Over the weekend I was shocked to learn that one of my fellow Mankato High graduates from our class of 1969 had died in his sleep. Jim was double nickles (55) just like me. In fact, I have three months on him.
A few of us from Mankato have found our way to Duluth over the years and Jim and his wife Lynn and LeAnn B. and I all came from the same graduating class.
I’d called Jim last Spring to see if he’d be interested in helping me with the Duluth Schools Endowment since he’d taught in the Duluth Schools until his recent retirement. Jim expressed interest but was tied up. It was the last time we spoke together.
Dave, a close friend of Jim’s, came up to sing during the visitiation. Dave was on the swim team with me at Mankato. He spoke poignantly during the service about Jim’s life which, it turns out, had come to grief over the bottle. Everyone who spoke at the service was frank about Jim’s alcoholism.
I wasn’t close to Jim but I remember him as a very nice guy and I was not the only person to recall this. He was also a gifted athlete who earned more athletic letters than almost anyone else in Mankato’s history. I earned two for swimming but Jim must have had nine or more..
I peeled the magnetic Welty signs off of my prius before going to the funeral but the subject of my campaign came up anyway during the visitation. Several people wished me well tomorrow including Jim’s adoptive father, Mr. Siebrass, who taught Science at Mankato High. He now lives a little west of Duluth in Alborn township.
Sometimes it takes something like a funeral to remind you of what’s really important in life.
