I received some sad news on Wednesday. A type of news I’ve been getting more often in the past several years.

One of my social studies teachers, Gary Grabau, died earlier in the week. My source, a friend I’ve known since my undergraduate days at Southwest Minnesota State University, heard about it from another retired teacher.

Gary joins a growing list of former teachers of mine who’ve passed away. From Marshall High School it includes Gerald Sletten, Greg Van Hee, Lee Conyers, Esther Johnson, Dean Jorgensen, Elmer Sorensen and Bob Reimler. I don’t think I’ve forgotten about anyone. I apologize in advance if I did.

Gary was one of my physical eductaion teachers in 1983 and my Economics and government teacher as a senior in 1985. I remember how he put a great deal of effort into teaching us “the isms”.

We learned how capitalism equals free enterprise, how socialism involves a regulated economy, and how communism is supposed to be a dictatorship of the proletariat.

We also learned how the United States became a mixture of capitalism and socialism in the early 20th century. We saw that only an extremely radical conservative would oppose all forms of socialism.

Someone would have to oppose Social Security, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the National Park system.

All of those things relate in some way to socialism. They involve government mandates for economic safety nets, consumer safety and environmental preservation.

Gary made “the isms” interesting for teenagers. He was a young teacher back then. He was 72, which led me to think he’s be around longer.

My source told me that he’d had an illness. I hadn’t seen much of him since he and his wife moved to Sioux Falls. If I had known, I’d have wanted to visit him.

I have many other memories of high school, all of which I owe to the fact that I had excellent teachers. They went out of their way to help students learn.

I remember the novels we read in English classes. They include Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, Hiroshima by John Hersey, and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

I also recall how Mr. Sletten sometimes incorporated German, Russian and Norwegian phrases into his lectures and tests.

For science, I remember how we made every effort to get to the second period ninth grade class early. We did it so we could throw rubber stoppers at each other. Eventually Mr. Sorensen caught some of the students who threw them every day and gave everyone a warning.

As sophomores we had tests in biology that involved parts identification with specimens. For me they were some of the hardest tests I’ve ever taken. The specimen parts didn’t look anything like the drawings in the textbook. It was harder than the Graduate Records Exam.

We’ve been very fortunate in Marshall to always have good teachers at both the elementary and secondary levels.

As teachers from my era retired, young educators always stepped up to the plate and took their place. The classes have kept up with the times. There are many classes we never had in the 1980s, especially when it comes to technology.

It’s been almost 40 years since my high school graduation. As far as I know, none of the 2024 faculty go back that far. I went to Holy Redeemer School, so possibly there is a teacher from the 1980s that’s still on duty at an elementary school or the middle school.

My hope is that today’s children and teenagers get as much out of their education as I did. I never had a point in my life where I didn’t like school. I never understood how some of my classmates didn’t like it.

Teachers change lives. It’s important that all teachers everywhere, from urban neighborhoods to small rural towns, strive to bring out the best in all of their students. Gary and other Marshall teachers always did that.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent