Please keep them "good" memories and not be critical of someone/something or judgmental - I will decide what is appropriate for public use and worth archiving.
I don't want information that is intentionally hateful or harmful but uplifting, silly, informative, educational - things that some of you might remember hearing
while sitting with your grandparents/uncles/aunts, old-timers, etc.
Something that once was passed along by story-telling but now is pretty much NO longer being done by
the younger generations who DON'T know what they have been missing and will never be able to tell those old stories to their kids/grandkids because they NEVER
heard those wonderful old stories.
I just found out that Paul Weis passed away, so I did some quick digging to see what I could find in my database about Paul - unfortunately not much...
If anyone wants to e-mail me their memories of Paul, I'll post them here. Who were his closest friends?
Dave Kusel
1975 MHS graduates: Corine Altenhein, James Lyle Anthony, Bruce E. Antone, Cathleen Susan Arp, Cindy Kay Bilsten, Amy Lu Brotherton, Renee Lee Christensen, Peter Joseph Croghan, Jill Renee Escher (valedictorian), Dean D. Grau, Robbie Charles Grundmeier, Jane Francis Hacker, Thomas A. Handlos, Jeff L. Hargens, Jon Merlin Hass, Peter M. Heinicke, Dale H. Hinners, Liesa Deloris Hinners, Ricky R. Jahn, Bruce L. Jensen, Mark Kenneth Jensen, Kerry Lynn Joens, Christine Ann Kanne, Jan LaRae Karsten, Mary Imelda Kerkhoff, David August Kusel, Brian Charles Lage, Suzanne Renee Long, James Russell Mohr, Lynn Davis Mork, Richard D. Mundt, Carol Ann Musfeldt (salutatorian), Todd Randall Nelson, Debra Kay Nissen, Thomas George Opperman, Marcus dosSantos Paes, Bruce Arlo Pfannkuch, Steven Craig Pfannkuch, Johannes Helmut Plessing, Royce Lynn Ranniger, Sharon Ann Reischl, Mary Lou Rohe, Merlin Rohe, Craig Norman Rothfolk, Mark J. Rowedder, Mildred Jean Saunders, Steve Merritt Sebring, Jeff R. Siepker, Karen Rose Sporrer, Larry Francis Sporrer, Dale Kenneth Stangl, Mark Steven Stangl, Lee A. Stein, Judy Mae Stoberl, Marlys Ann Stoelk, Allen Lowell Stribe, Carol Jean Struve, Ronald E. Venner, William Henry Voge, Cynthia Kay Wanninger, James V. Weitl, William Kenneth Weitl, Kent L. Wiese, LindaLou Bernice Willenborg, Maureen Williams, Karen Marie Witt
1975 former students: Michelle Aiken, Barbara Anthony, Esther Benter, Mary Boell, Cindy Brincks, Jeff Chandler, Lori Dentlinger, Lynn Eich, Carol Espenhover, Donna Gerhardt, Dean Graves, Dennis Graves, Russell Hargens, Robert Iddings, Jerome Irlmeier, Jeanine Klemme, Jeri Ann Kloewer, Timothy Lakers, Pam Marr, Steven Mathisen, Luann Miller, Ricky Mohr, Kelly Poldberg, Martha Robertson, Michael Schiltz, Michael Schlichte, Mark Schwaller, Steve Schwaller, Dyann Sheldon, Brenda Shipps, Linda Wanninger, Paula Warner, Paul Weis
Deborah Weis MHS 1970, Dan Weis MHS in 1971, and Penny Weis was with the former class of 1981 at Manning.
A private family service will be held at the New Ulm Catholic Cemetery.
Paul is survived by his sisters, Debra Kaslon of Blair, Nebraska; Penny Weigel of New Ulm; and Terri Rogers of Isanti; and by his brother, Daniel Weis of Winona.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Paul Christian Weis was born May 2, 1956, in Davenport, Iowa,
to John and Shirley (Meyer) Weis. He attended elementary & Junior High School
at Manning, Iowa, and was a 1975 graduate of Springfield High School,
Springfield, Minnesota, and served in the U.S. Navy. Paul worked various jobs
in the New Ulm area until bad health forced him to retire.
Minnesota Valley Funeral Home New Ulm, Minnesota
Submitted for the 2009 Manning Schools history book.
School memories by Mark Rowedder
Thank you Mr. Klinker and Coach Boersma
There is a long list of teachers that played a major role in my life. Most
important are my parents, but of those I did not call Mom or Dad,
I would recognize two who I believe got me started in the direction I now find myself.
Mr. Donald Klinker
Mr. Don Klinker taught junior high social studies at Manning Junior High when I
was in 7th and 8th grade from fall of 1969 to the spring of1971. This included
geography, civics, and American history. I was an OK student by this time but
did not have a class or subject that I had latched onto as being a favorite.
That all changed with Mr. Klinker's class. Something
clicked for me. I cannot even tell you exactly how he did it but I enjoyed his
class and I did well. I am not sure the methods he used would be advisable now
to young teachers, but they worked for me. Social studies and American History
in particular became my subject, no matter who or
where it was taught. I now have both a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in social
studies education. I taught social studies for several years in three school
districts. I have been fortunate to have trained prospective social studies
teachers at two universities, and now I run a middle school as a principal, but
never stray far from one of my social studies classrooms to listen in and sometimes get pulled in to team teach it. I would have
to say that all started with Mr. Klinker's 7th grade social studies class.
Mr. Douglas Duane Boersma
Coach Boersma taught junior science and coached all the junior high sports of
football, basketball, and track. In the classroom, you wanted to pay attention
to catch the joke as well as the point. He liked to show off at times, playing
with acids or mercury - for which we would now call HazMat
and shut a school down. He played around with mercury to demonstrate its
characteristics as a liquid metal. He was prone to be pulled off subject at
times by well placed questions from his students which might lead to nice long
discussion of his philosophy on people, politics, and life in general. They
were as interesting lessons as anything he taught specific to the science curriculum.
It was as a coach though that he made the most impact on me. I was overweight (a usual problem) and way out of shape as a 7th grader trying to play football for the first time. I could not run across the room without stopping to rest let alone the ten nightly laps we had to run across the school yard (back stop to the tree on the west end) behind the old high school every night- but he made me do it. He would have us go over and get old tires from Rix's and put them on the hill next to the band room and run up through them uphill- and he made me do it. He made us do the tackling line, even against the 8th graders. This group included Keith Stribe, Gary Graner, the Renze and Karsten brothers (Paul & Randy - Jeff & Jim). Jeff Karsten in particular was the one guy you did not want in your tackling line because he knew how to put you down hard. I must have outweighed him by at least 70 pounds, but he would pick me up just the same and slam me down with a textbook tackle on that nice grass bare practice field. Practice could be fun, too. Coach was not opposed to running "exotic" plays- flea flickers, the guard around (my favorite) and others that were as fun to practice as to use in a game. When it was discovered that one of the guys could place kick the ball fairly well- we might spend most of the practice on extra points and field goals either down at the football field or over a power line at the practice field. This is at a time when most high school teams went for two after touchdown rather than kick the extra point.
Basketball was much the same- the 8th graders were lean and quick, they liked to run and that is what we did nightly. Wind sprints from 10 down to 1. We practiced in the old high school gym when the varsity had a game but more often in the fellowship hall at the Lutheran Church. There was no bus to the church, we walked from school. In the winter cold, snow, uphill, (honestly) and hauling books, gym bag, and in my case, a trumpet, it got to be a pretty good work out in just getting to practice. Coach did not have set style of play. Those 8th graders were quick and could run circles around most teams- the Harlem Globetrotters are the only other team I can remember running a three man weave at the top of the key. They would hypnotize the other team with that play and to get an easy layup after they would whip a pass to Jeff Drees or Jon Ahrendsen under the basket left unguarded. We as 8th graders did not do that- we were slower and bigger (or at least I was slower and bigger) and we played a different game from that group. They played man to man defense, we played zone. They pressed, we hustled back to our zone. Different players, different approach- he did not force the team into one style, he adapted to what players could do.
That first spring came and the subject of track came up in Coach's class. I had no real interest in track. I did not like to run. We had just moved into town in January so I had no "have to help out on the farm" excuse. Coach told me "You should be out for track" and when I could not get a word of protest out he let me know he was glad I agreed. I was out for track. It was the best thing a coach did for me. Track helps all athletes, regardless if you can run well or not. I could throw the shot but he made sure I ran every night as well. I think it was pretty entertaining to see Paul Weis and I racing each other for a quarter mile- I could never quite catch him but just trying helped me most. Coach pushed me. "Go Row" seemed to be his mantra. Young Kevin Boersma (maybe 4 or 5 at the time) would walk around his house saying "Go Row" not knowing who or what Row was but his dad said it a 100 times a night so he would, too.
I do not think I had the most memorable of high school athletic careers. But I did earn a varsity letter in one sport all four years (track of all things), and I lettered in four sports (basketball more for showing up for practice for four years more than for playing time) and those were situations that did not happen all that much at the time. I also got to back up Kevin Pfannkuch and Rex Sebeniecker one year and played alongside Jeff Siepker, Pete Croghan, and in front of Lynn Mork the next year on Manning's first state playoff team. I was the warm up partner to Dave Kusel and we combined for 43 points one night (I had two, "Howard" chipped in 41 for the school record). I got to play with a lot of good guys and good ballplayers but none of it may have happened if a junior high coach did not keep after a fat 7th grader to keep moving and sticking with it.
I do not know what happened to Mr. Klinker outside that he left Manning to farm or something while we were in high school. Coach Boersma left teaching for the insurance business and I made it a point to try to stop by his office when I was in town to say hi. He appreciated that I still called him coach, even 30+ years after I played for him. I miss that opportunity to talk to him now.
At the time of this writing it has been almost 40 years
since I entered Manning Junior High. I am now in my 30th year in education and
I coached a lot of years in a lot of sports. I have been very fortunate and
some credit needs to go to Mr. Klinker and Coach Boersma - Thank you both.
Mark Rowedder, Manning class of 1975
7th & 8th grade fall of 1966 on south end of old football field south of Highway 141.
1969 Homecoming royalty
Linda Rowedder, Marva Jensen, JoAnn Dethlefs,
Debbie Weis, Debbie Waterbury, Claude Rennotte, Sara Schroeder
Choir 1970
