Relatives of Phyllis (Lindholm) James and her sister, Louise (Lindholm) Lehr, gathered Thursday morning January 15 at Mineral Point High School to present a framed class photo of the 1936 Mineral Point High School graduating class to Mineral Point High School Principal, Mitch Wainwright.
Phyllis started school when she was four years old because she was sent with her older sister, Louise. They went to the Peniel School near the Welsh settlement southwest of Mineral Point. Phyllis always told the story of how their walk to and from school was uphill both ways, and it really was.
Later, both attended Mineral Point High School. Phyllis was the youngest in her class of 64 students. She always wanted to be a nurse, but finished high school too young to get into nurses’ training, not to mention money was scarce.
To date, all five of her children, and nine (and hopefully ten) of her 14 grandchildren have, or will, graduate from Mineral Point High School. There are also great grandchildren in the Mineral Point school system.
The family requested the pictured be displayed proudly in memory of those students from the Mineral Point graduating class of 1936: Marjorie Bell, Douglas Bennett, La Verne Berg, Frank Bertucci, Delores Clark, Donald Clayton, Helen Collicutt, Charles Doyle, James Doyle, Arlington Dunn, James Engels, Carmella Filardo, Catherine Filardo, Mary Filardo, Paul Gevelinger, Wilfred Godfrey, Elizabeth Goldthorpe, Robert Gorgen, Marie Graber, Mary Groth, Orville Haas, Lena Hanson, Geraldine Harris, Marvin Heins, Jean Holzmiller, Dalan Jackson, Florence Jones, Myron Jones, Paul Kelly, Eunice Kendall, Dorothy Ketter, Robert Kieffer, Reuben Libby, Louise Lindholm, Phyllis Lindholm, Robert McDermott, Jane McGraw, Catherine May, William Moreland, Marjorie Morey, Harold Murphy, Daisy Nelson, Helen Nohr, Ruth Palzkill, Ruth Polkinghorn, Lloyd Potterton, Jeffery Quirk, Eleanor Reese, Kenneth Salmon, James Schmidt, Robert Schweiger, Virginia Smith, Walter Smith, Helen Spang, Francis Stude, Joseph Stude, Darwin Swanson, Selim Swanson, Dureen Thrasher, Homer Tonkin, Jack U’Ren, Grace Van Matre, Dan Weber, Iva Whitford.
The photo was donated by Kay (James) Cline.
Mineral Point High School features many class photos on display in its hallways, primarily in the hall on the west side of the gymnasium–near the music and tech ed rooms. We encourage you to spend some time looking at these pieces of history on your next visit.
(Article and photos by Joelle Doye, with help from the donating family)