MORE NOTABLE STUDENTS WHO STAYED

I began this little series of articles mainly to call attention to some of the special students from my English classes at NDSCS who have either opted to make their homes here in Wahpeton or to return to this very unique small city for very admirable reasons. Among the former group are members of a family whose staying here has bene?ted us very much. I”m thinking specifically of the Shormas. Way back in the ‘dim dark days’ almost ‘beyond recall’, Ed Shorma opened a little shoe repair and canvas manufacturing store in Wahpeton, and my first dealings with it came when I asked his son, Richard about the possibility of his maybe sewing together any available odd strips they might have lying around for me to use as a tarp to pitch my tent on on camping trips. Literally the next day Dick came up with an absolutely stunning canvas tarp. It was made of foot-wide shiny red, white and blue canvas of amazing texture and durability. I don’t even think he wanted any money for it, but I hope I paid him something appropriate. (I‘ve always tried to get away from the stereotype held by many salesmen that all teachers are cheap.)

Anyway, you wouldn't believe the complements I received from fellow campers when we drove into a campground with that patriotic tarp securing our tent and other camping stuff. I think that simple act of exceeding customer expectations was a foreshadowing of the great company that was in the process of being developed. Countless people in our area owe their livelihoods to Ed Shorma's following his dream and his handsome sons coming on board to help make it come true. How dare the scurvy politicians condemn “the rich” for being successful. It is their dreams and sweat that create the jobs that keep our ship of state afloat.

Demagogues love to “cast the little streets upon the great.” By the way, the history of the development of Ed Shorma's corporations would make a neat topic for some aspiring young journalist to research. It‘ a rags to riches saga ‘par excellence’.

Another student of mine worthy of mention is Cindy Samek, who left a good teaching job in Mantador in order to be close to and help her dad who is facing some health challenges. She was willing to exchange the comparatively good pay of a teacher for the much diminished salary of a Walmart worker; yet whenever I bump into her at work she is up-beat and happy just to be able to be close to her dad. One doesn't see that kind of selflessness very often. Yet it is out there.

My own daughter Lisa left a terriffc job in Maryland as the personnel manager of a fairly large number of the secretaries working for scientists studying the strengths of various building materials. I got to meet some of them, and most sound a lot like Leonard of The Big Bang Theory-physicists very passionately involved with stuff few of the rest of us ever think about. But Lisa left that job and a very bad marriage just to be back here with her folks who are gradually marinating toward old age. Starting over when you're over fifty and a poor fit for many of the openings in the N,Dak job market isn't easy, but she's done it with no complaints. She loves being back in North Dakota, and we see her nearly every week end. A blessing for us but a hell of a pay cut for her.

Many in the aging population are facing the very ‘end game‘ obstacles dramatized in Shakespeare's great tragedy of “King Lear,” who banishes his good daughter, Cordelia, and stakes his retirement fortunes on the promises of his two evil, but flattering daughters Goneril and Regan who quickly rob him of his power and kick him out of their castles to try to survive naked against a raging storm. Everywhere these days we hear of aging parents being abused by ungrateful children. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is/ to have a thankless child.‘ And how blessed are those who have loyal Cordelias who come home and care for them as they glide like pigeons at twilight “downward toward darkness on extended wings.”

Gene Pinkney 12/3/19 For The Daily News

uploaded 01-08-2020