Tom Mueller, younger brother of my old debate partner, John Mueller, sent me an email the other day that he and his mother had gone up to Altenburg to the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum where the bought a copy of my photo book, Tower Rock: “A Demon That Devours Travelers.” (Shameless plug will appear at the end of this.)
The Mueller family was prominent in Wittenberg, just down the hill, so he thought I’d be interested in talking with his mother. We made arrangements for Tom, his mother and his friend Becky Kleckner to come over Sunday evening to look at old pictures.
This gave me an opportunity to drag out a bunch of photos that I think he might have rather have stayed lost to history, but this shot of Trinity Lutheran School’s Boy Scout Troop 8 was deemed acceptable for public display. (Buying my book gives you a lot of leeway over my picture selections.) You can click on the picture to make it larger.
Tom is in back row
Right after we shook hands, he agreed that he wouldn’t call me Kenny if I wouldn’t call him Tommy. Deal.
TOM is in the back row, fifth from the left. I’m guessing this was probably taken around 1966, so almost all of these boys were younger brothers of my classmates. Little brothers weren’t something that older guys paid much attention to, so I’m just going to throw out some last names since I notice family resemblances.
Ronnie Dost is frozen as Ronnie in my mind
In the back couple of rows, I see what has to be a Huckstep, a Pensel, Brad Verhines and Ralph Fuhrmann. The two guys standing at the far right are Ronnie Dost and Joe Snell. Ronnie died right after we graduated, so he’s frozen as Ronnie forever in my mind. He and Joe were both Central High Class of ’65, so they deserve two names.
The two men kneeling in the center are Assistant Scoutmaster Harry Ruesler and Scoutmaster Ralph Haman. Ralph’s son is in front of him. I’m pretty sure that’s an O’Connell second from the left, kneeling.
The middle row has, I think, a Fiehler, a Boardman and a Ruesler in it.
This was an orderly grouping. You can tell from all the scuff marks on the floor that the troop was usually about one atomic particle from attaining critical mass and exploding in every direction. (Jim Stone will probably tell me my analogy is all wrong, but that’s why he was a physicist and I was a photographer.)
Here’s the shameless plug for Tower Rock
My kid tells me I should be pitching my book harder. So, if you’d like to have a book of pretty pictures of Tower Rock, contact these folks. It costs $14 if you pick it up yourself, which I encourage you to do. The museum just finished setting up their Christmas exhibit and they tell me it’s better than 2010. Admission is free, so that’s a double good deal, because shipping and handling on the book is five bucks and you won’t get to see the exhibit.
Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum
P.O. Box 53
75 Church Street
Altenburg, Missouri 63732
Telephone
573-824-6070
Email:
info@altenburgmuseum.org
I’m in there, too–right in front of Tom Mueller. Thanks for the photo, Ken–brings back a lot of memories!
Bill (first row) and Bob (3rd row) Dunham are pictured too. I emailed the picture to Bill.
I see the four patrol names in the upper left of the chalk board, and, some miscreant scrawled, “Hi Girls.” on the right side. I believe that is Lee Huckstep at the left end of row three.
Ken,thank your kids for asking you to tell about your book. There are always a lot of us out here casting about for gift ideas this time of year. You just helped me choose a good one.
This picture was taken before 1965. Lee Huckstep is not in this picture.
Front row
1.
2. Michael O’Connell
3. Tom Huebel
4.
5. Martin Roth
6. John Haertling
7. Fred Younghouse
8. Bill Dunham
9. Alan Haman
10. Don Furhmann
11. Ron Davis
12. Mark Boardman
13.
Harry Ruesler, Scout Master
Ralph Haman, Scout Master
Second Row
1. Gordon Huckstep
2.
3.
4. Fiehler
5. Tim Pensel
6.
7.
8. Mike Ruesler
9.
10.
11. Ron Dost
12. Joe Snell
Back Row
1.
2. Ron Mattes
3. Pensel
4. Tom Mueller
5.
6.
7. Brad Verhines
8.
There appears to be at least one known “caver” in the photo, Ron Pensel and I were in SEMO Grotto back in “66-“67, Rockhounds always remember!!!! I seem to recall that Tim is Ron’s brother, and maybe one or two others in the troop went caving with the grotto, or just rockhounding a few times, thanks again for the “blast from the past”!!!!! Regards, kkr
Isn’t that Daniel Beard standing on the left of Ronnie Dost?
When I first saw the photo this morning, I noticed that I was still wearing the BS uniform and a flat top hair cut. This photo was taken in fall 1963. By 1964, I changed hair stlyes. Our CHS senior photos were taken during the summer of 1964. My senior photo was most likely taken in August after I returned home from summer staff at Camp Lewallen.
Ron Dost died in Feb 1967 after a heart valve replacement surgery failed. In Feb 1966, story and photo ran in the Missourian about Explorer Post 8 stuffing envelopes for a American Heart Association mailing. I remember the Ronnie’s obiturary ran one year later to the date for the Feb 1966 story
Thanks for the clarification. I would have / did swear that it was later than that. Hair never lies, though.
(You had a couple of duplicate posts that I deleted. Press Ctrl-F5 when you come back to the page to refresh your browser and see any new content. I don’t know why it doesn’t happen automatically.)
Roxanne. I think the first person is Chas Daniels.The fourth person I think is me. I have to look at my old pics to verify it.
If someone could email this pic to me, I would greatly appreciate it. I would love to have this photo to share with my children. Thank You.
I’ll email you a copy for personal use. One of these days I hope to have a service set up where folks can order prints at a reasonable price.
My to-do list keeps pushing that lower and lower, unfortunately.
Ken, When I saw the Scout photo I thought I was in the second row, fourth from the left, but it looks like that Scout is wearing glasses. I did not wear glasses till a few years ago.