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Over the Thanksgiving vacation, we found a few more old photos that we felt were worth scanning and posting. This photo of Rolfe's Main Street was taken in the early 1900s from the south, facing north. Click on the image for a larger view.

We have also posted this photo and images of the 1911 and 1916 RHS football teams in the photo gallery. The 1911 image shows Rolfe's first, two-story brick building in the background. The photos are from the Gunderson archives.

December 28, 2005

• Added an obituary for Alice S. Mortensen, who was an elementary school teacher in Rolfe when her husband Ralph was superintendent of the Rolfe school district from 1948 to 1959.

December 3, 2005

• Added an obituary for Arnold A. Sandvig, 1942 RHS graduate.

December 1, 2005

• Added three new images to section of photos from the 1910s in the photo gallery.

November 18, 2005

• Added an obituary for Robert Donald Dixon, who was known to most people as Bob or R.D.

November 18, 2005

• Added an obituary for Bob Pedersen

November 16, 2005

• We have heard that Robert Donald Dixon, 86, of Sheldon, formerly of Rolfe, died on Monday, November 14, at Northwest Iowa Health Center-Senior Care, Sheldon. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at the United Methodist Church, and burial will be in the East Lawn Cemetery, Sheldon. Visitation will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday with the family present from 6:30 to 8 p.m at the Vander Ploeg Funeral Home, Sheldon. Cards may be sent to Janet Dixon at: 1930 East 6th Street, Sheldon, Iowa 51201.

In the 1950s, Bob Dixon, a young banker from Stratford, began work at the Rolfe State Bank. He eventually became president with his family owning a dominant share of the bank's stock. Later in Bob's career, the Dixons purchased a bank in Sheldon, and the family moved to that town while staying involved in the management of the Rolfe State Bank, which in recent years started an office in Pocahontas.

We remember that Bob was active in the United Methodist Church of Rolfe and served on the board of the Rolfe Community School District. We also recall that he was an accomplished golfer, fine social dancer, bridge player, and University of Iowa Hawkeye fan.

Bob and Janet Dixon are the parents of two graduates of Rolfe High School: Robert (class of 1964), who is a banker and lives in Sheldon, and Theresa (class of 1966), who lives in the Minneapolis area. We will post the full obituary for Bob when it becomes available.

October 21, 2005

• We have heard of the death of Bob Pedersen, age 76, who was a Rolfe area farmer. Bob died at the Pocahontas Community Hospital on October 20 from a sudden illness. He was married to the late Carol McKim Pedersen. The couple had three children who graduated from Rolfe High School: Nancy Pedersen Heathman (class of 1970) of rural Rolfe, Linda Pedersen Tutt (1973) of Cedar Rapids, and Larry Pedersen (1975) of rural Rolfe. Bob's memorial service is tentatively scheduled for 10 am on Monday, October 24, at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Rolfe. Arrangements are being coordinated by Powers Funeral Home of Rolfe.

October 14, 2005

• We have posted obituaries for graduates and former area residents:

Lloyd L. Wagner
Rachel Wiegman Fabens
Leo E. Shelgren

October 9, 2005

• We have heard of the death of 88-year-old Lloyd Wagner, a former Rolfe area farmer who lived his later years in Humboldt. We plan to post his obituary in the near future.

• We have discovered a web site for the Freecycle Network™ which is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It is a grassroots movement of people who are giving and getting stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator. Membership is free. more

September 30, 2005

• We received an email today from Bill McIntire (RHS 1936), telling us that his classmate, Leo Shelgren, had died on September 13, 2005. He and his wife Lillie (also of the RHS class of 1936) lived in Pinellas Park, Florida.

September 25, 2005

• Today we got a letter from Dick Gray announcing he is organizing a safari to Tanzania from June17 to 30, 2006, and that he is recruiting fellow travelers. Dick taught vocational agriculture in Rolfe from 1952 to 1954.

• We also received a letter from Dallas and Karen Ives, telling about their travails in preparation for Hurricane Rita and how their home was spared the brunt of the storm. Dallas is a 1963 graduate of Rolfe High School. He and Karen live in Seabrook, Texas. The town is halfway between Galveston and Houston.

• We want to remind visitors to check out our E-Postcard section and send cyber postcards of Rolfe scenes.

September 12, 2005

• Posted some obituaries for: Isabell Orwig, Charles "Boney" Schnetter, Roger VanGorkom, and Raymond Wiegert.

July 30, 2005

• We thought you would like to know about a piece titled "A Harvest Walk" that the RHS alumni web site editor, Helen Gunderson (class of 1963), has posted on her business web site. It is a blend of personal reflection and essay that she wrote it in 1995 as a chapter for a book The Road I Grew Up On that she intends to self-publish about her rural heritage. Helen is a fourth-generation Iowan who grew up on a farm three miles southwest of Rolfe. She currently resides in Gilbert, just north of Ames.

July 29, 2005

• We have posted photos of the classes of 1955, 1960, and 1964 that were taken on the weekend of the all-class reunion in July. If you have class photos that were taken at the reunion, please send them to us along with a list identifying the members, and we will post the images. Thanks.

July 22, 2005

• We prepared a rudimentary report on the all-class reunion.

• We posted a thank you note from the 2005 all-class reunion committee.

• We have posted a roster for the community chorus that sang for the Saturday evening program at the RHS all-class reunion on July 9.

July 19, 2005

• We have heard of the death of Raymond Wiegert (RHS 1939) on June 12, 2005. Raymond was married to Beverly DeWolf Wiegert (RHS 1943). Funeral services were on June 15 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church and burial was in the Clinton-Garfield Cemetery near Rolfe. Raymond and Beverly farmed southeast of Rolfe and had two children: Carol Wiegert Franken (RHS 1972) and Alan Wiegert (RHS 1981).

• We have also heard of the recent death of Boney Schnetter. He operated Boney's Lawn Care and Odd Jobs service.

July 16, 2005

• Photos from the 2005 Greater Rolfe Days parade.

• Audio files from the Saturday evening program for the 2005 RHS all-class reunion. You will need RealAudio software to listen to the files. If you do not already have the software, go to the RealAudio web site. The free version of the software should be sufficient to listen to the files.

• A roster for the reunion band. We would also like to post a roster for the community chorus if someone would send the list to us.

July 12, 2005

• We have posted an editor's report from the RHS all-class reunion and an update on the plans to raze the old section of the Rolfe school building.

• Check out our new E-Postcard section and send a cyber postcard from Rolfe.

July 7, 2005

• We have tweaked the information about the all-class reunion. The latest news is that Chris Pedersen (RHS 1974) will be the emcee for the Saturday night program for all classes at the Lutheran Church. He was also the emcee for the 1980 all-class reunion.

• We are removing the message board from the web site. Editor Helen Gunderson had designed it but not with sophisticated of programming expertise or software. The result is that, more often than not, the message board does not work. If there were more demand for one, we might consider continuing the feature, but investing in a more reliable one does not seem feasible.

• Web site editor Helen Gunderson has been preparing memorabilia for sale this weekend at the Rolfe Public Library. Part of the proceeds will go toward library projects.

July 1, 2005

• We have posted the schedule for Greater Rolfe Days weekend that we received from Geri Sandvig of Rolfe. Remember the celebration is on July 8, 9, and 10.

June 29, 2005

• We have updated the information about the all-class reunion and Greater Rolfe Days.

• We have added more names to the list of Rolfe businesses and service providers. There may be redundancies or other errors, so we certainly do welcome feedback so that we can get the list to be as accurate as possible.

June 28, 2005

• We have posted a page of information about the "Retrospectively Rolfe" calendar that Helen Gunderson is publishing for sale and other distribution at Greater Rolfe Days and the all-class school reunion. The page includes pricing information and links to preview pages and an order form.

June 27, 2005

• Helen Gunderson, a 1963 RHS alumna and editor of this site, has produced a beautiful, high-quality postcard with six scenes of Iowa barns. Four of the photographs were taken between Rolfe and Pocahontas. The card recognizes 2005 as being the "Year of the Barn and Family Farm" as proclaimed by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsak. Eventually, the cards will be available for sale in Rolfe. To view the card and for more information about it, visit the Gunder-friend Productions web site.

  Helen has also established an E-Postcard feature on the Gunder-friend site. Visitors may select one of her photographs, write a message, and send an cyber postcard to friends. There will soon be a similar e-postcard system on this web site, and visitors will be able to send postcards with Rolfe images. Randy Martin (RHS 1975) is the service administrator for both the Gunder-friend and RHS sites, and his son Jonathan, a recent college graduate, has been programming the e-postcard systems.

June 23, 2005

• Editor Helen Gunderson has been revising the Retrospectively Rolfe calendar of black and white photographs that she first published in 2004. The new version will be a 30-month calendar, going from August 2005 through December 2007, and will have images representing a century of life in the Rolfe community. We will post more about it soon. For sure, we will have 50 copies available for sale or other distribution on Greater Rolfe Days weekend. The photo pages of the 2004 "Retrospectively Rolfe" calendar can be viewed at the Gunder-friend Productions web site.

• We have posted two pieces of material that Helen prepared for the calendar. One is an article describing Rolfe and the other is a list of Rolfe businesses and service providers. We think you'll find them both to be interesting reading.

June 11, 2005

• We have received a list of how many people from each class year have made reservations for the reunion. The initial plans have the 88 people from the classes of 1934 to 1948 to be at the Lutheran Church. The 147 people from the classes of 1950 to 1965 will be at the community center. And the 121 people from the classes of 1966 to 1990 will be at the golf club. Fortunately, all three places are air-conditioned.

June 8, 2005

• We have fleshed out the RHS reunion information.

June 8, 2005

• Nancy Martin of the RHS Reunion Committee sent an update. She says that the reunion committee has combined with the Rolfe Betterment committee to plan a full weekend of entertainment, fun, and food. Over 350 tickets have been sold for the Saturday banquet, so check with your classmates to see who is coming. Some of the plans are a parade, Saturday morning, a car show, a quilt show, a display for veterans and servicemen. The Rolfe Public Library will be open Saturday from 9am to 4pm and Sunday from 12pm to 2pm with a display of school memorabilia.  The RBI will be developing a more detailed schedule later. more

May 10, 2005

• Posted an obituary for RHS graduate Richard "Dick" Melson from Muscatine, Iowa.

May 8, 2005

• Posted an obituary for Lawrence Henderson, a former area farmer and father to Allen and Connie Henderson.

April 26, 2005

• We have posted a reflection that RHS web site editor, Helen Gunderson (class of 1963) wrote in 2000 as an introductory chapter for the book of essays by various RHS alumni, faculty members, and friends of the school. Helen's reflection is on the value of writing about memories and the trillions of perspectives that could evolve over the decades from a single school. We still have a dozen of the books. If you are interested in purchasing one, please contact Helen.

April 21, 2005

• Posted an obituary for Perry Johnson, a former Rolfe resident, member of The Forement barbershop quartet, and father to RHS graduates David and Catherine Johnson.

• Posted the obituary for Evelyn M. Hansen into the Memorial Section.

April 17, 2005

• We have learned of the death of Evelyn M. Hansen. She was married to Arnold (Bud) Hansen RHS 1937) and the mother of Larry Hansen (RHS 1963), Darla Hansen Hansen (RHS 1966), and Marcia Hansen Marchant (RHS 1968).

March 30, 2005

• We have posted commentary titled, "Fear Factor: The Marketing of Despair and Our Power to Respond" by the Reverend Sean Parker Dennis. He explores the pervasive marketing of fear in our society and asks, "But what happens when the human brain is exposed to fear and anxiety on a daily basis? What are the consequences of playing around with fear in this way? What does the constant stream of anxiety-producing headlines and warnings do to us as individual and to our society? And how should we respond?" Sean is the pastor at the South Valley Unitarian-Universalist Society of Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a member of the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of Ames, Iowa, before enrolling in Starr King Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. On January 9, 2005, Sean was the guest leader at the UUFA, where RHS alumni web site editor, Helen Gunderson, heard him preach and decided it would be a good idea to post his remarks.

March 24, 2005

• The wooden butcher block that was used years ago in Olney's Grocery Store in Rolfe is listed on the E-Bay auction block. Syd Beckord, who graduated from Rolfe High School in about 1958, had emailed his sister Sara Beckord Swails (RHS 1968) about the item, and she forwarded the information to us. Thanks. Maybe some of you Rolfe loyalists would like to bid on the butcher block. The E-Bay description says: "An authentic hard maple butcher block which was purchased from Olney's Meat Market in Rolfe, Iowa, along with other meat processing items when the store closed in the late 1960's." The listing is for seven days and ends Mar-27-05 11:28:21 PST.

March 20, 2005

• Added complete obituaries for Dick Bierstedt, Dorothy Ricklefs, and Stanley Whitmore.

March 11, 2005

• For several months, we have been contemplating whether or not the chat room section of this site should continue or be deleted. Today, the chat room was removed. Visitors may use the message board that we posted recently. You will need a username and password to access it. Contact us if you do not already have that information, verify who you are, and we will send you the simple abracadabra.

February 27, 2005

• We have learned of the death of Dick Bierstedt. He was the husband of Alice Bierstedt and father of Diane (RHS 1970) and Karen (RHS 1974). Dick's preliminary obituary in the Fort Dodge Messenger says:

February 20, 2005

• We have learned of the death of Stan Whitmore. He was the husband of Donna Whitmore and father of Pat Whitmore Olerich (RHS 1966) and Marilyn Whitmore (RHS 1975). Stan's preliminary obituary in the Fort Dodge Messenger says:

 February 19, 2005

• The Rolfe High School alumni all-class reunion will be held on July 9, 2005, during the Greater Rolfe Days weekend. Former Rolfe students, faculty, and staff are invited to be part of the festivities. Beginning at 4:00 pm, the classes of 1960 and before will gather at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church, and the classes of 1961 and after will gather at the new Rolfe Community Center. Thankfully, both facilities are air-conditioned. Beginning at 5:30 pm, a catered meal will be served at the two locations. Then at 7:00 pm, there will be a short program at the school gym. People can linger there following the program. The cost of the reunion is $20.00 per person. Reservations must be received by the reunion committee by March 30, 2005. Payments are non-refundable. registration form

February 3, 2005

• We want to thank Bruce Beckord (RHS 1961) for his recent financial donation to support this web site project. We have added him to the list of donors. If anyone else wants to chip in, simply go to the donations page, fill out the form, and send a check. Thanks. The last we heard from Bruce was that he traveled to Vietnam this winter with his son for a tour of the country. Bruce even sent us a picture of himself eating dog.

February 1, 2005

• Since the RHS all-class reunion, which is held every five years, will be on July 9, we thought it would be a good idea to add a message board. It will be on-line at least through next fall. We encourage Rolfe loyalists and other visitors to visit it often to post or read messages. You will need a username and password, but all you have to do is contact us, verify who you are, request the information, and we will send you the simple abracadabra. Have fun connecting with other people who have Rolfe, RHS, and the all-class reunion on their minds.

• We will be removing the chat room from the web site in the near future.

• We will also be going through a checklist of small things to correct on the site. If you see something that needs fixing, please let us know. Thanks.

January 15, 2005

• We have fleshed out the list of committee members for the RHS all-class reunion, adding information and e-mail addresses. Also, Ray and Mary Shimon have agreed to be on the committee. Ray is a 1961 graduate of Rolfe, and Mary (Mary Lou Behrendsen) is a 1965 graduate of Rolfe.

January 11, 2005

• We have posted some thoughts by RHS Alumni Web Site editor, Helen Gunderson, about high school reunions. She first wrote the piece as an introductory chapter for the book Rolfe High School Alumni Perspectives that she edited and published in 2000. In the near future, we will also post a second chapter that Helen wrote for the RHS book to set the stage for essays written by various alumni, faculty, and friends of the school. The two chapters have not previously been published on the Internet.

January 10, 2005

• We finally have posted a photo and short article about the reunion that the RHS class of 1954 held on July 10, 2004, in Rolfe. Joy Wilcox Hartsock sent us the photo a long time ago, but it got buried on our hard drive.

• We have updated the list of committee members for the RHS all-class reunion to be held July 9, 2005. That's the same weekend as Greater Rolfe Days. This week, the committee began mailing invitations for the event, using addresses from the database for the all-class reunion held in 2000. Alumni, faculty, and staff members, who have changed their addresses since 2000, should mail their new information to the committee at: P.O. Box 182, Rolfe, Iowa, 50581. If the committee provides additional information and an email address, we will post the material.

• We have heard of the January 4th death of Dorothy A. Ricklefs, age 75, of Rolfe. Her funeral services were on January 7 at the Shared Ministry of Rolfe. Dorothy taught first grade at the Rolfe schools in the early 1950s, was  married to Virgil Ricklefs (RHS 1948) and a farm homemaker south of Rolfe. If our memory and database serve us correctly, Dorothy was also the mother of Dennis Ricklefs (RHS 1970), Connie Ricklefs Jorgenson (RHS 1972), Audrey Ricklefs (RHS 1974), and Scott Ricklefs (RHS 1979).