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When Luverne Public Schools’ 2021-22 school year ended in late May, seven seasoned educators decided it was time to retire.
Altogether, they spent 233 years in Luverne classrooms.
Deb Ward, 45 years
Deb Ward was Luverne’s most senior educator, having been hired in the district in 1977 as a K-12 special education teacher.
She’s never worked anywhere else.
The Pipestone High School graduate found her career path while a freshman at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion. She later transferred to St. Cloud State University, where she received her degrees and her passion.
“I started off as a double major in elementary education and special education,” Ward recalled. “I decided I really enjoyed working with students with special needs — they have taught me so much.”
After so many years, she found it hard to retire.
“It was a really hard decision to make, as I do love my job,” she said. “I just decided that I didn’t want to miss out on doing things with my family or miss my grandkids’ activities.”
But she won’t miss the paperwork and scheduling required for each student. And she’s appreciative of how her last year in education has ended.
“I had a great group of students and an awesome team inclusive of special education teachers, paraprofessionals, general education teachers, administrators and parents,” she said.
Ward and her husband, Rick, have four grandchildren — Skyler, Bryton, Tanner and Taylor — and their four children, Tiffany, Amanda, Allison and Tommy.
Her recommendation to future educators is to “be flexible, be patient, but push your students to do their best — remember to breathe!”
Sandy Klosterbuer,
38 years
Sandy Klosterbuer never made it out of the first grade.
The Luverne High School graduate knew she wanted to be a teacher, thanks to the local 4-H program and her late mother, Florence Helle.
“The 4-H program helped me gain leadership and experience working with kids,” she said.
“My mother was an elementary teacher in Magnolia and Worthington before she was married (to Oscar Helle). Then Mom stayed home and raised four kids and helped on the farm.”
After graduating from LHS in 1979, Klosterbuer attended Bemidji State University, where she received an elementary education degree.
She came back to Luverne in 1984 starting as a half-time first-grade reading teacher in the mornings and a special needs preschool teacher in the afternoons. The following year and every year since then, Klosterbuer has been a full-time first-grade teacher.
“Thirty-eight years sounds like a long time to teach, but to me it has gone so fast,” she said.
Her co-workers’ support helped Klosterbuer with her longevity in the classroom.
“In my early years of teaching, I was blessed to be training by veteran first-grade teachers in Luverne’s old elementary school. Those years were so fun and I learned so much from them.
“The new elementary school is a great facility, but it’s the people and kids that make it a great career. As education continues to improve and change over the years, one thing stays the same — kids need teachers.”
She’s educated hundreds of 6-year-olds who have entered her classroom and they’ve left with a good foundation to learning.
“It is so rewarding to see the academic progress the kids make in a year,” she said.
In addition to the love of teaching, 4-H also introduced Klosterbuer to her husband, Steve.
Together they operated a dairy farm near Kanaranzi for more than 40 years. There they raised two children — Katie and Casey — both of whom are teachers and former 4-H members.
“I’m especially proud to say that my mother, my daughter, my son, my niece and I are all graduates of Luverne Public Schools and became teachers,” Klosterbuer said.
Theresa Graff, 37 years
Theresa Schallenkamp came to Luverne in 1985 before meeting and marrying fellow teacher Roger Graff two years later.
The Bridgewater, South Dakota, native knew at an early age what her career choice would be.
“I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I fell in love with my first- and second-grade teachers,” she said. “I really wanted my own classroom someday.”
Graff received her elementary education degree from Northern State University, Aberdeen, South Dakota. A family member suggested she also achieve a communications disorders degree.
In Luverne she first split her time teaching preschool special needs while also serving as a speech therapist for Luverne and Magnolia schools.
Her career came to a halt when a bout with cancer prompted Graff to take a five-year medical leave. When she returned to work, she finally achieved her childhood dream.
“They asked if I would teach sixth-grade English. I loved it,” she said.
Graff was exclusively in the classroom for five years when one of the elementary speech therapists left. She was asked to fill the position and she’s been an elementary speech therapist ever since.
“The most rewarding part of my job — and probably any teacher’s job — is the moment you see/hear your students’ attain their goals,” she said.
“Graduating from speech or graduating from high school is such an accomplishment. Both make me so proud of my students.”
Retirement means she will spend more time with her husband, their three children (Megan Ruesink, Michael Graff and Thomas Graff) and grandchildren.
“I can still play tag, get on the floor and wrestle,” she said. “I can’t wait to meet my friends for coffee in the morning, be a grandma who can go to Grandparents Day, spend more time with my parents and go on trips with my hubby (who is also a retired educator),” she said.
“Who knows what tomorrow will bring?”
Lisa Lundgren,
33 years
Lisa Lundgren’s journey to the classroom began early in her life growing up in South Dakota.
“My aunt taught at a country school between Hudson and Alcester,” she said. “My siblings and I would go and visit her at her country school. I remember sitting at the old desks and reading Clifford books. It brings back fond memories.”
Lundgren graduated from Augustana University in 1984 with degrees in elementary and special education. She taught in Edgerton before coming to Luverne in 1989 as a first-grade teacher.
Since then, the previous Miss Paulson has split her days at Luverne between the classroom half the day, and implementing the Reading Recovery or Response to Intervention programs the rest of the day.
“I loved the variety that sharing a classroom brought to my day, and I was so fortunate to be able to share that classroom with wonderful teachers,” she said. “We were always on the same page.”
She met fellow teacher, Mark Lundgren, and the two married in 1995. They have four children: Leah, Brooke, Brett and Derek.
She’ll miss teaching but said “the time was right” to retire.
Lundgren plans to return to Luverne Elementary as a volunteer.
“I really enjoy working with students who find learning to read challenging,” she said.
“I love to see their eyes light up when the process of reading finally makes sense to them. As a teacher, you get tears in your eyes and a big smile on your face when it finally clicks. You are so proud of them.”
Al Brinkman, 31 years
Al Brinkman was busy working various jobs in the late 1980s when he decided to go back to school as a non-traditional student.
“I thought I would try signing up for some night classes to see if I could be a better student than I was in high school,” he said. “At that point (I was in my mid-30s) it was in the back of my mind to get into education. I enjoyed helping people.”
The Rock Valley, Iowa, high school graduate started at Worthington Community and Technical College and finished at Southwest State University, Marshall, with a degree in language arts and licensure in 7-12 education.
Brinkman began as a substitute teacher in Luverne in 1991, when he made the decision to become a licensed English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor.
“At that time immigration by refugees from various parts of the world was in an upswing,” he said. “It was a somewhat new area of education.
“It interested me because it dealt with the communication parts of our language in combination with culture and helping children and their families fit into the American dream.”
In addition to teaching ESL classes, Brinkman also taught high school speech, seventh- and eighth-grade English and fundamentals of writing through the years.
As an ESL teacher, he often taught the same students for several years, watching their progress and acclimation into the American culture.”
Because of the years spent with students, they often sought Brinkman out after graduating.
“(They’d) share how they are doing and how their lives have progressed,” Brinkman said. “It is nice to know I played a small part.”
In retirement, Brinkman will spend his time with his wife, Mary, and their children, Heather and Mitchell, and grandchildren.
He also will devote more time to all things fishing: ice and open water rod construction, pouring and painting fishing jigs, constructing buck tail jigs and fishing in general.
Dennis Moritz,
29 years
Education was not Dennis Moritz’ first choice of a profession.
The Humboldt, Nebraska, native decided after graduating from high school in 1974 that he would work for area farmers.
He helped others farm for nine years before enrolling in Southeast Community College in Beatrice, Nebraska. He later finished his four-year ag education degree at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
He immediately found the teaching career rewarding three times over.
“One of the most rewarding parts of this job is when the ‘light bulb’ comes on, whether it is in the classroom, the lab, or the shop for students,” he said. “The second one is to see past students come back to school or stop by my home in Beaver Creek to visit.
“The third one is the friendships that have developed with the custodians, secretaries, cooks, bus drivers, teaching staff and administration, both past and current. I relied on all of these folks at one time or another.”
His first teaching job had him teaching for three years in Pender, Nebraska.
In 1992 he married his wife, Deb, and the couple moved to Sioux Falls.
He spent a year as substitute teacher in South Dakota before he was hired as Luverne’s ag instructor and FFA chapter adviser in 1993.
During his 29 years of teaching, agriculture has undergone many transformations, and the ag education has had to keep pace.
“Technology has been a huge driving force in agriculture in the last ten years,” he said. “You have to adapt to it.”
Assisting Moritz with adapting to the changes in agriculture was his membership to the Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators as well as the partnerships with local businesses and farmers.
Moritz said he will miss the relationships he developed over the years, but he is looking forward to returning to the farm jobs he did before entering college.
“I have family in Nebraska that would like me to help with planting in the spring and harvest in the fall,” he said. “I am a member of the Granite (Iowa) Thresherman Association. I would like to be more involved with that organization.”
Jennifer Engesser,
20 years
Jennifer Engesser decided when her own children were ages 8 and 12 that she would become a teacher.
At the time, she was working as a paraprofessional at Luverne Elementary. She was primarily working with fifth- and sixth-graders when she embarked on an education and master’s degree from Southwest State University in Marshall.
Prior to being a paraprofessional, Engesser worked for Tri-State Insurance (now Continental Western Group) for 16 years.
“My first degree was at Mankato State University for political science,” she said. “I was going to be a paralegal.”
She was hired at Luverne Elementary in 2002, moving between grade levels before spending more than a decade in the fourth grade.
She said learning from her students has been the most rewarding aspect of her career change.
“They’re so creative and imaginative — they surprise me every year,” Engesser said. “They remind me that all they really want is love and to be seen, and they want to feel important and special.”
The late career change showed Engesser the importance of co-worker support, as she worked through curriculum standards and learned to place a focus on her students.
“These people will get you through the tough days — follow your instincts, but listen to the veteran teachers,” she said.
“Then focus on your students — who are they? What do they like to do outside of school? What is their family life like? What do they need from you? Then just love them.”
Engesser said in retirement she will now spend more time with her husband, Mike, and their children, Christopher and Matt, plus focus on a few other activities.
“I hope to read some of those books I never got to read. I want to take care of my plants and flowers,” she said. “I also want to do more walking and really do some serious bird watching.”