletic Association (MWAA), culminating with the selection of Laura Schumacher to the All State squad in 1993.
Good Tidings at 5401
Two events punctuated the end of the first half of Reitz’s administration. The first was an exhilarating trip down memory lane. Marting’s The Wiz of Oz musical adaptation included interesting twists to the stage tale. First, Dorothy Gale traipsed through the enchanted forest with her three companions. But instead of recreating a forest on stage, Marting used a large television screen to show the four actors seeking Oz—but in nearby St. Vincent’s Park. As Dorothy threw the water that melted the wicked witch, stagehands turned the handle of a jack platform lowering her through the stage floor. After Dorothy and Toto returned to Kansas and the finale ended, Mickey Carroll, one of the original Munchkins who performed in the 1939 movie version, walked on stage. The St. Louis native, living in Crestwood, stayed long after the production to answer questions. One spectator called it the single most thrilling surprise in the history of Lutheran North. The second momentous event provided national recognition for North and the Association. Perhaps it was presaged by two earlier episodes. The first significant episode took place in 1981. Senior Gary May visited the White House as one of one hundred students in the country recognized by Reagan as a Presidential Scholar. The recognition was prescient. An outstanding student at North, May graduated from the Georgia Tech School of Engineering in 1985. After earning his doctorate he returned to his undergraduate alma mater where he was named Dean of the College of Engineering. In 2015, after “. . . mentoring . . . and broadening participation among underrepresented groups,” he was chosen by President Obama to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. He was one of only fourteen to have received this honor. The second significant prelude to North’s national recognition took place in early 1983. The Reagan administration established a U. S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon committee to evaluate the state of education in the United States. Former North principal Rich Wallace agreed to serve on the committee and gather data for the study. His experiences at Lutheran Central, Maier
Lutheran, Lutheran North and Lutheran East in Cleveland provided a broad template to evaluate effective educational initiatives. While he served at the four schools, all located in major urban areas, he helped design creative curricular programs to deal with unique challenges. Despite daunting obstacles, all four schools developed exceptionally successful academic reputations. North’s national recognition quickly followed. During the fall of 1983, the Reagan administration invited Reitz to Washington, D. C. On behalf of the school, he and Craven accepted an award from U. S. Department of Education Secretary T. H. Bell. Bell announced that North was one of only sixty exemplary schools in the country and noted its school culture established a blueprint to develop other successful institutions. The first point describing North’s exceptional performance recognized its practice of daily “systematic, planned worship that outlines interpersonal relationships in view of their relationship with Christ.” The second point of emphasis noted that students continued to be referred to as “letters of recommendation” in the context of God’s Law and Gospel where penitence, forgiveness and reinstatement were daily practices in the community. Thirdly, teachers maintained high expectations within the framework of a positive school climate, teaching students and not simply subjects. These dedicated servants viewed student “talents and abilities . . . as God-‐given gifts” enabling them to participate in the workshop in Christian living. Finally, the awarding committee noted the exceptional percentage of students who participated in extra-‐curricular activities. As a coda to this exceptional performance, four hundred students and thirty teachers staged a six-‐ mile walk-‐a-‐thon. Raising pledges supporting tuition assistance (60%), individual high school organizations (30%) and inner-‐city schools (10%), the Crusader community walked to River Roads Mall and back. Police controlled crossings and a driver staffed a “sag wagon” for the faint of heart. The successful event permitted students to contribute to the Association and its supporting congregations as it struggled with intimidating fiscal challenges. Reitz was not a principal who dictated marching orders from his office. Like his predecessor he promoted the ministry of presence, oftentimes reciting the mantra, “You can pretend to care, but you cannot pretend to be there.” His folksy demeanor in administrative circles earned him selection as president of ALSS. He also was selected as the first non-‐public principal in Missouri to serve on the Board of MSHSAA and was its chair for several years. Trustees at Valparaiso University recognized him for his educator service, noting he had been an outstanding coach, teacher and principal not just in St. Louis but also at his third called position at Maier Lutheran High School (LA). Active in the accreditation process, he guided North through yet another visit by the North Central Accreditation for Schools and assisted the Department of Defense in evaluating its programs in Germany. He also learned to work for compromise about Association issues, noting the two high schools had unique characteristics that differentiated their student bodies. He and South counterpart Eggerding encouraged collaboration between the faculties rather than dictation of a uniform curriculum. Educational Adaptation A variety of factors had adversely affected the North constituency more than the South community. The Synodical crisis, falling feeder school enrollment, the public school desegregation program, migration to St. Charles County and the local recession wreaked havoc with North’s enrollment projections and recruitment efforts. The St. Louis center of population was moving west and south. With fewer congregational and feeder school closures South appeared poised to grow even larger. The Board considered conducting a study to determine if a west county high school site should be considered. Fearful of appearing to follow perceived “white flight,” the Board, also facing a growing fiscal crisis, resolved to bolster its two campuses by developing new programs. Soon after, elements of the South constituency approached the Board requesting it add Advanced Placement (AP) classes to the curriculum. Teachers at both schools expressed concern about the new agenda. It included unique requirements that could jeopardize standing in the St. Louis University 1818 college credit program. At North, students who sought college-‐type course work in 1818 classes received multiple credit hours by graduation, and did so for a small cost. At their new
institution they could apply those credits towards their major or, if the post-‐secondary school did not accept the credits in that category, towards their electives. The AP program, promoted by those who administered the SAT examination, appeared to be yet another way for students to begin their college education in their final year of high school. Designed by a coalition of high school administrators, teachers and college faculty, it determined credit value based on a summative test taken in early May. Graded on a five-‐point scale, its promoters strongly emphasized that most colleges and universities accepted only scores of four or five. Its critics noted that distant test graders and curriculum developers could not possibly understand the vagaries of local constituencies and multiple state public education requirements. Parents at South pointed out that west and south side school districts had added this course work option. Without direct supervision by a local university or college, course content was left largely to the discretion of the department and instructor. Discussions raised the issue that it was slightly easier to implement AP because unlike 1818 it did not require the teacher to have a master’s degree in a specialty area. Some noted that the very few who attempted dual enrollment at junior colleges or tech schools were hampered by the more rigid high school schedule. The students frequently had conflicts between a class at the high school meeting at the same time as the class in the outside program. So the AP and 1818 programs provided a viable in-‐house option for students desiring an early start on collegiate course work. Department chairs arranged curricular adaptations and the crisis passed. With student recruitment always at the center of discussions during this era of fiscal challenges, the principals encouraged implementation at the discretion of each department. Several of South’s departments agreed to fulfill the parental initiative. A few of North’s departments began implementation. Department chairs noted that in the future administrators would have to consider following the lead of a very few high schools across the country. They had changed the school calendars by rotating the academic year forward by three weeks. Those few schools adapted academic calendars that started in August, completed first semester finals before Christmas and ended second semester in mid-‐May. Because the early May AP testing dates had initially placed their students at a disadvantage, starting school in early August permitted AP candidates three additional weeks of instruction prior to the exam. Lack of air conditioning or calendar coordination with local feeders would delay some of those changes at North and South, but the AP option gradually became part of the curriculum. Student recruitment, of growing concern at North, brought about a unique collaboration between the high school staff and Lutheran feeders. French instructor Shirley Hemminghouse, a former teacher at Atonement-‐Florissant, met weekly with the elementary students and taught the foreign language and culture to elementary school students. Marting and Tirmenstein had already established close contacts with the feeder schools, both teaching their specialties part time outside 5401. Chris Durst continued special education services and helped prospective incoming students and their parents prepare for the transition to high school expectations. Jeri Hennerfouth taught weekly home economic classes for girls bused in from Salem-‐Black Jack, Grace Chapel-‐Bellefontaine Neighbors and Atonement-‐Florissant, while Gary Sheetz provided shop instruction for the boys. Later, an art option would be added to the elementary curriculum as the high school brought prospective students on campus for a unique experience. While the Math Department considered similar coordination, the necessity of daily contact and tighter schedules defused a few attempts at coordination. However, the experiences motivated new Registrar Paul Crisler to examine the economies of scale and facility use that might encourage the creation of a common Lutheran middle school at North.
In Parentis Locis
During the ‘80s the faculty and administration noted two disturbing trends. The groups realized they had to curtail specific problems before they became dangerous and divisive issues. The first was pranks. Seniors annually attempted to create unique ways to express class pride by doing something
to the campus in order to “leave their mark.” Some were fairly inane, such as the mounting of wooden numerals over the entry doors, removing the bell covers so the clappers made no sound, swimming in the golf course pond or “TP’ing” trees on the facility. Two incidents were comedic. During chapel seniors released crickets onto the gym floor. Most of the insects scattered to the corners but one intrepid explorer bounded across the gym and landed at the feet of Kirk Mueller. He deftly squashed it with his shoe. The second humorous incident also took place during chapel. Two students, bags over heads and clad only in shorts, “streaked” the service and exited to the back parking lot and into an awaiting car. The culprits never announced their complicity. Another prank appeared fairly harmless as seniors released mice and gerbils under the bleachers. Two quick-‐thinking instructors boxed the rodents before any damage could be done. As during the joint graduations with South at Kiel, succeeding classes attempted to out do previous demonstrations. A fire intended to scorch numerals into the east hillside along the football field almost burned out of control. During another pre-‐dawn morning a teacher almost collided with the school bus at the bottom of the entry bridge. It had been rolled across the bridge entrance and, with flattened tires, had to be towed before school could begin. From now on, security would be hired to guard the campus during the weeks leading to graduation. The custodial apartment occupant, typically a Sem student who worked with Keller, would also be placed on security alert. The second galling issue was senior graduation parties. Across the nation, MADD, SADD and TREND developed programs to foster student self-‐control and end teenage drinking. Many noted that graduation parties and unsupervised celebrations made that night the most perilous of a high school student’s life. To combat this issue parents and administrators met to resolve the problem. Besides starting a school SADD chapter, guidance counselors Prange and Ijei strongly encouraged the creation of a supervised class gathering for celebrating seniors. Held at a local recreation center or YMCA following graduation ceremonies, sponsors provided games, contests, activities and prizes as the graduates met as a class for the final time. By 1990, a new tradition had been created. Virtually every senior would, in future years, sign up to participate in his final class activity, Project Graduation. Like at South, Prange and Ijei organized a Peer Listener group, the predecessor of the Hi-‐Step program. Prange and Guidance Department colleagues trained high school students to address middle school students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. The high school students promoted positive personal habits and encouraged participation in a variety of activities. On campus, peer listeners defused student conflict and encouraged troubled students to take more challenging personal issues to the guidance counselors.
Finances and New Leadership
In spring 1982, Superintendent David Wiesner resigned to enter the colloquy program at the Sem. Before calling a replacement, the Board conducted a study of its governance procedures and long-‐ range needs. During the interim, Eggerding and Reitz shared Association supervisory duties. In 1983, the Board called Vic Peper as the new superintendent. Hailing from the Chicago Lutheran High School Association, he had administered four high schools and developed plans to add two more in far Chicago suburbs. Upon Peper’s arrival, financial issues drove policy. The Board assisted him in implementing the new “Faith for the Future” capital fund drive. It attempted to raise $3 million for capital improvements at the two campuses. South, under the leadership of Eggerding, had an enrollment of almost eight hundred. It needed a multi-‐purpose room, new library and media center, counseling center and additional classrooms. Those opened in 1984, as did North’s new paved parking lots, lower level tennis courts and new conduits for the fledgling computer education program. When the “Faith for the Future” campaign failed to reach its goal, Peper led the Board to seek new financial resources to support the ministry. Local challenges of population migration, still-‐present Synodical tensions, falling congregational membership and the rising costs of maintaining elementary schools curtailed support for the Association. Peper faced fiscal operating deficits. In
1985 Peper created the Lange Society to develop long range financial planning and programs. Named after “founding father” Dr. Paul Lange, the administrators of fund raising and financial planning gathered contributions, bequests and trusts from Central, South and North alumni and friends. Unfortunately, the fledgling organization did not immediately raise enough funding to reverse the Association’s financial deficit. While the annual dinner auction supplemented budgetary income for daily classroom needs and some equipment replacement, Peper and the Board had to resolve the financial issues triggered by the campus expansions. They set a deadline of 1987. As the fortieth anniversary of the Association approached, they initiated a self-‐study to evaluate Association bylaws and representation. They also sought ways to more quickly resolve problems and maintain financial support for the ministry. During the self-‐study, Eggerding, principal at South since 1961, informed the Board of his intention to retire within the next three years. He encouraged the members to organize a search committee. It would take a dramatic turn of events to resolve the financial issues threatening to overwhelm the Association as well as find an exceptional slate of candidates to replace the ever-‐reliable Eggerding. Moving into the ‘90s During the five years prior to the Association’s fortieth anniversary, North’s constituency experienced a period of dynamic institutional growth. The members of the community had plenty to celebrate. Many commemorated its students’ exceptional academic successes, celebrated its selection as one of the nation’s model schools and validated major curriculum revisions. The school had also weathered what had been a precipitously falling enrollment triggered by two decades of tempestuous local issues. North’s membership could, with great thanksgiving to the Lord, enthusiastically celebrate the fortieth anniversary commemorations that marked the founding of the Association. North’s student body built on the tradition of thanksgiving and excellence by also celebrating notable successes in athletics. During the ’86-‐’87 school year, Coach “V” notched his soccer victory one hundred. Mueller joined him in that select circle during the basketball season. The soccer squad won the Forest Park tourney and finished 16-‐8-‐2, setting an all-‐time win mark. It would take another four years, but the team finally eased past rival Lutheran South and again won the All Lutheran soccer tourney. In 1993, under coaches Brian Kelleher (DCE at Chapel of the Cross) and Kurt Bergdolt, the squad won its first District championship. Mueller’s charges, led by Derrick Harris, Roland Sangster and Linzy Collins, went 21-‐8, won their ninth ABC title in ten years and lost a close one to Fulton in the Quarterfinals. Connie Teaberry set the girls’ rebounding mark by gathering in twenty-‐three caroms—and tied or broke it twice the next year. Band participated in a performance at the Mizzou-‐Indiana football game. Pom sponsor Charlotte Ijei led the revived drill team program again to performances at Mizzou and at Busch (in the final season for the Football Cardinals) and the group earned third place at the Matthews Dickey regional competition. As the business instructor prepared for more counseling duties, she added a flag detail. Tirmenstein supplemented the percussion section with a tri-‐drum bongo set geared for those field performances. Russell’s baseball squad earned “team of the week” honors in the North County Journal. Grupe and Repp’s tennis squads, led by Carla Eckert, won a few matches. Associate Athletic Director Elaine Hunt, who had led an examination of the state of local girls athletics and encouraged North and South administrations to join MWAA, reported that the transition bolstered Crusader participation. In 1989 Jennifer Wehmeyer led the volleyball squad to its first MWAA title with an 8-‐0 record and a year later Jolie Holschen and Connie Eckert led the squad to a repeat performance. Terrass, with Virdure in the lead, piloted the boys’ CC squad to the school’s first State berth. Boys’ basketball participated in the 7-‐Up and then Coca Cola Shootouts. But the big story was out on the football field. The 1988 squad had only a few returnees from the ’87 edition. Captains Danny Eberle (QB) and Derrick Crouch (RB) led the squad through the early season. Russell and varsity assistant coaches Rich Langefeld and Carl Holschen noted the squad actually struggled early in the season but managed to rally for wins. By mid-‐season the passing game had opened up. The team captured its fifth ABC
title of the decade and rolled through the playoffs. In the State championship game, an Eberle pass to Michael Martin put the Crusaders up a touchdown against Chillicothe. When Steve Youngblood blocked a punt and ran it in for another score, the rout was on. The Crusaders preserved the 36-‐0 shutout stopping the Hornets in the red zone late in the fourth quarter. Eberle, honored as a Post-‐ Dispatch Top Ten Scholar Athlete and Suburban Journal Male Athlete of the Year, joined Derrick Crouch, Robin Thompson, Sean Huggans and Martin on the All State team. The following year the team replaced its “skill” people and resumed its winning ways. Winning a second ABC crown in two years appeared to be a steppingstone to yet another State title. A loss to Duchesne in District play almost derailed the Crusaders but Russell’s charges qualified for the playoffs based on the unique MSHSAA point system implemented at the time. After defeating Salem, Fulton and boot heel power Charleston, the team traveled to Springfield for the championship game. With only 1:30 left in the game, Branson led 26-‐14. Chuck Calhoun completed four consecutive passes, the last to Martin who scored. An onside kick recovery gave the Crusaders the ball at midfield with only seconds remaining. Co-‐captain Sean Morris got the ball on a draw play and scored from forty-‐six yards out. In the bedlam that followed, three busloads of fans and the band left the facility for a quick fast-‐food stop. Euphoric spectators piled into buses without regard to seating lists or equipment manifests and one band student, celebrating with others who had driven to the game, was left behind. The 1990 season would be an overwhelming challenge for North to “threepeat.” No St. Louis team had ever won three consecutive football championships. Russell, Holschen and Langefeld were pleasantly surprised when after a loss to east side power Belleville Althoff “. . . everything fell into place.” Winning an unprecedented third consecutive ABC title, William Tolen and Jerry Terry led the defensive-‐minded squad into the ’90 playoffs. Limiting opponents to only twenty points in the four games, buttressed by Ryan Smith’s record field goal totals, the team earned the state’s first “threepeat.” Tolen rushed for more than two hundred yards in the 27-‐13 win over Oak Grove. Terry (for the second time), Norman Harris and Frank Knox joined ’89 honorees Martin, Calhoun and Kevin Fauntleroy on All State squads. The Missouri Athletic Club named Russell High School Football Coach of the Year, and he would be selected as Missouri and Regional nominee for the high school federation’s National Coach of the Year (COY) honors. Russell, who had taken over as AD, had come a long way since he started coaching in the late ‘70s. During those first years he had to drive his car onto the field the night before games. It was the only way he could light the area as the clock ticked midnight, the yard markers and goal lines still needing to be painted. Instead of playing at home before empty bleachers, multiple buses now brought hundreds of spectators hundreds of miles to cheer the Crusaders. And now volunteers like Bill Scheller and Trevor Thornton helped out with the “little things” so “the program” could thrive.
Cosmopolitan Foreign Exchange
Students found other venues of expression besides the athletic field. A tradition of hosting foreign exchange students brought many new faces into the North community. During the ‘90-‐‘92 school years, students hosted first a Japanese exchange student and then two French exchange students. Two dual citizenship students, Leila To’mey and Rachel White, also attended school with the intention of earning a North diploma. The foreign exchange and travel programs were not all one way into North. Twenty-‐five students participated in several evening sessions as they prepared for the Foreign Language Department European trip. Chris Koenig played goalie for a squad involved in European competition. Kimora Perkins, while working for a modeling agency, spent several stints in Europe before returning to the classroom to make up missed assignments. The staff’s willingness to work with her enabled her to graduate on time. Later she would start the Baby Phat fashion line and, for a time, generously contributed to the student financial aid fund. Richenburg spent a year in Australia as part of a teacher exchange, Aussie David Cross taking his place in the art room. A year later two Spanish exchange students joined the Crusader family.
To better educate this diverse “cosmopolitan” North community about black history and culture, Ijei founded the Organization for the Appreciation of African-‐American Culture (OAAAC). The first president, Demond Ross, encouraged the large membership to create a series of participatory community events on campus. They hosted buffet meals of varied cultural cuisine; created a Gospel choir that occasionally sang in chapel; adopted a family at Christmas; hosted discussions about black history; and, during Black History Month, organized evening speaker forums, dance performances and historical presentations. The traditional morning chapel-‐time assemblies continued, usually incorporating abbreviated evening festival activities. Those activities galvanized the Student Council to action. Advised by Mueller and Al Smith, the leadership renewed recycling programs for aluminum and paper. Social studies teacher Smith piloted his classroom to several victories in canned food and yellow page collection competitions. Collections benefitted the United Way and PACKT (a Kinloch shelter). The renewed “mitten and sock” tree collection at Christmas provided necessary winter clothing for children in the feeder schools. Traditional homecoming festivities included a “foreign” dress up day. NHS members followed the lead of the OAAAC and Student Council. They volunteered at a local community shelter, helped at a daycare center, hosted a hygiene products drive for the homeless and reinstituted the health fair. Perhaps all of these activities had been motivated by a new emphasis on service learning. With the arrival of Channel ONE newscasts every afternoon before the last period, students paid more attention to the needs of the community around them. As Reitz and Mr. “V” contemplated retirement, Repp and the staff determined that someone should be placed in charge of coordinating volunteer opportunities. The administrative group charged new freshman religion teacher Andrea Vahrenhorst with organizing Saved to Serve.
The End—and the Beginning
The Association Board had to get its financial house in order. Fortunately, the proceeds of the sale of Lutheran Hospital had been used to create the Lutheran Charities Foundation (LCF). In 1987, LCF trustees agreed to provide a matching grant of $3.3 million to the Association. It would retire the burdensome $1.3 million debt accrued during the past decade. A five-‐year funding drive would complete the goal. With this heavy responsibility removed from immediate concern, Association membership could examine the recommendations produced by the governance self-‐study. Two hundred years after the “founding fathers” had submitted the U. S. Constitution to the people for ratification, the Association delegates approved a new constitution. The organization responsible for the two high schools would now be known as the Lutheran High School Association of St. Louis (LHSA). Congregations selected only two delegates to represent them at now only fall and spring association meetings. Peper resigned in April 1988. His assistant, Darrell Wallis, served as acting superintendent and then was named Executive Director in 1990. During that period David Waterman, former principal of Minneapolis Lutheran High School, replaced the retiring Eggerding at South. Reitz, retiring as principal in 1993, accepted a call to serve as the Association Director of Development. The Board called Crisler as principal at North. Mueller continued as Dean of Students, Repp Dean of Chapel and veteran business instructor Matt Heibel as Registrar. Russell and Hunt divided Mr. “V”s duties as he retired. Math instructor Mike Kratzer replaced Crisler in technology development and a generous donation by the Klingsick family permitted the old typing classrooms to be remodeled as a media center. Crisler immediately gave North a long-‐desired facelift. He paid teachers to repaint the classrooms and hallways, replace recessed hall lights with circular florescents and redecorate the cafeteria with a new logo image. The Lord continued to shower blessings on the Association. Long time North “first generation” educators like Velma Martin, John Hoyer and Mr. “V” retired. They were replaced by a new generation of teachers who would continue building the North mission based on their predecessors’ service and ministry. While the trying times that had plagued the St. Louis region in general and
North in particular had not been completely resolved, the North community responded to a slogan posted on the podium of history teacher Dave McCollister. It read: “Meet the challenge.” So empowered, North’s community of believers surmounted the grave challenges of the ‘80s. Daily they shared, with great joy, the good tidings of the Gospel. As the end of the millennium approached, they were uniquely positioned to boldly reach out to all people.
Annotated Bibliography, Chapter 4 “Malaise to Motion” is a summary of Fields, pp. 125-‐128 and 167-‐169. Pages 136-‐137 describe the ’81 Synodical Convention; pp. 191-‐193 the Wichita Convention. Townsend, “Stadium,” SLPD, 12/28/2014 describes the downtown building boom, while 250, p. 132 reveals the downside. Hammerstrom, “Scullin Steel,” Gateway-‐Heritage, Fall 1999: 83; 250, p. 142 and O’Neil, “Factories,” SLPD 1/11/15 all outline in varying degrees the St. Louis-‐area business collapse. 250, pp. 137-‐139, describes de facto segregation. Fragmented, pp. 85-‐87 verifies Bill McClellan’s, “As a city,” SLPD, 1/25/15, n. p., description of the abandoned city center. Sorkin, “Baudendistel,” SLPD, 1/15/2015, n. p., summarizes the origins of the rebirth while 250, p. 139 enlarges the scope of the St. Louis renaissance. O’Neil, “Desegregation,” SLPD, 1/4/15, n. p., outlines the Minnie Liddell case. 250, p. 136 provides more insight to the regional issues. Finally, Holleman, “Hate Group,” SLPD, 6/23/15, A5 describes the continued opposition of “hate groups” against the desegregation settlement. The California connection is described by Tirmenstein, while Prange provided information about Ijei’s changing duties. Craven summarized North’s development of the Special Education and LASE programs. John Kersten and O’Neil, “Blizzard of ’82,” SLPD, n. d., n. p., provide the details of the city’s shutdown. Tirmenstein also outlined the “zero hour” issues. McCollister described Bullock’s ritual. McCollister and Tirmenstein both reminisced about The Wiz of Oz. Dr. Brett Taylor, N’84, the “Cowardly Lion” in the play, had a distinguished high school career at North. Besides participating in the musicals, he played football and track and field. After graduating from Yale University in 1988 he attended Harvard University Medical School, where he received his medical degree in 1992. He achieved the rank of Major in the U. S. Air Force Medical Corps and currently is noted as one of the top orthopedic surgeons in private practice. Another exceptional medical professional was Dr. Richard Knight, N ’86. He attended Mizzou and became a pediatrician. He married classmate Christine Buescher and the two sent children Addie and Grayson to North. He has also served Grace Chapel in a variety of leadership capacities. The 1985 Crusader Supplement covered in great detail North’s designation as an exemplary school. The information about Gary May, whose selection as a Presidential Scholar “kicked off” the recognition of North’s academic excellence, can be accessed at a variety of Georgia Tech COE websites, particularly http://www.ae.gatech.edu/node/1697, accessed 7/28/15. It is only one of many awards he has received for his leadership in engineering education and family life. Crisler, and the pamphlet at Reitz’ Lutheran North memorial service, “Celebration of Life for Edward William Reitz,” November 2014, provided the capsules for Reitz’ service record. The 1818/ACC and AP comparison debate was vividly argued and discussed at Orlando Luther by Jim Prahlow and Acting Principal Ann Daunic during 1986. Don Prahlow provided observations about Association approaches to the problem. During the period between 2012 and 2015 the comparison of the 1818/ACC and AP formats continued to trigger discussions. By spring 2015 North’s faculty had begun to evaluate the revised AP materials within the context of keeping 1818/ACC—and maintaining a watchful “waiting” period as South’s faculty adapted their AP programming to the new revised protocols. Additional comparisons are part of the Student Information Sheet, Fall Semester (unpublished, from SLU 1818 Advanced College Credit Program, varying years, the latest 2014), which systematically compares the two programs. Connie (Eckert) Jander (N ’92), one of the outstanding volleyball athletes, today teaches locally is volunteer AD at Immanuel-‐Olivette. Tirmenstein and Repp described most of the pranks and senior activities while Prange outlined the origins of Peer Listeners. The service program, “Service of Installation of Mr. Victor C. Peper, November 20, 1983,” provided details about Peper. Rohde, pp. 5-‐7, summarized “Faith for the Future,” Lange Society origins and deficit issues. The athletic successes are summarized in Fiftieth. “The End—and the Beginning” is a summary of Rohde, pp. 6-‐8.
COMING SOON!
Chapter 5: Great Joy: 1984-‐1993 Lutheran High School South
As St. Louis experienced an urban renaissance, the Student Council initiated a number of creative programs. The soccer, baseball and, briefly, the football team, win in State playoffs. Girls’ squads, particularly the volleyball team and Lancerettes, successfully competed in a new league and in regional competitions. The cross country squads continued a string of exceptional State performances that would extend into the mid-‐ 90s. Rich Reiss and Mark Marting maintained the strong tradition of theater and musical performances. A curriculum renovation followed the arrival of many new faculty and staff. After Eggerding retired, David Waterman served as the new principal. Shirley Rauh introduced specific components of service learning.
Table of Contents
Chapter 6: Which Shall Be For All People: 1993-‐2001 Lutheran High School North
From Reagan to the Millennium The Synod Moves On A Partial St. Louis Renaissance Crisler Meets the Challenge Department Adaptations A Puzzling Development Co-‐Curricular Changes Athletic Success Written On Our Hearts and Lives An Interlude The Major League Connection The Successes Continue Continuity The Beat Goes On A Memorable Decade
601 602 603 604 607 609 609 611 613 614 614 615 616 617 619
Chapter 6: Which Shall Be For All People—1993-‐2001 Lutheran High School North
From Reagan to the Millennium
The twelve-‐year Reagan era ended with a series of American triumphs in foreign policy and international affairs. The first victory was the collapse of Soviet-‐style communism. Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf led U. N. forces to a second success. They removed Saddam Hussein and Iraqi troops from Kuwait. A third “victory” followed years of anticipation. Representatives of the European Community held their first parliamentary sessions. International competitions heightened awareness of cultural diffusion and tempered ethnic confrontations. Winter Olympic festivities in Albertville, France; Lillehammer, Norway and Nagano, Japan promoted unique local cultural identities within the ideals endorsed by the European Union. The 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games commemorated the “contact period” initiated by Columbus five hundred years before. And in 1996 the world’s athletes and journalists gathered in Atlanta for the Centennial Olympics. But natural disasters and factional rivalries created new challenges. Earthquakes in eastern Asia, flooding in southern Asia and drought in the horn of Africa threatened millions of lives and political stability. Religious warfare continued in Northern Ireland. Yugoslavia collapsed in a melee of ethnic and religious struggle. Rwandans turned on each other while Basque and Palestinian terrorist activity threatened a tenuous peace. Episodes of sectarian violence raised concerns about stability in Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Religious zealots in Japan released poison gas in subway stations. Fortunately, U. N. and American service agencies provided massive relief assistance to survivors of natural disasters. World leaders intervened where possible and brokered ceasefires. And U. N. and American troops served as buffering peacekeepers, separating hostile groups from reigniting sectarian conflict. By the mid-‐‘90s, moderate majority parties regained control of governments in several “hot spots.” Israel, Haiti, Russia and the European Community benefitted from leaders who tempered nationalist extremists. Many government leaders supported international cooperation and economic inclusion. This encouraged many to embrace optimistic appraisals about the world’s future. In the United States, low unemployment and inflation rates continued into the term of President George H. W. Bush. Continuation of Reagan’s policies reduced government restrictions on businesses and investment tools. But urban riots illustrated the frustrations of a growing underclass and the legacy of segregation. Miami’s Overtown residents suffered as many lashed out at what they believed were brutal police tactics. Rodney King’s beating by Los Angeles policemen, captured on video, sparked riots. Domestic issues like abortion, rights of homosexuals, placement of low-‐income housing and toxic waste disposal provoked tensions between single-‐interest groups and political organizations. Fears of confrontation with political activists, particularly Native Americans, terminated consideration of a national celebration of the Columbus Quincentennial. The devastating effects and difficult aftermath of Hurricane Andrew raised questions about the ability of government leadership to respond adequately to domestic emergencies. Bush ran for reelection against Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. Despite defeating Iraq and successfully negotiating with Gorbachev at Malta, he found no issues to energize voter support. Clinton promoted the ideal of inclusion for all in governmental affairs and promised to reform national health care. Promoting a Kennedy-‐type idealism, Clinton won. A Democratic majority in both houses enabled Clinton to implement his platform. He formed a task force to develop a national health care proposal, permitted homosexuals to remain in the military with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and endorsed Supreme Court abortion decisions. Federal
and local responses to devastating flooding in the upper Mississippi River valley and the World Trade Center bombing bolstered the credibility of Clinton’s administration. But reactions to counter-‐ culture organizations in Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas raised concerns about the use of federal power. A 1994 Republican resurgence created a legislative branch opposing abortion, assisted suicide and affirmative action. The new Republican majority supported a more traditional definition of family values. Unable to compromise with Clinton’s budgetary proposals, Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich used the furloughing of federal workers and slowdown of government services to gain the upper hand. It backfired. Voter concerns about Congressional actions helped Clinton defeat Republican nominee Bob Dole in the 1996 Presidential election. Subsequent investigations of Clinton’s prior real estate ventures, acceptance of campaign contributions from dubious sources and dalliances with an intern undermined confidence in the administration. The third incident resulted in impeachment proceedings. The domestic terrorist attack on the Borah Building in Oklahoma City, coupled with the Columbine tragedy, raised troubling issues about security at public facilities in an open society. Clinton, affably able to compartmentalize challenges, focused his energies on resolving diplomatic and racial issues. He developed economic contacts in China and encouraged its leaders to use moderate methods integrating differing economies during the annexation of Hong Kong. He expanded NATO. He encouraged Arab-‐Israeli peace accords. He also created a national discussion of racism to heal the breach symbolized by reactions to the O. J. Simpson trial, the Million Man March and the burning of more than forty churches of predominantly black congregations. By promoting preparations for the possible Y2K technological “melt down” and renewing studies of climate and environmental issues, Clinton restored some credibility to his administration. Vice President Al Gore, the heir apparent, strengthened administrative focus on technological innovation and environmental activism. The Synod Moves On Census data at the 1989 Wichita Convention indicated the Synod was unicultural, older and comprised of small congregations. Of the 1,081 voting delegates only twenty-‐one were female. Only 203 had been adult converts. Only thirty-‐eight were non-‐white. Half the delegates were fifty or older and 60% represented congregations of five hundred or fewer baptized. Only ten years prior to the 150th anniversary of the LCMS, the delegates sensed Synod was at a crossroads. President Bohlmann realized relationships and institutions had to be reshaped to meet mission opportunities. Synodical assignment of personnel and control of subsidies in foreign mission fields had strained relations between the Mission Board and fledgling church bodies. To counter criticism, Bohlmann encouraged the board to share the cost of specific activities in Argentina, extend partner status to Lutheran Church-‐Canada and develop missions in central Africa and eastern Europe. He promised to meet with ELCA leaders and discuss differences between LCMS and ELCA interpretations of inerrancy, close communion and the role of women in the church. He publicized peace and justice studies in public addresses and noted the many Synodical chaplains and enlisted men serving in Desert Storm. While these actions increased Synodical visibility and promoted involvement in contemporary society, Bohlmann’s activities antagonized some Synodical members. Fearing departure from a more narrowly defined agenda, they opposed his reelection. At the 1992 Synodical Convention, Bohlmann presented a Mission Blueprint for the ‘90s, focusing on North America as a mission field. He emphasized planting new churches among ethnic groups, developing leaders for multicultural ministries and providing help for existing churches in changing communities. He shared the same concerns delegates to the LAHE had studied for a decade. On the first full day of business, Dr. Alvin Barry, president of Iowa East, defeated Bohlmann by a twelve-‐vote margin. He would lead the denomination with Bohlmann’s cabinet, all of whom were returned to office. Barry had an opportunity to continue Bohlmann’s focus on mission. After all, Bohlmann had instituted change in Synod missions and rebuilt respect for the denomination. Having
brought a high sense of churchmanship to his office, he served as an articulate spokesman for Lutheranism and the Synod. Bohlmann laid the groundwork for Synod activities in the new millennium. A reorganization of administrative councils streamlined decision making. The Concordia University System promoted more efficient operations of the heavily indebted ten colleges and universities. Bohlmann’s encouragement of the CTCR to complete appropriate studies about contemporary issues bore fruit. The CTCR missives provided pastoral commentary to assist congregations and members troubled by Christian care at life’s end, race and the church, women and the church, the use of spiritual gifts and church-‐state relations. Bohlmann’s work also culminated in the formation of ministries to Native Americans and recharged faltering ministry initiatives among blacks and Hispanics. During his first term President Barry, whose election depended upon active politicization of delegates, faced financial constraints. This was caused by falling contributions that adversely affected world mission operations. Fewer undesignated gifts restricted Synod’s ability to meet normal operating expenses. Exhibiting a folksy persona, Barry had seemed comfortable in the congregational setting and initially ill at ease in large venues. Many hoped he could continue to foster a broader vision of Synodical mission. In 1995, he asked delegates to “select a team to work with me.” They unseated Dr. August Mennicke, First Vice President since 1986. The delegates also voted a slate disseminated in partisan circulars. They removed three of the Concordia-‐Ft. Wayne regents who successfully sought Robert Preus’ retirement from the Seminary. Discussions about Synodical directives that targeted youth gatherings, worship materials and congregational hymnals concluded with a reaffirmation of close communion practices. One District president commented that this approach “. . . breathes a sense of fear and a guarded and introverted approach to Christ’s Supper . . . [and it becomes] something over which we must have control, and a Meal from which people have to be protected, rather than a Banquet to which they should be invited.” President Emeritus Bohlmann expressed concern some Lutherans, undergoing an identity crisis in both witness and relationships, resorted to political power and Convention resolutions to maintain vaunted traditions. He echoed one impassioned pastor’s plea that historical confessions not be used to “. . . club each other over the head but to build and strengthen each other.” When a member of ALSS approached Barry to discuss the impact of Synodical directives and initiatives on Lutheran high schools and multicultural ministries, Barry declared he had never heard of ALSS. He excused himself from the conversation, too busy to meet with the representative. A carefully planned convention permitted delegates to dutifully close the proceedings a day early. In the mean time, the NAACP pressed the FCC for settlement in a case against radio station KFUO. As the plaintiffs sued to resolve alleged violations of hiring practices at the St. Louis radio station, Synodical administrators responded to Black Ministry Convocation resolutions. They also agreed to review and modify mission policies that affected African partner churches. Synod committed LWR domestic grants to assist rebuilding some of the churches destroyed by arson. It also promoted recruitment of minority students for church leadership. Several Great Commission Convocations, developed to promote congregational evangelism, showcased a number of thriving ethnic ministries. Perhaps in the new millennium ethnic ministries and multicultural initiatives could be more inclusive on the local level than they appeared to be on the Synodical level. The administration at Lutheran North was poised to continue its initiative.
A Partial St. Louis Renaissance
Despite the devastating Mississippi River flooding, St. Louisans optimistically looked forward to recovery from the difficult challenges of the ‘80s. Lambert was the tenth busiest airport in the nation chiefly because American Airlines and TWA maintained international hubs at the facility. TWA taxed runway capacity. It accounted for two-‐thirds of Lambert’s six hundred daily flights and 75% of the more than fifteen million annual passenger boardings. Anticipated growth required the airport authority to build an additional runway. Upstart carrier Southwest, at Lambert since TWA had
bought out regional Ozark Airlines in the mid-‐‘80s, moved as sole occupant to the refurbished East Terminal in 1998. A Metrolink light rail system linked the airport and north suburbs with the new downtown civic center, rebuilt shopping venues and stadiums. And the dome finally had a tenant: The Los Angeles Rams. Lured by lucrative incentives and the opportunity to sell personal seat licenses, the team moved from Los Angeles and opened the 1994 season in the TWA Dome. Downtown benefitted from a new “facelift.” Office space built during the late ‘80s led to business expansion. By 2000, St. Louis Centre, AT and T Center, One Metropolitan Square and the Thomas F. Eagleton Courthouse towered over the city. The refurbished mall extended from the riverfront Arch all the way to Union Station. The Delmar Loop, anchored by Blueberry Hill, earned repute for its eclectic shops, unique cuisine and ethnic diversity. There were some concerns. The first was education. UMSL Professor J. Frederick Fausz noted that problem-‐plagued schools beset by challenges of class and racial inequality remained a ticking “time bomb.” They served as incubators of violence. St. Louis 2004, Great Rivers Greenway and Forest Park Forever created visionary plans for improving infrastructure and quality of life. But the St. Louis 2004 “action plan” agenda that addressed racism, discrimination, gang violence, air pollution, minority business growth and technology needs failed to address an educational initiative or governmental reform. Only a year later frustrations about apparent lack of minority hires in infrastructure projects led to a July 12, 1999, morning rush hour protest. Civil rights and labor leaders blocked traffic on I-‐70 at Goodfellow Boulevard. A second issue that troubled local leaders was the economic downturn. Local business giants faced takeovers, probable restructuring and inevitable downsizing. Mallinckrodt was purchased by Tyco International. Ralston Purina entered discussions that resulted in a merger with Nestle. By 2000, St. Louis Centre faced foreclosure by creditors. In North County economic recovery stalled. Boeing purchased the McDonnell-‐Douglas Corporation. A giant in the aerospace industry, home of the Phantom fighter series, origin of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft and developer of the F series military jets, it had employed as many as forty thousand workers. Boeing’s restructuring reduced employment to ten thousand. And when the Lambert airport authority built the new runway, it used eminent domain to condemn 40% of neighboring Bridgeton’s homes and one-‐third of its businesses. The new millennium did bring hope. Approaching milestone markers of the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial and the city’s 250th Anniversary Celebration created interest in cooperative planning and regional coordination. Perhaps the region’s many government leaders could deal with local problems and develop a comprehensive outlook to fulfill the simple goals of Urban League head James H. Buford. He challenged people to live their lives to leave an example and legacy for others to follow. North County, its economy stalling, underwent a transition. White retirees, “empty nesters” now that their children were raised, moved out of the area. Many young, often underemployed black families, assisted by government programs, moved into sprawling apartment complexes located in unincorporated areas. Seeking relief from the troubles of city neighborhoods, they found that only one social service agency served, for example, the entire Spanish Lake region. Most did not share the prosperity brought by the renaissance in the downtown center. Plant closures reduced employment opportunities. Ferguson, a traditional blue-‐collar community close to many now-‐closed industrial plants, was 75% white in 1990. It was on its way to becoming 67% black by 2000, many of its new residents needing training for tech jobs a long public transit ride away. To complicate matters, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education found many area schools deficient during accreditation evaluations. Administrators and teachers in neighboring Wellston, Jennings, Riverview Gardens, Normandy and St. Louis Public School districts faced almost insurmountable challenges in regaining full accreditation.
Crisler Meets the Challenge
By 1993, North’s school enrollment fell below 350. Something had to be done quickly. The first was publicity. Only a year after taking the reins, Crisler had something to announce. ALSS officials
had developed a program to evaluate schools deemed commendable for their high educational standards and quality of school climate. They used the services of Missouri District educational executives led by Duane Hingst to conduct the studies. On behalf of North, Crisler accepted the honor of being one of the selected educational institutions worthy of an ALSS moniker as one of the nation’s “Exemplary Lutheran High Schools.” With a Barry-‐led Synod struggling to provide any models of higher education in a multicultural setting, perhaps North’s example could spur more creative use of Synod Office Building resources. The second action to counter falling enrollment was creativity. Increased core requirements by the state of Missouri threatened to make obsolete the six-‐period day. While zero hour provided time for students to take a few elective courses, the traditional schedule would not provide an opportunity for most students to attain the required number of credits to graduate. Growing student demand for more college credit curricular offerings provided an opportunity to reevaluate the entire curriculum in the context of a new schedule. Strengthening ties to St. Louis University with its 1818/ACC offerings and developing more AP course material would fulfill those needs. A stronger, broader academic program might entice more local prospects to “invest” tuition fees at North for a greater post-‐graduation return. After all, one of the participants in these offerings was Emily Dehne. North’s community had just celebrated her selection as a National Merit Scholar. Crisler pursued funding to launch a thorough examination of the newly-‐developed “Block Schedule.” AAL provided a ten thousand dollar grant to support the expected costs of visiting schools and adapting curriculum to the new format. Crisler traveled to Salt Lake City to observe schools that started the block schedule in the ‘70s. The designation itself describes a chapter in the history of education in Utah. When the program had developed in Utah, all public schools were built on blocks owned by the Mormons. Next to each high school was a Mormon “seminary” building. On schedule, students left the public school to attend religious instruction “down the block.” The students had eight ninety-‐minute classes—four each day-‐-‐in a recurring two-‐day cycle. One of those was designated for the “seminary” block. It enabled more efficient use of time as students attended class “down the block.” Crisler and Registrar Matt Heibel, in conjunction with Curriculum Coordinator Carl Holschen, visited similar Missouri public school programs at Springfield Hillcrest and Kansas City North. Brentwood High was the only local school with the block schedule. Brentwood administrators had actually hired a Salt Lake City administrator to start their program. With some minor variations, the respective school boards and administrations provided practical suggestions for the North faculty to implement an eight-‐block schedule. Soon, curricular groups divided the cycle of classes into two four-‐block days, each block eighty-‐five minutes in length. Classes met every other day, blocks one through four on “A” day and blocks five through eight on “B” day. On the second day of each two-‐day rotation, the sixth block became an “academic lab.” Students read for the first twenty minutes of each lab and then had the next sixty-‐four minutes of the lab to do a variety of things. They could make up exams, receive tutoring from other students, work on group projects, conduct research in the new media center, complete assignments in the computer lab and confer with instructors. Administrators of the schools that successfully implemented the block schedule also encouraged Crisler to host frequent informational assemblies during the fourth quarter labs. They noted this practice successfully counteracted “spring fever” and helped students refocus on classroom responsibilities. The old schedule had never had more than fifty-‐two minutes per class, so the longer blocks enabled teachers to develop more definitive instructional activities. Students could complete the tasks at hand and teachers would still have time to field questions or discuss students’ observations. With the longer block, even short field trips became possible. The PE Department created new units of bowling and golfing and considered the addition of swimming. All depended upon the use of off-‐ campus facilities. Home economics curriculum incorporated visits to local grocery stores and retail outlets. Faculty and administrators who visited the sites of successful block implementation noticed the academic lab posed several supervisory problems. They noted the necessity of supervising hallways, tracking student movement and maximizing media center use without overtaxing resources. They
also observed how the Hillcrest teachers, strong advocates for the schedule, engaged their students in the learning process by incorporating three different instructional methods per block. Traditional teaching habits would have to change. The Hillcrest faculty did warn observers that another cautionary issue was the cost of implementation. In the new cycle, instructors taught five periods out of eight and supervised an academic lab. The administration would have to add teachers to fill new blocks created by the schedule. A second issue that troubled some faculty was the frequency of classes. Foreign language and music courses, in particular, depended upon daily immersion, repetition and practice. As part of the plenary faculty discourse, one veteran teacher/coach asked the rhetorical question, “Should the football team only practice together every other day?” Faculty consensus provided an answer to the query: The new system required students to do more on their own. The program raised expectations about student responsibilities. But several teachers expressed concern about the impact the schedule would have on freshmen and students with learning disabilities. Students in those two categories often exhibited inadequate planning abilities and poor independent work habits. To resolve the issue, the administrative committee adjusted the planned schedule. It designated each Friday of a five-‐day school week as an “AB Day.” This guaranteed teacher-‐student contact three days per week during most of the school year. Each student also received a planner. On a daily basis, lab instructors and teachers of freshmen directed use of this key organizational tool. The block schedule created a third challenge. For example, two math lessons of fifty-‐two minutes each could not be “squeezed” into an eighty-‐five minute block. Over the course of a year, a course lost approximately two weeks of instructional time. Departments would restructure course content. Students would be expected to complete more material outside the formal classroom setting. A final issue raised by the new schedule was the timing of faculty meetings. During the first year of implementation the faculty rarely met in full plenary. However, administrative heads led periodic “sectional” meetings. Faculty, available for consultation during specific planning blocks, continued communication about policy adaptation and curriculum development. The new system encouraged student-‐student and faculty-‐student collaboration. It developed student self-‐reliance and fostered the creation of more rigorous college credit course work. Finally, it provided larger blocks of time for lengthier experiences not possible under the old schedule. These opportunities swayed North’s faculty to adopt the new program in 1995. South followed a year later. Most importantly, the administrations provided professional development opportunities. Teachers observed the block system as implemented at other institutions. They also spoke to instructors in other schools about its benefits, challenges and hazards. To help teachers adapt instruction to the unique format, Holschen extensively studied the issues raised by implementation of the new schedule. He developed some common statistical markers about successful dissemination and testing of course content. Using those benchmarks, Holschen compared instructional methodologies used during the traditional “fire drill schedule” as opposed to those utilized in the new block schedule. Students helped complete this task. They charted teachers’ use of time first under the period schedule. Then, after Crisler provided funding and time for teachers to attend professional development workshops, the students repeated the same observations during the block schedule. Holschen analyzed the statistical data that appraised the use of classroom instructional time, noting the shorter classes of the six-‐period day chiefly revolved around teacher-‐led lectures and demonstrations. Under the block schedule, teachers used more cooperative and participatory student activities. Test results indicated the latter approach helped improve academic performance. Those comparative observations became the centerpiece of the North Central Accreditation evaluations during the late ‘90s. They also provided him the basis for completing his doctoral research. Initially, class and club advisors hoped their activities could meet during a portion of the academic lab period. That created a number of issues regarding supervisory duties: students missing tutoring time, additional traffic in the hallways, appropriate settings for meetings. After only a year, the administration implemented “late start Mondays” to provide the time for the activity meetings. But as South adopted the block schedule, the two high schools shared personnel and could not operate
independent schedules. North eliminated the “AB Day” and moved the “late start” to Wednesdays. This permitted, for example, Chris Durst, who worked in student special services, to more easily travel between her destinations. The schedule coordination also enabled North to continue its French program without an on-‐site instructor. A special interactive television feed enabled Paula Larsen (Gyllenborg) instructing South students to also teach North students at the same time.
Department Adaptations
Two departments, in particular, used the new system to implement several curricular changes and efficiently use the expertise of its department members. The Social Studies Department, chaired by Dave McCollister, reformulated its courses. Freshmen would now take World History-‐Geography I, developing analytical geography skills and then studying a variety of cultures up to 1763. Sophomores in World History-‐Geography II would study cultures through the contemporary era, spending more than a semester examining the post-‐1900 period. The American colonial era, Caribbean issues, World War I and World War II would not be included in the junior year of United States History because those topics had been examined in the newly repackaged World History courses. Senior students could take the two semesters of ACC/AP United States History or an independent study. They also had the option of taking Humanities, which was an introduction to Psychology and Sociology. Incorporated in these curricular adaptations were longer media center research sessions, multi-‐media student-‐led presentations, the required reading of historical fiction, inclusion of more essay writing as part of exams and more cooperative learning for test review. The department members often discussed these issues at the ALSS-‐sponsored Midwest Educators Conference. The full-‐day conference, hosted by Crisler at North on the Friday prior to the LAHE Auction, included corporate worship, an address by a nationally-‐known educator or motivational speaker, communal lunch, breakout sessions facilitated by department chairs and concluding devotions. Because most schools had similar enrollments, the participating faculties assisted each other in resolving curricular and classroom issues created by block scheduling. North’s Social Studies faculty touted the educational benefits of using the new technology available in the media center. The long-‐time traditional highlight of the first semester for Mac’s juniors (besides his Bunker Hill charges) was the creation of the video about antebellum slavery. Al Smith, World History-‐Geography II and Humanities instructor, developed a series of traditional projects based on Contemporary World, a CD-‐driven program that compared lives and possessions of families from thirty-‐five different countries. New arrival from Orlando Luther was Jim Prahlow. Like Doc Prahlow at South, he introduced the tour book assignment, requiring students in World History-‐Geography I to create a scrapbook of photos, pamphlets and commentary about a historic site or museum. In the northwest wing of the second floor, Mike Kratzer juggled multiple teacher and student requests to use the media center, cameras and specific computers for their downloads to complete the new class projects. In 1995 the five-‐to-‐one student to computer ratio was one of the best in the area. During the transition to the block schedule, Pastor Repp led the chapel program and Religion Department through a renaissance. While he emphasized the sanctity of the chapel that “masqueraded” as a gym during the rest of the time, he encouraged student participation in chapel. New chapel furnishings in 1995 provided for a renewed focus during worship. Not long after the new altar and lectern had been commissioned for use, Repp’s daughter Angela, a North grad, provided new liturgical banners. Suspended from a pulley support system anchored in the walls and ceiling, the banners helped students note the seasons of the church year. In the aftermath of the Synodical crisis of the ‘70s, the implementation of the inter-‐district transfer program in the ‘80s and the migration of many to St. Charles County in the ‘90s, fewer LCMS Lutherans attended North. To provide continuity and stability in a student body where fewer than 60% of the students were LCMS Lutherans, weekly worship cycles were very regimented. Each Monday students assisted homeroom teachers with the lectionary readings. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays faculty leaders led skits, presented homilies or held songfests. Wednesdays were reserved for small group devotionals. The
ever-‐present Klingsick accompanied hymns on organ or piano. During festival services the band, choir or Student Council groups accompanied or led worship. Repp scheduled several student organizations to lead chapel during specific weeks. Each year in late October a TREND series dealt with the issues of depression and suicide. In late April Student Council led services that emphasized the importance of students making good choices during prom and graduation “season.” Occasionally these chapels encouraged students to observe additional displays that highlighted consequences of decisions. Each spring Student Council arranged for the display of a car from a local junkyard. It provided a shocking reminder about the problems caused by inattention at the wheel or the hazards of drunk driving. Repp also provided the impetus to systematize the record keeping and require the completion of the Saved to Serve program. Andrea Vahrenhorst, a freshman religion instructor, encouraged students to design and complete volunteer projects in school or in congregations. Her successor, John Tape, adapted the program to better fulfill the needs of local families and service organizations. With the voluntary nature of participation, unlike the program initiated at South where Shirley Rauh incorporated supervised SLYCE initiatives, students rarely provided verification of completed projects. In 1993, the Association Board approved the addition of service hours to graduation requirements. At North, freshmen and sophomores were required to complete ten hours of volunteer service each year. Juniors and seniors were required to complete fifteen hours each year. A simplified paper form turned in to the Saved to Serve coordinator required students to describe in a few paragraphs the service duties completed during the time allotted. Then the individual was required to complete a contemplative paragraph about the experience in the context of either 2 Samuel 7 or 1 Corinthians 3: 9-‐11. During the first years of the Saved to Serve program, two projects demonstrated the type of servant hearts Saved to Serve proponents hoped to foster. Onyi Ijei logged more than five hundred hours while monitoring phones for KUTO (Kids Under Twenty-‐one), a local counseling and suicide hot line serving teens. The second project, carried out in June 1996, was completed by a vanload of students. Mac drove the students to Alabama where, for a week, the group rehabbed a couple of historic sites originally used by Rosa Young and Concordia-‐Selma. Because of these types of service activities, fraternal organization AAL financially supported the program. The annual stipend was added to the student assistance fund. The focus on nurturing student spiritual growth with faith-‐life experiences led to a change in the chapel schedule. In 1998, North adopted South’s small group chapel setting. Guidance Center personnel and the Dean of Chapel vetted each upperclassman who applied to become a peer minister. Faculty members provided additional insights about the character of each applicant. Prior to the start of the school year guidance counselors and chapel dean led training sessions. They also paired veteran leaders with inexperienced applicants. Then they selected each of the small group’s membership, distributing as evenly as possible representatives of each class and gender. The peer ministers led weekly devotions. They also led their respective small groups in providing Christmas gifts for needy families and selecting Faith in Action projects. Finally, they provided initial rudimentary counseling for students troubled by personal or societal issues. Repp, and later Rev. Mark Meschke, wrote a series of devotionals to assist student leaders develop facilitator skills during the first sessions of each school year. At other times, particularly during specific crises like Columbine and 9/11, they created Biblical study guides to assist peer leaders in facilitating productive discussion. As in the Lutheran tradition, many groups shared snacks during the sessions. Later, when South moved to two small group meetings per week to address its specific needs, North maintained the one day per week tradition.
A Puzzling Development
With focused worship and servant opportunities in the Association schools, it was puzzling that a few Synodical leaders, Seminary administrators, District personnel and even parish pastors appeared to discount lay-‐ and commissioned worker-‐led ministries. This initially became most obvious in higher education. Support eroded for Valparaiso University and its annual Sunday in January. As the institution’s leadership grappled with the realities of educating a higher percentage of non-‐ Lutherans, the university’s counselors and administrators created new venues to better facilitate interaction with those students. LCMS/ELCA conflicts distracted Synodical leaders from discussions about education. Instead, they focused energies on prohibiting discussion of non-‐negotiable resolutions to Valpo campus issues like ordination of women. Even a Concordia-‐River Forest college president appeared disengaged with Lutheran education. He sent his children to a local non-‐Lutheran school. Some Association teachers at North and South, concerned about the symbolic significance of this issue, started a letter writing campaign to encourage the leader to reconsider. The individual responded pastorally to the queries and reevaluated the family decision. While difficult, the exchanges did result in more positive contact between graduates, donors and the institution and revitalized dialogue between Association, college and Synodical representatives. This was a significant development because at the same time some local parish leaders expressed a few concerns. They perceived “their” students at North and South did not participate as readily in congregational activities because of involvement in high school programs. Fortunately, the publication of empirical data successfully countered those concerns. Between 1996 and 2008, Saved to Serve statistics reveal that more than half of all North students fulfilled their service hours by working in their congregations. They taught VBS, assisted in Sunday school, served as tutors, helped in classrooms, supervised tiny tot play, maintained church grounds, supervised pre-‐ confirmation servant projects, advised junior youth groups and coached athletic teams. Most served above and beyond the hours officially recorded, helping Crisler and Mueller, in particular, reengage with congregational delegates. South, led by Rev. Ron Roma, countered similar concerns on the south side. He fostered direct student participation in feeder school chapels and invited congregational youth workers to lead corporate chapel worship. But looking for support from Synodical and neighborhood church worker personnel was not always successful, and at times even included an ironic twist. When a local north side Association congregation celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, one of its festival Sundays was “Christian Education Sunday.” The main speaker, a professor at the Seminary, had withdrawn his child from a Lutheran high school. The worship leader sent his children to a public high school. And the congregational representative home schooled his children. Fortunately, students at North benefitted from renewed contacts with the Sem. Like during the Central years, Sem students and wives worked at North. Sem student Jed Maschke coached cross country and track teams. Sem wives Diana Strand taught full time in the Foreign Language Department and Lisa Lessing worked in the Guidance Center. Later Cindy Burreson would head the Guidance Center and Sem student Darin Keener would teach religion classes. Perhaps the healthy relationship between the institutions had been rekindled by the joint North/South baccalaureate service held each May at the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the Sem campus.
Co-‐Curricular Changes
To better focus on student recruitment, Mueller needed to relinquish some of his many duties. The advisor of Student Council, TREND, Dean of Students, Assistant Principal, instructor of Christian Living, head basketball coach, Director of Recruitment and Director of Summer Camps also had four children who ranged in age from elementary school to high school. He gave his TREND responsibilities to Mike Prange and Student Council duties to Tim Hipenbecker. He handed Saved to Serve coordination to Prahlow. While he now had the time to focus on recruitment, he also sought
new challenges. He and wife Kathy, a preschool teacher at Chapel of the Cross, soon adopted a new child. Hipenbecker, who also led FBLA, used Mueller’s approach to Student Council to broaden outreach activities. Noting that during the early ‘90s the school body averaged at least twenty-‐five sets of siblings each year, he encouraged more social nights. While the three traditional dances continued (Homecoming, Christmas Dance, Valentines Dance) students added activities night (gym activities that included a dunk contest), game night (Mortal Kombat was the bomb!), and swing dancing. An annual faculty-‐Student Council basketball game, its proceeds benefitting a local charity, took on a life of its own. In the first game played in 1996, Student Council rallied from eight down to tie at the end of regulation. When the first overtime ended at 52-‐52, all agreed to call it a night. The next year, the faculty held a two-‐point advantage and the ball as the clock ran down. But a missed layup gave the students a final chance. Dan Grupe hooked in a “hope” shot from half court to give the raucous Student Council squad a 51-‐50 upset—while raising almost five hundred dollars for a needy family. In more serious activities, Hipenbecker’s leadership in Student Council and FBLA encouraged students to explore public programs outside the immediate area. His top FBLA student, Sara Carter, earned a trip to Washington, D. C. to compete in a national business competition. Deidra Scott and Stephanie Dooley, daughter of a County official (and later County Supervisor) Charlie Dooley, traveled to the capitol to witness the Clinton inauguration. Another key co-‐curricular organization was the OAAAC. Annually, between mid-‐January and the end of February, its members led a series of chapels and assemblies focusing on black history and culture. They organized worship and celebrations that included the talents of interpretive readers, the Gospel Choir (directed by former teacher Angela Gaskin), soloists and dancers. The focus of the assemblies gradually evolved. Initially informational in nature, organizers of the early assemblies confronted racial stereotypes and provided a means of worshipful artistic expression. By the mid-‐ ‘90s they transformed the assemblies into affirming, inspirational events. In the thought-‐provoking presentations, speakers utilized video clips and motivational materials to highlight regional and national events caused by contemporary issues. CPH administrator Rev. John Nunez, Grace Chapel Pastor Dave Mulder, social worker Otis Woodard and Missouri Circuit Clerk Mavis Thompson (N ’74) challenged students to rise above the tensions caused by racism. Ever-‐present posters and displays highlighting the contributions of black leaders to American culture and society adorned hallway walls, bulletin boards and cafeteria doorways. These visual aids often provoked healthy discussions and interesting educational experiences. As an additional byproduct of this lengthy period of celebration, many developed empathy for other cultures and ethnic groups. John Thomas, a new social studies teacher, served as OAAAC advisor after Ijei left North to develop a private counseling practice. Thomas, whose wife Marti took over the chorale department, broadened the educational component of Black History Month. He renamed the group the Organization for the Appreciation of World Cultures in Christ to incorporate celebrations of additional ethnic and cultural traditions. While still primarily highlighting black history during February, he noted the arrival of many new immigrant groups in St. Louis, particularly along South Grand, West Olive and the Bevo Mill neighborhoods. His series of assembly programs included outside speakers and student groups educating the student body about Caribbean, African and Latino cultures. These dovetailed with his classroom duties that included instruction about modern themes in world history. Marti Thomas did the same with the choral program. In her first year she tripled the number of students in the chorus. Successful performances fostered her goal to make the second semester of the class an “audition only” organization. Her enthusiasm for co-‐curriculars quickly recruited students for a show choir. It led assemblies at local elementary schools and churches. Thomas also started an annual coffee house that highlighted student performances. One of those students, Ed Williams, followed her cue and played piano occasionally during lunch hours. During this era, Thomas and the Drama Department head—first Steve Gruenwald, then Rachael Hamre and finally Kelly Hobbs-‐-‐annually co-‐produced a musical and a drama.
Gruenwald’s most memorable productions included Little Shop of Horrors and Godspell. He edited the latter offering to include an appended resurrection scene. Gruenwald used his exceptional voice and acting abilities for the general benefit of the Association. Twice he appeared at the Sem games to promote an Elvis Presley SH-‐Boom concert benefit for the high schools. Gruenwald also led a barbershop quartet involving art teacher Kurt Bergdolt, former North instructor Nierman and North parent Dave Drewes. They sang at congregational dedications, church picnics and delegate gatherings. Hamre, who also coached the Dance Cru, directed musicals like Once on the Island and Les Miserables. Hobbs had a penchant for nostalgia. She directed Arsenic and Old Lace, 1940s Radio Hour and Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Tirmenstein’s band program broadened its scope and successfully coordinated performances with recruitment efforts. The band, with the addition of North and SIUC grad Derek Spears, took trips to Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois and Minnesota that included day trips to Opryland and Mall of America. A 1999 citation for earning a “1” at the annual State band fest became another notable achievement, as well as Jon Krekel’s participation in the trumpet section of the All State Band. His three-‐year run continued with similar recognitions later earned by Brian Funke and Brian McEuen. The drum ensemble developed a quality tradition earning several high ratings in the State competition. In 1993 Tirmenstein noted that Concordia-‐River Forest rekindled local interest in the school as its wind symphony led worship at Immanuel-‐St. Charles. The following spring he and Crisler contacted Rev. David Groth at Grace Chapel and asked if the North band could help lead a worship service. He agreed, and the band led hymns at worship. It started a tradition in which congregations could see and share in the development of their students’ Christian education. Lutheran North Sundays soon dotted the calendar, the musicians leading hymns during worship and Crisler or Mueller conducting an informational meeting during the adult Bible class period. The concert and jazz bands also performed at local elementary schools, including Mueller’s new “feeder,” Ascension Catholic, that frequently sent as many as six graduates to North each year. The local “tour” approach led to an unexpected bonanza for band enrollment. By 1999, the band membership, exceeding more than one hundred, could not fit in the band room. The registrar added a separate Beginning/Intermediate Band class to the schedule. The annual Academic Fair and Music Festival continued its success. Traditionally on the first Friday of March, Lutheran elementary school choirs, bands and chimers performed before judges. The next day soloists and other musician groups joined “mathletes” and spellers to compete for ribbons and ratings. Parents, teachers and students could also view judged art work or science projects displayed in the gym. After 2002, students competed in a new Bible Fact competition. In 2006 Social Studies became a third subject in the triennial project rotation.
Athletic Success
Athletic excellence at Lutheran North, already established during the ‘80s, became part of the school culture during the ‘90s. Year after year, student-‐athletes in many sports competed not just for league honors but for State plaques. Naturally, building on the success of the late ‘80s, Russell’s football squad in 1993 started the run. Comprised chiefly of the ’90 winless C teamers, the ‘93 edition won the District competition and advanced to the State playoffs. Sweeping through the first three rounds, the favored Crusaders traveled to Columbia to play at Mizzou on a cold Thanksgiving weekend. This meant North’s squads had played in the State finals five of the last twelve years, and more incredibly, four of the last six. Quarterback Nate Ritter and running backs Chevron Williams, Deric Johnson and Byron Devrouax led the group, rallying to close to 13-‐12 against Warsaw. Late in the game the squad drove down field. A missed field goal denied the team a fifth state championship. That spring, several of the football players, including John Hundley and Ellis Gales, joined the track squad. Crisler, now principal, had completed his track stint with a flourish, and made certain the “cupboard was not bare.” During the ’93 campaign Rodney Hester won the 100M title. Devrouax, Johnson and freshman Byron Mischeaux, who joined Hester to earn fourth in the 4 x 1, all returned in
’94. They added Williams to the relay—and finished fourth again. Jonte Greer earned fourth in Triple Jump (TJ). Hundley, who in his first year of track, earned individual medals in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles (IH) and Long Jump (LJ), joined Gales, D’Anthony (“Smooth”) Smotherman and Ryan Mays to score in the 4 x 4. After having won an ABC League title three weeks earlier, it was a nice way to end the season. A bigger surprise awaited. As the team was packing up to leave they heard the announcement they had just earned the second track plaque in school history. The girls, whose season two years before had ended with no one participating in District, were led by vets Tammy Taylor and Taedra Rutlin. The duo and three new freshmen earned medals at the meet. Things looked particularly promising for the girls’ future fortunes. That fall was momentous. First, one of those “new freshmen,” Rachel Mueller, tried cross country. Having enjoyed track in elementary school, she liked running in the parks around the area. Because of heavier traffic in the community, administrators no longer permitted students to “run the roads” and daily Coach Terrass traveled by van or bus to a local park. On a team with five other novices, she found herself running through parks with the boys. After opening strongly at the Lutheran South Invite, she medaled in every meet. Coach Terrass’ boys, too, improved each meet, spending a lot of time at the Prin course where District was held. Mueller won the individual District title. With Smotherman, Lathundrel Robinson and Carl Darris in the top five at District, the guys qualified for State for the second time in school history. Continuous rain during the week in Jefferson City leading to the meet at Oak Hill prohibited course tours. Mueller, having seen it only from afar, found herself up front at the 2K mark racing her Valley Park nemesis in the pouring rain—and pulling away. She won the school’s first individual State cross country championship with the largest victory margin of the day. About a half hour later, in a separate classification, Lutheran South’s boys earned their second consecutive State cross country team title. Jack Preus of South duplicated Mueller’s individual win. It had been quite a day for the Association schools. Two weeks later, North soccer coach Kurt Bergdolt announced that Grant Brinkmeyer earned All State honors, too. The following spring Soph Dan Fennewald finished in the top five of several golf matches. Putting his best game together at District, he became the first Crusader to compete at the State golf championships. The baseball team, too, had an exceptional run. The District champions, led by captain Kevin Drury, Joel Nierman, Kevin Thurman and Doug Beckman, went on a twelve-‐game tear during mid-‐season and swept into the Quarterfinals. The 14-‐4 Crusaders, however, could not rally late and fell one game short of the Final Four. Smotherman and company returned to the track. After sweeping a second ABC title, a dropped baton in the 4 x 1 cost the squad a District championship. With four events qualified for Jeff City, coaches Terrass, Tirmenstein, Bergdolt and Prahlow hoped for some medals. Smotherman, who won the 800M, anchored both the 4 x 2 (including Jared Owens, Mischeaux, and Johnson) and 4 x 4 (including Owens, Mays and Demon Buckley) to wins. Joe Beard awaited his rounds in the TJ that started about the time the 4 x 4 ended. Meanwhile, the girls were on their way to a surprisingly easy State championship. Already having won the first of four consecutive league titles and the second of eight consecutive District championships, they were ready. They won the 4 x 2, vet Taylor pulling Crystal Guynn, Shamica Buckley and Amy Tirmenstein to a school record. Taylor led the 4 x 1 of Guynn, Melanie McDaniel and Jazale Greer to another victory. Mueller finished runner up in both the 1600 and 800, as did Tirmenstein in the TJ. Guynn sneaked into a fifth in the 300LH and came back to join Tirmenstein, McDaniel and Mueller in a 4 x 4 win. The Lady Thinclads won North’s first State track title, while Beard waited to jump. On his final jump he slipped up into fifth, the guys now only 1.5 points behind Palmyra. On the final jump of the meet, the fourth-‐place athlete leaped into second, pushing Palmyra’s jumper back to third, losing two points. The Crusaders had their second State championship of the day! It was quite a bus ride back to Lucas and Hunt. The following fall, Smooth returned for his final year. Rejoined by Darris, veteran Dan Grupe and newcomers Ed Barron, Ed Deloch, and Troy Brown, the cross country squad finished runner up at the District meet in O’Fallon Park to qualify for the second year in a row. The team had entered mid-‐ season improving quite rapidly when Barron’s and Brown’s families decided to participate in the Million Man March. The two, galvanized by the experience, returned to the squad after the lengthy bus ride from D. C. At the urging of Beard, they shared their stories while riding to and from
practices. The team bonding helped them finish seventh at State, Darris and Smotherman in the top thirty. Melanie McDaniel took her cue from Beard and occasionally, during post-‐workout bus rides, led the Matins choruses Bergdolt had introduced in chapel. She, along with Guynn and frosh Jana Tillman and Randi Sellers, became the first girls’ squad to earn a District plaque and compete at State. Mueller reprised her State success with a tenth. That winter, both girls’ and boys’ basketball teams lost tight games in the District finals. Perhaps the highlight of the winter had been when Nate Mueller hit a late trey to defeat South in overtime in the Sem games (at Fontbonne!). But both teams seemed poised for future quality performances. Baseball, led by pitcher Corey Biegener, second baseman Greg Mueller and Jim Bowling rebounded from a disappointing year. In the spring of ‘96, the veteran track squads again swept double State victories. Smotherman, Mischeaux and Buckley led underclassmen Darris, Shaun McMorris, Brown and jumper Ishmael Sistrunk to a surprisingly easy win at the State meet. They swept three relays and Mischeaux won the 100M. Smotherman won a second consecutive 800M title. The ladies had a few technical troubles, hurdler Guynn false starting and Mueller ill with the flu. But the crew rallied, Tillman scoring big points in the 400M, 200M and HJ. Guynn and Mueller recovered to join Tirmenstein and McDaniel on the 4 x 4 to complete the day with a runner up slot, but a second consecutive State meet win. It was an exceptional crew. Smotherman ran at Grambling and then coached and taught in St. Louis and Atlanta. Beard continued his trumpet performances during his collegiate career at Jackson State where he earned a business degree. After majoring in journalism at Mizzou, Sistrunk returned home as a sports writer for the St. Louis American. In 2015 wife Ebony became a counselor at South. Darris, who graduated from Alabama A and M, earned his doctorate at Meharry Medical School in Nashville. Mueller and Tirmenstein ran at Concordia-‐Nebraska and Augustana, respectively, and then coached together at Denver Lutheran. Tillman played basketball at SLU before serving as an administrator in the St. Louis Public School system.
Written On Our Hearts and Lives
The accomplishments of those particular North graduates were symbolic of the hundreds of success stories of other Crusaders. Christian secondary education buttressed their quests for achieving academic and vocational excellence. Those experiences could easily be coupled with similar achievements by Central and South graduates. The successes provided innumerable reasons for thankful celebration. The stories of accompished graduates nurtured by Christian secondary education made the Association fiftieth anniversary year a memorable commemoration. In August 1995, participants at the opening services for the academic year at North and South celebrated the many blessings God bestowed on the Association. Both services highlighted 2 Corinthians 3:2 as the theme for the celebration: “Written On Our Hearts and Lives.” Commemorative banners decorated both campuses. Administrators coordinated three Lutheran High School Sundays at Association congregations. Homecoming festivities included half-‐time recognitions of alumni. The guests partook of snacks in hospitality tents while renewing acquaintances with classmates. The November Fantasy Faire Dinner Auction included images of high school activities through the years. In December a few alumni caroled at Kiener Plaza. At the February Sem games former athletes from the two schools were recognized. The late-‐May baccalaureate service included prayers of thanksgiving for the fifty years of blessings. The final culminating event was the Golden Reunion Weekend Celebration of July 12-‐14, 1996. Alumni toured the campus facilities at North and South. At each site they perused yearbooks, pictures and memorabilia. A number of Central graduates visited the old campus on Lake and Waterman. The Golden Reunion Banquet at the Cervantes Convention Center, preceded by a cocktail party, included a brief address by Central and North teacher and coach Myron (Mike) Marty. The weekend closed with a special worship service at the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on Sunday
morning. ’70 South grad Mark Bender, the minister of music at St. Paul-‐Des Peres, led a mass alumni choir. Seminary Dean of Faculty Rev. Jack Preus (N ’71) coordinated the festal service. The celebrations encouraged participants to retrospectively examine the state of the Association. In the official fiftieth anniversary publication, Written on Our Hearts and Lives: 1946-‐1996, Central and South teacher Dave Rohde provided a capsule history of the three high schools. After fifty years, more than eleven thousand “letters of recommendation” had graduated as either Crusaders or Lancers. He noted that during the early years only about 45% of the graduates went on to college. But by the early ‘90s, more than 90% of the graduates attended college. During the golden anniversary year a total of 990 students attended South (662) and North (328). Of the sixty-‐two Lutheran high schools across the country, South ranked third and North twelfth in enrollment. More than 70% of the students participated in athletics. Approximately 50% of the students participated in fine arts performance groups. More than 80% of both faculties held master’s degrees and two had Ph.D.’s. Faculty members averaged 17.5 years of experience. While the fiscal 1946 operating budget was $80,000, by 1996 it was $4.8 million. Tuition, initially $85 per year, rose to $3,624 for Association members. Association congregations, originally providing 50% of the operating revenue, now contributed 20%. Rohde noted the key to the successful expansion plans of the ‘80s and the “dreamed of” campus additions of the new millennium were possible only because of the LCF and the commitment of parents and congregations. He concluded the “state of the union” analysis by quoting Dr. William A. Kramer. The editor of the 25th Anniversary History of the Association concluded his 1971 work by challenging parents, students, teachers and the organized church to commit their resources for Christian education. He stated: “. . . [W]e assess the future of Lutheran secondary education . . . [and] Christian nurture . . . [as] essential for children and young people . . . [We use] the anniversary observance . . . as an occasion for new commitment, new confidence and new courage in providing the necessary means for Lutheran secondary education . . . [We are thankful that] God so richly blessed St. Louis’ modern venture in Christian secondary education.”
An Interlude
In Atlanta that July, not long after the Golden Reunion Banquet, ’88 North graduate Connie Teaberry competed in high jump in the Centennial Olympic Games. It had not been an easy road to Olympic Stadium. Despite several recurring injuries, the Kansas State grad had been a six-‐time NCAA All American. In 1992 she was chosen as the NCAA Athlete of the Year and competed at the Olympic Trials. To continue training, she developed jumpers while serving as an assistant coach at Kentucky and the University of Toledo. After recovering from reconstructive knee surgery in 1993, Teaberry resumed training to compete internationally and prepare for a last chance at the Games. It paid off. She represented the United States at the 1993 and 1995 World Championships. In 1996 Teaberry finished second at the Olympic Trials and competed at the Games. In 2004, after completing assistant coaching stints at Arizona State and Ohio University, she accepted the head track and field coaching position at Northern Illinois University. Like so many other successful athletes, she later came back to North, running Crusader Summer Academy track camps and visiting with North athletes. Currently head coach at Northern Illinois University, she, too, is a visible presence in the sports world. She is not alone. The Major League Connection Russell has always been proud of the program “V” and he fostered as athletic directors. In addition to many athletes who played a variety of sports in college, at least ten Crusader football alums played in the NFL, and two Crusader baseball players played professional baseball. Bobby Joe Edmonds (‘82) attended the University of Arkansas and played both football (six seasons with the Seahawks, Raiders and Bucs) and baseball (Tigers). He was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL draft and made
the Pro Bowl as a rookie with Seattle. Lorenzo Scott (‘00) attended Ball State and played nine years of professional baseball after being drafted by the Orioles. He played for fourteen different minor league teams in that nine-‐year career. The Petersen brothers (Mark ‘71, Kurt ‘75) both signed NFL contracts. Mark played for the Illini and had a tryout with the Chiefs. Kurt was a defensive end and captain at Mizzou. He was drafted by the Cowboys, where he played for six years. Thomas Rooks (‘82) was the all-‐time leading rusher when he left the Illini in 1985. He played for the Vikings and Cardinals. Tony Buford (‘82) played linebacker at the University of Tulsa and for the Big Red in 1987. The most visible success was Steve Atwater (‘84). He was a two-‐time All American safety at the University of Arkansas. A first round draft pick by the Broncos, he was selected to the Pro Bowl eight times and played in the Super Bowl four times, helping the Broncos win two. After ten years with the Broncos he played one last season with the Jets. He was selected to the Bronco “Ring of Fame” in 2005. Clarence Woods (‘84) played at Concordia-‐Seward and made the Saints as a free agent wide receiver in 1988. Despite playing only two seasons at Mizzou, Linzy Collins (‘87) is still a top-‐ten receiver in school history for a single game, single season and career. Drafted by the Packers, he played in Europe through the 1996 season. Robert Douglas (‘00) played football at the University of Memphis. After signing as a free agent with the Titans, he spent time with the Texans and Bucs. In 2007 he played for the Super Bowl Champion Giants.
The Successes Continue
Under business teacher and new soccer coach Tim Brackman, that ‘96 squad started a rebuilding program with a goal to meet perennial power Aquinas-‐Mercy in the District tourney. They did, and while losing, learned to retool their offense. The football team missed the playoffs, but the squad earned local accolades when during the regular season it defeated defending Class 4A State champion Mexico. Mueller won her second individual District cross country championship, accompanying Jana Tillman and Randi Sellers, and District runner up Darris, to the State meet. An interesting sidelight during the 1997 Homecoming celebrations reveals how the community under the cross lived in the real world. After being crowned Homecoming King, senior Ed Barron changed quickly in the locker room and left North to eat with friends at a local restaurant. Stopped by a St. Ann policeman because of a broken taillight, he was asked for his identification—and discovered he had left it in his dress pants in the locker room. He was immediately arrested and taken to the local jail. Only after his father arrived at the police station with the papers was he released without charges. Annually, as Mac’s U. S. History students studied the American Revolution and its causes, this case was used to illustrate the spirit and principle of the writ of habeas corpus. And, after issues about municipal policing were raised in the Ferguson crisis, the Barron incident helped preface discussions about problems in the North County “Balkans.” The winter of ’96 and ’97, the girls’ basketball squad, after a promising start, faced a number of challenges. Having won the season opening Orchard Farm tourney, the team had to overcome key injuries. In January, Guynn suffered a broken nose. Erika Neu, the three-‐point shooter, suffered a detached retina. And only weeks prior to the tournament, Mueller broke her collarbone. The team faced a tough Burroughs squad in the final. Having lost to them twice during the regular season, the recovering Crusaders rallied to tie the Bombers and go into overtime for a 41-‐38 win. For the second time in school history the ladies moved on and defeated Caledonia 56-‐54 at Mineral Area College. The next Saturday the exciting ride ended in the Quarters at Flat River Central. Cape-‐Notre Dame defeated the Crusaders 56-‐44. During the ‘97 track campaign perennial power Berkeley, a team that won a dozen State championships in the previous two decades, moved into Class 2. Interviewed at the beginning of the season by the North County Journal sports reporter, Berkeley Coach Rod Staggs commented it was like “putting a shark in a fish bowl.” Several Crusaders posted that comment in their lockers, reminding themselves daily what their task was. While the North squads again won closely fought District meets, the State meet was even on paper. The Lady Thinclads peaked at the right time. They
eased to a forty-‐point margin of victory, scoring a girls’ all-‐class meet record of eighty-‐nine points. The usual suspects—Guynn, Tirmenstein, Mueller, Buckley, Greer, McDaniel—had additional help from high jumper Tillman, jumper Melissa Hamilton, sprinter Michelle Johnson and thrower Samantha Jefferson. They needed that because Tirmenstein had spent the last portion of the season on a “day-‐to-‐day” basis, nursing an injury that kept her out of her specialties. Her incredible 4 x 4 come-‐from-‐behind third leg gave the squad their huge margin of victory. The boys had a different road. The coaches quietly talked about how the graduation decimated a team that could be leaderless and bereft of quality points. But the athletes who had been in the shadows rose to the occasion. Darris, Brown, McMorris and Barron began the final day with a runner up in the 4 x 8. Stacey Johnson earned runner up medals in the two sprints and anchored two relays to wins. Gerren Burton scored in the HH. After helping win the 4 x 1, Jason Oatis joined Hezekiah Webb in the discus finals while Mays scored in the 400M. Sistrunk won the TJ, the 4 x 4 finished second and, while the faces had changed, the results had not. South graduate and beat reporter Jeremy Rutherford captured the story for the Post Dispatch. He described the victories as a “threepeat” and noted the impressive depth of both squads. Staggs was the first coach to congratulate Spears and Tirmenstein. The North squads became the first Missouri high school to earn, in Crisler’s words, a “double threepeat.” His folksy wisdom, freely shared with the coaching staff that now included Spears, helped coaches maintain an even temper during difficult times. The mentors could enjoy themselves as long as they remembered his maxim: “Do not make your happiness dependent upon teenagers running around in their underwear.” Crisler’s support, parental enthusiasm, the athletes’ quality work habits and the event coaches’ focus, earned Prahlow a National Federation of High Schools Coach of the Year nomination. He received the award the following May in Kansas City. At the ceremony he was cited in particular for his and his Orlando-‐Luther (Florida) teams helping coordinate Lutheran agency relief work for victims of Hurricane Andrew.
Continuity
Long-‐time Central and North instructor Art Repp retired in 1997. He left behind a legacy in which he pastorally challenged teens’ accepted tenets of the secular life. He also created a departmental philosophy that encouraged students to live their lives in the service of God. He provided his replacement, Rev. Mark Meschke, a former biology teacher at North in the early ‘80s, the tradition of Gospel-‐based daily worship. As Meschke became Dean of Chapel, Heibel accepted a call to Decatur, Illinois, to start a new high school. Hipenbecker became the new registrar. Mueller moved full time into recruitment. Thomas became Dean of Students. Diana Strand, once a student teacher at North, returned to teach Spanish and coach distance runners. It was an almost seamless transition in the administration, in the classroom and on the athletic field. The winter of ‘97-‐‘98, Ed Boaz and newcomer Mike Sutherland joined Gerren Burton on the basketball floor, seeking another trip into the State tournament. Late in the District championship game against Berkeley, a loose ball scramble led to a time out. North almost had the game in hand. As the two squads walked to the benches a Berkeley player head-‐butted Sutherland. He unknowingly played the rest of the game with a concussion. The ensuing inevitable confusion on the Crusader offense led to defeat. Two days later, after studying the photographic evidence provided by the game videographer, the two schools passed the information on to MSHSAA. The miscreant athlete was held out of the next round. Soccer continued its rise to won-‐loss respectability, Jon Purcell, Nate Rueckert and Danny Creaghan leading the squad to a Forest Park Tourney win. The following season they would win it again—and finish 10-‐10-‐4, at .500 for the first time in a decade. Football returned to post-‐season play. QB Jon Harris and running backs Stacey Johnson and Mike Irving won Russell yet another District title. The team finished the regular season at 9-‐2, but ran into Portageville in the Sectional tilt, losing 34-‐33. They made a pact to return to the playoffs. The boys’ basketball team focused on reclaiming what had conceivably been taken from them by a miscreant opponent. The “wolfpack,”
led by Sutherland, David Farrow and Aaron Mueller, played tight defense and made few offensive mistakes, winning another ABC title. At District they defeated Westminster 97-‐90 in overtime. They followed that with a defensive gem against Bismarck at Mineral Area College, winning 55-‐53. But they, too, ran into the Portageville nemesis, losing 79-‐66, finishing 23-‐8. That spring Mueller returned to the mound, and along with Biegner and Mike Peters, dominated the ABC League. Undefeated through fourteen games, Russell’s minions swept through the District tournament—and then lost to Elsberry. The Prange-‐coached softball team improved to 6-‐8. Led by Chandra Webb and Mandy Drury, the team had a chance late in the season to reach .500 for the first time in school history. On the track the girls attempted to win an unprecedented fourth straight State title. After winning MWAA for the fourth year in a row, the Buckley-‐Hamilton-‐McDaniel trio led newcomers Melodie Carr, Jennifer Barney and thrower Rosalyn Knight to a fourth place State finish at Lincoln U. The guys, led by Johnson’s two seconds in the sprints and two wins in the 4 x 1 and 4 x 2, finished the 4 x 4 in a hail storm, earning a second-‐place State plaque. Triple jumper medalist Wilson Vault distinguished himself during the second day of competition. A group of athletes, sent to the local McDonald’s to get out of the oppressive heat, met a woman collecting beanie babies. She offered to purchase every squad member a Happy Meal as long as she received the beanie babies. After all the meals had been distributed, ten remained. Vault ate them. It was quite a ride back to St. Louis. In ‘99, the squads, in a rebuilding year, finished seventh (boys) and sixth (girls). Expectations had risen and the irony is that many viewed this success as a disappointing conclusion to the season. The groups looked forward to “redemption.”
The Beat Goes On
Russell retired before the ’98 football season. After a distinguished coaching career at Parkway South and Parkway West, Jim Manion returned to the helm of the program. Manion retained longtime assistants Holschen, Langefeld and Meschke along with statistician Bill Scheller, his assistant Trevor Thornton and the rest of the crew. The squad did not miss a beat. It returned to the playoffs. Jaracz Martin had been ABC leader in sacks. Darryl Clines and Lorenzo Scott each had more than one hundred tackles. Mike Irving led the league in rushing behind the blocking of Andrew Reno and Patrick Craig. Cherrod Williams and D’Andreis Smotherman shared the team lead with four “picks.” Hopes were high. After beating Berkeley in the District championship they defeated St. Pius X and boot heel power Scott City. But Monroe City derailed the team’s road to the Dome, 21-‐3. Boys’ basketball again won the ABC League. In an incredible show of program stability, Kersten’s B team and Hip’s C team swept their schedules with perfect 10-‐0 marks. The varsity, led by Rueckert, Sutherland, Mueller and Wil Coleman won nine in a row—and lost their last league game in the last minute to Prin. The program finished with a cumulative league record of 29-‐1. After sweeping through District, the squad went again to Park Hills Central—and met Portageville, losing 69-‐64. Baseball had a similar experience. Going on a fourteen-‐victory run, they swept through the league season, pitchers Mike Irving and Aaron Mueller leading the way. Purcell and Reno provided offensive support as Mueller racked up an 8-‐0 record with a 1.22 ERA. After winning their eighth District in nine years they rallied in the seventh to win 5-‐3 against North Callaway and earn another slot in the Quarters against Valley Park. Trailing in the seventh inning they rallied again to tie 3-‐3, but lost 5-‐3 in extra innings. The 18-‐2 record still stands as North’s finest overall baseball finish. During the first four games of the 1999 football season, the Crusaders outscored their opponents 49-‐4. Captains Robert Douglas, Lorenzo Scott and QB Aaron Mueller led the charge with Jaracz Martin, Cherrod Williams and Jeff Horton grinding out yardage and shoring up the defense. But Priory and MICDS bulled over the defensive line, their running game defeating the Crusaders. The squad rallied to win District and then in short order defeated St. Pius X 48-‐13, Scott City 47-‐21, and Palmyra 40-‐10. In the Dome they faced defending State champs Kansas City-‐St. Pius that featured a running game. But a Douglas thirty-‐yard TD run, a Scott two-‐yard dive for a second score and a forty-‐ yard Mueller to Horton pass for a touchdown seemingly gave the team an insurmountable lead. Pius
rallied to tie, scoring three straight times. With only 3:24 left, the Crusaders received the kickoff. On a third and five, Mueller rumbled sixty-‐three yards on a keeper and finished on the five-‐yard line. After a penalty, Mueller ran it in for the final score. Quincy Smith’s second interception of the game snuffed Pius’ final desperate attempt. In the spring, the coaches and team received recognition by the Rams, who, in their Super Bowl championship season, honored all the MSHSAA football champs at a banquet. Several other teams completed notable seasons. After a 10-‐0 league season, the 22-‐5 boys’ basketball team faced the eventual State champion in the District final. Mueller’s squad could not quite hang on and the season ended with District runner up laurels. It would be his last season at the helm. Girls’ soccer started under first year coach John Hope. After going 0-‐8, Kami Litton scored the first goal in school history to defeat Soldan in the opening round of District. The girls’ track team returned to Lincoln U. Another District and League championship in hand, they wanted a plaque after having missed in ’99. With Shanta Teaberry winning the 100M, Hamilton medaling in the jumps, Jennifer Barney stabilizing the relays and Rosalyn Knight throwing for big points, the ladies earned runner up, the first of four consecutive new banners for the gym. The guys took on a talented Berkeley squad that defeated them at Clayton by more than seventy points. In an incredible golden hour, Williams won the HH; Martin the 100M; and quartets the 4 x 2 and the 4 x 1. Andrew Tirmenstein, who had run on the 4 x 2, scored in the 300H immediately after Darrion Branscomb nabbed big points in the 400M. With Micah Glenn scoring in the TJ, and the squad placing in the 4 x 4, the Berkeley triple jumpers needed a strong finish. They got it and won by only 2.5 points. Branscomb held a meeting on the infield after the meet. All pledged to prepare for the next spring campaign. Branscomb did not wait until the spring. Even when a shoulder injury threatened to end his football season, the co-‐captain, along with Charles Blackwell, Jason Horton and track vet and medalist Charles Jones led the squad to an ABC League championship, beating nemesis MICDS for the first time in ten years. After winning the three District games by a combined score of 111-‐22, they faced a rematch with a Principia team that had made the playoffs for the first time in its history. A 21-‐7 victory ended the Panthers’ first run at the title. Incredibly, on the next Monday night, five busloads of fans traveled to Malden, located more than halfway from St. Louis to Memphis. Not far from the single stoplight blinking at the town crossroads, the team won a 12-‐6 victory. Younger brother Jeff Horton and Phil Williams continued to lead the team in rushing, brother Jason leading the squad in scoring. As Williams and spring thrower David Eberle had more than one hundred tackles, everyone hoped that Palmyra would not end the run to the Dome. They did, 21-‐14, before a disappointed home crowd. New basketball coach Brent Rueter took over the boys’ squad. Without missing a beat, the team swept the ABC title with a 10-‐0 record. With a final record of 19-‐5 and returning all but three, the group hoped for a long sought-‐after State berth. The girls’ track team coveted another State championship. With eight seniors, they hoped to bump up from runner up to the winner’s circle. Despite prom gutting the squad’s MWAA efforts, the team rebounded to win yet another District title. On the final day of State, the Jed Maschke-‐coached middle distance runners Rebekah and Sarah Snyder, Melodie Carr and Becky Rusnak earned medals with a school record and a place in the deep 4 x 8 field. Jennifer Ratliff reprised her medal in the HH and Teaberry again placed in the 100M. While Barney scored in the long jump and Kathryn Givens ran two legs on the sprint relays, Carr scored in the 400M and Teaberry in the 200M. The 4 x 4 nabbed another medal and the squad finished—second. Thrower Ros Knight, along as a manager, had not been able to compete because of a major health issue. After hospitalization she returned to North and supported her squad as a manager. The guys had lost fifteen graduating seniors. Focusing on the state meet, the squad chose preparation over winning the Clayton meet and still finished a close second to a loaded Berkeley team. Winning another District championship and League title, the squad completed the feat of qualifying an athlete or relay in every track event except the 1600M. With Glenn in the TJ, things looked very promising. On day one they even worked through the heavy rain during the 4 x 4
prelims. However, when state CC medalist Martin Popp went down in the 4 x 8 the next morning, the squad drew a collective breath. But Brian Rueckert, Jay Tillman and Jason Horton rallied to get back in the money. Two scored in the HH and 100M. Branscomb anchored the 4 x 2 (including Tirmenstein and Glenn) to a State record win and the 4 x 1, led by Aaron Reno, nabbed a fourth. Branscomb won the 400M, Tirmenstein scored in the 300H, Rueckert earned a medal in the 800M, Branscomb won the 200M, Popp medaled in the 3200M—and the 4 x 4 of Branscomb, Tirmenstein, Rueckert and TJ medalist Glenn finished second in a school record. It was a State championship again. As with the previous generation of exceptional athletes, these students, too, excelled after leaving North. Ratliff and Teaberry, after graduating from Quincy University and Mizzou, respectively, helped Connie Teaberry at several Crusader Summer Academy Track Camps. Rusnak and Rueckert competed at Concordia-‐Nebraska. She returned to teach and coach briefly at North. Rueckert taught at Green Park Lutheran School in St. Louis. Ros Knight attended Spelman College and earned a degree in medical services. Branscomb ran at Concordia-‐St. Paul and earned a degree in business. Tirmenstein, who competed with Glenn at Concordia-‐Chicago, heads the Concordia-‐Michigan track program and worked with Teaberry at North summer camps. Glenn became an LCMS pastor. Popp ran at Drake University and today, as a businessman, perennially contends to win the Blue Division of the Drake Relays Corporate Mile. These exceptional student-‐athletes are only a representative sample of those who reflect the values inculcated by parents and teachers. To help understand the quality of character that motivated these individuals, one need only attend an alumni gathering and listen to recollections and comments. Invariably, at each reunion, all will concur that the many “unsung” participants—those who did not qualify for State, those who served as alternates, those who were injured—encouraged all team members to embrace a tireless work ethic. The “decorated athletes” are thankful for the exceptional daily work habits practiced by those who did not earn the accolades. They realize the actions and sacrifices of the average athlete “pushed” and motivated those whose God-‐given talents permitted them to excel. The supportive team members were not just additional competitors in the sprints or jumps. Like their more exceptional teammates, they, too, used the God-‐given lessons of the athletic fields, classrooms and hallways to become “competitors” in the world of business, commerce, congregation and home. The “family” they forged with their more decorated teammates during the difficult workouts and challenging competitions helped all to mature. Each team’s stars owe much to the unheralded loyal teammates who helped build the community of Christ.
A Memorable Decade
It had been an incredible decade of excellence. The school changed its master schedule, revised its curriculum, remodeled the interior, restructured worship experiences, reworked the coaching staff, reinvigorated the vocal and musical ensembles, and said goodbye to some long-‐time pillars in the ministry. The Association celebrated a half century of commitment to Lutheran secondary education. It had also been quite a run in athletics, with many deserved kudos directed to Russell and Hunt for communicating with parents and donors, funding new sports and seeking new coaches as others retired or left for other ventures. The blessings showered by God on this community of Christ preserved a unique multicultural Lutheran high school. It was anchored in a multicultural community finally recovering from the ravages of a faltering local economy. The message of the Good News was indeed for all people. Those blessings also provided comfort and the peace that passes understanding as the community mourned the losses of graduate Ed Barron and cafeteria attendant Carol Ann Walls. Barron, a budding musician, had been killed by an errant shot while riding home during a Fathers’ Day celebration. Carol Ann Walls collapsed in the kitchen during a lunch period and medics were unable to revive her. Asleep in Jesus, their passing reminded the community to turn to the shadow of the cross sheltering the ministry at 5401.
Annotated Bibliography, Chapter 6 Fields, pp. 167-‐170, outlines the Reagan era, with pp. 192-‐202 providing a summary of Synodical activities. The District president’s quote is from pp. 223-‐224. The pastor’s plea is found on p. 225. Rich Wallace’s comment about Barry and the ALSS was made in August 1992. Synod’s later activities are from Fields, pp. 222-‐226. 250, p. 144, noted the ticking “time bomb,” while Fragmented, p. 163 reiterated the causes of the problems that led to the I-‐70 protest. “Race,” SLPD, 8/31/14, B5 describes the issues. 250, p. 137; Ken Leiser, “Lambert plan,” SLPD 2/5/2015 A13 and “Growing Pains,” SLPD 1/25/15, E1, coupled with O’Neil, “St. Louis Aviation,” SLPD 1/25/2015, B1, describe the issues that first fostered and then hampered local aviation manufacturing. Buford’s advice is from 250, p. 145. The Spanish Lake documentary (see above) and the Association census tract study made available to the plenary faculty on 2/4/15 provide additional background information about local neighborhood census tracts. The lengthy description of Block Scheduling is from Fiftieth, “North First,” p. 8, and Crisler, 3/20/15. Holschen’s contributions are from his comments on 3/20/15, while the Social Studies revisions are compiled in the annual Social Studies reports, 1993-‐2001. The Saved to Serve material is from Prahlow’s Saved to Serve records, 1996-‐2008. Mueller and Prahlow noted that during the 1993-‐1994 school year, many students included as their service hours the staffing of sandbagging teams that held off the rising waters during the Great Flood of 1993. “Written On Our Hearts and Lives” is a summary of Dave Rohde’s official fiftieth anniversary Association publication. Entitled Written On Our Hearts and Lives: 1946-‐1996, it is the final draft of Rohde’s “rough draft” referred to in previous chapters. It includes pictures and marginal notes and provided the basis for the Fiftieth newspaper-‐type format Association release. This “state of the union” is based chiefly on pp. 13-‐14 while the Golden Anniversary Weekend is from the supplemental public relations piece included in the Fiftieth. Marty’s speech, “Pressing Our Noses to Memory’s Glass,” is typed in its entirety and can be found in the North principal’s history files. The material included in “Athletic Success,” “An Interlude,” “The Major League Connection,” “The Successes Continue,” “Continuity” and “The Beat Goes On” were verified by Mike Russell (6/8/15), Prahlow, Tirmenstein and McCollister. Teaberry’s mini-‐biography, accessed on June 16, 2015, is from: http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/w-‐track/mtt/connie_teaberry_243803.html
COMING SOON!
Chapter 7: Which Shall Be for All People: 1993-‐2001 Lutheran High School South
As south side urban and suburban congregations created collaborative association elementary schools, South received a U. S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award. The staff focused on mentoring goal-‐oriented activities for the students. Clubs, foreign travel, intramural contests and extra-‐curricular activities promoted leadership in the educational community. To cultivate the community of faith, Rev. Ron Roma formed the “small group program” that evolved into Kairos. It encouraged students to form the “Messengers.” They took a more active role in fostering the faith life of the students at the elementary feeder schools. To better facilitate instruction, the South administration adopted North’s pioneering Block Eight schedule. When Dave Waterman accepted a call to serve in the Missouri District administration, Paul Buetow joined Association President Dave Rittmann and new North Principal Paul Crisler as the chief administrators. Girls’ athletic squads had an exceptional period of success. The boys’ teams followed suit. The Fine Arts performing ensembles upgraded tour schedules. Many children of faculty attended the school.
Table of Contents Chapter 8: For Unto You: A Changing World, 2001-‐2008 Lutheran High School North Adaptation in the Post-‐9/11 Era 801 The Synod Stabilizes 803 St. Louis: Uneven Growth 804 The New Era—and Facilities 805 Outside the Box 810 Unexpected Expenses 817 The Mission Continues 822 Building on Success 824 New Frontiers In & Out of the Classroom 825 The Beat Goes On 828 Community Under the Cross 833
Chapter 8:
For Unto You: A Changing World, 2001-‐2008
Lutheran North
Adaptation in the Post-‐9/11 Era
On September 11, 2001, nineteen Islamic terrorists flew two American Airlines planes into New York City’s World Trade Center, killing three thousand people. President George W. Bush and Congress quickly created a Transportation Security Administration, providing it with broad police powers and funded as a national security necessity. The FBI, CIA and Immigration and Naturalization Service created and enforced a “no fly” list. Cyber specialists monitored computer communications. Investigators plumbed financial transfers to ferret out those supporting terrorist activity. The National Geospatial Agency in St. Louis, squirreled away in the old Civil War Arsenal east of the Anheuser Busch plant, tracked movements of terror cells. The 9/11 attack gave Bush and Congress a compelling interest to pursue Al-‐Qaeda, remove the Taliban from positions of authority and nurture fledgling democracy movements. This would be very difficult, if not impossible, in the tribally divisive, ethnically confrontational Middle East long fraught with sectarian violence. Bush organized a NATO coalition to move into Afghanistan in 2001. Two years later, claiming Saddam Hussein developed weapons of mass destruction, Bush ordered troops into Iraq and dismantled the regime. As advisors assisted Afghans and Iraqis in fostering democratic institutions, sectarian violence disrupted progress. On the domestic front, the Bush administration faced several challenges that brought into question its organizational credibility. In 2003, the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated upon reentry. It raised anew the investigative queries about quality control and security procedures. Those issues had plagued many military and aerospace companies since the Challenger explosion. In 2004 and 2005, the arrival of hurricanes Charley in southwest Florida and Katrina in the central Gulf coast forced heads of FEMA and other agencies to reevaluate relief efforts. Poor coordination of local and federal emergency services hindered recovery. The crisis in New Orleans, in particular, captured national headlines. Journalists posted heated editorials. They lamented about antiquated infrastructure, inadequate emergency preparation and complex relief bureaucracies that hampered lifesaving measures and recovery efforts. Despite his reelection to the Presidency in 2004 and a Republican ascendancy in Congress, the controversies and crises provided critics with opportunities to question his leadership abilities. During the late ‘90s, conservative Republicans had pilloried Clinton about his alleged unethical personal behaviors. Now many Democrats attacked Bush’s perceived motivations for promoting specific policies. The President’s troubles continued to mount. As Congress removed some of the New Deal-‐era restrictions on financial institutions, investment houses like those controlled by the Lehman brothers created a housing mortgage “bubble.” In 2008, the questionable brokerage practices resulted in a mortgage crisis, thousands across the country losing homes because they had been underfinanced. Hardest hit was the Denver area where as many as 40% of homeowners faced repossession. The Bush administration did attempt to construct a comprehensive response to the crisis in public education. The President pushed through Congress the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). He desired to reward successful education models with federal funding and grants. States would be responsible for distributing the funds to districts that attained accreditation standards. Standardized testing, progression rates and matriculation totals would determine the effectiveness of the schools and districts, the better performing ones receiving the funding. The NCLB also encouraged state educational initiatives to create and administer tighter accreditation standards, enabling legislatures to take control of and administer districts that failed. Critics proclaimed this was an attempt to federalize education. They noted that standardized testing was in many cases culturally biased.
Enforcement of penalties against underperforming districts would end local educational initiatives and local control of school districts. As the national economy stalled and school district administrators debated the merits of the controversial NCLB, the Bush administration appeared to lose touch with many in the middle class. They believed Bush had passed the reins of leadership in domestic affairs to corporate interests and major contributors. They were convinced he had abdicated control of international affairs to Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush opponents portrayed Cheney as a Rasputin-‐like puppeteer controlling the administration. Barack Obama, first-‐term Senator from Illinois who started his political career as a neighborhood organizer, successfully defeated chief challenger Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries and won the party’s nomination. Exhibiting an energetic persona, he successfully garnered support from new and youthful voters. Basing his Presidential campaign on the simple slogan of “Hope and Change,” he promised to resolve the issues that beset the Bush administration. He asserted he could get Washington to function as it should and easily defeated former Vietnam POW and Arizona Senator John McCain. The Synod Stabilizes President Barry died suddenly in early 2001. His First Vice President, Rev. Robert Kuhn, replaced him to complete the term as the constituency readied for another convention. Kuhn fulfilled the pledge he had given Barry in 2000—he would not run for office. Delegates at the St. Louis meeting selected Texas District President Gerald B. Kieschnick to lead the Synod. Providing energetic leadership like Guido Merckens, dynamic sermons like O. C. J. Hoffman and pastoral counseling like L. Lloyd Behnken, Kieschnick had increased Texas district membership rolls more than 10% while Synod lost almost a half million members. During his three-‐term administration, Synodical membership stabilized at 2.2 million. Kieschnick, elected by an eighteen-‐vote majority in 2001, spent much of his first term defending Atlantic District President David Benke against charges of unionism. The accusations stemmed from Benke’s participation in a civic interfaith event in Yankee Stadium following the 9/11 attacks. Adjudication through the church “court” system made the denomination appear to be inwardly focused on doctrinal discipline rather than helping heal the wounds dealt by terrorists. But Kieschnick initiated a restructuring of the church administration and revival of domestic and international missions. He encouraged local collaboration between circuit congregations to support cooperative schools, social service agencies and community involvement. Kieschnick’s reelection by a 20% majority in 2004 affirmed his measures. He encouraged activists to march in the annual Walk for Life in Washington D. C. and promoted Biblical pastoral counseling regarding troubling social and political issues. But problems arose. Disputes about KFUO editorial content and the sale of the FM station to an Albert Pujols-‐backed Christian group raised tensions with traditionalists and the St. Louis arts community. Traditionalists that had supported Barry soon questioned Synodical expenditures and administrative reforms. A large segment of the traditionalists, energized by some of the perceived controversies, pursued delegate votes in advance of the 2010 Synodical convention. St. Louis: Uneven Growth During the era St. Louis city continued to hemorrhage population. Many of the now fewer than four hundred thousand city residents were plagued by a median income amounting to 15% less than the median incomes of the surrounding counties. A reduced tax base did not bode well for the future of urban redevelopment or a renaissance of the faltering public school system. The effects of the national economic malaise were unevenly distributed through the region. Many moved to the outer suburbs and exurbs that grew rapidly in population and income. The central business corridor along
I-‐64 expanded west. New malls and planned developments mushroomed on the newly protected Missouri River flats outside the I-‐270 ring. A high concentration of medical facilities, insurance underwriters, law offices and tech startups created a magnet for highly educated and higher income residents. But county residents did not stay away from the city. They commuted to work and play in the city, drawn back by refurbished facilities, new start-‐ups and unique entertainment venues. They continued to support the Zoo-‐Museum-‐Gardens special tax district that funded the updating of aging facilities. The support encouraged the directors of Missouri Botanical Gardens to join representatives of Washington University, BJC Healthcare, UMSL and SLU to create Cortex. Located in the Central West End (CWE), the technological and bioscience research hub created many employment opportunities for those who had appropriate tech experience. UMSL initiated a campus makeover and as its centerpiece, opened the Touhill Performing Arts Center. While the Arch grounds, Forest Park institutions and Botanical Gardens continued to draw locals and visitors alike, many also visited Bob Cassilly’s City Museum. It was an eclectic collection of historical artifacts in a museum/playground housed in the old International Shoe warehouse. And at night, just blocks away, they could stroll along the growing Washington Avenue Loft District that bustled with crowds seeking the latest nightclub opening. Cardinal fans excitedly anticipated the opening of Busch Stadium III and its ancillary entertainment district. A refurbished Civic Center that had been constructed on the grounds of Kiel Auditorium hosted not only Blues games, but also the annual Missouri Valley Conference “Arch Madness” and NCAA Regional basketball contests. Those events generated much-‐needed tax revenue for St. Louis coffers. The NCAA Frozen Four, NCAA Wrestling Championships and the U. S. Figure Skating Championships, additional events that drew thousands of spectators to the region, showcased business, housing and entertainment venues available in the urban core. In 2008, those successes rekindled civic efforts to revive the long-‐ dormant plan to refurbish Kiel Opera House. South County benefitted from the urban exodus, too. Its slightly more accessible real estate values and industrial parks were located in closer proximity to the city. It drew more middle class residents out to the Meramec River flood plain and the pleasantly undulating Jefferson County hill country. Central and south city neighborhoods began to change. “Little Bosnia” by Bevo Mill and “Little Asia” along South Grand and in University City developed flourishing communities and civic organizations as new immigrant families received support from their neighbors. Despite the uneven regional population and economic growth, civic leaders like St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and County Executive Charlie Dooley understood they had to resolve the difficult challenges caused by poor educational systems before individual frustrations evolved into concerted confrontations. The New Era—and Facilities One issue that occurred just prior to the new millennium intimately affected student life at both North and South. On April 20, 1999, two boys carried automatic weapons into Columbine High School and murdered twelve students and one teacher before committing suicide. In every school system in the country, administrators, faculties and boards quickly reevaluated security procedures, the vetting of visitors and supervision of non-‐campus personnel. Law enforcement officials held national summits to discuss appropriate responses to perceived threats. Counselors and psychologists advised school authorities to monitor social networking sites and investigate threats, bullying and confrontational behaviors. At both Association high schools, administrators created a crisis team comprised of head office personnel, counselors and health service professionals to prepare for possible future threats. At North, safety protocols had included only fire and tornado drills. Now three new drills needed rehearsal to deal with intruders, outside threats and earthquakes. Soon “crash boxes” and emergency CPR units were posted at key emergency exits. Tragically, intermittent school shooting incidents continued. They heightened awareness of bullying issues, the conceal-‐carry debate, and the importance of institutional emergency preparation.
The new administrative team that dealt with these issues had already been assembled. In 1997 Superintendent Wallis retired. The Association called David Rittmann, formerly headmaster of the Hong Kong International School, as the new president. Prange retired after thirty-‐seven years in the Lutheran teaching ministry. Cindy Burreson, wife of Sem prof Kent Burreson, worked with Prange for a year and then accepted the call to head the Counseling Department. Thomas continued as Dean of Students while Mueller focused on recruitment. When Hipenbecker left to head the formation of a new Lutheran high school in the south Denver suburbs, Tim Brackman moved into the registrar position. Nancy Poggemoeller, who had briefly replaced longtime school nurse Brenda Nierman, left for another position. Jane Mark joined the office staff. At South, Paul Buetow served as principal after David Waterman (1989-‐1997) became director of Missouri District Lutheran Schools. Rittmann was a “hands on” leader who reduced financial costs by consolidating Association offices in the north wing of 5401. He carefully examined the financial situation in the Association, regularly visited with local pastors and congregations and encouraged faculty and staff to develop “ideal” programs. With his honesty and integrity, he brought instant credibility to the Association and its operations. Noting that “people get what they pay for,” he unapologetically raised tuition, salaries— and expectations. As he developed campus expansion programs he tempered some of the rivalry issues that at times disrupted North/South cooperation. He accomplished this by simply attending many athletic events and fine arts productions at both campuses. He believed one could not just pretend to care—he had to be there. To improve instructional practices in the block schedule, Rittmann required faculties to attend the same national conferences. Ever active on a personal level, he formed a faculty book discussion group and regularly participated in both faculties’ social activities. To foster leadership, he encouraged the Board to adopt a policy governance approach. He focused on improving faculty salaries and college level programming for upperclassmen. The Board agreed to increase tuition at a faster rate to support those improvements. With a stable total enrollment of one thousand students attending South and North, and seventy-‐one Association-‐member congregations continuing support, Rittmann created a master plan for the two campuses. After acquiring the necessary acreage at both sites, the Board approached the Lutheran Charities Foundation (LCF; later, LF) to help finance construction of new athletic fields, tracks and future sites for performance and chapel venues. The three million dollar challenge grant required the Association to raise six million dollars in capital gifts. Planning began as coaches, athletic directors and other stakeholders shared and discussed design issues, drainage and access. Crisler in particular held several meetings with the coaching staff, encouraging them to visit collegiate and high school facilities to evaluate the design options. Periodic meetings included updates from Hastings Chivetta associate Clayton Klein who meticulously recorded notes during the lengthy discussions. The North campus had more than doubled in size, its forty-‐eight acres creating a semicircle “footprint” stretching from Lucas and Hunt west and south to I-‐70. Construction began, Crusader spring and fall squads dodging earthmovers, skirting mud holes, practicing at local parks, playing away schedules. Progress continued—until the Army Corps of Engineers intervened. A “water course” created by the construction of I-‐70 three decades before was classified as a flowing body of water. The aptly christened Crisler Creek required appropriate drainage. Its ironically intermittent water flow had to have permanent egress to the creek that flowed under the track and football field. The delay added two months to the construction timetable. Mueller, working in development, and Russell met with donor Jim Crane (N ’72) who had already made sizable contributions to his elementary school (Grace Chapel) and his college (University of Central Missouri). His generosity, when combined with the local fundraising of a group of former Crusader football players Gary Mantei (N ’73), Bill LaMothe (N ’72), Mark Peterson (N ’71) and Walter Negwer, came from a spirit of wanting to thank coaches for their sacrifices. On a dedicatory plaque later set east of the pavilion, they specifically thanked Oetting, “V”, Manion and Holschen for the “dedication of their lives” to the service of God and their students. The group pushed the challenge grant to completion.
The facility included soccer fields on the upper terrace, a baseball and softball field with batting cage on the second terrace, a practice baseball field and discus/javelin/shot put area on the third, a pavilion for storage, concessions and announcers, and an eight-‐lane track surrounding the football field. The south side concrete bleachers provided seating for Crusader fans. Visiting fans would occupy the north side portable bleachers bordering the golf course. The old sole baseball field could still be used for baseball, football and soccer practices, PE classes and parking. The new facility provided more opportunities for community use. Local church leagues competed on the old field. Junior Football League squads used practice fields. Summer baseball squads spent time in the batting cage. The UMSL baseball team used the facility while their construction program moved to completion. Schools participating in the elementary school soccer league played most of their games and final tournament on campus. The elementary volleyball tournament continued annually. Recruitment bused in students from Lutheran feeder schools for trivia contests, band concerts and drama performances. The most amazing growth was in the elementary school cross country meets. When Barry Terrass hosted the first one in 1993, twenty-‐six participated in one race. After the new facility had been completed, more than three hundred students from pre-‐K through eighth grade competed in twelve age-‐group races twice each season. Rittmann supported professional development and insisted entire departments from both faculties should periodically attend the same national conference. For example, the Social Studies departments, led by South department chair and geography guru Mark Behling, attended the National Council for Social Studies San Antonio conference. Crisler insisted Mac and Prahlow drive out to the LBJ homestead and ranch and view the historic Flint Hills region. They did. The two even visited the neighboring Lutheran church that Ladybird occasionally attended. At the conference Mac and Prahlow heard presentations about student-‐led local history projects and the latest uses for technology in the classroom. They also enjoyed the Tex-‐Mex cuisine and saw the Riverwalk, Alamo and a World War II museum. Thomas and Hope spent their time examining the technological opportunities displayed at the convention center and experiencing the unique San Antonio culture in the city proper. The Science Department also benefitted from Rittmann’s support for curricular and equipment updates. Grupe, Roth, Klingsick and department chair Langefeld utilized new equipment to expand traditional classroom instruction. In Biology students dissected owl pellets and cats. In Chemistry they used paper chromatography and found imaginative ways in memorizing the periodic table. New microscopes permitted examination of e.coli (Don’t eat in the lab!). Genetics studies based on fruit fly reproduction (What do I do!? Mine are waking up!) provided an introductory college-‐type experience. Later in the era, the Physics egg drop contest and the Physics Day at Six Flags added intriguing changes to the math-‐based course work. Math instructors Schiefer and Holschen prided themselves on the performance of the joint Math-‐ Sci Team. They consistently finished in the top three schools at the annual fall competition at Concordia-‐Chicago. In 2002, Phil Grupe, Brian Kersten, Matt Froeschner and then-‐student Eric Funke won the competition. Three years later at the State math contest at St. Dominic, Jordan Pauluhn, David Langefeld, Becca Grupe, Andy Wesche, Annie Froeschner and Jocelyn Nebel earned runner up laurels. With these successes in math and science, little wonder that Mike Grupe received the Missouri Biology Teacher of the Year honors. His and Holschen’s mentoring of these students, in particular, nurtured exceptional post-‐graduate careers. David Langefeld travels throughout the country as a representative of an Austin, Texas-‐ based firm specializing in forensic engineering. Phil Grupe graduated from the University of Wisconsin and currently works for an energy efficiency consulting company in Madison. Becca Grupe is working on her Doctorate in Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin. Matt Froeschner currently cultivates animal cells for his work for a local pharmaceutical company. Younger sister Annie today works for Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. Brian Kersten is employed by Amazon in the Kindle department in Seattle, verifying and correcting language discrepancies. Jordan Pauluhn, after
graduating from Westminster College, earned his Doctor of Law degree at Washington University and currently serves in a local law firm. Andy Wesche, a grad from the University of Georgia, currently works for the Bulldogs’ Sports Information Department. Jocelyn Nebel, after graduating with honors from Truman State, teaches upper level Spanish courses in the Rockwood School District. Outside the Box Rittmann left in July 2002 to become headmaster of the new Concordia International School in Shanghai. Paul Middeke, a former treasurer of the LCMS, served as interim Association head during the next school year, conferring closely with campus principals Buetow and Crisler. Board members sought viable candidates for the position. They hoped to find someone who had worked closely in educational institutional affairs and had experience in five areas: fund raising, the hiring of supervisory personnel, the promotion of academic programs, the recruitment of students and the equitable distribution of financial aid. A Clayton School District board member, serving as an Association consultant, asked Dr. Judith Meyer, vice president for academic affairs at Fontbonne University, to submit her name for consideration. The Board noted her career service at the University of Connecticut included stints as vice provost for undergraduate studies and associate provost for academic affairs. She had expertise in all five of the areas the Board had targeted as priorities. Meyer, who joined an ELCA congregation in Connecticut because there was no local LCMS congregation, attended Bethel after returning to St. Louis. In 2002, she and her husband joined Concordia-‐Kirkwood. That had, years before, been her father’s church. The Board offered her the call. Her husband, David, was the son of K. C. Meyer, second Superintendent of the LAHE. When Board chair Scott Negwer introduced her to the other members, he noted they had been asked to think “outside the box” when calling a new Association president. He also editorialized that while she was from “outside the box” the former Lutheran South graduate (‘61) was also “inside the box” in the context of understanding the community and Association membership. Meyer’s husband, a professor at Brown University, would commute to fulfill his duties. Understanding that some Association parishes and pastors might be concerned about the status of a woman leading a church institution, Meyer committed to worship in Association congregations during the Pentecost, Trinity and Epiphany seasons. In that manner she would worship in each Association congregation once every two years and still participate in her home congregation’s choir during the Advent, Christmas and Lenten seasons. Meyer also conferred with her pastor, Rev. Vern Gunderman, to arrange meetings with each Association pastor and circuit. These conferences renewed the personal contacts with pastors. Those had not taken place during the presidential vacancy. Upon her installation in May 2004, development director Art Sommer informed her they had only until July 1 to raise $1.5 million. They had to complete the challenge grant begun three years before or they would lose the matching funds. Sommer arranged the contacts and along with Meyer, attended the meetings. They completed the project on time. Sommer’s incredible attention to detail made this possible. During his tenure as director of development, he made at least two visits each week day to solicit prayers and financial support from prospective donors. Sommer’s meticulous planning and contact with a broad range of possible contributors provided Meyer the opportunity to complete the task. The new administration helped usher in an auspicious era. After more than a twenty-‐year hiatus, North hosted its first full home track meet with the 2004 ABC League championships. And, for the first spring season in twenty-‐five years, students no longer had to quickly move their cars from the west parking lot after school. Foul balls at the new baseball field would no longer land in the parking lot—or shatter windshields. Parents, grandparents and friends of Lutheran South students, who at the time attended additional baseball, football and soccer games at North, had just been polled regarding their priorities for a campus expansion project. Selected as the last priority was a new track and football/soccer facility. After many saw the new North “digs,” South stakeholders by consensus pushed to prominence their overwhelming desire for a comparable athletic facility.
To fund the six million dollar undertaking, Sommer worked closely with many South parents. They represented a cross section of local Lutheran high school graduates. For example, Gary Mantei was a North graduate (‘73)—whose children now would attend South. He had already generously donated to the North campus expansion and would now help fund the South facility improvements. Others also straddled the North-‐South “divide,” including now-‐retired Wayne Vogelsmeier who was always a Crusader—unless his grandson was pitching for the Lancers. Mark Belew’s (N ’72) children attended South. Jane (Kramer) Prahlow (C ’52), a Crusader from Central days who became a South booster when husband Don taught and coached at South, cheered for her grandchildren who ran at North. With these unique family connections, Sommer and Meyer organized a study committee to create the master plan for South campus improvements. It would be funded by a general appeal because no one individual stepped forward to commit a large sum. All initially agreed the project would not begin until funding had been guaranteed. Meanwhile, three other issues arose. The first was an outgrowth of Meyer’s experiences in academia and service learning outside of St. Louis. She strongly encouraged faculty and staff to nurture student participation in new efforts “outside the box.” She applied for and in spring 2007 received three years of funding from LCF for the Faith in Action program. She chose St. Marks-‐ Eureka member Jill Tendler to coordinate the servant activities students from both high schools would complete one day each spring and fall. The first year funding provided for transport, water and food for the more than one thousand students, faculty and staff. Each of the seventy small groups from the high schools completed projects that varied in length from four to six hours. Groups assisted at Missouri Veterans Home, “repaired” the basement at Our Redeemer, packed meals and sorted clothing for Otis Woodard’s College Hill Peace Park, assisted at local elementary schools with reading and playground supervision, painted fencing and cleaned playgrounds at women’s shelters, distributed fliers for community meetings, cleared new ground for community gardens, repaired paths and trimmed honeysuckle bushes in parks. The prohibitive cost of transport rental forced the two high schools to stagger their dates to pool their buses, and South administrators later divided their program into fall frosh/soph and spring junior/senior service days. Faith in Action success encouraged another method of service: the Polar Bear Plunge. Raising pledges for a variety of charities, the first three participants were Mike Lorenz, Rev. Keffie Deen and Paul Endorf. The trio’s efforts soon included students and additional faculty each February at cold Lake St. Louis. The second challenge Meyer faced dealt with an issue that originally surfaced during the late ‘80s. Families from West County, particularly St. John-‐Ellisville, met with Meyer and treasurer Jo Cronin to promote the formation of another high school along the Highway 40 corridor. Unfortunately for the concerned parents, the North campus expansion had just been completed and the South campus expansion had just been designed. When a demographic study determined any effort would only be attended by a small prospective enrollment, discussions ended. St. John would later withdraw from Association membership. Ironically, with the hindsight that provides perspective, one can only imagine what might have happened if the Association had been able to expand to meet other requests posited in the mid-‐‘80s. Interested in Lutheran secondary education, St. Charles County parents desired a campus in that area. Unfortunately, the Association’s financial straits at that time, coupled with falling enrollment, prohibited consideration of that opportunity. When the St. John proposal arrived, the St. Louis and St. Charles high school associations had vastly differing structures that prohibited a merger or cooperative effort in the west county corridor. The disappointment expressed by those affected by the final resolution of the issue may have encouraged a few to seek a reevaluation of the structure of the LAHE. During the mid-‐‘90s, in a couple of long-‐time north side congregational mainstays of the LAHE, a few families asked their parish councils to consider transferring membership and support to the high school association in St. Charles. While the concerns they expressed had been satisfactorily resolved, some Association members at that time began to reflect the national political and Synodical trends already present in American society. As segments of the national political electorates identified with more conservative
camps, they sought to exert more local control over what they believed were their own affairs. They faced-‐off against energized liberal groups who appeared to resort to executive fiat to impose specific solutions for the challenges. And both “sides” began to resolve issues as society did in courtrooms: adversarial confrontation. Fortunately in the Association, cooler heads prevailed. A few parents, hearing about the St. John initiative, developed a request to divide the association as the Chicago association had done a generation before. They rationalized the separation would promote more local control by local stakeholders who could finance their own projects in their immediate community. While partially motivated by the North-‐South rivalry and continued misperceptions that “South money” was supporting “North needs,” it reflected more of a sense of ownership by South membership, most of whom attended Lutheran schools and churches and desired the best for their community. Board membership alleviated their concerns, reminding them how the perceptions had been reversed back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. North’s development personnel had also fully financed the campus expansion at 5401 while South’s fundraisers struggled to meet the continually expanding goals of the building program at 9515. Discussions about dividing the Association ended as Board members renewed a more unified approach to development. The third issue Meyer confronted was specifically a recruitment issue. Lutheran South alumni, in particular, noted that South students were not applying to “top tier” universities and colleges. Taking a cue from Mike Prange as he retired from Lutheran ministry, Meyer met with guidance counselors Rich Arnold (South) and Cindy Burreson (North) to encourage students to consider investigating enrollment opportunities at traditionally notable colleges and universities. When assured that many wanted to stay closer to home, she suggested providing a list of those institutions within a five hundred-‐mile radius. Students could consider, for example, applying to Vanderbilt, Loyola, SLU, Valpo, University of Chicago, Creighton, Purdue, Drake or Bradley. As college tuition skyrocketed, she noted that these schools, with large endowments and quality reputations, would provide middle class families an opportunity to receive a quality education without “breaking the bank.” As more students were accepted at these institutions, Association directors of recruitment could publicize such opportunities to prospective middle-‐school recruits. To help students think “outside the box,” Meyer brought in Association graduates to discuss the opportunities these “upper tier” institutions provided for future vocations. One particularly effective speaker was ’72 South grad Rebecca (Pallmeyer) McAdams. A federal judge in northern Illinois, she addressed a mixed Lancer/Crusader group, discussing with students issues like civic responsibility, public service and educational excellence. As the Board supported the resolution of these issues, the South expansion plans grew in scope and cost. Only a complete rebuild of the bleachers could accommodate a new track/football/soccer facility. And the planning committee had added a spacious press box, ornate fencing, an expansive scoreboard touted as a revenue generator, a storage pavilion—and additional baseball, field hockey and softball fields on neighboring cemetery land leased by the Middeke administration for a twenty-‐ five-‐year period. The project required more than six million dollars. Meyer attempted to recruit new Board members. But she noted that if she recruited prospects who had the financial means to generously contribute to the project or contact those who could, some congregations might perceive the selections as a sleight to proper representation of the general constituency. She realized such efforts could be viewed as the consolidation of power in the hands of a few well-‐connected congregations. While “at-‐large” Board selections could alleviate some of those concerns and place candidates in appropriate positions, the situation could shake confidence in operating procedures and protocols. An administrative retirement at South directed attention away from those issues. Meyer and the Board initiated what turned into a lengthy call process. Meyer supervised the change of administrations at South. In 2006, Paul Buetow, principal of Lutheran South since 1997, retired and, as the Board searched for a replacement, turned to veteran North-‐cum-‐Green Park principal Paul Crisler. He served as acting principal until spring 2008, all the while supervising the construction project on the Tesson Ferry campus. When Brian Ryherd
accepted the call to serve as principal, he arrived that summer and, with Meyer, participated in the dedication ceremonies at Lancer Stadium. The October event completed a whirlwind era of equitable expansion on both campuses. As Meyer neared retirement in 2009, both South and North constituencies desired creation of fine arts centers. Drama chair Rich Reiss at South and music coordinator Steve Tirmenstein at North discussed with colleagues the possibilities of such expansions. But the costs of the just-‐completed project at North and the new construction at South delayed formal consideration. When Meyer retired, the two campuses had completed significant “face lifts” and facility expansion. The work at South, nearing completion, still had not been fully financed, but Board membership, particularly the regional representatives, appeared ready to meet that responsibility. Meyer had encouraged the constituency to consider significant changes in the philosophy of ministry, to look “outside the box” to find and serve ministry opportunities. She had attempted to broaden leadership opportunities for perceived outsiders and create openings for potential leaders despite governance protocols. Most significantly, to underscore the Association’s commitment to the Christian community in general, the new Acting President would be Gerald Kirk, a 1980 North graduate. During his brief tenure, the biggest challenge the Board faced was rising tuition that curtailed student recruitment. Meyer, interim South principal Crisler and North Director of Recruitment Mueller prodded the Board, supported by statistical evidence and compelling individual cases, to prioritize student aid. After all, the local economy continued to stall, particularly on the north side. All sources had to be tapped. An examination of the issues again tied possible resolution of the problems caused by rising tuition to the support of past ministry efforts in the city. During Rittmann’s administration, Crisler encouraged LCF support for Concordia Middle School (CMS), a consortium of still-‐remaining city congregations that used the facilities at Holy Cross and Messiah. When LCF funding ended, many of the member families could not meet tuition requirements and CMS closed. Both he and later Meyer shifted that support to the three-‐campus King of Glory elementary school. Mueller, on site at 5401, noted that students unable to meet tuition costs at those schools could not meet tuition fees at North and South. He could also describe to the Board cases like the sacrifices of Mike Williams, long time security guard at school functions. Williams, who occasionally served as a football coach and whose sons attended North, often donated his fees to the student assistance program. Perhaps LCF could alleviate some of those issues by providing seed money to create a tuition assistance endowment. But it appeared that persistent Board appeals to the LCF would have to await resolution. When Mueller retired, North lost its “griot.” Like Vogelsmeier, he was the man who could remember names and faces of multi-‐generational families and their relatives. When he left he took with him much of the oral history about North’s middle decades. But he was not gone. As a trust recruiter for the Missouri District offices, he established his office at Chapel of the Cross and worked “behind the scenes” as an Association supporter. He continued to encourage the development of a tuition endowment fund. After all, he would be a stakeholder. He still had a daughter who would attend North. He and wife Kathy also shared an inclusive vision for North County Lutheran education. As Kathy’s teaching career neared its end, she encouraged Chapel of the Cross, its preschool program serving an area where 60% qualified for free school lunches, to merge resources with Grace Chapel. In 2014 the preschool operations formally combined. The Williams and Mueller families’ commitments to the North ministry were only two of many examples that encouraged the Board to seek additional funding for student tuition assistance. The Board renewed requests to the LCF for financial support. Persistent pleas paid off. LCF generously granted a gift of three million dollars to establish an endowment for tuition assistance for financially strapped families. Perhaps anecdotal information about other families would encourage similar funding for additional Lutheran schools.
Unexpected Expenses To assist recruitment of students and retain quality faculty, the Board limited tuition hikes, increased student assistance and incrementally raised staff salaries. Unfortunately those policies, combined with the unexpected rising costs of maintaining the updated campus facilities, exacerbated a growing fiscal deficit. At North, the great joy of being able to stay on campus for practices and competitions for track, baseball, soccer, and softball was tempered by the costs of cutting the grass, trouble-‐shooting the spotty sod, pruning trees and securing the facilities from illegal use and abuse. With only one full-‐time custodian it was impossible for North to adequately maintain the facility. Mowing and leaf removal alone during the nine-‐month growing season required hundreds of man-‐ hours—and properly operating equipment for which there had been little budgeted. Coaches and parents pressed into service would have to line fields, drag baseball cut-‐outs, anchor parking signage, mow key competition areas and even moved sand into pits. Unlike other high schools in the area, coaches had to hang their own batting cages, move their own hurdles and pits and collect or purchase, piecemeal, old tires and PVC pipe to save pits from dry-‐rot or safely anchor wind fencing. The breakdown of a mower, cart or tractor could spell disaster, requiring many more hours of intensive labor until the equipment was replaced or repaired—the costs usually exceeding budgetary allocations. The Board had to reconfigure the fiscal budget. They had to account for the increased costs of depreciation and maintenance. The new facilities and open fields invited unauthorized use. Just after completion of the North project in 2004, administrators and coaches confronted groups that used the fields outside of normal operating hours. The occasionally fully equipped football squads would be asked to leave. They were encouraged to apply at the business office during the next normal operating day to secure rental agreements and insurance waivers. A year later a coach ended a full-‐fledged soccer tournament. Local neighborhood teams had even hired referees. The damaged gate by the Shell station permitted quiet, surreptitious entry. In one particularly galling incident, children of local families illegally residing with friends in the Lucas and Hunt Apartments made regular forays under the fencing. They damaged facilities. They savaged pavilion glass brick windows during target practice and attempted several times to break in to the concession area. In 2007, during a final confrontation, a half-‐dozen children under the age of eleven raced across the west golf greens. Norwood Hills greens keepers ran in hot pursuit. The children had taken golf carts and sand trap ‘dozers’ for joyrides, ramming them into the track fencing. They abandoned the vehicles and darted across campus towards the anonymity of the apartment complex. An alert coach, athlete and principal nabbed two of the culprits near the pavilion. With the help of the County police department, caretakers of the country club and cooperation of the apartment management, the families illegally squatting in the complex were removed from the premises. The vandalism ceased. The buses also provided a special challenge. With bus rental cost-‐prohibitive, even for singular instances, the Board generously funded and maintained buses and vans for each school. Before the campus expansion, many of North’s squads traveled each day to proper practice or competition facilities. Between 1993 and 2004 the track team traveled at least three days a week to practice at Jennings High School. For many of the successful athletes and teams of that era, the generosity of the Jennings administration and athletic department will never be forgotten. “Home” track meets were at MICDS—the annual Lutheran North Relays. Softball squads played “home games” at Forestwood Park. The tennis team hosted matches at either Norwood Hills CC or at Forestwood. Golf squads (and a few PE classes), when not using Norwood Hills, journeyed to Hazelwood driving ranges. Soccer and baseball teams played on the one football practice field behind school or played away “home games.” For decades, bus service was a key component that facilitated quality practice sessions and competition. Until the mid-‐‘90s, Tirmenstein’s early-‐August band retreat determined the reliability of the school bus(es) and van. Because they sat idle for two months, Tirmenstein learned to test the
vehicles the day before he needed them. Occasionally they would not start and needed new batteries. Sometimes the tires needed refilling. The fuel would always need topping-‐off. Obstacles challenged the volunteer drivers returning to Camp Wartburg to pick up the band members for their return trip to North (via Swing Around Fun Town). The occasional tire shred required returning to North to switch to another vehicle—which invariably needed fuel. Other times the driver would note that after dark the dash or running lights would not function and needed electrical repairs. It was always an adventure that continued into the fall as coaches signed up for bus use. Bus sign-‐up was traumatic for the affected coaches. Signing up for a bus did not guarantee its use for a variety of reasons. At times cross country squads traveling to meets in Shaw Park were “bumped” from their vehicle because a volleyball team needed transport to a rescheduled game. Several times a frustrated administrator, pressed into service as a replacement driver, grabbed the first available bus for a quick trip—taking with him equipment already loaded onto the vehicle for another team. Sometimes volleyball, cross country, track, softball, soccer and baseball teams shared buses to common destinations to attend regular season competitions. The preparation for the trip often was an experience by itself. First, the responsible driver had to find the key for the vehicle for which he or she had signed up. Each month—and in the spring each week—the driver could count on having to conduct at least one forty-‐five minute forensic investigation during the free period determining who had used the bus last—and then pray the key was somewhere in the building! Then, the driver would hope the assigned vehicle was in the bus parking area. It might have been borrowed by a local elementary school, unbeknownst to all but the head office staff who had permitted it to be used when that school’s bus had been taken in for repairs. If the vehicle was on campus, then the coach prayed it started—while ardently beseeching the Almighty that its fuel gauge not be on empty. Fueling the vehicle was an adventure, each coach usually tasked with tracking down the one credit card available in the office—that was never open on a Saturday morning when teams were heading out to a major competition. One creative coach, faced with losing his assigned vehicle to another team, exchanged his assistant (who drove for the other team) for a second vehicle for his own squad. Another new teacher, tasked with watching his two pre-‐school sons immediately after school, took them not to the intended practice session which he hoped to attend but to watch a soccer squad’s game for which he had to drive. “On the road stories” provide enough material for a reality series. There was the time two South athletes mooned a family out of the back of the crowded track bus—and then were confronted by the family that followed the vehicle back to campus. Another South bus stalled in traffic in the depressed lanes under the Arch—and was pushed by a semi and “jump-‐started” by the expert coach/driver who knew how to use a clutch in that situation. A North squad that had just won the ABC League track meet at Priory had to drive to South with the Lancer squad they had just defeated. They had to do so before riding the South bus back to North. Having lost the bus key while at the meet, the Crusader coach could not retrieve a key from North because only Coach Vogelsmeier—who was at a baseball game—had a key to enter the office where a replacement could be found. Over the years, various buses had nicknames. John Kersten had the misfortune of driving “Burners.” In both cases proper maintenance did not stop the main engine gasket from cracking and setting fire to the engine along I-‐170. Two were “beepers”—Big Beeper (it seated more) and Little Beeper. Big Beeper had a lower beeping sound originating in the brake warning system. Over the years, numerous checks by certified mechanics could not terminate the distracting noise. Little Beeper had a grating, higher pitched rapid repetitive sound which made it distinguishable from Big Beeper even in the dark. Little Beeper also did not like to use its emergency brake. It insisted the driver pirouette from the vehicle with chock block in hand to sweep it under the front right tire and freeze it in the designated spot. After several interesting rodeo-‐type performances, coaches learned to keep an athlete on board who could more agilely complete Little Beeper’s parking exercise. Blinky had a turn signal that sometimes turned off—when the driver needed it most.
Winky I had emergency blinkers that, once triggered, would continue operating even when the battery was disconnected. Winky II had dashboard lights that usually worked—but only in daylight. In the dark, probably fatigued from a heavy workload, Winky II shut down its dashboard lights. Buzzy was the vehicle that had the special back door evacuation lock. The vehicle could never start unless the lock was in the open position. At least that is what the vehicle manual stated. When Buzzy started, it sometimes buzzed continuously during operation. After several weeks a creative track athlete discovered a baseball trading card insulated the metal slip lock from the triggering mechanism. Buzzy also was timid. It disliked city driving. An old catalytic converter would shut the engine down when traveling at less than twenty miles per hour. Once it did not like driving to a Faith in Action work assignment in the Lafayette Square neighborhood. Four times in one mile along Tower Grove Avenue it insisted on stopping to look at the beautiful Missouri Botanical Garden’s stone wall. A second vehicle had to deliver the students to the site. Relieved of its burden, Buzzy happily returned to North via I-‐70 without incident. Buses sometimes ended up in interesting places. One coach, returning from a late game, quickly backed the bus up to the parking curb—and rolled over the curb. Fortunately, he slammed on the brakes and stopped descent onto the golf course below. A pickup truck had to pull the vehicle into its proper parking space. Another vehicle, returning from a Sectional track meet in Mexico, provided a sweet, expansive aromatic perfume smell for its passengers. The diesel fuel line had broken just west of the airport—and only an hour after the coach had filled up in Kingdom City. It resided on the exit ramp at Lindbergh and I-‐70 while awaiting its tow date. Even rental vehicles provided material for exciting story lines. As the boys’ basketball team prepared for the State semis, representatives of a local rental company insisted their buses sat seventy-‐one passengers. The administrators rented enough buses to transport the almost two hundred adults and students who signed up to travel to Mizzou Arena. When the buses arrived three hours prior to game time, all noted the seventy-‐one passengers assigned to each bus would have to be three-‐to-‐a-‐seat pre-‐ or elementary schoolers-‐-‐not grown adults jammed cheek-‐to-‐cheek. Administrators quickly hired a coach to drive students on a North bus—and they threw in a cup of coffee on the way back! In one final incident, an alert student returning on I-‐70 to campus from a summer outing at the Arch noticed a North bus parked in a Jennings subdivision. When a custodian arrived to reclaim the vehicle, County police informed him that an East St. Louis chop shop ring had been accepting old buses without question and selling parts to repair companies. The bus had been hotwired and prepared for delivery to the chop shop. South was not so fortunate. It had two vehicles stolen during a rash of early-‐morning bus heists where thieves sought valuable chair lifts and catalytic converters. Finally, “Vanny,” a cargo van near and dear to all, served as an all-‐purpose vehicle. It hauled cones and lumber, old furniture and yard equipment, scrap metal and discarded desks, fuel and seed, concrete and sheet rock, sod and garden stones. And sometimes all at the same time! On its “last legs (wheels?)” for years, planks covered the gaping holes in the cargo floor. The cab was decorated in the latest style of freshman male college dorm couture: old coffee cups, partially filled soda cans, used sandwich wrappers, spare parts, apple cores and orange peels. Easily offended, it would frequently slip out of gear when placed in park. Because the engine was difficult to start (though sometimes the driver could simply turn the key slot sans key and it would run!) drivers kept it running when loading and unloading. One coach, moving a mower to cut a swath for a cross country course, did not know its idiosyncrasies and had to chase it down a driveway. He caught it just before it drove away in a huff. A band instructor, leaving it unattended while unloading equipment, watched in amazement as “Vanny,” apparently offended by being abandoned, backed fifty yards into a tree. No one was hurt—and the now fashionably curved double cargo door would make it easily identifiable on any “as is” used car sale lot.
The Mission Continues “Lutheran High School North is a diverse educational community whose unity is in Jesus Christ. We exist to nurture young Christians for further education and Christian service.” The Mission Statement shaped the educational activities that took place under the cross. SALT, TREND and Student Ambassadors provided co-‐curricular opportunities for student leaders. The first two emphasized Christian stewardship and held traditional Bible studies. SALT members annually collected canned goods during a Halloween “trick or can” drive and provided informal training for peer ministers. Guitar duo Phil Grupe and Abi Lessing led chapel and small group worship. When founder and math instructor Nathan Schiefer accepted a teaching position in Indiana, new math instructor Eric Funke (N ’00) moved the organization under the FCA umbrella. He, and later business instructor Paul Endorf (N ’03), held bowling outings, pizza parties and cookie contests centered around weekly morning Bible studies and service projects. During the formative early years of the organization, TREND participants developed the traditional Christmas Tree of Needs and helped homerooms choose Christmas and Easter service projects. Yellow and Red Ribbon weeks, coordinated by counselors Cindy Burreson, Mark Snyder, Byron Devrouax and assistant Donna McFarland, reminded students to avoid the dangers of Alcohol, Tobacco, Or Drugs (ATOD). They later provided a dozen students with the chance to attend the weeklong Regional Teen Institute. These efforts, coupled with Elaine Hunt’s and new instructor Bill Lucas’ supervision of the Thirty Days of Fitness, gave students many positive incentives to lead healthier lives. In addition, Mueller’s Ambassadors led informational workshops, provided guidance for prospective students and assisted at the frequently scheduled Open House events. Lucas coordinated Black History Month activities. He invited local Lutheran elementary schools to send their choirs to lead chapel. River Roads, Our Redeemer-‐Overland, Immanuel-‐Olivette, and Unity-‐East St. Louis accepted invitations. He conducted a poster contest to commemorate the historic events and periods examined in chapels. He brought in outside groups like Kids of Controversy, the Central Visual and Performing Arts Gospel Choir and McCluer North’s Gospel Explosion. He strongly encouraged students Melanie Askew and Stephanie Dillon to mime and use interpretive dance during chapels as another form of religious expression. English teacher Keith Ware and son Caleb shared their gift of song in an assembly. Speakers like County Administrator Charlie Dooley and Rev. John Schmidtke, both of whom sent their children to North, helped students understand the importance of learning the lessons of the past to overcome the issues of the present. Lucas’ work with Askew encouraged her to revive and direct the dormant Gospel Choir, and with the assistance of Association Office HR secretary Sharon Thurman, provided stability for the group. After Askew graduated, Mariah Evans continued the tradition of the group being led by a student director. Askew later became a training leader for a New Orleans Teach for America project. Lucas’ emphasis on presenting the Gospel-‐centered story of healing the wounds of racism created, as later Dean of Students Marlon Lee (N ‘98) stated, “. . . a feeling that we all were like a family.” To close each month’s celebrations, Lucas added an impressive flag ceremony conducted by local army color guards. Annually they presented the flag to distinguished servants of the high school. Recipients included the soon-‐retiring Kirk Mueller, the departing curriculum coordinator Kristin Rathje, statistician Bill Scheller and executive office assistant Rachel Pauluhn. One of the most emotional ceremonies was in 2006 when retiring long-‐time custodian Bill Keller, handyman extraordinaire, received both the flag and a Crusader dedication. Lucas also stepped onto the softball diamond. A former middle school basketball coach at CMS, he transitioned the softball squad from a recreational-‐type spring league to a competitive fall activity. In his first season at the helm, the squad, led by Julie Mark, catcher Michelle Tschannen, Shay Chin and slugger Tequila Prewitt won the District tourney, defeating Viz and JFK to advance to the Quarters. While St. Charles West won, it established the team as a perennial District contender.
Building on Success During the 2001-‐2002 school year enrollment rebounded to almost four hundred. With a larger enrollment, more students shared common interests and formed new groups. The student-‐led interest that restarted the Gospel choir encouraged a number of students who had taken dance classes to revive the Dance Cru. Coached by Gwen Williams and Alicia (Smith) Klug (S ’95), the first group was captained by Charli Cooksey and Samantha Smith. Encouraged by Klug, the rookie squad competed in a St. Charles high school dance contest and earned a second place. They established a tradition of competitive excellence. For the next several years a core group that included Cristy Wirtel, Jodi Kratzer, Kelsey Arrighi, Cheryl Branneky and Aleisha Gilliam created the energetic routines that earned several top-‐three finishes. The Cru also developed “home grown” leadership. First Smith, and later participant Deanne Leatherberry who danced under Smith’s tutelage, coached the Cru during the decade. During one season Smith added three boys to the Cru to provide more options for routines. While Cletus Hatten, Darrion Rice and David Johnson acquitted themselves well, available alternative preparations for their spring sport seasons proved to be too strong a draw for a continuation of the arrangement. Besides Smith and Leatherberry, two dancers had notable post-‐ high school careers in St. Louis. After a successful collegiate career at Concordia-‐Chicago, Kratzer returned to the St. Louis area to teach high school choral music. Cooksey, who created a non-‐profit education center to mentor young girls, later returned to North as a guest speaker during the Ferguson crisis. North’s traditionally competitive squads met their high expectations. Perennial contending football and baseball squads won District championships but ran into buzz saw Burroughs as it headed to Final Four berths. Three multi-‐sport athletes—Ryan Williams, Phil Williams, Jon Mueller—would not let Burroughs derail their 2002 basketball run. Led by that trio and Rebeil Durley-‐Petty, James Collins and Tony Irons, the group lost injured star Stanley Brooks in mid-‐season. Business teacher and coach Brent Rueter challenged his charges to rise to the occasion, particularly against long-‐time nemesis Cardinal Ritter. After disposing of the Lions in the District final the squad rolled over Valley Park at Mineral Area College and surprisingly defeated Charleston. A 46-‐42 overtime win against St. Joe-‐Bishop LeBlond put them into the final against a well-‐disciplined Elsberry squad. Rebounding again won the game as the crew, easing to a 72-‐62 win, claimed the first boys’ basketball championship in school history. Track ran into a weather buzz saw. After winning ABC and District titles, the Andrew Tirmenstein/David Eberle-‐led group appeared poised for another State plaque. The girls, who swept their eighth consecutive District title, had similar hopes but the squads faced a five-‐hour rain delay on the Friday prelim day at State. Prelims eliminated a number of key boys, forcing them to hope for a top ten finish. The girls, led by Teaberry, Amber Byrd, Dwoynne Johnson, Ratliff and Cooksey, added frosh sprinter Kimberly Prather to their contingent. At 10:40 that night, in fifty-‐five degree weather, anchor Prather got the stick in the 4 x 4 in seventh, fifty meters out of the second place qualifying slot. As she caught the second place runner ten meters from the line the team erupted. Later, riding on two cold buses, fortified by cold pizza purchased by visiting former coach and teacher Barry Terrass, the group arrived at a Lake of the Ozarks motel at 12:30 a.m. The next morning, both squads rallied furiously, the girls easing into fourth, the boys sixth. It ended an era of five years where the squads averaged thirty-‐five rostered athletes at the State meet. New Frontiers In and Out of the Classroom The next fall new personnel brought creative energy into several areas. Kelly Hobbs returned to reprise her leadership of the Drama Department, adjusting to the overwhelming female numbers who tried out for the musical by scheduling Fiddler on the Roof. Her assistance provided the bridge for Claudia Tendler to continue the musical tradition the next years with Little Shop of Horrors and Into the Woods. The Music Department added Robin Weatherall and Larry Walton to help with band instruction. Weatherall produced Shakespeare productions. Presented as more modern interpretations, Romeo and Juliet were an Israeli/Palestinian couple pursuing forbidden love. Twelfth
Night was staged in late October outside on the south parking lot. The south hill served as a striking backdrop. The chilled spectators thankfully purchased the hot chocolate sold during intermission. Weatherall converted the cafeteria into an island for the presentation of The Tempest. He moved productions to full stage facilities at Chapel of the Cross for performances of My Fair Lady. Weatherall also continued the tradition of using “home grown” North musicians like Andrew Prahlow, who aspired to become a professional trumpet player. Later, when the director’s high personal performance standards resulted in his hiring of professional accompanists, he invited the new North strings group to supplement the “pros” during performances of Beauty and the Beast. Weatherall and Walton regularly accompanied Tirmenstein as chaperones on the band tour. The longest band tour in school history was the six-‐day trip to Denver. Tours of the Rockies and local historical and cultural sites made the memorable excursion a treasured collective experience. It also gave the students an appreciation for the conveniences of the St. Louis area, many often wondering how cell phone service could be so spotty. As always, the last night before return, Tirmenstein chaired a meeting of the seniors to reflect about their high school band experiences and share their future goals. The Fine Arts Department continued to evolve, instructors encouraging more rigorous pursuits. Mike Lorenz (S ’98), a football coach and weight lifting sponsor, added a spring art show that featured the work of a graduating senior. He also solicited performances by the jazz band. The availability of light refreshments brought back memories of Marti Thomas’ earlier show choir festivities. The first art show featured Aaron Prahlow and his paintings, one of which soon graced the entryway to the Association offices. He later graduated from SIUE with a BFA and became a jeweler. As long-‐time English instructor Liz Thomas prepared to retire, the principal encouraged her to revive some past traditions of student expression. As first Kristin Bork and then new department chair and later curriculum director Kristin Rathje arrived, Thomas created a writing lab. She suggested changes for the ACC classes that Rathje later used to repackage English curricular offerings. Adam Pearson, a junior transfer, engaged students to create a literary collection of expressive poems, reflections and short stories. Reminiscent of the Crusader Penorama entries of the early ‘70s, it provided students a chance to better prepare for post-‐high school writing opportunities. In 2008, Rathje introduced the Poetry Out Loud component, Laura Briggs winning the first school competition and finishing second in the regional contest. It ignited a school-‐wide interest in the poetry “slams” that became a highlight of the late fall. New addition Jean Holtgrewe revised curricular offerings in Practical Arts. She added a Fashion Design course for upper level students. In other course work she regularly incorporated visits from expectant mothers and trips to childcare facilities to better educate teens about raising families. The empathy “bulge” that simulated a pregnancy helped the boys better understand the body’s changes during the nine months of gestation. Those who carried the baby dolls experienced the twenty-‐four hour “on call” duty of new parents. The emotive baby dolls also made chapel services and classes occasionally sound like regular church worship experiences in the reserved nursery section. The Practical Arts extra-‐curricular extension of the FBLA earned recognition. Its members organized the “penny wars” collections that benefited the March of Dimes. They also coordinated weekly café or breakfast offerings, the proceeds financing the costs of participating in business competitions that provided real-‐life experiences for prospective college students. In 2005 Kyle Niewald finished second in State in Business Procedures. And finally, financed by a generous donor, advised by South robotics instructor Ken Steinbrueck, supervised by volunteer Brian Storm, and using the facilities of the Peterson family, David Kersten and Annie Froeschner ventured into the school’s first robotics competition. Some sports teams suddenly experienced success. During the 2003 tennis season (after removing a car steered by an errant driver onto the courts), Paul Endorf qualified for State. Chris Solomon
made the trip five years later. In the fall of 2004, Hunt’s female charges, including Ali Pauluhn, Penny Johnson and Cooksey, qualified for Sectionals with a 10-‐7 record, the first winning record for either tennis team at North. The next season new coach Jim Murphy coaxed Lindsey Webster and Becca Grupe out of District. And soccer finally made its breakthrough. Going 15-‐4 in 2002, Brackman’s squad cruised through the next campaign with a 12-‐7-‐3 record, setting the stage for a veteran group to contend for the 2004 District crown. Erik Peterson, who set the career mark for goals with one hundred, led Cory Remspecher, goalie Drew Bucholz and Andy Mansfield to the first Class 2 District championship in school history. The 17-‐8 squad lost in the Quarters but left long-‐time mentor Vogelsmeier, who served as statistician, a high degree of satisfaction. Peterson earned All State honors on the strength of his prolific scoring. In 2002, the boys’ cross country squad, led by three-‐time State qualifier and ABC and District champion Brad Herbstreit, won the first team District title in North’s history. Dan Snyder and Kevin Turner joined him as District medalists, and Rome Clower, Andy Wesche, Brian Kersten and Andrew Prahlow moved on to State. With Herbstreit finishing in twenty-‐sixth, the string of All State CC honors started by Martin Popp (who had benefitted from Mike Kersten’s focused leadership) and continued by Chris Rolland, was briefly interrupted. Turner earned laurels the next season. Wesche would return three more times individually to the big dance, too, and with cousin Prahlow, set the stage for the significant successes of the middle distance runners through the rest of the era. Jocelyn Nebel would do the same for the Lady Thinclads. In the final athletic event of the ‘02-‐‘03 year, only a handful of the girls’ track team journeyed to Lincoln U. While Prather placed high in the 100M and 200M, and Cooksey, Givens and Rachel Voss provided support in the relays, the squad scored only twenty-‐four points. Coach Prahlow made the long walk to the van while Spears and Tirmenstein cleaned up camp and prepared to leave. As Prahlow parked the van in the loading zone on Chestnut, Spears hollered at him to get down to the track because the girls had earned a fourth place plaque! Prahlow had to leave manager Andrew Webb sitting in the driver’s seat so he could rush down to the field to join the joyous celebration. The Beat Goes On In 2002-‐2003, as Crisler celebrated the second last of his thirty-‐eight years in North County, the perennially competitive football team maintained its tradition of excellence. The ‘02 football squad, led by QB Jon Mueller, linemen Zach Poggemueller, Tim Downs and Phil Seris, and skill people like Wyn Arps, Jeff Horton and Keith Wyatt, again won the District by a combined score of 88-‐14 over its three opponents. After defeating Prin 37-‐13 for a second time in the season, the team sneaked past Portageville 13-‐7. However, at Centralia, Jeff Horton suffered a broken finger in the first quarter and the offense stalled. The 14-‐7 defeat ended the State semi-‐finalists’ bid for another championship. Another District title in 2003, led chiefly by Seris, Wyatt, running back JeMaine Lewis (future Athlete of the Year at Concordia-‐Nebraska) and lineman Craig Robinson ended in the rain and wind against Caruthersville. In the 2004 season the team recorded its twenty-‐second District title. The rugged group that used a savage defense to propel it through the District by a combined 140-‐20 score, traveled to a water logged Kirksville field. With Jeff Leslie, Matt Thurman and Rolandis Woodland handling the ball behind Josh Cody, Dan Schmidtke and Willie Stallworth, the Crusaders could not quite overcome the final 21-‐13 deficit. The first three used their experiences to motivate themselves to complete their goals on the court. Rueter’s ‘04-‐‘05 basketball campaign started a little behind schedule as football players finished their extended season. But after a Christmas tournament they played with purpose. Leslie, Thurman and Woodland joined LaRico Martin and Mike Woods to dominate the ABC League and defeat Whitfield in the District final. After beating an undefeated Bowling Green squad 56-‐53 at St. Charles West, they eased by Fayette 50-‐43 and then defeated Versailles in the Semis 47-‐42. Multi-‐state champion Charleston had a huge front line but tough rebounding and solid defense made the final
72-‐63 score much easier than it appeared. The only question was, “Three more years and another title?” The baseball squad returned to its winning ways, for the first time in three years winning the District tourney. Mueller, Jamaal Jackson, Justin Wilson, catcher Clark Wise, basketball star Jeff Leslie and Jimmy Niemczyk provided the fire power, defeating Priory 11-‐1 in Sectionals. The Warriors of St. Charles West again derailed the trip to State, 7-‐6. But many noticed Russell’s well-‐developed tradition of quality efforts and good sportsmanship. In 2006 the thirty-‐two year veteran mentor, who had earned eleven League and twelve District titles, was selected to the Missouri Baseball Hall of Fame. The Umpires Association awarded him Coach of the Year honors. During fall 2006, Manion’s minions again ran through their regular season to finish at 8-‐2. After winning the District they won their first round game in the State tournament and traveled to Owensville. The home squad shut the Crusader offense down, ending the season with a disappointing loss. That fall the CC squad returned State vets Nik Karg and Paul Crets. Joined by returnees Steve Liggins, David Kersten, Aaron Prahlow and frosh Adam Prahlow and Ryan Tucker, the squad won plaques at the Lutheran South, Hancock and Border Wars meets. The seasoned group earned a spot at State with their runner up finish at District, setting a school record team time. Junior Katie Nebel and soph Sarah Bachmann qualified individually. Following the fall season, assistant CC coach Mac made a fateful decision. He came out of retirement and reentered the basketball world, this time as an assistant to veteran replacement Anthony Virdure. It turned into a pleasant surprise. While only going 8-‐16 prior to the District tournament, the team jelled at the right time. Constance Clay’s three-‐pointers, Natalie Patton’s pressure defense, Jessica McKinley’s ball handling and Laura Truetken’s rebounding gave the squad—and Coach Mac—a dramatic come-‐from-‐behind win over Orchard Farm and the first District title in ten years. The boys were not so fortunate. While winning the ABC League for the second year in a row they could not get over the hump. Veterans Charles Dunbar and Tyler Shaw vowed to be better prepared the following season—after they took care of business in track and the 2007 football season. Shaw and Dunbar led the track squad to Lincoln U. Two relays placed well, and while Shaw won the HH, he hit the final barrier in the 300H and fell back to second. Shaw and Dunbar were joined at State by Josh Cody in the discus and Liggins who scored in the 1600M—and the team just missed a plaque, finishing sixth. That fall, with Shaw at QB and Dunbar at DB, the squad finished the regular season 3-‐4. But the blocking of Javan Harvey, Nate Schmidtke and Travis Kersten opened holes for Malik Hagens and the Crusaders swept through the District with a 3-‐0 record. But again a loss in the round of sixteen terminated the season too soon. It also ended Manion’s stint as head coach. The retired math teacher who returned to his “alma mater” (he actually graduated from Central), ended his ten-‐year career with a 90-‐29 record. Called to replace him would be Cleveland West Director of Recruitment, football coach and husband to South grad Kymm Gaines (’68)-‐-‐Troy Fehrs. Two girls’ teams garnered rare berths. The volleyball squad, feeding off the energy of the previous basketball District title, set their goals for the same. Missy Gould, Anne Carter, Sandy DuPree and Mia Pauluhn led Coach Cheri Mansfield’s squad to a surprising 17-‐11 record and a District championship. It was the first since 1992. The girls’ CC squad followed the lead of vet state qualifiers Katie Nebel and Sarah Bachmann. Newcomers Brooke Chavers, Liz Renaud, Devonne Degler, Krista Karg, Anna Rathje and Megan Jenkins rounded out the deep team. A dominating win at Northside and pr’s at Prin provided a springboard for the ladies to nab the second qualifying position at District, beating the Burroughs squad for the first time. The veteran boys’ ’07 CC squad faced early adversity. Liggins had to recover from a stress fracture suffered during the ‘07 State track meet. Aaron Prahlow had to rebound from a hip injury.
As they rehabbed, Adam Prahlow completed what arguably was the best CC season in North’s history, finishing in the top seven in every meet, setting the school record, winning Hancock and District. The surprise “savior” for the team was Danny Wesche. After “. . . avoiding anything that had to do with sports,” he entered the National Guard the summer of his senior year, ran six miles a day, lost forty pounds and joined “the pack” at District to help the team earn a berth. At State, Adam Prahlow and Liggins finished fifth and fifteenth, respectively, placing two on the All State squad for the first time in North history. The ladies finished twelfth but got some valuable experience. Proud Grandma and Grandpa Doc Prahlow, a coach of the three-‐time State champion Lancer squads in the ‘90s, watched three grandchildren run in the meet. That winter Dunbar and Shaw rejoined basketball players Tim Frierdich, Kendall Ware, Gevoni Eley and Chris Thames. The nucleus of the previous year’s squad eased through the ABC League schedule for another championship and then got over the hump, winning the District title. They continued their pressure defense and solid rebounding, North grad Phil Williams (‘99) assisting Reuter on the bench. They reached the finals at Mizzou Arena. For three quarters they survived Maplewood-‐Richmond Heights’ pressure defense and helter-‐skelter offense. With the ball on a break late in the game, Frierdich drove to the bucket and scored—but it was disallowed by a charge call. The Blue Devils scored the winning basket with only seconds remaining. The disconcerted fans behaved in such a way that at the tear-‐filled awards ceremony that followed, North received the Sportsmanship plaque. The dynamic duo, delayed by the late completion of the basketball season, faced incredibly cold early-‐season track meets. But the Clayton Invite win, the first Crusader Blue Division title under the new format, provided an early measure of progress. At State, despite heavy rain that delayed the finals for two hours, Shaw won both hurdles races, Dunbar scored big points in the long sprints, and the duo joined Matt Degler and Justin Welch to win the 4 x 2. The 4 x 4 ran a school record for second, but Berkeley finished right behind and eased to the championship. Sometimes winning happens—just not on the scoreboard. Shaw went to Northwest Missouri State where he helped the football squad win several conference championships and became a six-‐time hurdles All American. Today he is a personal trainer. At Concordia-‐Nebraska Dunbar led the basketball team to a CIT championship. He currently is a budding musician. Welch ran at Drake and Liggins at North Carolina A and T. It would be very difficult to reprise the previous successes. The following year, Prahlow suffered a hip injury and returned only to qualify for State with teammate Tucker. The soccer squad, mired in the midst of a 2-‐23 season, had vet coach Brackman taking the opportunity to teach skills—and, in a pouring rain, create the memorable “slip and slide” practice that many still talk about today. With Fehrs at the helm, the young football squad struggled to win the close ones. After going 1-‐6 through the regular season, the squad rallied to win District. Unable to stop Borgia’s option, the season ended at 4-‐7. But Fehrs encouraged the renewal of an old tradition. He supported a suggestion formulated by Lorenz that the Student Council sponsor a Powder Puff football game. It had been a decade since the last one and the Crusader ladies jumped at the chance. Each class received the advice of a coach and a male football veteran. They arranged their practices after school in the gym or, if weather permitted, on the practice field. With male football players reffing and female players sporting PE flag belts, the groups played the semis and finals just prior to the start of the spring sports seasons. The experiences ignited increased extra-‐curricular participation, particularly for the girls. Three squads did exceptionally well. The ‘08 CC crew of Bachmann, Rathje, Karg, Renaud and Jenkins added novice pole vaulter Mandy Spallek and frosh Megan Schmidt. The crew swept through the season, grabbing plaques at Lutheran South, Hancock and Northside. Four medaled at District and for the first time in history won the title. At State, in a sixth place team effort, Bachmann ran to thirteenth, Rathje nabbed nineteenth and for the second year in a row the CC squads placed two on the All State squad. Coach Traska’s ’09 girls’ soccer squad valued his “bird of passage” year at North. Led by Anne Carter, Katherine Sattovia, Jessica Huecker, Casey Remspecher, Kelsey Mansfield and Shanequa Tolliver, the team finished 10-‐7-‐2, beat rivals Lutheran St. Charles and St. Elizabeth, and
nabbed the first District title in school history. Traska’s move out of state complicated the situation because he had to race back from supervising the movers after the District win and before the Quarterfinal contest. The baseball team returned to the State playoffs, winning District yet again. Chris Mansfield, John Lampe, Sam Gahr and Zach Burnett provided the leadership, but they did not advance any farther. Community Under the Cross The doll sat in a chair in the middle of the gym. Rev. Meschke carried his toolbox into chapel. The eye on the gym’s east wall, symbolizing God’s presence, cast its steady gaze on the proceedings. Meschke first drove nails into the doll’s arms. Then, piece-‐by-‐ piece, he dismembered the figure, the limbs and torso scattered on the floor. It was what the Christ sacrifice meant for all, His sacrifice absorbing the brunt of our punishment under His Father’s mournful gaze. So went one of the most memorable chapels in North’s history. It set the tone for the rest of the era. Little did anyone know, but at that time Meschke began to fight cancer. During his lengthy battle he courageously led chapel and taught class. Wife Dottie transported him to his many treatments and his attendance at “Friday morning breakfast club” faltered. Rev. Keffie Deen and Sem student Darin Keener took responsibility for a few of his classes. Meschke took a leave of absence in fall 2008. In December, a month after giving his final chapel, he went to his Lord. Ever vigilant, he had planned his funeral service, specifically requesting the participation of the North band. Most of the student body, the football team and thirty faculty filled two buses and many additional cars. They took the trip through a light snow to his beloved Illinois country. The family of God celebrated his gift of new life in Christ and his future resurrection. His ministry to students, faculty and staff during the daily life at North continually reminded all how the Savior had been sent “unto us.”
Annotated Bibliography, Chapter 8 For the 9/11 crisis and following reaction, see a quick summary in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush. Nick Pistor, “Federal Agency Plans Move,” SLPD, July 2014, describes the role of the NGSA in the anti-‐terror activities. For the sequencing of general events, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States. For Synodical events, see http://www.lutheranhistory.org/presidents/pres_barry.htm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_B._Kieschnick, http://www.lutheranhistory.org/presidents/pres_kieschnick.htm and http://www.lcms.org/president/about-‐the-‐president. An extensive analysis of the “state of the LCMS” can be found in The Lutheran Witness: Special Edition, February 2008. It provides a readable format that particularly reveals Kieschnick’s interpretation of the statistics compiled during his administration. It also provides “snapshots” of congregational activities throughout the country that have successfully served their communities and expanded the Gospel mission. 250, pp. 138-‐150, describes some of the local events, venue construction and statistical analysis of regional economic issues. Fragmented, p. 163, outlines community priorities as they were enumerated by civic boosters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre describes in detail those events that triggered an Association evaluation of emergency protocols. Rohde, pp. 6-‐7, outlines the David Rittmann-‐era administrative efforts. Doris Rittmann, David’s widow, confirmed the individual details on 7/29/15. The inscription on the dedicatory stone by the pavilion and the plaque on the entry to the athletic fields describe the contributions of the individuals who helped complete the challenge grant. Russell confirmed the rest of the information. Most of the Meyer material is from an interview on 4/3/15. Rohde, pp. 6-‐8, provides additional information, as well as the summary of Rohde in the Alumni books published in 2004 and updated in 2014. Rohde continues to outline the relationship between the Association and LCF in pp. 6-‐7. The bus/van stories are compiled from the many tales shared by drivers like John Kersten, Steve Tirmenstein, Rich Langefeld, Dave McCollister, Josh Baumann, Mike Russell and Jim Prahlow. The North Mission Statement is from the ’02 Crusader, p. 2. Lee’s quote is in the ’09 Crusader, p. 16. Russell confirmed the football and baseball material compiled in the chapter.
COMING SOON!
Chapter 9: For Unto You: 2001-‐2008 Lutheran High School South Small group leaders played a key role in helping students “. . . grow . . . in Christ during the tough time . . . .” John Miller’s instrumentalists excelled in State competitions as did the “mathletes.” Ken Steinbrueck started a robotics program. As Buetow retired, Paul Crisler served for two years as acting principal and helped usher in an era of Faith in Action days. He also shepherded the flock as all celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of the high school. The Metro League entered its formative stage. For the first time, Lancers wore uniforms—and they celebrated a groundbreaking and dedication of a new athletic facility.
Table of Contents
Chapter 10: A Savior, Christ the Lord: 2008-‐2015 Lutheran High School North
Obama Faces Challenges Synodical Change Local Challenges “One In Christ: Vision 2020” On the Athletic Fields, Part 1 Adaptation in the Classroom Transitions on the Faculty On the Athletic Fields, Part 2 An End—and a Beginning Ferguson
1001 1002 1002 1003 1007 1007 1008 1010 1011 1013
Chapter 10:
A Savior, Christ the Lord: 2008-‐2015 Lutheran High School North
Obama Faces Challenges
After winning the 2008 election President Barack Obama faced challenging social, environmental and economic issues. Domestically he worked with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to pass the Affordable Care Act, effectively nationalizing health care. But like Bush and Clinton before, his party quickly lost control of Congress. Few of his measures promoted during the “Hope and Change” campaign made it out of Congressional committee. Of his education initiatives, only Race to the Top, a revision of NCLB, received funding. It provided guidelines that encouraged implementation of Common Core Curriculum. But on local levels the measure met opposition. Many opponents perceived the effort was an attempt by the federal government to regulate state departments of education and local school districts. Two disasters threatened the economic stability of the Gulf and New York-‐New Jersey regions. In 2010 the BP Gulf oil spill devastated the central Gulf coastal area. The ensuing assessment of clean-‐ up techniques and the formation of future safeguards caused additional controversy. It pitted environmentalists against promoters of business development and job creation. It also raised issues about influence peddling in government circles. But when Superstorm Sandy struck New Jersey in October 2012, coordinated relief work by federal and local agencies provided an effective response to the crisis. The cooperative relief efforts to assist the victims of Sandy became a symbol of what could be accomplished by inter-‐agency and political cooperation. The economy, faltering during the last two years of the Bush administration, continued to leave investors, corporations and the un-‐ and underemployed wondering when the administration could help resolve the issues. A bailout of major auto manufacturers successfully restored jobs and regional economic stability. Despite the repayment of the loan money to the government, Republican critics, angered by what they felt had been a Democratic power-‐play to enact Obamacare, initiated a determined policy of obstructing future Democratic legislative initiatives. While the Republicans controlled both houses, Obama utilized executive orders to enact his programs. The politics of confrontation led to an economic “. . . middling performance that defined much of the six-‐year-‐old recovery from the Great Recession.” Polls indicated many harbored a growing sense of uncertainty about the future. As the percentage of Americans either working or looking for work fell to less than 63% of those considered employable, economists noted the era reflected statistical trends that led to the severe recession in the late ‘70s. The official unemployment rate was only 5.5%. But that statistic masked the reality that many without jobs no longer seeking employment were not counted as unemployed. Part of the problem was that many once familiar occupations continued to automate, move offshore or disappear outright. The only apparent options for immediate employment involved positions like cashiers, waitresses and waiters, personal care aides, custodians and stock clerks. Of the top ten occupations with the most openings, those five opportunities fell into government-‐designated wage categories of “very low” and “low.” These generally unattractive minimum-‐wage jobs that required generic skills meant workers had limited negotiating power. They could not hope for quick advancement, marked pay raises or long-‐term employment. The capture of Osama bin Laden did not quell Obama’s domestic critics or slow the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. As Iran developed nuclear potential, the unsettled Middle East posed difficult, time-‐consuming challenges for world leaders. Intense diplomatic efforts by western powers attempted to alleviate the tensions in that region. With the world’s attention focused on the Middle East crises, Russian leader Vladimir Putin resurrected several former Soviet policies in an attempt to restore his image as a world leader. His chief initiative followed the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Putin moved troops into Crimea and then provided support for seceding Ukrainian rebels. He had carefully chosen his prey. Distant international opponents of his actions could do little more than threaten economic sanctions.
As a direct affront to the United States, Putin granted temporary residence to Edward Snowden. Snowden had released National Security Administration (NSA) communiqués that raised issues about the safety of Americans’ right to privacy. The release of additional information about successful NSA surveillance of foreign diplomats provoked the ire of American allies. They also discovered the CIA and FBI had even tapped the personal cell phones of world leaders. Having supported the United States as Obama condemned Putin’s actions, they felt betrayed. Cyber security was not just an international issue. Data breaches of Sony, Target, Alliance Health, and locally, of Schnucks and Michael’s, revealed a fragile American economic infrastructure easy prey for financial pirates. Online security would be one of several new campaign issues in 2016. As Obama ended his second term, many realized common sense preparation could resolve some problems. Cooperative international support of trained medical personnel quickly terminated brief Ebola and measles “epidemics.” The gravest threat, though, could not be handled as quickly. That threat lay in ISIS, the ruthless militant terrorist organization. Its members were dedicated to creating a caliphate controlled by Sharia law. They planned to leverage international influence by launching worldwide terrorist attacks. The next administration would have to develop a comprehensive response to the campaigns carried out by ISIS militia and the attacks by “lone wolves” inspired via social media.
Synodical Change
In 2010, traditionalists elected LCMS World Relief and Human Care head Matthew Harrison as president. The old divisions in Synod reappeared. In 2012, he sought to discipline the pastor who participated in a televised civic interfaith event. The pastor had taken part to provide care to the devastated Newtown, Connecticut community in which twenty school children (some of whom belonged to his congregation) and six educators had been murdered by a single gunman. Many of the issues in Synod raised by the adjudication of the similar Yankee Stadium-‐9/11 incident reappeared. At least in this instance, Harrison seemed to adopt the approach of a doctrinaire disciplinarian. Despite later rescinding his decision, the public image of the Synod on the national level appeared to be one of isolation and insulation. And much like the initial response by FEMA to the Katrina crisis, the incident seemed to emphasize administrative efforts to placate political supporters. One could hope that future Synodical responses to local crises would be more pastoral, particularly with Harrison’s background in world relief efforts. He seemed to follow that focus as he cultivated fellowship agreements and world mission ministry with fledgling and developing churches in Asia and Africa. When he was reelected in 2013, it appeared he would develop a more inclusive pastoral approach to nurture creative responses for local needs. Those opportunities dramatically appeared in the St. Louis area during the next two years. Harrison and Synod would rise to the occasion.
Local Challenges
For St. Louis-‐area residents, the 2008 recession continued into the next decade. It worsened racial income disparities, lowering St. Louis household income for white households by 7% and for black households by 17%. By 2010 the city had only 318,000 residents, having lost half a million people in only sixty years. In 2013 white median income was three thousand dollars above the national median—and twice that of black households. Unemployment statistics reflected similar patterns. With difficult commutes from and soaring prices of far-‐suburban property, many young single workers moved into the city. They had their choice of the thirty-‐five thousand vacant houses inside city boundaries. The many who did not move into the bustling Washington Avenue loft district gentrified communities like Lafayette Square and Soulard. Their arrival raised conflicts with long-‐ time residents over rising tax assessments. They also desired to limit the scope of private relief agencies like New Life Evangelistic Center. With many homeless seeking shelter and a warm meal at Rev. Larry Rice’s refuge, the new residents claimed they had become easy targets for panhandlers and street criminals. They openly campaigned for removal of such private relief facilities.
Those who left north city for north suburbs found little change. A 2008 demographic study indicated that what had happened in Ferguson and Spanish Lake was repeated elsewhere north of the I-‐70 corridor and east of the Missouri River. Ferguson, 75% white in 1990, was now 67% black, with most of the new residents clustered in the many apartment complexes located off West Florissant and north of Buzz Westfall Plaza. Spanish Lake, a rural community in 1990, was 90% white. By 2010 it was 90% black, with a population five times greater than it had been. Most were clustered in densely built, inexpensive rental apartments north of I-‐270 and east of and along SR 367. Environmental factors at the Bridgeton landfill and Coldwater Creek raised additional issues about North County land use, leachate drainage and soil contamination reminiscent of the Times Beach incident. To complicate matters, at the beginning of the decade many county school districts were permitted to voluntarily participate in the desegregation program. Several school districts dropped out of the program, effectively reducing transfer opportunities. A recently developed charter school movement also seemed to undermine local school districts’ attempts to meet accreditation standards. Leaders of local boards of education raised issues about the motivations of the new for-‐ profit charter educational corporations. The charter schools had been empowered to select students through a process pioneered by the magnet schools. The new charter schools selected students perceived to be more academically focused, including those who might have transferred to county districts participating in the desegregation program. Those who were not selected for the new charter institutions remained in the neighborhood schools. Many perceived this new effort was an attempt to siphon the top students out of the public system. They feared it would lead to the neighborhood school districts first losing accreditation and then being taken over by the state. Soon, judged by the measuring instruments developed within the guidelines of NCLB and Race to the Top, many neighborhood schools and several districts faced the nightmare of being classified as either provisionally accredited or unaccredited. When auditors of the Riverview Gardens district discovered financial irregularities, the board replaced its administration. The new administrators discovered they would soon face state takeover. When the Wellston district lost accreditation, its problems were so great that a state oversight committee formed by Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) moved its students into the adjacent Normandy district. Shortly after, the Normandy district was placed on provisional accreditation status. At its next assessment, it lost accreditation. Like in the Riverview Gardens case, DESE appointed a new administration. It also required both districts to bus to an accredited district those students who chose to leave. The costs would be borne by Normandy and Riverview Gardens and, after only a year, would force the two districts into financial insolvency. DESE would then take over all operations. When a sympathetic Ferguson-‐Florissant school district superintendent accepted students from the two unaccredited districts, he faced opposition from his school board members. He was removed a few months later. The collapsing education system, concentration of under-‐ and unemployed in crowded apartment complexes and relatively few social service agencies created a potential for economic and social strife. It was a regional problem. To make matters worse, many faced household food shortages. More than 60% of all families in the Chapel of the Cross, Grace Chapel, Immanuel Chapel and Salem-‐ Blackjack census tracts were eligible for free school lunches. The challenging issues might only be resolved by a comprehensive response. Perhaps North County Lutheran congregations and educational institutions could pool resources. Their leaders and stakeholders had the opportunity to construct a strategic model to help alleviate and perhaps resolve some of the systemic regional problems. “One In Christ: Vision 2020” As North’s enrollment fell to three hundred and South’s fell to five hundred, Association President Tim Hipenbecker crafted a strategic plan. The Concordia-‐Mequon graduate was uniquely equipped to add to the campus transformations begun by Rittmann, nurtured by Meyer and completed during
Kirk’s interim administration. During his first years at North, Hipenbecker served as a business instructor and Student Council advisor. As C basketball coach, he arrived each winter morning for the 6:00 a.m. practice sessions. With lengthy days that often included evening meetings, “Hip” was noted for his copious consumption of Mountain Dew. In the mid-‐‘90s, when Registrar Matt Heibel accepted a call to start Decautur (IL) Lutheran High School, he agreed to replace him. After a few years as registrar, Hipenbecker accepted a call to found a new high school for the Denver Lutheran High School Association. He supervised the placement, construction and staffing of Parker Lutheran High School in Denver’s southern suburbs. It was strategically located close to the new light rail terminus. Meanwhile, families supporting decades-‐old Denver Lutheran High confronted challenges similar to those faced by congregations and feeder schools in St. Louis. The outmoded downtown high school facility could not be inexpensively refurbished. Several of the formerly large association congregations had lost membership. This severely curtailed their ability to financially support and recruit students for the high school. According to a Denver Lutheran High administrator, it would have better served the community and the Denver association to sell the old campus to a charter school and use the money to finance the Parker operation. The only problem with that approach was that prospective Lutheran secondary students on the north side of Denver would not, because of prohibitive distance, be able to attend the new campus. While developing the building program, Hipenbecker started the Parker school in a strip mall. Perhaps the Mountain Dew sustained him as he served as principal, registrar, substitute teacher, bus driver, coach and dean of students. Then, as the building program reached completion, he saw a new opportunity—at Lutheran North. Crisler had retired. Hipenbecker accepted the call to return to North. He helped complete the many on-‐campus changes started by Crisler and Rittmann. Then, as Meyer retired, he submitted his name to be considered for Association President. He accepted the call. Bill Lucas, former athletic director at Concordia Middle School (CMS) and Dean of Students at North, accepted the position of interim principal. A year later North registrar, soccer coach and former Lutheran High-‐St. Charles graduate Tim Brackman accepted the call to serve North as its new principal. As Association president, Hipenbecker had a unique opportunity. The Board members, in conjunction with the new Association organizational structure, identified a variety of challenges that beset St. Louis-‐area private and parochial schools. With many local congregations losing members who moved to the St. Charles and Jefferson county areas, the traditional feeder schools faced similar issues. Hipenbecker had experienced those dynamics both in St. Louis and Denver. He brought a broader perspective to his administration that could help resolve those issues. He also could tap into resources made more accessible by Meyer’s earlier efforts. In the last years of her administration, she developed better communication between the four chief St. Louis Lutheran organizations: Lutheran Social Services (LSS), Lutheran Charities Foundation (LCF, or later LF), Lutheran Elementary School Association (LESA) and the Lutheran High School Association (LHSA). Hipenbecker planned to develop those organizations into a cooperative network to cultivate a shared vision for metro-‐area Lutherans. The Board members contacted a variety of representatives to meet in small groups and discuss challenges Lutherans faced in their local ministries. Over several months they compiled a list of significant issues local Lutheran organizations needed to resolve. Then they sought possible solutions for those challenges. They also designed a methodology to better distribute financial resources and provide expertise to those attempting to resolve the issues. In October 2011, the Association hosted the final conference meeting in the upper-‐level restaurant at the Renaissance Hotel. Board members, administrators, faculty and representatives of the constituency completed the final draft of “One in Christ: Vision 2020.” Their resolutions targeted three critical areas to first stabilize and then expand St. Louis-‐area Christian education. According to the conference resolutions, the most critical priority was for the high schools to be recognized as first choice institutions. To fulfill this objective, administrators would program methodical marketing and recruiting efforts. Prospective students could be assured the diverse student population at both schools would include ethnic and international representatives of varying
socio-‐economic backgrounds. Technology integration would be a primary component of daily classroom experiences. The second priority developed by the conferees required the Board to conduct a budgetary and fiscal analysis. After completing the task, the Board would acquire key strategies to formulate a program characterized by financial viability. After analyzing the 2007-‐2008 fiscal budget of almost ten million dollars, the Board concluded it had paid for all daily operating expenses. But the debit payments left only a $300,000 surplus to improve the two campuses, support professional development, develop new programs and finance student recruitment and aid. An annual surplus of that size would not meet depreciation needs. Track resurfacing, roof repairs, technology updates and vehicle replacement would have to wait. So, the Association administration focused on “catching up” to fund the new priority items. It successfully promoted contributions to the endowment to establish long-‐term institutional viability. The concerted fundraising also enabled the Board to set in reserve one year’s depreciation costs. The successful effort had been a difficult challenge. Tapping more from the two chief sources of income—congregational support and student tuition—would not be possible. Association congregations, contributing 10% of the operating budget, could not be expected to contribute more to the high school ministry. They were financially strapped simply trying to fund their own ministries and programs. Furthermore, while tuition provided 80% of the operating budget, tuition increases to finance the “catch up” program would depress enrollment. So, the Board followed the successful pattern that had funded campus improvements during the first years of the new millennium. Its members approved a project-‐driven development program. Within two years the approach yielded substantial gifts and planned bequests. This made possible a significant increase in financial aid and enrollment rebounded. Tuition remained relatively stable, averaging an increase of only 2% per year while other local private and parochial high schools had to double or even triple that average increase. By 2014 Association indebtedness of about $4.5 million had been refinanced. Financial projections indicated it would be reduced by 30% over the next four years. The Board added a grant writer to the Association office staff. As the Kitebridge program successfully integrated Chinese students into both high schools, the Board initiated a study to consider the creation of a middle school international program. The third component of “One in Christ” committed the Association to create a comprehensive educational system for all students desiring a Lutheran Christian education, pre-‐K through 12. Abortive attempts to create collaborative Lutheran schools at CMS and King of Glory had not been for naught. The collaborative efforts encouraged Association nurture of LESA goals. The resulting contacts with institutional supporters and the personal success stories of individual students motivated the Board to consider the final commitment in the “One in Christ” campaign. This last targeted area was not a new development. Originally contacted by LESA in 2008, the Board shaped the format of a LESA regional census tract survey of metro St. Louis. This study provided extensive information about census clusters. The statistical content included, among many other characteristics, median household income, ethnicity of residents, the number of parents and children in households and adult educational level. The distribution of the data to other organizations fostered a more cooperative spirit between the Association and the other two local Lutheran high school associations anchored in Edwardsville and St. Peters. After analyzing the data, the Board created a task force to financially fund Lutheran education in the immediate Association area. The task force also examined how to develop more shared programming. It noted two long-‐ time collaborative programs that could help shape future efforts: the long-‐standing high school-‐ sponsored band instruction at the elementary schools, and the regional academic fair and music festival held at North each spring. While the “One in Christ” program was formally adopted by the Board in January 2012, it had already provided guidance for institutional expansion, academic focus, student recruitment and financial assistance. As a “living” document, it could evolve through the targeted period ending in 2020. Ideally it would meet the needs of promoting financially viable Lutheran education through the period ending with the Association’s Seventy-‐Fifth Diamond Jubilee.
As of July 2015, it included an initiative to create and maintain relationships with prospective families, current students and families, congregations, feeder schools, donors and alumni, alumni parents and the greater Christian community in the St. Louis area. Supporters and recruiters could continue to proclaim to young people that attending the high schools provided them with a golden opportunity. The students would participate daily in an educational community that nurtured their lives to be dedicated to Christ and service in His name. It would also prepare them for the future. Supporters could tout the benefits of a quality Christian education that resulted in more than 98% of graduates matriculating from college. Implementation of the “One in Christ” program created several immediate effects for stakeholders. The first specifically dealt with the recruitment component of “One in Christ,” particularly at South. It involved a reevaluation of the day-‐to-‐day operations of the schools as they utilized the block schedule. Most south side private and parochial high schools had adopted the Block Eight program. To differentiate South’s program from the “competition,” administrator Brian Lind and Principal Brian Ryherd considered implementation of the new “flex-‐module” schedule, a program that resembled the modular programs of the early ‘70s. To create more class time for rigorous course study, they developed unique adaptations like “elements online education.” This online work permitted self-‐guided completion of designated “elements,” or graduation requirements, like a health module or a Missouri Constitution component. The removal of these online experiences from classroom curriculum provided more clock time for AP/ACC classes. Instructors could also incorporate more elaborate lab experiences and focused classroom activities within time frames dovetailed to fulfill each student’s educational needs. The second immediate impact of the implementation of the “One in Christ” program took place at North. Brackman, following Hipenbecker’s lead, encouraged the faculty to examine the structure and creation of certificate programs that nurtured student interests. For example, one program ready for adaptation was the International Baccalaureate Program. A second easily created certificate program was the environmental studies focus. In that particular case, the student would concentrate his or her electives in areas such as Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Geography. A final example of this type of certificate program was Romance Languages. The student could take multiple years of instruction in French and Spanish and select electives in European history. A final impact of the initial implementation of “One in Christ” is the exploration of collegiate online educational course work. Administrators encouraged faculty members at both schools to monitor online opportunities that embellished and enriched course work and curricular offerings. Between 2013 and 2015, Lydia Snyder and Olivia Thompson took online coursework developed by Stanford University. Snyder examined how ancient cultural mythological creatures reflected the values and mores of those societies. Thompson examined how early nineteenth century literary works of women revealed societal issues and gender bias. These experiences provided initial working knowledge and critical evaluations about available classes and curriculum. Members of the Counseling Center monitored and evaluated the effectiveness of those opportunities and considered protocols of “quality control.” They discussed the benefits and hazards of incorporating specific online collegiate courses as determined by the new trend of creating an electives-‐focused curriculum.
On the Athletic Fields, Part 1
In the fall of ’09, Fehrs faced a challenge. After going 1-‐6 before the District portion of the football schedule, an opening round District loss to Trinity almost guaranteed an early end to the season. But he rallied the squad to beat Burroughs and McCluer South Berkeley to earn yet another District title. Unfortunately, the 45-‐15 loss to Bowling Green ended the run. It also foretold a challenging year for all squads. On the day of the District cross country meet at Spanish Lake, fall rains had filled North Lake. Waters topped the fifty-‐year shoreline. The course had to be changed, a thirty-‐minute delay providing time for squads to tour the new route. Miserable footing hampered all competitors. Sliding through the mud, Anna Rathje and Meagan Schmidt qualified individually for the State Meet.
Unfortunately the squad, favored to return to Jeff City, did not overcome the conditions and just missed a team berth. The boys fell prey to the same challenges. Chris Floyd and Paul Degler earned berths along with returnee Adam Prahlow—and the boys’ squad fell only a point short of qualifying. At State, Rathje ran a perfect race and earned her second State medal. Prahlow did too, completing a storybook comeback. In his first meet of the season he set a course record on the SIUE Mud Mountain circuit-‐-‐despite fracturing his fibula in the last 100M. After spending the season biking and swimming, he ran to an eighth-‐place State Meet medal, becoming the first male Crusader to ever earn such repeat laurels. He would receive five NAIA All American honors at Concordia-‐Nebraska and then coach at Lincoln Lutheran while earning an M. A. in forensics at Nebraska Wesleyan. The following spring, Coach Mike Russell’s baseball team and Coach Jim Prahlow’s track squad appeared poised for State runs. On the diamond, Josh Brackman, Joe Ryals, Connor and Brendan Buenger, Tanner and Tyler Branneky, Zach Burnett and Trey Massenberg raced through the schedule to win ABC and District titles. After easing through Sectional, the squad played, again, the afternoon after graduation, many having attended Project Graduation the night before. The Quarters loss was difficult to accept. The track team easily won League—and then illness and injury decimated personnel. It, too, was difficult to accept.
Adaptation in the Classroom
It had been a challenging era for all educators. Despite federal and state initiatives that attempted to improve student learning, some elementary students still fell behind their peers. Unable to read or compute at grade level, they progressed through educational systems whose protocols rewarded schools and districts for attaining exceptional regular promotion rates. In other cases, lack of economic resources hampered educational development. Families without online access—or personal computing devices—limited access to educational resources and hampered parental involvement. The disintegration of the traditional family unit, particularly in regions affected by high unemployment, also threatened to limit parental mentoring of children during their formative years. During the early years of the new millennium, educators faced an additional challenge. In some communities, parental interest in a child’s success became an overwhelming determinant in raising offspring. Across the nation, “helicopter” parents hovered over every one of their child’s activities. “Tiger” parents aggressively intervened any time a child’s performance did not reach expectations. With these types of parents choosing the activities and shaping outcomes they believed their children should experience, many now-‐adolescent students had not been required to take accountability for their own decisions. These children, too, were ill-‐prepared to make significant choices that would impact their lives as young adults. How could they possibly determine the nature of their post-‐high school education? A recent study revealed that high school graduates were not often prepared for college. Local officials noted that many attending Missouri’s public universities had to take remedial courses before participating in regular collegiate course work. Parental presence in every aspect of their lives—or a lack of parental presence in their lives-‐-‐ appeared to create a generation of students unable to function on their own. Many could not independently maintain a quality academic performance. Forty-‐five percent who went to college did not graduate in six years chiefly because of poor classroom attendance. One tech startup even developed an app that would inform distant parents if their sons and daughters were attending class. Noting these national societal trends, Kristin Rathje, Cindy Burreson, Brackman and the administrative team created a two-‐year plan to assist high school students develop decision-‐making skills. Within six months the group constructed the new program. During junior and senior years, students participated in periodic classroom workshops and meetings that guided individual self-‐ study. During three class sessions in junior English and history classes, the team of counselors helped students determine vocational interests. A variety of online and print sources provided assistance for each student to select possible concentrations or majors. Students also prioritized the characteristics they desired in their future school. They might be interested in attending a large
public institution focused on garnering research grants and in which major college athletic competitions triggered social activities and celebrations; or perhaps they might prioritize their desire to attend a small private religious college that focused on only two or three specific majors and provided participatory opportunities in diverse student service organizations. Instruction in the “Choice, not Chance” program depended heavily on the new computerized Naviance system. After determining his or her academic priorities, a student selected from a menu of the characteristics he or she desired to experience at the future collegiate institution. For example, the student could choose to explore all universities within a six hundred mile radius of St. Louis. But each would require applicants to meet highly selective admissions criteria, emphasize STEM education, provide extensive student aid, encourage a term of study at a sister European university and participate in an NCAA Division I athletic conference. After entering these choices into the computer program, the student received a list of schools that met the designated criteria. Additional links provided information about each of the listed school’s admissions requirements and application deadlines. Another component of this process required students to attend college recruiter visits. Students had to attend at least one of these twenty-‐minute sessions to obtain information about a school of their choice. They also had to participate in a field trip that explored one of several local college campuses. Students missed a few blocks of class to tour at SLU, MoBap, Lindenwood or Flo Valley. An alternative to this option was the weekend bus trip. Each February, interested juniors visited a variety of Midwestern colleges. A cooperative effort with Lutheran St. Charles and Lutheran South, they would observe classes, speak with admissions counselors and peruse dorms. Occasionally they would even get to eat a meal with North grads who attended an institution on the itinerary. The juniors prepped for their final high school year at the “senior” retreat held at an off-‐site location on the Monday following prom. After a short devotional they discussed the five tenets of leadership: challenge the process, inspire a shared vision, encourage the heart, enable others to act, model the way. They simulated leadership opportunities and discussed how to resolve conflicts with administrators, teachers, other students and parents. A class t-‐shirt fostered a unified identity. During senior year they attended monthly senior breakfasts. Each session included recognition of those who earned service awards. They also discussed one of the five themes outlined at the spring retreat. At other times the seniors ate a breakfast of pancakes prepared by the faculty (December) and queried a panel of college students (January). “Choice, Not Chance” successfully nurtured the students’ independence and initiative. It also triggered a cultural awareness about their immediate surroundings and the world in general. The program provided immediate dividends. In one dramatic production, seniors Josh Jones, Maggie Burreson and Nathan Wesche coordinated a TREND mock car crash on the front lot. EMTs and fire department personnel arrived as school started. Students watched the “dead” body being taken away as the “drunk” driver was cuffed and placed in a squad car. It was a sobering experience the week prior to prom. As a second example of the program inculcating leadership values, Brendan Mark and Adam Prahlow set up a collection station for the “Shoeman.” The “Shoeman” funded the construction of stone-‐lined wells and new tractors, drills and storage facilities. The two gathered enough shoes to fill a car. Sold for twenty-‐five cents a pair, the proceeds helped provide for the production of pure water in Kenya. A third example of the new program encouraging student initiative involved Josh Hipenbecker. He established an environmental club. It triggered faculty discussions about developing possible certificate programs as students “pursued their passions.”
Transitions on the Faculty
A time of transition began. Steve Tirmenstein retired. He had just completed thirty-‐four years at North. Prior to his final official concert, daughter Amy Buerck (N ’97) and son Andrew (N ’02) arrived secretly to assemble a power point presentation about “Mr. T’s” career. They also arranged for many of his former band students to return and play for him during the concert. The “final performance” served as a fitting retrospective about North since the late ‘70s. People at the post-‐
performance activity usually focused on stowing away chairs and removing the band shell. But this time they engaged in a lively mini-‐reunion. The many former students and faculty who gathered to honor beloved “Mr. T” remained long after his final official performance to share stories and reminisce. The concert and informal celebration also marked a new beginning. While Tirmenstein stayed on part time to coach jumpers and hurdlers, he assisted new band director Brian Scheller. Scheller had joined the staff in 2007. After Marting departed in 1988, the choir had seen a revolving door of nine directors. Scheller, a Concordia-‐Nebraska graduate, solidified the program by fostering a continuity it had lacked for two decades. He also nurtured the chorus program. Choral director Carolyn Rusnak joined the staff and established Concentus, a select choir that resembled in many ways Marting’s Sound of Sixteen and Thomas’ Show Choir. A trip to Chicago galvanized the organization. Like the new Strings program, Concentus met twice a week in the mornings during the old zero hour slot. Math instructor Eric Funke followed his boyhood dream to become a missionary in Africa. A newlywed, he and wife Linda, both Valpo grads, worked together at Chapel of the Cross summer camp. While structuring a bus ministry using North buses and drivers and coordinating transport for Immanuel-‐Olivette and Grace Chapel, they decided to spend a year raising the funds to follow such a venture. Ron Wittler replaced him in the Math Department. Other changes followed. Deb Tiefenbrueck and Suzanne Ambler took full responsibility for the Foreign Language Department, temporarily adding to their staff a Katrina-‐displaced Suzie Schmieding. Perhaps as an acknowledgement of the fourteen international students on campus during the 2010-‐2011 school year, they considered offering a new language option—Mandarin. Christine Tseng was hired to teach the new classes at both North and South campuses. Carolanne Kneznekoff returned, too, to the English Department. Devrouax created the Diversity Club to rekindle some of the free-‐wheeling issues-‐oriented discussions that had taken place in the Counseling Center a decade before. By 2012, the Kitebridge program brought Chinese (PRC) students into the hallways. Housed in dorm-‐like accommodations in the CWE, the students from the People’s Republic of China attended both North and South as diploma-‐seeking students. Their fee schedule funded opportunities at both schools to provide for students needing financial aid. If necessary, those local students could also move to the dorm in order to help the international students adapt to American culture and life. Like other foreign exchange students, the Kitebridge recruits helped raise academic expectations for all. Desiring to enter top tier schools upon graduation, they intensively focused on classroom duties. Except for the rare exception (and the fact they were teenagers), students who could deftly communicate in English excelled in the classroom. By the end of the second year of formal program engagement, many of those students were also participating in student organizations, attending social functions and games and joining fine arts ensembles. One student, Esther Huang, started an informal quartet, conducting tryouts and writing some personal selections the group later performed. A reemphasis on a more rigorous education also arrived as the administrators shifted the celebration dates for National Lutheran Schools Week. Moved to January, it dovetailed with the elementary school celebrations. It also made the week of the academic fair an additional time for celebrating the heritage of Lutheranism. During these celebratory weeks, new director of recruitment Julie Meyer used that theme to initiate direct high school contact with the prospective students in feeder schools. The HiStep groups sponsored by the Counseling Center provided additional recruitment support. As prospective students and their parents toured the campus, Meyer could showcase a renovated Biology Lab and refurbished gym. The final transition during this period dramatically transformed the classroom experience. With a $400,000 grant from LCF, each student would work with his or her own iPad. While the Smartboards had been a creative measure for math and foreign language classroom use in particular, the iPad initiative created new opportunities for all departments to adapt contemporary instructional methodologies. The one-‐to-‐one ratio transformed room and resource use, enabling students to do
more research online, develop expertise in a flipped classroom setting (especially promoted by South instructor Cathy Wietfeldt) and much more easily record video and keynote projects for alternative assessment. The faculties received a year’s advance notice about the transition. Administrators, including Association tech coordinators Mike Kratzer and Kathy Steinbrueck, provided many professional development opportunities to nurture expertise in the new medium. Chief among these was the annual St. Charles area Missouri Technological Educators Conference. Presenters provided practical instruction for implementing the new learning strategies. The approach helped individualize instruction, increase student engagement and promote student collaboration. A few issues did detract from iPad use. Some students who misused the new system could not stay on task, instead searching online sites for athletic statistics, instant-‐messaging students in other classrooms, downloading game apps to play during class or taking pictures of quizzes or exams to send to others. The many workshops held in preparation for this creative program, though, provided several prompt solutions. The most effective discipline for student misuse of the iPad was quite simple. If a student dropped below a certain grade threshold, the media center supervisor eliminated all non-‐essential apps from that student’s iPad.
On the Athletic Fields, Part 2
Athletic squads rebounded from the disappointments of recent seasons. The 2010 volleyball squad led by coach Jim Borgmann went 12-‐8-‐2. Morgan Meyer, Lydia Hohenstein, Kelsey Mansfield, Hannah Snyder and Kamilah Collins captured a District championship. The next year Borgmann added Kelsey Kennedy and Maggie Burreson to the mix—and then had to play a month without a home gym. A delay in gym floor repair required the team to practice at a facility generously provided by the Emerson YMCA, site of the annual Project Graduation. Toughened by the rigors of commuting to practice, that squad also won District. Russell returned to the gridiron in 2010. After a rough transition created by a series of untimely injuries, the Glenn Bradford-‐quarterbacked club rallied to win District. But C. J. Stepherson, Cletus Hatten, Troy Penny and Brandon Ross could not overcome the personnel losses and the squad fell to the dynastic Burroughs Bombers. To complete the transition begun in 2010, QB coach Jon Mueller arrived at the start of the 2011 season. Like the addition of quarterback coach Mark Eggers at South in the mid-‐‘80s, the addition proved to be a boon. After losing a 62-‐52 shootout to Lutheran South, the first loss to the rival in twenty-‐eight years (1984: 13-‐10, OT), the squad refocused and again won District. With Anthony Virdure (twenty-‐two TDs) shagging passes from Justin Baker (3,065 yds), Connor Buenger kicking a record thirty-‐four FG and Demetrious Mosley and Joel Cardin stopping the run, the 9-‐3 Crusaders made it to the State Semis. Russell and Mueller also coaxed the 2012 baseball squad to the District championship, and, like the football team, the 16-‐11 squad led by Troy Guffey, Connor Buenger and Josh Blight, lost to South—but this time in the Sectional contest. Girls’ soccer, relieved of the burden of having to play a now-‐closed Aquinas-‐Mercy in the District, won three more District titles in ‘11, ‘12 and ‘13. Remspecher, Mansfield, Emily Laffold and Alison Schmidt provided the nucleus of the first group, and Jody Braun’s charges in the second and third groups followed the leadership of playmakers Mackenzie Burnett and Karsten Klotzer. However, the seasons ended with Duchesne moving on to the Final Four. The CC squads continued to qualify for Jeff City. The 2010 edition, with two-‐time All State vet Rathje leading the way, dominated the Spanish Lake District competition. Liz McKittrick, Schmidt, Amber Stout and vet Meagan Schmidt medaled, pulling Natalie Kost and Burnett with them to State. Rathje garnered her unprecedented third State medal, leading the squad to seventh. The next year at Prin, newcomer Klotzer led vets McKittrick, both Schmidts, and Martina Karg to a title. The newcomer would earn an eighth at State. A half hour later the boys, inspired by the incredible 2011 Cardinal rally in Game 6 and the courage of Josh Blight (injuries forced him to warm up on a bike), qualified for State by the slim margin of two points. Rookies Joe Bachmann and Steven Yang and vet Nick Gaeke pulled Jacob Meyer, Alex Tomazi, Blight and Evan Dalton to a Jeff City berth. The
following fall 2012, hobbling Klotzer and struggling Karg eased through the season. Newcomers Zoe Hamber and Kaiah Farid provided meet leadership. Stout and Burnett returned to their soph form, joined by Marie Karg. In a nail-‐biter, the squad tied Whitfield. Stout’s “personal record” effort served as the tie-‐breaker. Hamber and now-‐vet Bachmann both earned State medals, the third time in four years two Crusaders stood on the dais on the same day. The real story, though, was the basketball squad. In Rueter’s final year during “March Madness-‐-‐ 2012,” the Anthony Virdure-‐powered team won the ABC League. With Renell Wren dominating the middle, Alex Mathis and James Mitchell rebounding and Isaiah Holman providing floor leadership, the young group dashed through the playoffs until losing to eventual champion Madison College Prep—coached by former Rueter athlete Tony Irons. Winning the third-‐place game, they vowed to return. They did. New coach Anthony Hall made sure the players knew he had high expectations of them. Beginning the season 7-‐9, the team rallied the second half of the season to go 12-‐2. After shutting down Cardinal Ritter’s ace to win District, the squad defeated O’Fallon Christian by twenty and Southern Boone by ten. The loss in the Semis, though, tested their mettle. But veterans Virdure, Wren, Davis, Holman and newcomer Cameron Jackson finished strongly with a 74-‐47 win over Fatima in the third-‐place contest.
An End—and a Beginning
That spring of 2013, the veteran baseball squad would try to win one more for Russell. Buenger, Branneky, Ryals and newcomer Ethan Wallace led the team through another District tournament. After beating O’Fallon Christian 10-‐3 in the Sectional, Hallsville ended the historic run with a 4-‐2 decision. It was the end of a memorable mentoring and teaching career for Russell, who spent his entire forty-‐one-‐year career at Lutheran North. He left the squad and the athletic department in the able hands of former student and athlete Jon Mueller. The game also marked the end of a beginning. As one of Russell’s last major activities he helped create the new Metro League. Because the girls had been under the umbrella of the MWAA, schedules often did not dovetail with the ABC rotations, causing coaches and ADs occasional headaches as they attempted to schedule regular season contests, tourneys or the inevitable makeup games. The eighteen-‐school MWAA also included a much greater range of enrollments, school facilities and sports which could, in smaller schools, thin rosters (particularly on the developmental level) that might end in season cancellations. North, South, Priory, Prin, Burroughs and MICDS, all ABC members, combined with Westminster and Villa Duchesne to comprise the new league. The Metro League now included seven schools in all activities. Following a three-‐year transition, competition commenced during the inaugural 2012-‐2013 school year. During the second year of competition no squads won league titles. However, football, volleyball and girls’ soccer swept to District titles, the girls’ soccer squad winning its fourth in a row. New head football coach Brian Simmons led his charges into the season with experienced hands Baker, Wren and Holman. He added to the roster newcomers Brandon Sumrall, DeMarcus Dotson, David Knox, Donovan White and Kitebridge transfer Robert Brown. After losing the first four, Simmons challenged the crew to make better decisions and move forward. They won their next seven, including the District title against Herky at Lutheran St. Charles. Their play on that bitterly cold and rainy Halloween night showed how the squad had matured as they approached the playoffs yet again. After defeating Brentwood 26-‐20, they eased past Carnahan 49-‐8 and then beat Caruthersville in a 56-‐41 shootout. A defending State champion Lamar, hailing from Harry Truman’s home town, snuffed title hopes on a cold, windy day. The group committed to focused summer preparation to return to the playoffs the next season. Borgmann’s volleyball squad, only 5-‐18 during the regular season, meshed at the right time. Bailei Johnson, Jacobi Collins, Lexi Stuart and Emily Schroeder led the team through District and then lost at Hallsville. Coach Romeo’s soccer team went through the regular season 5-‐10-‐1. But Klotzer, Amy Powell, a healthy Taylor Jenkins, Megan Krone and Anna Pagano made it memorable when, for
the first time in ten years, the team defeated South, 1-‐0. That temporarily buoyed hopes as they won District—but again lost to Duchesne. Individuals marked some milestones. Junior Emily McFarland qualified for the State Tennis Meet in 2011. When Asha Hammons made the trip the next year it marked the first time the squad had qualified someone for State two years in a row. In CC, Hamber matched Rathje’s career leading total of three State medals. Track Coach Derek Spears, a starter during the cross country season, received recognition at the same awards ceremony. The National Federation of High Schools awarded him Cross Country Official of the Year for Missouri. And Isaiah Holman snapped the one thousand-‐point barrier. He did it in an improbable way in a unique setting. At the annual Sem game at Maryville, as the first half clock wound down, he tossed a half court prayer—and it went in! As summer vacation began, coaches moved spring athletic equipment into pavilion storage. North’s staff had participated in a busy spring, hosting baseball, soccer and, for the second year in a row, track District contests. Registrar Josh Baumann, who distinguished himself by coaching three throwers to Sectionals, accepted a call to serve as a principal in Minnesota. Ron Wittler moved into the registrar position. Second year Dean of Students Dan Wenger filed his final report and prepared to start North’s first wrestling team. Dave McCollister received the Master Educator Award bestowed by the trustees of Concordia-‐ Wisconsin. (Mike Grupe would receive it the following year.) Custodians Bob Martin and Jim Borgmann scheduled dates for painting classrooms, refurbishing floors and moving white boards. New media center specialist and after-‐school supervisor Cheryl Hill remodeled the library/computer facility, the emptied shelving used in other classrooms. Kratzer readied the campuses for expanded bandwidth, working with Steinbrueck to expand appropriate connections to all parts of the buildings. Rathje packed her personal items and moved with husband “Pastor John” to serve the Concordia-‐ Michigan community. Bork replaced her as Curriculum Coordinator. Endorf supervised the Crusader Summer Academy, Langefeld doing most of the daily duties carrying students from Chapel of the Cross and Grace Chapel to North’s camps. Mueller found coaches for basketball teams and brought aboard North grad Liz Renaud as the coach for the new girls’ swimming team. Football and soccer squads regularly worked out on campus and in the weight room. The coming year showed great promise.
Ferguson
About noon on August 9, 2014, in the Canfield Apartment complex, a Ferguson police officer shot and killed a recent Normandy graduate. When Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, it was the spark that turned years of frustration, distrust and anger into protests and violence. Fueled by social media, the protests spread. New issues emerged. The name of the otherwise quiet suburb became national shorthand for yawning racial and social gaps, inequality, distrust of police, armored vehicles, looting and arson. For the next three months, the ruins of the Ferguson QT station became “ground zero.” In the first week of rioting, twenty-‐one businesses along West Florissant between Ferguson Road and I-‐270 were damaged or destroyed. Police from more than two dozen local communities, St. Louis County and the State Patrol responded. When Governor Jay Nixon arrived in North County, the state police requested use of North for his press conference. They decided to use a Chambers Road church site instead. State Police Captain Ron Johnson coordinated a response. He also met with various neighborhood groups and clergy. For the next several weeks, at 5:00 p.m., officers closed northbound West Florissant at the intersection with Lucas and Hunt. Protest groups gathered at “ground zero” as the summer sun set. Each evening about 9:30 p.m., a few protestors would appear to move towards the police line. Above the din, local reporters noted occasional distant gunshots. Officers, shadowed by armored vehicles, advanced with tear gas, and national media outlets led nightly news broadcasts with the vivid images. An announced curfew antagonized local residents. The state police moved their staging ground into Buzz Westfall Plaza. News trucks lined up behind the MASH tents and rest areas.
Tensions rose as County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch convened a grand jury investigation to determine if it would serve a bill of indictment. While community members and press representatives speculated about the evidence examined by the grand jury, civil rights leaders periodically arrived in St. Louis to speak with members of the community. Businesses boarded up as owners feared more violence. Protestors occasionally led groups to downtown Ferguson to march in front of the police station and city hall. On the week leading up to the shooting, Charles Davis (N ‘85) and wife Kizzie purchased their new restaurant site in Ferguson. Opening the week after the shooting, they never boarded up. Their Ferguson Burger Bar became a haven, a neutral ground where local protestors and national news media could grab a bite to eat. Rioters left it alone even after the grand jury released its findings on November 24. The thankful couple donated two hundred turkeys to families in the Normandy school district so those families, too, could celebrate Thanksgiving as the difficult year came to a close. The late Monday night release of the grand jury decision to not indict Wilson triggered new violence. Some businesses that had been damaged in August had been repaired—and suffered new damage. Governor Nixon called out the National Guard and again Buzz Westfall Plaza became the staging area. Finally, a week after the grand jury decision, peaceful demonstrations focused primarily on the police station and city hall. An uneasy peace returned to the community as rebuilding began. Local groups painted over the boarded up store fronts, adding color and a Christmas theme to the otherwise drab surroundings. Some businesses began the process of recovery. Meanwhile, protestors staged “die ins” and even “sing ins” at local malls, street festivals, athletic contests, fund raising banquets and Powell Symphony Hall. To help resolve many of the issues that caused the confrontations, Nixon appointed a Ferguson Commission. Commission members included sixteen representatives from all walks of life: lawyers, CEOs, former and current police officials, educators and a protester. The work of the Ferguson Commission, combined with local action summits and community open houses, provided venues for discussing the causes of the unrest. Local political officials and citizen organizations submitted legislative and judicial proposals to the General Assembly in Jefferson City. Another group sponsored by the NAACP “prayed with their feet” and marched to the state capitol. Whatever happened in the future, “[I]t would be emotionally raw around here for a long time.” What had been the causes of the confrontations? Commentators and political leaders selected a myriad of probable issues: joblessness, predatory traffic courts, racial profiling, collapsing school systems, poorly trained municipal police, racial disparities on elected councils, poor voter turnout. As 2015 began, hopes for at least partial solutions to the issues hung in the balance as an omnibus bill made it out of legislative committee. It included measures to implement municipal court reform, require officer body cameras, form civilian oversight committees and fund job fairs and job creation. Members of the Ferguson Commission held open forums and collected information. They indicated their report about the myriad causes of the conflicts and the recommended remedies for those problems would be presented in September 2015. Communication between government, law enforcement and community groups would be key in resolving many of the issues. It would be of particular interest for the North community because two of the members, Scott Negwer (N ’75) and Kevin Ahlbrand (N ’80), were North graduates. North Student Council president Clifton Kinnie (N ’15) spoke at several of the community meetings and in February noted the troubling legal and economic inequities that divided the community. Another North parent, Mary Edwards-‐Fears, stated that when it came to police activity, “People will not tolerate being kept out of the information loop.” During this period of confrontation, most members of the North community suffered only minor traffic inconveniences. To guarantee safety, the administration implemented only a two measures. In August, all school activities had to end by 5:30. A few evening activities were rescheduled. To short-‐circuit any growing on-‐campus issues, Burreson and Devrouax led a special faculty meeting, specifically addressing student and parental concerns that indicated some were “picking sides.” They promoted prayerful contemplation, guarded discussion and private disputation. This could take place within the context of a normal orderly school day. It would help all cope with the day-‐to-‐day stress oftentimes exacerbated by intense local and national news coverage. A three-‐day school
“holiday” caused by collapsed sewer and water lines probably defused any initial problems families would have experienced navigating to and from school. However, tensions built among the students. Some considered staging walkouts and protests like those at other local high schools. Frank discussion by administrators and student government representatives led to contemplative action. Small group leaders distributed and collected anonymously submitted student commentary. Counselors offered to meet with students affected by the crisis. Chapel leaders carefully selected their messages, emphasizing the healing actions and servant hearts that could help alleviate at least some of the physical suffering experienced by locals. A canned good drive targeted a local food pantry. And almost every day, Rev. Darin Keener quietly offered pastoral counseling to anyone—teacher, student, parent—who needed assistance. Some students, alumni and parents pitched in to help out with the clean up and painting along West Florissant. Synodical officials like Rev. Roosevelt Gray, Jr., Rev. Steven Schave, and Rev. Nathan Ruback of Grace Chapel, as well as other community leaders, walked through the area, prayed with affected locals and helped clean. Others patronized local commercial outlets or purchased the Ferguson gift cards that benefitted businesses. After the second round of rioting in November that followed the release of the grand jury decision, Synodical President Harrison convened a meeting with Synod’s leaders and representatives of local congregations. They committed emergency funding for the area and started planning to open a permanent “Hope Center” in Ferguson to “rebuild hope and trust.” Harrison also encouraged local clergy to respond as they had in August. During that Thanksgiving week, Vicar Chris Chandler (Immanuel Chapel), Rev. John Lewis (St. Matthew), Rev. Dr. Willie Stallworth (Unity-‐East St. Louis), Rev. Adam Filipek (Salem-‐Black Jack), Rev. Mark Koschmann (Chapel of the Cross), Gray, Schave and Ruback walked and worked the streets. They quietly listened and prayed with desperate, angry people voicing, as Chandler said, “Raw pain. Raw anger. Raw emotion.” Their involvement soon led to congregational engagement to help resolve the issues that led to the multiple tragedies. During the second community crisis precipitated by the release of the grand jury decision, no one knew about the conditions in the surrounding community. Brackman, cautious about students traveling to and from school during the difficult period, declared the school’s first elearning day on November 25. It enabled instruction to continue online as virtually the entire student body participated in online instructional modules. After chapel on Monday, December 1, Brackman, in one of his finest moments, addressed the student body. He made an impassioned plea to focus on the tasks at hand in the classroom and remember to include all parties in prayers. He asked any that had specific grievances to share them with faculty and counselors and called on all to live as a Crusader community. The impromptu address again focused the congregation of teenagers on living life under the shadow of the cross. Extra-‐ and co-‐curricular activities helped students release some of their pent-‐up frustrations and energy. The football team put together a memorable season that ended in the Quarters only because of a series of debilitating injuries. Perhaps it was the willingness of Brian Simmons’ coaching staff to quietly but firmly maintain high standards. This focus on the task at hand emblematically represented the school’s reaction. The members of the soccer, volleyball, cross country, tennis and softball teams developed unique bonds in the context of relieving the siege mentality. They prayed prior to practices, shared snacks and continued traditional social activities like tye-‐dying shirts and stopping for smoothies at QT. The fall play, Much Ado about Nothing, continued as scheduled. At Lutheran North Sundays, choirs and the band led worship. It was business as usual—but in the shelter of each other, and with an eye to helping and supporting those who worked to resolve the local issues that triggered the troubled times. By the end of the semester, “normalcy” returned, students quietly talking more openly about the issues and incidents. In February, after Davis addressed the students gathered for a black history assembly, students purchased Ferguson Burger Bar meals, all proceeds donated to the Ferguson recovery. In another assembly, Charli Cooksey (N ’02 ) spoke about the necessity of providing future educational opportunities for all students. She modestly noted that her non-‐profit, nurturing young girls to
develop quality habits to finish college, had been her dream just months ago. She encouraged students to think creatively and help solve the troubling problems plaguing the community. Student life returned to normal. Seniors, in particular, marked the progression of dates that led to graduation: “One in Christ Breakfast,” Lutheran North Sundays, Powder Puff Football, the Social Studies Fair and Fine Arts Festival, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Faith in Action Day. In spring sports, baseball, girls’ soccer, boys’ tennis and track and field all got off to good starts. Most students also noted a new administrative emphasis about the collective heritage of Lutheran education. On April 24, retirees Rev. Art Repp, Barb Klingsick and Paul Crisler joined a dozen late ‘60s-‐era graduates for a special chapel service and reception. A rededication of the campus, it was the first of several events held during the year to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of North. Repp led the Service of Rededication. Crisler outlined a few of the changes he had seen take place at the North County institution during the five decades he had served the Association. He also reminded the students about how Christian service and engagement in the community had always been one of North’s key principles. North’s community under the cross had a golden opportunity to continue service to the local neighborhoods. It could help alleviate the tensions, suffering and hopelessness so evident during the events of the past nine months. North’s community would have a unique new partner. LCMS President Harrison was true to his promises and facilitated the creative relief effort. He tasked Black Ministry chair Rev. Roosevelt Gray and Urban Ministries leader Rev. Steve Schave to develop an ongoing program of ministry that specifically addressed the needs of the North County communities affected by the Ferguson confrontations. Working in cooperation with out-‐going Missouri District President Ray Mirly, five North County congregations and Hipenbecker, the Synodical officials offered leadership and financial resources to support an outreach station. They also assisted in applying for an LF grant to initiate the program. Hipenbecker worked closely with Marlon Lee, the Urban League Director of Community Development. Lee (N ’98) helped the group gain designated space inside the Urban League’s planned Empowerment Center (EC). Opening by early 2016, the EC was located on the site of the QT station that had been “ground zero” during the fall 2014 protests. On June 5, Schave, Mirly, Gray, Hipenbecker and the five congregational pastors met in North’s Blue Room to finalize planning. They discussed a number of options to permanently maintain the outreach station in “Hope Center.” Several also followed Harrison’s lead in publicizing the effort by joining him in a “peace walk” and organizing a food drop. The next day they and Harrison participated in the “Peace and Praise Walk for College Hill.” The marchers, which included about one hundred participants—residents, volunteers, city representatives, clergy— “pray[ed] for the neighborhood and . . . celebrate[d] all the good things and all the good people that live there.” Leader of the march, Rev. Edward Watson of St. Paul-‐College Hill, organized the first such march back in October. The second march commemorated the initial success of the LCMS National Housing Support Corporation that developed a project to bring twenty new family residences to the community. Similar to Better Living Community sponsored by Bethlehem Lutheran Church, it would assist in building, rehabbing and repairing local neighborhood homes. It also triggered additional local interest in the status of the Hope Center outreach station and the upcoming food drop. On June 23, thirty student and faculty volunteers unloaded a semi truck of its food cargo. They stored it in North’s art room. Volunteers repacked the non-‐perishables into more than 2,500 backpacks. Others distributed the supplies in the Ferguson and College Hill neighborhoods, informing recipients about the Hope Center. So began a focused effort to remind all that Christ, the Savior, was present and helping heal the wounds of the past year. As North entered the second half of its first century, its stakeholders faced immediate and long-‐ term challenges. First, they had to help rebuild their local community and support efforts at resolving the long-‐term problems that led to the tempestuous confrontations in 2014. The second was continuing their witness under the cross at 5401. Saved to Serve, they now had the opportunity to put their Faith in Action by continuing a Ministry of Presence. Enabled by the Spirit who helped
them understand the sacrifices of Our Savior, Christ the Lord, the community of faith would be guided by the One who assured His people in Jeremiah 29:4: “For I know the plans I have for you!”
S. D. G.
Annotated Bibliography, Chapter 10 Refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama regarding national and international affairs. See Josh Boak, “U. S. Job Growth Brakes Sharply,” SLPD, 4/4/15, A1, A6 for the first quote and items about the Great Recession. John Schmid, “Most job openings low-‐skill, low-‐pay,” Milwaukee Journal-‐Sentinel, 4/5/15, A1, A12, provides extensive analysis of job opportunities. It summarizes statistics from the U. S. Department of Labor published in March 2015. The issues surrounding Snowden’s actions are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden and include a description of US-‐Russian tensions. For a summary of the Newtown issues, see http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/11/missouri-‐synod-‐president-‐apologizes-‐for-‐role-‐in-‐ newtown-‐debacle/ There are additional LCMS materials Harrison distributed during and after the initial reactions to the tragedy. 250, pp. 144-‐149, describes the local challenges St. Louis residents faced as well as the racial inequities regarding income and housing. Nancy Cambria, “A house, a pastor,” SLPD, 10/26/14, A1, A14, describes Rev. Richard Sering’s ministry at St. Michael’s-‐Kinloch and his assistance to a black family moving into Ferguson in 1968; Townsend, “Lengthy deseg case,” SLPD, 1/4/15; Townsend, “For African-‐Americans in St. Louis,” SLPD, 8/31/14; Spanish Lake Documentary; 250, pp. 145-‐149; 2008 LCF analysis provided by Brackman to faculty, February 2015; all outline a variety of issues about local school districts and the development of a culture of failure. The “One in Christ” material is compiled from Rohde, pp. 8-‐9, that deals with Meyer’s and Hipenbecker’s contributions to the program; the pamphlet, “One in Christ” which currently serves as a public relations document; Prahlow’s personal notes, Plenary Faculty, 4/1/15; the interview with Meyer; and a follow up interview with Hipenbecker, 4/4/15. Flex-‐mod and certificate programs are from Plenary Faculty, 4/8/15, where Lind and Ryherd presented their goals; and a letter distributed to the faculty, Hipenbecker to Brackman, March 2015. “Choice, not Chance” is from the following: The challenges college students face are from Osgood File, KMOX, 2/6/15, 7:25 a.m.; Jessica Bock, Bailey Otto, “Graduates often not prepared,” SLPD, 2/8/15; Michele Munz, “Protect mental health of a college-‐bound child,” SLPD, 8/23/15, H1, H5; and classroom notebooks and Naviance materials distributed annually, particularly 2010-‐2013. Another interesting perspective can be found in Peter Meileander, “Poverty and the Family,” The Cresset, Lent 2014, 45-‐48. Wietfeldt provided specific examples of flipping a classroom in a faculty “Cool Tools” seminar in November 2014. The Ferguson events received extensive coverage locally. The following articles provide a variety of reports and insights as the events unfolded. Steve Giegerich, “Clearing rubble,” SLPD, 2/4/15; Christine Byers, “Investigation into arson,” SLPD, 2/4/15, A1, A6; O’Neil, “From Laclede to Ferguson,” SLPD, 2/8/15, B1, B3; Nancy Cambria, “History Repeats itself,” SLPD, clipping, nd, np; McClellan, “Shrimp is unambiguous,” SLPD, clipping, nd, np; Aisha Sultan, “Davis,” SLPD, 8/24/14, B4. Finally, Kouichi Shirayanagi, “North’s ZIP codes still bearing brunt of mortgage crisis,” SLPD, 7/5/15, E1, E4, describes the predatory lending practices and percentage of “under water mortgages” so prevalent in north city and North County. The reactions to the post-‐grand jury announcement can be found in Byers, “Investigation into arson,” SLPD, 2/4/15, B6; Jim Gallagher, Tim Bryant, “Struggling to Recover,” SLPD, 2/8/15, A1, A4; Nancy Cambria, “Brainstorming a better way,” SLPD, 11/16/14, A5; Lisa Brown, “Activists begin,” SLPD, clipping, nd, np; quote from O’Neil, “From Laclede to Ferguson,” SLPD, 2/8/15, B3. Stephen Deere, “Nixon announces members of Ferguson Commission,” SLPD, 11/19/14, outlines his directives to the commission.
Paul Hampel, “Activist wars of lasting rancor,” SLPD, 2/24/15, A1, A4; Margaret Gillerman, “Economic struggles,” SLPD, 2/24/15, A4; quote from “Activist,” A4. All provide analysis of the issues raised by the Ferguson confrontations and include some information about the Ferguson Commission. Paula Schlueter Ross, “Pastors Visit Ferguson,” Lutheran Witness Reporter (LWR), 1/15, pp. 1, 4, outlines the LCMS response on a Synodical level. Paula Schlueter Ross, “Faith in Ferguson,” LWR, 9/14, pp. 1-‐2, provides an official reaction and response to the initial incident. James H. Heine, “Seeking Peace,” LWR, July 2015, p. 14, describes the College Hill efforts. “Lutheran High School North,” The Voice (a Missouri District LCMS publication), 2015 Convention Edition, p. 10, describes the April 24 service. The 2015 spring sports seasons were not curtailed by any of the Ferguson incidents. Baseball, girls’ soccer and track squads hosted District competitions. Led by vet Karsten Klotzer and frosh sister Keeley, the soccer squad won yet another District title. The track teams held not just the Class 3 District meet, but in the inaugural year of the new five-‐class MSHSAA track competition, hosted other North County schools in the Class 5 qualifier. Parkway North Guidance Counselor and former Crusader Student Council president Moyende Anwisye (N ’94) reunited with former mentors Tirmenstein, Spears and Prahlow. He coached his squad to several Sectional qualifiers. Two weeks later, Crusader Erica Mueller (TJ) became a three-‐time All State athlete at the State Meet. Relay specialists Maya Kirk, Kaiah Farid, Essence Blankenship and Jayla Pierce finished runner up in both the 4 x 2 and 4 x 4. Coupled with Hamber’s place in the 3200M, the athletes earned yet another top-‐ ten team finish for Spears. Jumper Nick Ricks became the first three-‐time male Crusader medalist since the 2008 championships. Ricks scored in LJ and TJ. He also ran on the 4 x 4 that included Phil Irving, Carneil Kinnie and David Ugweje. Christian Gauss scored in the HJ and DeMarcus Dotson in the HH. It was an encouraging way to end an emotionally challenging year. And it was a shared celebration. Lancer sprinter Maya Cody and the juggernaut throwing group led South’s girls’ squad to yet another State plaque.
COMING SOON!
Chapter 11: A Savior, Christ the Lord: 2008-‐2015 Lutheran High School South As St. Louis experienced a building renaissance, new principal Brian Ryherd led the Lancer faculty and staff. An emphasis on service to others spurred co-‐curricular organizations to reach out to the community. Lancer seniors continued to participate in a series of events to foster their leadership in the Lancer community. The Association adopted the one-‐to-‐one iPad initiative and South went “online.” The girls’ track team earned a series of State plaques. Most of the “second generation” Lancer faculty retired, a “third generation” developing curriculum and instructional changes.