ntspring18

NORTHERN TODAY 19 SPRING 2018 ALUMNI NEWS WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! SEND US YOUR CLASS NOTES AT NSUALUMNI@NORTHERN.EDU . Daniel “Danny” Kealey, Sioux Falls, S.D., on April 21, 2017 Dorrit (Bjordal) Reeves, Ivanhoe, Minn., on Jan. 15, 2018 Gerald E. “Jerry” Ochs, Aberdeen, S.D., on March 3, 2018 1968 Charles Robinson, Sioux Falls, S.D., on July 27, 2017 David Grandpre, Minneapolis, Minn., on Nov. 22, 2017 1969 LaVerne L. Guidice, Eureka, S.D., on Jan. 25, 2018 1970/1990 Sr. Donata Daml, Aberdeen, S.D., on Jan. 27, 2018 1970 Donna (Rabenberg) Lie, Spearfish, S.D., on Jan. 4, 2018 Rev. Dwayne Snell, Tyler, Minn., on Jan. 17, 2018 1971 John Salzsiedler, Minneapolis, Minn., on Nov. 24, 2017 1972 Kerry P. Malkerson, Mesquite, Texas, on Aug. 21, 2017 R. Kerry Johnston, Aberdeen, S.D., on Feb. 6, 2018. Penelope (Sieh) de Hueck, Aberdeen, S.D., on Dec. 26, 2017 Darlene (Teske) Neuharth, Eureka, S.D., on March 18, 2018 1973 Rev. Daniel Malchow, Waukesha, Wis., on July 15, 2015 Jane L. Hermann, Minneapolis, Minn., on Nov. 14, 2017 1974 Jane (Schafer) Walczak, Buffalo City, Wis., on Aug. 24, 2017 Loren M. Kambestad, Rapid City, S.D., on Jan. 18, 2018 1977 Roland “Rollie” Pedersen, Sioux Falls, S.D., on March 28, 2018 1978 Wesley Geist, Eagle, Colo., on Oct. 12, 2017 1981 Sheri (Nelson) Deibert, Herreid, S.D., on Dec. 28, 2017 Mary (Collins) Parquet, Midland, S.D., on May 30, 2017 Marty Schlotte, Webster, S.D., on Jan. 16, 2018 1985 Bradley A. Waltman, Sioux Falls, S.D., on Jan. 31, 2018 Loren Lutz, Webster, S.D., on Jan. 28, 2018 1987 Delpha (Schaible) Dumdei, Aberdeen, S.D., Nov. 10, 2017 1988 Tracy (Askland) Tanner, Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 26, 2017 1991 Craig Erickson, Aberdeen, S.D., on Dec. 29, 2017 1992 Denise (Vetch) Jung, Aberdeen, S.D., on Nov. 21, 2017 1996 Viola (Noteboom) Vander Tuin, Mitchell, S.D., on July 20, 2017 2001 Mary (Red Legs) Grass, Eagle Butte, S.D., on Nov. 22, 2017 2002 Sarah Gengler Hart, Big Stone City, S.D., in March 2018 2016 Zachary Warren Nelson, Bowdle, S.D., on Sept. 24, 2017 Roers, who will be 96 in July, is providing scholarships for future teachers through a gift annuity to the Northern State University Foundation. “I’ve always felt that teachers’ education wasn’t (well) funded, and there weren’t a lot of scholarships,” she said, adding, “I still have a connection with Aberdeen, even though I don’t have any family left there anymore and can’t physically go there anymore. I just always thought Aberdeen could use everything they could get.” An Aberdeen native, Roers has lived in Dow Rummel Village retirement community in Sioux Falls for almost 16 years. A resident of its independent living section, Roers has worked as the retirement community’s librarian for the past 14 years. Roers studied education, political science and English at Northern State Teachers College starting in 1940. She said attending Northern was a great experience – though it occurred during a difficult time for the nation. “Things were really, really bad in the 40s,” she said. “It was the Dust Bowl and Depression. I was lucky to be able to go to school at all.” Her first two years, enrollment was good, she said, with regular college activities. But then many people were called to military service. A lot of female students left to work in Washington or in the war plants. Her first husband, Roy Gleason, was killed in World War II in 1943. “There should be a brick somewhere on campus with his name on it,” Roers said. Gleason was a student at Northern for two years before he enlisted in the Air Force the day after the Pearl Harbor attack. Roers said she traveled with her husband as long as he was in the United States – she was gone a whole year before coming back to Northern. “When I married, I promised my husband and my father that I would graduate, so I was back in college while he was missing in action,” Roers said. “I was doing my practice teaching then.” Roers kept that vow, graduating in 1945. “It was difficult,” she said. “But I did everything that I promised I would do.” In 1946, Roers moved to Denver with her second husband, the late Howard Roers, who was also from Aberdeen and served with the Marine Corps. in the South Pacific. Reflecting back on her time at Northern, Roers said one of her favorite instructors was Professor Murphy, who taught history. “He was an old infantry captain in World War I, and he had the most extensive history knowledge that inspired me,” she said. “And he taught history the way I would want to teach it, if I had – make it interesting beyond the boring text books. History really is a novel.” More than 70 years after her own graduation, Jeanne (Gleason) Roers is giving back to students of her alma mater. CLASS OF 1945 GRADUATE