This is a picture of one of my early birthday parties. It might be interesting to see how many can be identified by our classmates now. I can identify all but two (I am getting old you know) and I think I know one of those two. This must have been around 1945 or 46 and we were all Lincolnites.

Allen Johannessen (aljo@bresnan.net) (21 April, 2008)

Top left looking very cool & debonair with the army hat on is me, of course. I don't know next, but the kid with the glasses is Norman Froiland, then Gerald Stevens, then Alan Johannessen, then Al Yeager, then I don't know & finally Dennis Mosher.

The girls starting with Jo Amundsen on the left as you look at the picture, then Mary Lou Miller, then Patty McGowan, then I don't know, then I think might be Jan Winterstein, then is that Jane Duesenburg? (Submitted by Norm Hansen) (21 April, 2008)

PS.. I apologize if not all comments are in order, time wise. I just thought you might like to have them all here to enjoy. Thank you A.J. for sending the ones I missed.

Please send the names of those you recognize or memories of this time to ChatNutz@aol.com to be posted immediately. Thank you for sharing this charming picture Allen!! Julie Traub

PSS.. If any of you have any pictures of groups such as this, please share them with us all!

The girl to the right of Pat McGowan (looking at the picture) is Carol Ann Jordan. The girl on the far end is not Jane D but Jo An Wessels. I also think that is Jan between them as well. As to the rest of the boys ... (that wasn't my focal point) ... I'm stumped but would still love to know who they are. (Submitted byAl Yeager). (21 April, 2008)

Ok, I made a mistake. It is Mary Jane Miller, not Mary Lou. I knew it was the Mary Miller that was in my confirmation class later on, I just got the middle names mixed up.

Ok, I made another mistake. Yeager you are right again. It is Wessels. Now is it possible that the kid next to me with the adult hat could be Gary Leach? Give Judi the nod for thinking it was him. She thinks Norman Froiland might be an Anderson kid. Ok, I'm done admitting mistakes. 2 in one day is way over my usual quota!!!!! (Norm Hansen)

(22 April, 2008)

I think the second girl is Mary Jane Miller - not Mary Lou. Such a fun photo - like right out of the Little Rascals movies! Love it. (Judy Lerdal Somers) (22 April, 2008)

Did that picture bring back memories !!! I wasn't invited to the birthday party, Allen, but that's life !!! What a fun picture this is. I had one question as to the 3rd boy from the left. I think it is Larry Anderson, but can't remember if he went to Lincoln School. Thanks for giving us another smile at old times (good times, too)!!

(Phyllis Bishop Jeffery) (22 April, 2008)

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Thank you.

Starting with the front row, left to right: Jo Ann Amundson, Mary Jane Miller, Patty McGowan, Carol Jordan, Janice Winterstein and Jo Ann Wessels.

Second row: Private Norman Hansen, Unknown, Gerald Stevens, yours truly, Alan Yeager, Unknown, and Dennis Mosher.

I find it a little strange that the two with the big hats are the ones I don't recognize. Can anyone help with their names? Does anyone have a class roster of our first grade? AJ

I did miss listing Larry Anderson between the Unknown Hat person and Gerald Stevens. I said I was getting old! I think the group picture brings back a lot of memories which was fading pretty fast into that gray area of my past. It is great to hear from so many of you but I still want to know who the two big hat people are. AJ (24 April, 2008)

Where do you get all these pics? Maybe I have some buried in my mom's stuff but don't remember seeing them. I thought you did a great job. If you hadn't named everyone I probably wouldn't have known who they were. I did recognize myself. I don't even remember a Froiland. Thanks for sharing. Jan (22 April, 2008)

As I remember, which is up for questioning): Front row: JoAnn Amundson, Mary Jane Miller, Pat McGowan, Carol Jordan, ?, JoAnn Wessels. Back row: Norm Hansen, ?, Larry Anderson, Gerald Stevens, Allen Johannessen, Allan Yeager, ?, Dennis Mosher. Since I haven't read my email since last Sunday you probably already know all of these. Let me know if you figure out the ?s!! Pat (ggpat) (24 April, 2008)

Well, Pat, you did pretty good. The girl you missed was Janice Winterstein and the two boys haven't been identified by anyone yet. It was my birthday party and I can't figure out who they were! I'm beginning to think they were a couple of party crashers that Norm brought along. Really, they must have been someone that moved out of Clear Lake right after my party. If anybody has a class picture of our 1st and 2nd grade, would you look to see if they are in either class picture? AJ (24 April, 2008)

If you guys go into the Class of 56 Web Site...there is a 1st grade class picture, but I don't think they are identified, however, it might help you. Just a thought. Dee (24 April, 2008)

So are you going to tell us who the 2 kids are that you don't remember? Is Leach one of them? Why don't you tell us who you remember? Mavis

Jan, Norman Froiland is a kid that went to school with us & was in our grade at Zion's Sunday schools. He sat next to me at the class's 50th reunion. Norm

Jan - You don't remember my 7th birthday party? What a great time we had? Well, I'm having trouble with a couple of the faces and you would think if it was my party I would remember who was there. Oh well, it is fun looking back at some of the good times when we were young. By the way, that isn't Norm Froiland in the picture, it is Larry Anderson. I think Larry fell behind one grade somewhere along the line. I hope you enjoyed the picture and we'll see if anybody can identify the two unknown. AJ

As I was looking at this picture (again and again) I see that we mentioned Norman Froiland but as Larry Anderson. How about if we put his name on one of the guys with the hat. The other one Leach or Sage? Just the ramblings of an old woman. Pat McGowan Hoyt