CHS Class of 1961 gathers for 50th....again!

During the summer of 2010, the Chadron High School Class of 1960 held a reunion celebrating 50 years since they graduated, and the Class of 1961 -- which seems to have had a jaded history in trying to celebrate reunions at traditional times -- decided to join with the "older" bunch. 

So, technically, it had been 49 years since they departed high school.  Their first reunion gathering was 11 years after graduation.  Seems like most classes enjoy the comfort of 10th, 25th, and 50th years -- with occasional variations.

But the Cardinals of 1961 have always marched to a different drummer it seems.

With recent "Fur Trade Days" celebration in Chadron -- accompanied by an abundance of school reunions involving Chadron Assumption, Chadron Prep, and Chadron High -- it seemed like a good idea for the Class of '61 to get back on track with a "true" 50th anniversary reunion.

So '61  classmates John Urwin, John Schleicher, and a handful of others, sent out word via e-mail that any and all classmates who wanted to try it again should try to gather for a reunion.  And so they did.....many bringing along their spouses to join the fun.

These 1961 graduates of Chadron High School gathered for an informal
"50th Reunion" on July 9, 2011, at John and Mary Ann Schleicher's home
on Goffena Road west of Chadron.  Left-to-right are:  John Urwin, Tom Sims,
Larry Matthesen, Sheryl Jones Bruns, Larry Miller, Mel Reeves, John Schleicher, Ron Stever, and Jerry Mathis.  Many thanks to John and
Mary Ann Schleicher for their warm hospitality.  Some classmates think
the class should schedule a similar gathering for 2016!

John and Mary Ann Schleicher kindly offered up their home as a venue for the event, and it turned out to be a delightful affair.

True, there weren't nearly as many folks as congregated last year, but that allowed attendees  to engage in deeper conversations without having to run hither and thither for a variety of events that are traditionally scheduled for reunions.  An while most of those who showed up for the event live within a short distance of Chadron, Ron Stever came from Wichita, and Jerry Mathis came from Indiana. Tom Sims, Larry Miller, and Larry Matthesen all drove in from the Black Hills area.  The rest of the group live in the immediate Chadron vicinity.

Participants all chipped in to buy food and drink, and Mary Ann Schleicher did a superb job of preparing the ribs and hamburgers -- along with a variety of additional dishes.  Mary Lou Urwin had a hand in the kitchen, too, and it everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves.  Our sincere thanks to the Schleichers, Urwins, and others who had a hand in putting this event together.

A few folks climbed aboard Urwin 4-wheelers to explore the surrounding territory, but virtually everyone enjoyed  good fellowship and share more than a few memories from their days at Chadron High.  Did we mention that  several cameras were busy during this get-together?  You'll find some photographs in our Class of '61 Reunion gallery.

Remembering 125 years of school in Whitney

When the doors to the Whitney School close later this month, it’ll mark the first time that the Dawes County community has had no school in some 125 years!

Earlier this spring, the Chadron School Board announced its decision to close all rural schools in the county, including Whitney, which held its first classes in 1886 on the ground floor of the Woods Hotel at the northeast corner of Missouri and Division streets.  Many people will remember the filling station that was located there in more recent years.  Within a few months of that early school opening, classes were moved to the newly-built Methodist Church.  

There've been school kids getting educated in Whitney for a long time.  So the “Alumni Open House” set for 2:00-6:00 p.m. on Sunday, My 29^th, 2011, at the “new” school in Whitney will be a bittersweet experience -- sort of a last hurrah!  It’ll be delightful to see students, faculty, and friends from yesteryear – as well as those from this final year, but it’ll be sad to see the end of a proud era.

While the existing school seems relatively new to most of us, it sits nearly in the shadow of a two-and-one-half story stucco building that was “school” in Whitney for longer than any other structure.  But there was an earlier one!

This is believed to be the first Whitney school building
 ca. 1887.  Photo courtesy of Sam Couch

According to Mabel Kendrick’s wonderful book “Still Alive and Well - Whitney, Nebraska,” the very first school building was a one-room structure.  It was built on the same parcel of land where both the existing Whitney School and its predecessor stand.  It would have been just west of the sidewalk that led up to the front of the larger, abandoned school building.  The wooden school (shown here at right) served the community for more than 35 years.

The first teacher in the school was Miss Eleanor Burkitt (later Mrs. W.S. Gillam of Chadron).

“A term in those days,” wrote Mabel Kendrick, “was three months, and a teacher was hired for one term at a time.  Each year had a spring and a fall term with vacation between to allow for farm work and very cold weather.  Other early teachers included A.G. Shears, Stella Weed, Stella Cline, and Charlie Stewart.”

“Recess time was spent in free play out of doors most of the time.  Baseball was a favorite pastime.”

“The time from around 1910 to 1922 could be considered a transition period.  The old ways were gradually being changed.  The school term had already been extended to nine months.  A teacher was required to pass a ‘teachers examination’ for which she received a certificate.  Later the teacher had to have a high school education before she could take the test.  A second grade certificate was issued.  A knowledge of geometry, algebra and music was required to qualify for a first grade certificate.  The school day began with ‘opening exercises,’ starting with the flag salute.  The rest varied with the teacher.”

By 1919, the community had grown enough that the school was expanded to two rooms, and by 1921 there were enough students in Whitney school to justify creating high school grades, “so one was begun in the Methodist Church.”

This multi-level school was built in 1922.
It remains standing today.

The early 1920’s were a time of great optimism.  World War I had ended and Whitney had survived the great flu epidemic of 1918 better than most communities.  In the fall of 1922, construction was completed on a new two-and-one-half story school building that would accommodate all grades.

The curriculum expanded, too, including foreign languages.  At different times, Latin, French and German were taught.  There were accommodations for class plays – and even indoor sporting events.  Although its open area basement  was a bit confining, both boys and girls basketball was offered in 1923.  Alas, girls basketball was discontinued in the spring of 1927 because of “the state ban.” 

There were even school newspapers published in the early years, including “The Irrigator,”  which soon became known as “The Mustang,” in recognition of Hastings College, the alma mater of one of the teachers.  For a few years, the paper was actually printed on the presses of the Crawford Tribune.  By the Depression years, the paper became a mimeographed publication and was renamed “The Shunga,” relating to the Sioux word for mustang.

High school classes at Whitney ran from 1921 until 1943.  The last high school teacher was Mabel Kendrick.  We believe the existing Whitney School was built in about 1988 or 1989, but we need help nailing down that information.  Please let us hear from you, if you can offer details!  Many thanks.

3rd and 4th graders at Whitney School; 1948-49
Thanks to Ruth Ann Connell (teacher at left)

Over the years, we’ve collected a few school pictures from Whitney, and most of them have been displayed in our Whitney School Gallery.  We invite you to browse through them.  Even more importantly, we hope you might allow us to add any old Whitney School photos you might have – particularly group photos.  Just e-mail us. Of course, we give full credit to the good folks who offer such items.  You may also want to browse around our Whitney Reflections web site -- even though it is undergoing a bit of reconstruction at the moment.

Too, we hope that anyone with ANY ties to Whitney School over the years will make plans to attend the Open House on May 29.  People of every generation are encouraged to come and share memories.  They’re looking for photographs, written stories, documents, and any similar items.  Contact Michelle Haynes  at mihayn@eagles.csc.edu.  It'll be a grand opportunity to help rekindle some of the memories from the past 125 years. 

We hope to see you there!

Warming up in Sun City!

Chadron area folks living in Arizona routinely gather every winter to socialize and share memories of years gone by.  And Chadron State College coordinates an alumni gathering at around the same time.

It's a great opportunity for "expatriates" to get together.

And even with the cooler weather that swept across the southwest this winter, it still beat the sub-zero temperatures back in Dawes County Nebraska!

Mike Smith has been attending these gigs for several years -- I think since he decided that the ice of Minnesota wasn't nearly as accommodating as the warmer climes of Arizona.  Thankfully, he's alway had a camera along for the event and has kindly shared a few snapshots from the latest gathering.

That was at the Sun City Country Club and Golf Course, the same locale as the 2010 gathering.

But we saw a few new faces this time.  Although I believe he's attended previous gatherings, we hadn't seen photographs of one-time Chadron Eagle editor and cheerleader Ted Turpin.  Even with the hat hiding his hair (we remember curly locks), we were pretty sure that was Turpin.

Although emigrating from Nebraska to the southwest several decades ago, Turpin continued his journalistic activities and was a newpaper publisher for many years in Arizona.  Of course, there were lots of other folks at the event, too, along with the familiar faces of Chadron State College folks, led by President Janie Park.  We saw pics of Connie Rasmussen, Karen Pope, and Brad Smith, too.

You might enjoy taking a tour of the photographs we've posted in our  "Arizona Gallery" from this and earlier Chadron meetings in Arizona.  And thanks again to Mike Smith for sharing! 

We always enjoy getting glimpses of these folks when they gather -- and share stories.  We had the good fortune to participate in the 2005 gatherings.  

After the icebox experience we've had this winter in South Dakota, we may be signing up to attend the CSC Arizona events in 2012! 

Con Marshall is "Chadron Citizen of the Year"

Lately, we've been proudly posting several articles penned by long-time good friend Con Marshall.  We can't begin to count the many blessings that Con has bestowed on us and so many other people in Chadron and across western Nebraska.  He and his wife, Peggy, are class acts.  So it came as no surprise when Con was selected as the 2010 Chadron Citizen of the Year.  CSC's Justin Haag wrote the following item that has been sent out to friends of Chadron State College.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jan 5, 2011

Con Marshall, Chadron State College’s former director of information services and sports information, was named the Chadron’s 2010 Citizen of the Year by the Chadron Record newspaper this week. The announcement was made in Wednesday’s edition.

The article contained testimonials from many of Marshall’s friends and acquaintances, who pointed out the longtime journalist’s knowledge of northwest Nebraska history, commitment to quality reporting and loyalty to Chadron and its sports teams.

Chadron Record reporter Kerri Rempp, the article’s author, wrote that Marshall's name has become "practically synonymous" with Chadron.

“Marshall has worked tirelessly over the years promoting Chadron and Dawes County and the people who call the area home,” she wrote.

Marshall directed CSC’s information services efforts for 36 years ending in 2007. Since stepping down from that role, he has continued to work as an information officer at CSC, completing a number of special projects for the college. One of the projects is a history book about the institution’s first 100 years which will be published later this year.

—Justin Haag, CSC Information Services

Artistic talent abides in Mitchell descendant

Back in the 1950's, young Chuck Mitchell took paintbrush in hand and affixed images of well-known cartoon characters to the walls of the newly-constructed snack bar inside the old Pace Theater in Chadron.   It certainly dressed up the snack bar, and helped gain some recognition for the multi-talented Mitchell.  Years later, with wife Vonie Van Natter, those artistic talents were carried on through twin sons Clark and Charles Mitchell.  And as fate would have it, even the next Mitchell generation exhibit those same creative traits.  Thanks to veteran writer Con Marshall for sharing the following story with us.  Thanks, too, to the crew that puts together the Chadron State Alumni Magazine, where this feature recently appeared.

CSC senior returns from a year in Italy

By CON MARSHALL

A Chadron State College student is back on campus this fall after having what she calls “a very special experience” during the 2009-10 school year.

Melissa Mitchell, a senior from Stone Mountain, Ga., spent 12 months in Italy in the International Students Abroad program. She studied both semesters at the Florence University of the Arts, earning credit toward her humanities minor. She also traveled extensively in western Europe.

“I learned a lot, traveled a lot and met people from all over the world,” said Mitchell, who is majoring in English education at CSC. “I had a really good time. There are some things I would do differently if I could do them over again, but it was a great experience.”

Mitchell admits that she’s adventurous. Otherwise, she says she probably wouldn’t have enrolled at Chadron State after graduating from high school in 2005, even though both of her parents, Charlie and Sheila, are CSC graduates and her great uncle, Wayne Van Natter, lives in Chadron.

She was one of 70 participants in the ISA program in Florence, but she was one of just two who took part two semesters. Most of the students were from the United States, but there were others from around the world.

The classes she took were taught in English, but she was forced to learn Italian, particularly the first semester when she stayed in a home in which neither of the parents spoke English.  Their two sons, who are in their 20s, served as interpreters until Melissa had learned enough Italian so she could get by with it.

She said she can now read and write Italian quite well and can speak it rather fluently after having no background in the language when she went to Europe a year ago.  She hopes to retain the skills she learned, and plans to use Skype, an internet voice and video service, to communicate with the friends she made during her adventure.

Mitchell said there are two things she did a lot of during the past year that she no longer wants to do. They are riding on trains and taking pictures.

“I went everywhere by train,” she said. “It is good way to get around over there because it is convenient and cheap. I went all over Italy and saw much of France, Germany, Austria and England by train. I also took pictures wherever I went. I probably took at least 200 on every trip. By the time I came home, I was tired of riding on trains and I’m not taking any more pictures for a while.”

Mitchell often rides a bicycle to get around Chadron and bought one in Florence. However, she seldom used it because she felt safer walking. She explained that the area near the university she attended is crowded, the sidewalks are narrow and the automobile traffic seemed unorganized and potentially dangerous for a bike rider.

Most of the buildings in the main part of Florence are made of stone and are only inches from one another, she said. Since the city is in a valley, it is hot in the summers. But she escaped much of the heat the last three months by serving as the nanny and English tutor for a seven-year-old girl whose well-to-do parents have a villa on the Mediterranean.

“She and I stayed there most of the summer while her parents worked in Florence.  They would come to the villa to see us on weekends,” Mitchell explained. “We had a good time together. English is the fourth language she is learning.”

Former sheriff, principal has led long, interesting life

by Con Marshall

Although he no longer lives in the county, if anyone deserves to be called “Mr. Dawes County,” it might be Jim Butler.

He is the grandson of Dawes County pioneers, grew up on a farm during the drought and depression the 1930s, was an excellent athlete at both Chadron Prep and Chadron State College, was involved in the nation’s struggle to survive during World War II, was the county sheriff for nearly 10 years and served as principal of the Chadron Elementary Schools for more than two decades.

Now a resident of Lincoln, Butler is still hale and hardy at age 91. Accompanied by his five sons and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he returned “home” last month to be inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame. While in town, he was a member of the Chadron Prep panels that discussed their beloved school and visited with several long-time friends.

While he’s been through the “School of Hard Knocks,” Butler acknowledges he’s also had lots of good fortune during his life.

“I’ve often said that somebody up there has looked out for me all these years,” Butler said with his shy grin. “Just about everything I tried has worked out somehow. I’ve been very lucky.”

Butler’s health is one of his blessings. While he’s been treated for atrial fibrillation, a rather common heart disorder, he looks and acts much younger than the calendar specifies.  He lives on the fourth floor of a retirement center in Lincoln and nearly always takes the stairs instead of riding the elevator. He also participates in workouts three times a week and, best of all, his mind is still sharp.

Of course, he’s not the first Butler to live a long and active life. His father, T.J., a lifelong resident of Dawes County, was still raising a huge garden and hauling cattle in his 30-year-old Ford truck when he was 93.

The first Butlers in the county were his grandparents, John and Sitha. They were among the 50 or so members of the Sweat Colony who came from Missouri in 1884 and settled along the two Bordeaux Creeks east of what became Chadron. The Butler homestead is now known as the Ralph Rhoads ranch along Highway 20 about eight miles east of town.

Jim’s parents were living there in the late 1930s when it was sold out from under them, plunging the family into poverty.

“Those were hard times anyway, and after that happened we didn’t have anything,” Butler said. “The place was sold to a relative for just a dollar an acre. It was a big mess. My dad then borrowed $10,000 and bought a bunch of sows and was going to raise hogs. But the hogs got cholera and died. Then before long the bank went broke.”

T.J., his wife, Grace, and their three children moved into Chadron, where he landed a job at the Reitz and Crites Lumber Yard. T.J. later used a team and wagon to pick up the garbage in the western half of Chadron. After a few years he brought a truck for the job, eventually purchased a stock rack so he could haul cattle and launched his long career as a trucker.

After graduating from the eighth grade at the Rucker School near the family farm in 1932, Jim attended high school at Chadron Prep.

He had never seen a football or basketball game when he began high school. Prep didn’t have a football team while Butler was in school there and he didn’t go out for basketball as a freshman. But he started as a junior and a senior. The Junior Eagles qualified for the state tournament both years, but lost in the first round in overtime both times.

After graduating from Prep in 1936, Butler enrolled at Chadron State. The college’s football coach, Ruffus Trapp, encouraged him to come out for football. After one year of learning the game, he played enough as a sophomore to earn a letter.

The following year, 1938, he earned a starting nod at guard, but just before the first game he suffered a severely sprained ankle.  By then, Ross Armstrong had taken over as the head football coach and advised Butler to soak the ankle in hot water and put it under the heat lamp—a common treatment for sprains then and the exact opposite of the ice applications used today.

“It (the ankle) swelled up and turned black and blue. I was on crutches for a couple of weeks and then returned to practice,” Butler recalled. “I had earned my starting job back and was about to play when I sprained the other ankle. Ross told me I might as well skip the rest of the season. I guess you would say I received a medical redshirt.”

Butler said he never had any trouble with his ankles again and he was a starting guard on both offense and defense his final two years in 1939 and ’40. The 1940 team pulled off a major upset, defeating the University of Wyoming 12-9 in a game played in Casper. Butler was instrumental in the victory. He said both teams played the single-wing offense. He knew the system well and was able to nail the Wyoming tailback for losses several times after the offensive guard left Butler unblocked while pulling to run interference on the opposite side of the line. 

“Some Chadron people made quite a bit of money that day,” Butler said with a grin. “They bet on us with some Wyoming fans who were sure they were going to beat us. It was quite a game.”  Butler said when he played he weighed about 170 pounds, or about the same as he weighs today, and had “pretty good speed.”

While Butler didn’t start for the Chadron State basketball team, he earned a letter in both 1939-40, when the Eagles were 16-4, and 1940-41 when they were 15-3. None of the losses those two years was by more than five points and four of them were by one or two.

When World War II broke out, Butler left college before graduating, moved to California and worked in Burbank at the Vega Aircraft factory that was a Lockheed subsidiary. He was the foreman of a 10-man crew that initially assembled Ventura bombers and later the famous B-17 bombers as soon as the pieces came out of the jigs.

“We could assemble a plane in 10-hour day,” he said. “It was a tough job. Inspectors went over every rivet and weld. Our crew was one of the best. I sometimes rode along on the test flights.”

While still in college, Butler married Madeline Iaeger, granddaughter of one of Chadron’s most prominent citizens in its early history, L.T. “Billy the Bear” Iaeger.

“She was the best looking girl in college,” Butler said. The couple had two sons, Gary and Dale, when she died of pneumonia in 1943 while the family was living in California.

While he was working at the aircraft factory, Butler had tried a couple of times to enlist in the military because he wanted to be a pilot, but his requests were rejected because of the importance of his work. He was finally accepted into the Army Air Corps and had begun pilot training when Madeline died. With two small sons to raise, he received a dependency discharge and returned to Chadron.

The Butler family had already lost Jim’s older brother, Melvin, during the war. He was a Navy pilot and had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor in November 1941, but was shot down near the Solomon Islands in September 1942 and was never heard from again.

Back in Chadron, Jim helped with his father’s trucking business, which became quite lucrative.  Because of the Great Depression and then the war, there weren’t many trucks available but in the mid-1940s area farmers had a couple of bumper wheat crops that needed to go to market.

“We hauled lots of wheat,” Butler said. “Some days we made $125 or $150. That was a lot of money in those days. We never got rich, but it was more money than the Butlers had ever had before.”

After the war ended, Butler was planning to take his two boys and return to California. But romance changed his plans. He met Donna Sailor, who had come from Gordon to work at Midwest Furniture in Chadron.

“We hit it off and before too long I was married to another wonderful woman,” Butler said. “She took over as the mother of my two boys and after a while we had three more (Scott and twins Criss and Curt). It was another case where I was really lucky.”

Butler returned to college in the spring of 1947 and completed work on his bachelor’s degree.  That fall became the industrial arts teacher at Provo High School at the Black Hills Army Depot near Edgemont. He stayed just one year.  

The next year Dale was old enough to attend kindergarten, something South Dakota schools didn’t offer. Donna was friends with Opal Schroeder, the kindergarten teacher at the East Ward School and wife of Chadron Superintendent of Schools H.A. Schroeder and

“She thought Dale should be in kindergarten and that Opal should be his teacher, so we moved back to Chadron,” Butler said.

For nearly 10 years, he was the Dawes County sheriff. He was appointed to the position after Cy Spearman resigned at the end of 1948. Butler took over just as the Blizzard of ’49 struck.  His new job immediately called for around-the-clock duty as he and other law enforcement officers helped in dozens of rescues and other emergencies for about two months.

He recalls that one of his activities was riding in the C-47 bombers from an air base in Colorado that were used to drop hay to cattle that had been marooned by the storm. “Frank Snook (a Chadron pilot) and I would fly to Alliance, where the C-47s were located, and then direct the pilots in making the deliveries because we knew who lived on most of the ranches in the county.”

The Chadron Record reported that 1,854 hay bales were dropped on 29 ranches in the Chadron area during “Operation Haylift.”

Butler said after the storm subsided, being the sheriff was a good job. He was elected to the position twice, but resigned in early 1958 before completing the second term.

“There was just a two bedroom apartment in the court house and with the five boys and a college girl to help Donna feed the prisoners, we were really crowded,” he said. “We decided I needed to do something else.”

Once again, Butler planned to move to California and went there to interview for a teaching position. However, fate again intervened. In the fall of 1960, Schroeder hired him to teach industrial arts, social studies and junior and senior high school physical education and help Fuzz Watts coach the Cardinals’ football teams.

During this time, he worked on his master’s degree at Chadron State and after two years at the high school, he became a fifth grade teacher and the principal at East Ward. Two years later, during an evaluation of the school system, it was recommended that one person serve as principal for all three elementary schools. Butler got the position.

“I really never applied for any of the jobs I had in the Chadron Schools,” Butler said. “Heinie Schroeder just asked me to take them. I think it worked out pretty well. We had good (teaching) staffs. In the early 1960s the college was really growing and a lot of the new professors had wives who were elementary teachers. We hired quite a few of them.

“Also, I was good friends with Royce Vathauer, who was one of the college professors that worked with the students who were studying to be elementary teachers. He’d send some of the best ones to student teach in the Chadron Schools and if they got along well and we had an opening, we’d hire them.”

Butler retired from education at age 66 in 1985. Seven years later, Jim and Donna moved to Lincoln. It was difficult for them to leave, but since all five sons and their families lived in eastern Nebraska, or Missouri or Iowa it was a logical decision.

Donna, who gave lessons to dozens of aspiring pianists, had several physical problems in her later years and died in April 2008. Jim said having his family nearby has helped keep him going. There also are numerous activities at the retirement home where he lives, he’s active in the Aldersgate Methodist Church and he continues to follow both college and professional sports.

Jim Butler's sons all gathered at Chadron State College to help him celebrate his induction into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2010.  Shown left to right are the "Butler Boys" -- Curt, Chris, Jim, Scott, Gary and Dale.    Click on the photo to see a larger version.

This past Sunday, he attended the women’s exhibition basketball game between Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska-Kearney and saw freshman Jordan Hooper of Alliance score 20 points to lead the Cornhuskers to a 97-55 victory.

“I keep pretty busy and still enjoy life,” he said.  “And, I’ll always remember the good life I had in Chadron.”

The "specialties" of Sid Umshler

When the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Oklahoma Sooners do battle tonight at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, it’ll be the culmination of a football rivalry dating back more than 75 years.  We well remember the ‘50s, when the two teams were in the Big Eight and the rivalry was palpable.  Somehow, since formation of the Big 12 Conference, that rivalry hasn’t seemed quite as intense – perhaps a harbinger of things to come for the ailing conference.  Nonetheless, the game tonight will determine the conference championship, and it’s sure to be a humdinger.

Joining the millions of avid football fans nestled in front of their TV sets to watch the big game will be Chadron native Skip “Sid” Umshler.  A 1964 graduate of Chadron High School, he’s been retired from a successful sales job in Omaha since 2001.  He and his wife Bev, who is retired from a long career with the telephone company, decided to pull up stakes and move into a country home in Missouri – not far from Branson.

While Skip’s passion for NU football remains unbridled, he is anything but your typical armchair enthusiast of things Husker.

Skip and Bev Umshler in the "Husker Room."

In late November, we had the good fortune of visiting Skip and Bev at their home just outside of Mount Vernon, Missouri.  Skip and I chatted a bit about old times – recapturing some of the memories we shared as teammates on the 1961 Chadron High Cardinal basketball team, which won the Class “B” State Championship under the tutelage of Verne Lewellen.  If our nostalgic discussion seemed to take place in something of a time warp – especially for our very understanding wives – what happened next seemed like an episode from the Twilight Zone.

Skip and Bev were giving us a tour of their home, when we began navigating our way upstairs.  Then, it was as if Rod Serling was transporting us from Mount Vernon, Missouri to………NEBRASKA!

Upstairs, from ceiling to floor along all the walls of a spacious room dubbed the “Husker Room,” sports memorabilia abounds – most of it celebrating Nebraska Cornhusker football.  Photographs, posters, shirts, caps – all of it exquisitely framed and professionally displayed.  Neon signs.  Jerseys.  All forms of memorabilia.  If you simply woke up here, you might think you’d dozed while on a tour of a trophy room at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Since time was limited, the fascinating tour was cut short, and we were able to enjoy only a brief summary of key items.  There’s lots of stuff from and about Jerry Tagge, the All-American Husker quarterback who was field marshal in the Big Red’s 35-31 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in a 1971 game considered to be college football’s “Game of the Century.”  Tagge and Umshler later became good friends in Omaha, further inspiring Skip to expand his memorabilia collection.  Umshler also got acquainted with NU athletic equipment manager Mel Worster.  Autographed items from coaches and players abound.  And there’s more than just Nebraska mementos.  Many dozens of items have come from players and coaches he’s met and befriended – not just in Nebraska, but Iowa, Missouri, and elsewhere. 

Alas, we should’ve been snapping photos and taking notes – so much to see and experience, and so little time!  Skip and Bev have invited us back, and I suspect we’ll be on their doorstep one day soon, eager to more leisurely explore and examine the trove of Cornhusker treasures that grace this special room.  Each and every item has a story.    It’s a stunning display.

Cardinal teammates Umshler and Miller -- reunited.

One wonders how long it’s taken Skip to collect these items – all tastefully exhibited.  He notes that he’s been gathering the collection since the mid-1990’s.

While he disavows patience, it clearly has taken much time and effort to amass this collection.  But it’s not the only hobby that Skip has undertaken.

In 1976, while traversing roadways across Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas and surrounding states as a sales rep – first for a hobby craft company and later for a smokeless tobacco firm – he bought a metal detector and took up coin-hunting.  Within a couple of years, he had found some 8,875 coins, more than 1,300 of them silver.  Of course that doesn’t include class rings, dog tags, and numerous sterling silver religious medals.  His collection is now safely ensconced in an Omaha safety deposit box.

In 1979, Umshler authored an article for Western-Eastern Treasures, a leading “how-to” magazine for metal detectionists.

“My only regret,” he wrote in the October issue, “is that I didn’t get into this ten years earlier!  I’ve had countless hours of enjoyment and know if I live to be 90, I’ll be out there huntin’ somewhere – though by then I may have to talk a grandson into doing my digging for me!”

Skip Umshler at work searching for 

coins in the town square at Tecumseh,
Nebraska in October of 1980

Skip shared with us a letter from a Scottsbluff woman, whose high school class ring had been lost many years earlier.  Skip found it while foraging for coins on the town square in Ord, Nebraska.  The lady wrote a touching letter of thanks to Skip – noting that her husband had recently died after their house burned down, destroying everything they owned. 

“Getting back my ring is something real special,” she wrote.

“Special” seems to fit Umshler well.

The oldest of three children born to Warren and Jen Umshler, Skip was a talented all-around athlete in Chadron during the late 1950’s and early ‘60’s.  He was only a freshman when he suited up for the varsity at Chadron High in 1961, when they won the state “B” basketball tournament.   Later that same year, he played first base on the outstanding Chadron Midgets squad that won a berth in the National Teeners Baseball World Series in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Many Dawes County old-timers will remember Skip’s dad, Warren, as a long-time employee for the State Highway Department and an ex-Marine who won the Silver Star during World War Two. He was good friends with another WWII hero from Chadron, Warren Beamish.  The senior Umshler became something of a fixture with the American Legion Color Guard that supported events around Chadron for decades.  He also refereed basketball games for several years.  Skip’s mother, Jen, was Clerk of the District Court for many years and still lives in Chadron.  In addition to Skip, the Umshlers had two daughters, Sherry and Cam.

Following high school, like so many youngsters, Skip struggled a bit in finding out what he wanted to do with his life.   He was soon to discover that “having a good time” wasn’t all that good.  Those years might euphemistically be called “colorful,” but they were difficult.

He married Beverly Urwin – who also has roots and relatives in Chadron.  Her sister Marilyn and brothers John and Bob still live in the Chadron area.  Another sister, Karolyn, lives in Tennessee.  The marriage proved a positive step, especially when they retreated to Omaha and pursued new careers.  

Bev landed a job with Northwestern Bell Telephone Company – later Qwest – from which she retired more than 30 years later.  Skip’s affable personality proved a real asset for sales work, and he found the work both enjoyable and profitable. 

While the “collector” side of Skip Umshler has shown brightly through his coin collection and Husker memorabilia, there’s yet another “special” talent he possesses – poetry.  While he dismisses the thought that he’s really a poet, he concedes that his mother’s fondness for two of his poems enticed him to have them framed. Click on the image at right to see one of these poems. Read the other one here. Both were penned not long after Skip graduated from Chadron High, and we think his work was exceptional.  

Along the way, Skip and Bev raised two girls, Kim and Jodee, who still live in Omaha.  There are three grandchildren:   15-year-old granddaughter Hunter; 11-year-old grandson Tai; and 9-year-old granddaughter Sydney.

Skip waxes enthusiastic as he talks about grandson Tai, who’s already a collector of sorts – not coins and memorabilia, but trophies!  At his ripe young age, he’s already collected a wide array of BMX racing trophies for his prowess in a bicycle sport that is gaining wide popularity.

We figure it’ll be no time at all before some of Tai’s accomplishments earn him a place in the Umshler “Husker Room”!