Class Letter

January 1999

Dear members of the class of 1938:

Tom has graciously given me the opportunity to write to you this first month of 1999. A happy New Year to all of you! I trust that each of you is happy and ready to support our dear Alma Mater again this year!

It would be great to know how many of you visited the campus immediately after the tornado. I know that some of you were there to work. I would have gone down, but I knew that I only would be in the way. Thanks to you who participated!

Gustavus held a tremendous party in the beautiful Carlson rotunda in May and received pledges that will enable them to not only replace the trees that were lost, but also to have a newly landscaped campus! In fact, those of you who attended the 60th class reunion in June must have been as surprised as I to see the progress that already had been made. More than 800 trees, including the thirty large ones which Bachman's had donated have now been planted on the campus.

Speaking of our class reunion...those of you who attended found it to be a bit different this year. Instead of spending the entire weekend as guests on campus, we were invited to Radisson South for dinner Friday night where various class reunions were held in different rooms. Each roomful of Gustavians had the opportunity to see the new video, which had been prepared to show the damage done by the tornado as well as the progress underway for the future.

Speaking of that progress...we are indeed grateful to our great President, Dr. Steuer and his charming helpmate, Lorrie, for their guidance and great leadership at this special time. Did you know that, even though they found a tree in their dining room, they listed the president's home as the very last project to be repaired? Isn't that just like them? We are blessed to have such leadership!

Reunion Saturday, May 29 we were on campus to see the newly laid sod and beautiful trees. Very tasteful root-beer floats were served on the mall. Following a tour of the campus we attended a very upbeat alumni vesper service.

There, the cross that previously had been visible for miles atop Christ Chapel was carried in the procession and placed on a special stand that had been made to accommodate the bent form. (In October a new steeple and cross were erected on the chapel.) Preceding our visit to the campus on that Saturday, our class had been invited to the home of our class president, the Gamelins, for a luncheon. They served twenty-nine classmates and spouses. Miraculously, their home sustained very little damage from the tornado.

The entire building, which housed the former campus dining room, was then off-limits. Students were eating in the Lund Athletic Building that did not sustain as much damage. I think our dinner was served in the forum where the indoor tennis courts had been. The entire dinner was prepared in three large trailers parked nearby. In one trailer the salads were made ready; in another, the main entree was heated, and in the third, the wonderful cake was served on each plate. The dinner was very tasty, but the best part was the hot coffee that we enjoyed. I marvel that they could serve such a fine hot dinner to that many people under the circumstances.

We had a marvelous time listening to the presentations of the two First Decade Awards, the three Distinguished Alumni Citations and The Greater Gustavus Award. Following the dinner we visited with one of the Gustavus professors and his wife who had lost their home and everything in it.

With smiles on their faces, they indicated that they had lost only their possessions and not their lives. Such is the spirit everywhere at Gustavus and in the city of St. Peter. We are, indeed, most grateful! On Sunday (May 30), afternoon graduation ceremonies were held on time and in the warm air of the outdoor stadium!

Aren't you glad that we were invited to the Gamelin home for a reunion luncheon because now they have moved and the home which they had given to Gustavus is no longer their's to use. We commend them for giving such a fine gift to their alma mater. The Gamelin's new address is:

500 West Jackson Street, #207

St. Peter, MN 56082-1592

A quote from their Christmas letter: "Although a March 29 tornado wreaked much more damage on others in St. Peter than on us, it loosened our grip on the status quo. When Ruth decided to give up our ten-room house, I gave up yard work without a whimper, and we moved a mile south to an apartment. Our new neighborhood is a thirty-unit senior-housing cooperative called "Realife." In our new neighborhood of senior citizens, we share so many circumstances that we visit with one or another daily."

Dagmar Abrahamson Breck writes: "On June 29 our lives took a sudden change when John suffered a stroke and had brain surgery. His left side is paralyzed and his activity is severely limited. He came home November 6. We have a hospital bed in the living room, and we have a live-in Polish caregiver. John is able to talk, to follow conversation, and watch TV. He remembers all those who call and send cards; we have a box that weighs almost ten pounds. He loves to have company. Wonderful, wonderful friends have brought countless meals and expressions of concern. We have our doctor son, Arthur, and his family in Byron, 14 miles south.

A letter from the daughter of the Rev. Harold Snow indicates that her father died on July 15, 1998. She writes,"Dad was always very proud of his college and was always very interested in the mail that he received from you. He grew up in LeSueur, and we drove through St. Peter this last May. We took the time to drive up to the college, and he was very upset about the damage that the tornado had done to your campus, especially the lovely old trees. I believe that he made a donation then, for some planting of new trees."

Grace (Palmer) and A. Harold x41 Peterson are in the process of selling their home. They attended a health conference in Florida and spent Christmas with their daughter in Vail, CO. Grace is busy preparing for the 125th anniversary of their church― Zion Lutheran of Chisago City.

A visit via telephone with Bob Olson (Dr. Robert E.) indicates that he is still a member of the faculty of the University of South Florida where he teaches and writes papers. One of his most interesting projects was working in cooperation with the National Institute of Health in Thailand. There, he with his wife and two daughters went to the Far East through Japan, and built a hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand to study nutrition. I believe he said that he spent ten years on this project and published forty research papers while there. He has led a most interesting medical career including six years at St. Louis University where he received his Ph D. in biochemistry in 1944. He spent two years in the Navy and after the war was sent to Wake Island as a communications officer. His outstanding career also includes research and teaching at Harvard Medical School.

Rick Hillstrom (The Rev. Richard) who serves as art director for Lutheran Brotherhood has given a number of paintings and recordings to his alma mater. Likewise he has given numerous gifts to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where he serves on the board of trustees. Gustavus has received more than 30 opera and symphonic recordings from Rick. His latest gift, given in memory of his good friend, The Rev. Bernhard Johnson, is a seascape by Leon Lundmark entitled "Beginning of a New Day" a most appropriate gift for Gustavus in 1998.

Doris Dominick Gustafson and her husband, Glenn, live on the beautiful pacific coast in Encinitas, CA where they are near their daughter, Gayle, who is a teacher.

Aren't you pleased that you are a Gustavian? We have such great leadership! There is still so much to be done for our college. Wouldn't it be great if everyone in our class could give a gift this coming year? I wonder how we would feel if our class could participate with a one hundred percent response! Let's try for that percentage this year!!

Wilma Westburg Jensen

1938 Guest Letter Writer