Family Tree Awards to highlight Family Day

Numerous other activities also are scheduled, including a football game Saturday afternoon and volleyball matches Friday and Saturday nights. The players on both CSC teams and their parents will be introduced prior to the contests. The members of the band and Golden Eagle dance team and the cheerleaders and their parents will be introduced at halftime of the football game.

Also on tap this weekend is a reunion of “Purple Passion,” Chadron State’s most active alumni group. About 30 are expected to attend with a picnic at Chadron State Park Friday evening and a catered dinner at the West Hills Inn Saturday night scheduled. The will be the 34th reunion of the group, which had its first meeting at the state park in the late ‘40s when several of them were about to graduate. Most of the original members were World War II veterans.

Family Day will coincide with numerous activities being planned by Chadron merchants on West Second Street on Saturday. Included will be a Farmers’ Market, display of antique farm equipment and Native American memorabilia during the morning and a street dance beginning at 8 p.m.

Tours of Chadron in wagons pulled by horses from Fort Robinson State Park will originate from the Student Center at CSC from 9 to 11 a.m.

There’ll be plenty to eat during the day. The CSC Music Department is hosting a pancake breakfast at the Masonic Hall at Fourth and Main from 7 to 10 a.m. while a Western barbecue will be available in the Student Center from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., when the football game with Bemidji State of Minnesota will kick off.

The volleyball matches will be against two Denver-area teams. The Eagles will play Colorado Mines Friday night, starting at 7, and Regis Saturday night beginning at 6.

Family Tree Awards are presented to families that have had at least three generations attend CSC. Two of the families being recognized are from Chadron. They are the Carsons and the Sayers. Also to be honored are the Briggs family that was originally from around Antioch east of Alliance and the Franklin and Downer family from Scotts Bluff and Banner Counties

A sketch of each family's involvement at CSC follows:

The Briggs Family

The potash boom in the Sandhills east of Alliance during World War I made it possible for the children of Dave and Margaret Briggs to attend Chadron State. The Briggs ranch located north of Antioch contained the mineral, which was made into gunpowder and other explosives.

Margurete graduated in 1922, Celestine in 1927 and Bernard in 1933. Bernard’s wife, Vera, earned a degree from CSC in 1962, mostly by taking off-campus courses. Their son, Don, graduated from CSC the following year and then taught for 35 years, 30 of it at Medicine Valley High School in Curtis, where he and his wife Shirley still reside.

Another son, David, who runs the family ranch, didn’t attend CSC, but his wife, the former Phyllis Ginn, graduated in 1959.

Both couples have daughters who are CSC alums. Don and Shirley’s daughter, Heidi is a 1991 grad. She and her husband, Scott Lowthrop, live in Sidney, Iowa. David and Phyllis’s daughter, Kim, graduated in 1995 and lives in Bellevue.

The Carson Family

Barb Carson began attending Chadron State soon after the family moved from South Dakota to Chadron. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1969, taught special education and was the high school librarian in Pine Ridge for about 10 years, then was in charge of the curriculum library in the Reta King Library at CSC for 21 years. She retired in May. While working at the college, she earned a specialist degree.

Two of her children, Sheryl and Michael, hold both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees from CSC. Sheryl began teaching in Sheridan, Wyo., this fall after serving as the county extension educator in Sheridan County, Neb., eight years. Michael is a railroad engineer in Douglas, Wyo.

Sheryl’s daughter, Mikki, graduated from CSC in May. She’s now working on her aunt and uncle’s farm south of Hay Springs, but plans to continue her education in the health professions in the near future.

The Franklin-Downer Family

Three Franklin girls who grew up near McGrew form the first generation of this family tree. Roberta initially attended CSC in 1931, taught in rural schools and was a librarian in Lincoln before living most of her adult life in Texas. By taking correspondence courses, she graduated from CSC in 1987, 56 years after she’d matriculated. Betty graduated in 1939 and taught at four years at Banner County High School in Harrisburg and 26 years at Melbeta. Margie graduated in 1945 and taught three years in Sidney and 34 years in the Banner County Schools.

Both Betty and Margie married Downer boys. Al and Betty Downer’s daughters form the second generation. Alice graduated in 1967 and has taught sixth grade in Gering ever since. She’s married to Jerry Wineman. Mary Jo earned her bachelor’s degree from CSC in 1966 and her master’s degree in 1970. She taught at Gering, Banner County and Chadron High Schools and at Chadron State before becoming the Box Butte County superintendent of schools. After that position was eliminated, she became the principal for two rural schools in the county. Her late husband, Jerry Hoffman, graduated from CSC in 1962 and taught and coached at several Panhandle schools. Their son Willie earned his bachelor’s degree from CSC in 2002 and expects to received his master’s degree in December.

Al and Betty Downer’s son, Hal, attended CSC in 1973. His daughter-in-law, the former Kelly Semroska of Harrison, graduated from CSC in 2001 and his daughter, Dori, is currently enrolled.

The Sayer Family

Nancy Moody Sayer earned her bachelor’s degree from Chadron State in 1962 and her master’s degree in 1967. She taught in the Chadron Schools 32 years, mostly as a kindergarten teacher in Kenwood. While her husband, Rolland, has not been a student at CSC, he knows a lot about the college. He helped construct or has assisted with major renovation projects on about a dozen campus buildings.

Their three children are CSC grads and two of them work at the college. Deb Keim has been the office assistant for the vice president of academic and student affairs for 26 years while Lori Hunn is an education instructor and director of field experiences. Jeff is a middle school science teacher in Valentine.

Both of Harv and Deb Keim’s children were honor students at CSC. Sara was in the RHOP program and is now working toward a Ph.D. in genetics, cell biology and anatomy at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Casey graduated in 2003 and is a graduate assistant in the CSC Business Department.