Dorchester Times: DHS Alumni Gather May 26; Classes Of '92 And '62 Honored

Monday, May 28, 2012

DHS Alumni Gather May 26; Classes Of '92 And '62 Honored

Nearly 120 Dorchester alumni, faculty and their spouses gathered at the Dorchester High School gym on Saturday evening, May 26, for the annual DHS Alumni Banquet.

According to three e-mail reports sent to the Dorchester Times, the event featured speakers Dan O'Brien (former Dorchester coach and teacher), Larry Gish (former Dorchester teacher and coach), Doris Kohout (former Dorchester elementary school teacher) and Scott Pohl (current Dorchester teacher and coach). Videos of the 1992 graduating class were also shown between speeches. (*UPDATE* -- Thanks to an e-mail from a reader, we have links to the videos. See video #1, video #2, video #3, and video #4. Click on the video you wish to view. We apprecieate the heads up.)

The banquet honored the DHS Class of 1992 and the 50-year DHS Class of 1962, as well as all other Dorchester graduates who graduated in years ending in "2." More than half of the Class of 1962 was in attendance (four are deceased).

One alum who e-mailed us wrote that more than $1600 was raised through a live auction conducted by Jackie and Bill Rut's auction services, as well as a raffle ticket drawing. The funds will go to the DHS Alumni Association.

Don and Louis Eret were honored after helping lead the alumni association for more than two decades, the Times has learned. We are also told that alumni association president Joyce Karl announced Bob Weber had agreed to oversee the organization and that she would continue to serve as treasurer. Three alumni association scholarships were awarded to members of the DHS Class of 2012.

Those unable to attend may send their donations to: Dorchester Alumni Association, PO Box 247, Dorchester, NE 68343.

3 comments:

AnonymousMay 29, 2012 at 9:27 AM
Another great Alumni Banquet!!!! Thanks Class of 1992 for your hard work....you pulled off a very enjoyable banquet. The live auction and raffle pulled in 1287.00, enough to fund next years scholarships. Thanks to several larger donations by Sheldon Bruha and Jim Sehnert and many of you that added on extra dollars when paying for your meals (the meal was excellent as always) we will be able to break pretty close to even. Thanks to Bob Weber for accepting the position of President for next year and many thanks to Don Eret for his years of service to the Dorchester Alumni. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU THAT ATTENDED, HELPED, AND DONATED............it was a evening filled with laughter and a few tears and lots of reminiscing....as Mr. O'Brien said "Dorchester School is indeed a very special place". Hope to see all of you next year!
Joyce Karl
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AnonymousMay 30, 2012 at 8:58 AM
Great event!
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Old TimerMay 30, 2012 at 10:31 AM
This year's alumni banquet was the best I have ever attended. The crowd seemed smaller than in typical years, but I was very impressed the the entire presentation. My husband and I enjoyed ourselves very much. I want to say thank you to all of you and look forward to attending next year.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."