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Alumni Focus - Earl Longendyke ('62)

An elderly woman and man with hats holding coffee mugs outside.
Classof1962graduation
ShieldStaff1962
Earl-62-and-grandson-Samuel-Lewerenz-24
Earl Longendyke ('62)

Earl Longendyke was in the first graduating class of St. Croix Lutheran High School in 1962 and just celebrated his 80th birthday. Travel back to the sixties as Earl reflects on the early years of a brand new high school meeting in a church basement, paying for school with the money from his paper route, living in a submarine for months at a time in the Navy, and now seeing his grandson graduate from his same high school. Picture Earl sitting on the deck of his cabin in Tennessee, ready to tell you the story of a life well-lived.

What was it like going to a brand new school and being the first graduating class?

It was nice. I was a member at St. James, and in November 1957 they had a sign up for the new school, so I did that. There were only five of us from St. James that went, and the other kids came from Emmanuel grade school and some from Minneapolis and a few other places. It started with just a few teachers and regular classes like science and math and such. Morton Schroeder was the principal, and there were two more teachers when it started. Not many students, maybe about 30.

What is your favorite memory of your time at St. Croix?

So many fun memories – a good time was had by all. I remember Principal Schroeder asking me to go get his Old Gold cigarettes every day from the drugstore – this was back in the 50s you know. He’d run through a pack or two a day. They got used to me coming in there, so they had them ready for me every day. He was something else. My older brother and I enjoyed talking to him when I was out of the Navy, and he’d ask me if I’d seen any bad doings around the world, and I’d say “No, no, everything is just fine.” I really enjoyed those times talking with him.

There was another time all the boys were at my friend Keith’s garage, and the one kid from Minneapolis worked in the liquor store, so he supplied the liquor while they were working on the cars. Schroeder thought I was in on it, but I wasn’t. He kept me after school late in detention then, and sometimes my 1931 model A Ford would work and sometimes it wouldn’t, so then I’d have to jog from the Crusader Ave school all the way back to Cherokee to get my paper route done on time.

Why did you choose to go to private school when there were free public schools to choose from?

The thing is, it was only two blocks away from my house instead of a mile. Schroeder seemed like a pretty nice guy. With it there, then I got to see kids from all around the cities. Some kids in my grade school class from Emmanuel were going there.

It was better than public school. I went to Emmanuel Lutheran grade school from first to sixth grade thanks to someone at church who paid my tuition. He passed away when I was in 7th grade and my parents couldn’t afford the tuition, so I had to go to public school at Douglas. It was bigger and just a regular school, and I didn’t know too many people. After that year, my parents paid for me to go back to Emmanuel for 8th grade so that I could graduate from there, and then I paid for all four years at St. Croix.

My mom and dad didn’t have the money. Me and my friend Jim Mueller had a paper route together, and we used what we earned to pay our tuition all four years. I would pay it every month. The paper route was usually about $120 a month which was good money. I did the morning, afternoon, and Sunday route. I bought my model A for $35 with that money – it was a good runner. 10 gallons of gas back then was less than $5. The mechanic Melby and his sons helped me fix it up and I used it for my paper route and to get back and forth to the Crusader Avenue (school) location.

What do you appreciate most about your education at St. Croix?

It was a good life. Grounding my faith in my Savior. It was a good deal with all of the different teachers and pastors that came in. One of the pastors directed me, and when we got to the new campus (Crusader Ave) it was getting kind of nice.

Did you have a favorite teacher?

Yes, Steinhorse – he was excellent. Taught math. Older man. He retired before I was out of school and went to Nebraska where’s he’s from, and then he passed on. He had a sickness he knew about, but we didn’t. He never wanted to burden us with it. Another one – the chemistry teacher – I can’t think of his name - was really neat. He knew how to do a lot of stuff -- a lot of things I had never seen before. 

Were you in any sports?

None. We had basketball and every once in a while I’d help them play, but I had my paper route after school and before school and on Sunday. We used the West St. Paul Sibley school for their gym or went across town in St. Paul to use a church gym until the Crusader Avenue gym was ready.

What do you think of the changes at St. Croix over the years?

I was at St. James for a year and half before they moved to Crusader Ave. It’s been years since I’ve been there. It was exciting when it opened because it was out in the field with lots of room to run. We had snowball fights and had time to run around before class. I love how the school has grown now and the new campus. We never thought they’d have that whole big campus and the whole thing like that. It’s pretty good.

What do you think of the international program?

We started out with so few kids I couldn’t imagine it. I think it’s such a blessing to reach kids from all over the world with God’s word.

How do you feel about your grandson graduating this year and your daughter working at the school?

That was good. It was really good. I thought that was beautiful. I had tears in my eyes. I was really looking forward to it since he started there. I pushed for my children to go to St. Johns in Red Wing because of my experience at St. Croix. It made my faith stronger, and I was surrounded by good people. My kids never ended up going to St. Croix because of the distance, so it means a lot to see my youngest grandson graduate from my high school. And my daughter works at the school (Kristina Lewerenz) – that’s another story. She’s been there for quite a while, and she does quite a bit there. It’s a very big blessing.

Any advice for current students?

Just believe in Jesus. That’s it. Believe in God – the triune God. 

What was your path after high school?

When I graduated, the first thing I wanted was to get some trades down so I went to the Votech. That wasn’t that great. During that time, I worked for Melby the mechanic and went back and forth to school. One day Melby said, “Earl, why don’t you join the Navy, see the world, learn a trade, and make money,” so I did that. 

First thing was boot camp and then to school and then to submarine school in Connecticut. From there I went to California for nuclear power school and then from California back to Connecticut for nuclear plant school. On the ship they said that I could be a welder or something else, and I wanted to be a welder. From there I went to Hawaii and then to Guam – we were out on the sub for 90 days at a time. We would leave from Guam, come back three months later, and then have a month off. Ran that back and forth. 

After that they put me on a sub in New London, Connecticut, a brand new one, and then there was a strike which ticked me off, so I transferred to a surface ship. I didn’t have anything to do so they sent me home until there was something for me. That’s when I spent more time with Donna. I went back to Connecticut and hopped on the USS Union with a trip to Japan which was fun, then came back as they were taking it out of commission. So they asked if I was going to stay in the Navy or leave, and I said I was going to leave. So for another half month I worked for the Navy, then I came home and worked at NSP for the first year and then down to the Prairie Island nuclear plant for quite a few years and then went to be a lineman for NSP (now Xcel Energy), and then I retired.

Tell us about your family and what you’re up to lately.

Donna and I got married in 1970, and we still love each other. After 40 some years in Red Wing, we moved to Tennessee full time in 2013 and have a cabin in the Cherokee mountains. I spend my days sitting on the deck watching the critters and making sure no one shoots my deer or bears because they come around all the time. We are enjoying cabin life in the mountains. We have the garden going on the deck. It’s just nice being up here -- we don’t actually have a care in the world. We have our church in town which is wonderful, and it’s just nice. 

My son, Earl Jr. is married with two adult kids and works as a welder in southern MN. My daughter, Kris works at St. Croix as their communications director. She has three adult children, two girls and a boy – the youngest, Sam, just graduated in May from St. Croix.