Marion High School Class of 1943 graduates give advice

When Clarence Boesenberg and Arleen Luedemann graduated from Marion High School in 1943, it wasn’t with joy and optimism.

Several of their 80 classmates already had died fighting in World War II and all the male graduates faced the choice of enlisting or being drafted into the war.

“We didn’t know what was ahead because my friends, cousins and everyone was going off to service,” said Arleen (Luedemann) Starman, 97, of Burlington. “It was like we had nothing to look forward to.”

Eighty years later, Starman and Boesenberg, 97, of Cedar Rapids, met up in Tipton for a mini class reunion last month to reminisce about their school days and talk about their lives since. The gathering was coordinated by LaVon Boesenberg of Martelle, who is related to Starman on her father’s side and Boesenberg through her husband.

“When you go to your class reunions, you pick up conversations real easily and talk about ‘back when’,” LaVon Boesenberg said. “That’s the way it was. They started talking with each other like long lost friends.”

Needed on the farm

Clarence Boesenberg grew up on a Linn County farm, the middle of five brothers.

“My mom had a big crew to cook for,” he said in a recent interview with The Gazette.

To help the war effort, the U.S. government rationed food, gasoline, clothing and other items. The food limits were no problem because the Boesenbergs had a big garden and could slaughter hogs or cattle to feed the family, he said. Farmers got more gasoline rations than others, but Boesenberg remembers his dad not letting the boys drive any more than was necessary.

The Class of 1943 took a class trip, riding the CRANDIC passenger train from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City to see the University of Iowa campus, Boesenberg said. He also bought a class ring, although it’s long since disappeared.

“I had friends, yes, but as soon as school was over Dad wanted us back home to work on the farm,” Boesenberg said. “He wasn’t that keen on education. He had ideas of us being farmers and he didn’t think we needed an education for that.”

When Boesenberg graduated from high school, his two older brothers already were serving in the Navy. Their father helped Boesenberg defer his military service for six months so he could help plant and harvest the 1943 crop, but after that, Boesenberg also enlisted in the Navy.

He served 18 months as a stateside medic before coming back to Cedar Rapids, where he became reacquainted with a friend’s younger sister, Ruby. They were married for 62 years and had two children before Ruby died in 2011.

Boesenberg worked as a pressman for Lefebure for 38 years. Boesenberg now volunteers three days a week for Meals on Wheels and is thinking about cycling a few days of RAGBRAI this summer, as he’s done in other years.

He has this advice for 2023 graduates:

“I would say to get an education now would be something they should do,” he said. “Although there are good jobs they could do, an education really would help.”

Volunteering is new passion

Starman, too, wanted to go to college. When all the boys were heading off to war, she thought about enrolling at Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

“When I graduated, my brother-in-law in Burlington was being drafted,” she said. “My sister was expecting her third child. Between my mother and sister, they decided I needed to come to Burlington and help with the new baby.”

She moved to Burlington in 1943, met her future husband, Lester, and they married in 1945. They had four children before he died in 2006.

Starman was a middle school secretary for 27 years. She also taught accordion lessons, first at a studio and then in her home. For the last 15 years, Starman has volunteered at the hospice house of the Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center.

“Every so often I would take my accordion out and play near the nurse’s desk. You could hear it throughout the house,” she said. “I very often had requests for polkas. Coming from Cedar Rapids, I learned many, many, many polkas.”

Starman urged the Class of 2023 to take responsibility for their futures and not rely too much on parents or other adults. “There are so many young people who think the world owes them an education,” she said. “Make your own path.”

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