Swift
At Memorial Day
The Burke (SD) Gazette, Wednesday, June 1, 2016 12
Holden Gill Hel With
Michaela (Swift) Johnson is pictured above accompanying her younger brothers, Malachi and Nathan, and sis-
ter, Patience, during the Memorial Day program held on Monday morning at the Burke School Gymnasium. Not
pictured was their father, David Swift, who played along on the trumpet. The Swift family has performed patriotic
selections for the past couple of years during the Memorial Day program and always do a fantastic job.
I-
FROM THE NORTH END
Continued from Page 11
age and became very adept at us-
ing the latest technology-something
many folks his age abhorel I will
certainly miss his "Hi, old buddy!"
greeting along with sharing stories,
laughs and drinks with him.
See you next week!
Community Memorial Hospital
will host a 4-Person Golf Scramble
on Sunday, June 5. Get your team
together for a fun filled day with
great prizes and help support the
building fund. A steak fry will be
held following the tournament and
the public is invited to attend. All
proceeds will be donated to the
Community Memorial Hospital
Building Fund.
Pamela Osnes
Gazette readers, before I get
into the heart of today's issue, a cou-
ple of updates are in order. Several
readers have asked how it went get-
ting Catou to the vet. I can happily
report that the vet visit was a suc-
cess! Yes, I found the elbow-length,
leather fireplace gloves; and yes, I
actually put them on AFTER I got
the only scratch of the adventure.
Only brief glitch in the process was
when I had Catou covered in the
beach towel and was holding her by Now for the heart of today's is-
the scruff of her neck while wearing sue. Last year, I wrote a 2-part is-
those bulky gloves, and I found the sue that I will repeat this year due
cat carrier already occupied! In an to the feedback I received from
effort to escape the bathroom melee some very important people - those
that morning, Pacific had walked family members who lost their dear
into the carrier and thus rendered it brother and brother-in-law to that
"occupied" when I was dangling a improvised explosive device (lED)
frightened, half-feral Catou above on a lonely stretch of road outside
it! Given that Pacific is under good Baghdad. If it passed muster with
instructional control, he gave up his them, it bears repeating. And if
post on command and l dropped Ca- you are not aware, the 10th Annual
tou into that small space. Greg 'Wagner Memorial Event will
Catou quietly rode to the vet, be held in Alexandria on Memo-
and two hours later I learned that rial Day weekend. You can visit the
she is a female. Upon bringing her Greg Wagner Memorial page on
home the next morning, she prompt- Facebook for full details about this
ly ran into the garage where she hid wonderful event that honors a fallen
for the next 48-hours. No painkill- soldier who has not been forgotten
ers for her healing process, no way! by his family, his community, and
She toughed it out that first week, his state.
and is now happily continuing to The Memorial Day holiday
live her half-feral life in my house has come to mark the official start
as Pacific's best friend. Postscript: of summer. Today's issue will be-
Catou has not entered the bathroom gin a story that reminds us of its
since that infamous Friday morning, true meaning as the day on which
A second update concerns the those who died in active military
Skunks Among Us issue: yester- service are remembered, and how
day I discovered that the mysterious this meaning grew to become em-
animal dung in the mower shed that bedded in my heart. I hope you find
I had been seeing for the past two meaning in a journey of humility
weeks belongs to a VERY LARGE that has resulted in an awareness I
skunk who appears to have made am so thankful now to have. Lest
the shed its new home. He was we forget .....
discovered curled up in a ball sleep- "Over all our happy country--
ing like a cat on the floor in front over all our Nation spread, is a band
of the mower! Upon awakening, in of noble heroes--is our Army of the
true skunk fashion he lazily arose Dead." Will Carleton, American
and sauntered a couple of feet away poet (1845-1912)
to hide under the overly-packed BraVery: Honoring Those Who
shelves. I woke up this morning Serve, Part 1
thinking of my latest challenge of By turning 13 in 1968, I came
living independently on the farm - of age at one of the most turbulent
how to gently convince a skunk that times in our country's modern his-
he will NOT be another family tory. It's all in the timing, they say,
pet! Stay tuned .... and this certainly was true in my
On Memorial Day
Holden Gill, grandson of Clark & Mary Horn, was one of the many who
came out to place the flags at the cemetery early Monday morning. The
above picture was captured by Darrel Fickbohm, who said young Holden
was very aware of the respect given to the flags and made sure never to let
them touch the ground. Darrel went on to say, "As I watched him, I was
reminded of the quote by Teddy Roosevelt, especially in light of this elec-
tion year, 'Here is your country, Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the
natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for
your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy
interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.'"
- Photo by: Darrel Fickbohm
life. At the beginning of every se- raw fact that there was a big world
mester in every university course outside South Dakota. And things
that I have taught and in almost were happening in parts of it that
every workshop I have given in my were ugly and nasty.
professional life, I have described I was glued to the reports. They
my background and the significance shocked me. It looked so hot there;
of being a child in the '60s AND of there were children my age who
being that child in the state of South looked so very, very, very scared
Dakota. Had it not been for the con- and sad as the cameras showed me
vergence of multiple factors then their dead and dying parents, broth-
that shaped our country's future in ers and sisters. It also hit home that
so many ways, I would not have the grown-ups were not the only ca-
taken the path that I have. Although sualties in this hot, muggy, faraway
I was so young (or because of it), place - the cameras showed me that
my vantage point at that critical children like me could be killed in
time in our country led me to deci- wars. Until this time in my life, I
sions that influenced me forever, had lived in a cocoon where war
Not long after seeing the Bea- was associated with soldiers fight-
ties make their American debut on ing and dying, and what brave he-
the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 and roes they were. For whatever rea-
seeing the grown-ups' shock at son, it had not occurred to me that
their long hair, I began to see Wal- civilians also died in wars, and chil-
ter Cronkite broadcasting on the dren??? No! I began to grow up
evening news from a faraway land faster ....
in Southeast Asia called Viet Nam. Over the next few years, the
I trusted Walter explicitly; what newscasts showed increasing dis-
he said and what the CBS News ruption, not only in Viet Nam but in
brought to my family's television the streets of the United States.
set every evening exposed me to the Continued on Page 13
