From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

Floats, bonfires, football games, dances and crisp weather…it’s Homecoming time at schools and colleges around the country. It’s a special tradition to gather friends from school to enjoy a rival football game and sing the school song.

The week long celebration of Homecoming was a big deal tradition at my high school and college. A cute, popular girl was chosen to be queen and a football player was king. In high school the band played in their wool uniforms and cheerleaders wore short skirts with blue sweaters with large golden G’s for Glenwood, our town. Cheerleaders flipped and did cartwheels cheering crowds in the wooden bleachers at the old football stadium across from the VFW hall. I can still see in my mind Dorothy Jenum, Connie Austvold, Verona Erickson and Janet Holtberg enthusiastically cheering on the crowds wildly for our team. During half time, the newly crowned homecoming queen and her court would appear on the field. If we were lucky, coach Cliff Hansen would lead his Lakers football players to victory.

Weeks before the much anticipated homecoming event, kids spent many evenings decorating hayrack floats with crepe paper fringe and fashioning Kleenex into flowers stuffed into chicken wire. Friday night kicked off the event with a parade through town down Main Street to the homecoming bonfire. This celebration was held next to the city garage across Main Street from Forbord’s gas station and the DQ. Flames would lick the sky as more fuel was tossed on the fire which burned so hot the crowd of kids, parents and teachers shed sweaters and our sweaty faces turned red.

After the game, a Homecoming dance was held in the small gym of the high school. Record players with black 33 1/3 discs spun round and round and the volume turned up to high blasting out Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover” and the Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown.” In dyed to match wool sweaters and skirts we danced close while teacher chaperones checked that no couple’s dancing got out of hand. Sometimes we’d get the courage to ask a teacher to dance with us. Mr. Hirshey, Mr. Leaf, Mr. Hellervik and Mr. Paulson were game to dance if we dared ask. On the highly polished floor, girls would snuggle close, hands around the neck of their teen partner while his hands held her waist tight, not wandering too far up or down on her body. That simply was not tolerated. Principal Carlson was sure to see any indiscretion.

Hayrides were popular around homecoming time when the temperatures dropped and the moon was full. I remember Tommy Carsten inviting friends out to his folks’ farm for a fall hayride. Dressed in multiple layers of sweaters, jeans, mittens and thick socks, we bundled in plaid wool blankets and squished close to pals on the hayrack filled with hay bales, straw creeping into our clothes. Tommy’s tractor pulled the hayrack of laughing kids riding through dusty fields down dirt roads. Ahhhh, life was so good…

Following the event, the local newspaper’s weekly edition was filled with colorful photos of the school’s homecoming parade, the game and the coronation. As I recall memories of these special events way back in high school, I found a GHS blue and white annual with a two page spread of Homecoming 1959. Queen Sandy was grinning in her white gown with velvet cape, rhinestone tiara and bouquet of red roses. Her co-captain escorts were Rodney Stivland and Al Deboer. The girls on the court wore strapless formals with wide skirts puffed with tulle and carried colonial bouquets. Male escorts wore suits and white shirts with ties and boutonnieres of white carnations. The good-looking reps of my ’62 class were Carol Pladson and Marshall Hauge, Linda Dovel and Reinhart Erdahl.

What fun it is to look back and share my memories of Homecoming. I hope my words rekindle familiar pictures in your mind. What a time that was!

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.