My wonderful wife, Rhonda, and I have been married for 14 years.  We are fortunate to have a two beautiful children (Nick is 8 and Sydney is 4.)  Nick is a typical boy who loves to play hard and begs for attention.  Sydney is a typical girl who is content to play with dolls and can entertain herself for hours.  It's funny how two kids from the same parents can be so opposite in many ways.

Nick blessed us with his arrival in 1996......WOW.......what a lifestyle change.  Nick was only about a year old when he got his first boat ride.  In fact, he got many boat rides from the highway to our house when the Flood of 97 struck our area in rural West Fargo.  No major damage......just a bunch of inconveniences.  Anyway, we were fortunate to sell our house a few months later when the company moved to Perham.  We built a new house north of Barrel O Fun, in an area that I remembered as a Christmas tree farm.  This town has really grown...it has really grown since we moved back in 1998!  Anyway, Nick is a real sports nut and lives to play.....play anything.

Sydney was born about a year after we got into Perham.  She has been a real treat.  Such a content baby and such a joy to be around as she grows.  She is a beautiful girl in every way.

Getting married taught me that being a nice guy will get you further than being a jerk.....especially with your spouse.  Having kids taught me that I'm severely lacking in the patience department.  They have also taught me the true pronunciation of some words....like "motorcycle" is really "cototoco", an "apartment" is a "repartment", a "headband" is a "hendband", "lipstick" is "likstips" and "chapstick" is "chackstips."  My all time favorite though is what Paul Sonnenberg's little girl, Elizabeth, was named by Sydney in daycare.  She progressed from "Libbis" to "Liddabis" to "Eliddabis" finally to "Elizabeth."

A little history.....after high school, I attended NDSU in Fargo and got my bachelor's degree in math....no big surprise there.  In my last year of college, I met Rhonda and we were married a little over two years later in Perham.  I started work after college as a product specialist at Maintenance Engineering, a lighting company in Fargo.  After several years there, I was approached by CC & I Engineering to come to work for them.  I knew there was an Arvig affiliation but was still surprised when the company decided to move to Perham in 1997.  Our move from Fargo was pretty stressful at the time but we are pretty happy here now.  Rhonda is from Bottineau, ND and we had really grown to love the Fargo/Moorhead area.  Rhonda found a job with Minnesota State Community and Technical College (aka, Northwest Tech, aka Wadena Tech.)  Strangely enough, her job also moved from the Wadena campus into the new Arvig building in Perham after about a year of commuting!

I currently sit on the 549 Family Foundation advisory board.  If you are looking for a good charity to support, this is an excellent choice.  The 549 Family Foundation funds and supports worthwhile programs that the PHS school district cannot fund.  Some of the programs we have supported in the past few years include Early Childhood Education, Laurentian and the Science program.

So I'm back home...my life has completed its full circle.  A little older and a little wiser.  I look forward to seeing you all in June.
Dean Bahls

Berns, Kyle
I probably had my busiest year by far this last year.  But first…  Really?  It’s been 20 years?  After graduation I went to Bemidji State University for teaching high school mathematics.  I did my student teaching down in Texas (McAllen, it’s a town about 10 miles from the Mexican Border and 60 miles from the Gulf of Mexico).  I signed a contract to teach for one year, but couldn’t speak Spanish and it was too much of a hurdle dealing with parents and not being able to speak their language.

I came back to Minnesota and lived in the Cities for a couple of years being a substitute teacher.  Then I had an opportunity to move out to California.  I lived in a suburb of Los Angeles.  I actually drove through the city of Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots.  I worked for AVIS Rent A Car at the time and they asked for volunteers to drive cars out of their Downtown Lot so they didn’t get vandalized.  It was an experience I will never forget.

I missed teaching and wasn’t finding anything out in California so I came back to Minnesota.  I then taught for two years at the Red Lake Indian Reservation while living in Bemidji.  Again, I didn’t feel comfortable teaching there, so I pursued a Masters degree at Illinois State University.  Didn’t complete my degree, but I was able to get a teaching job back in Minnesota (St. Clair, a town about 10 miles from Mankato).  This will be my 7th year at St. Clair.  During my first 6 years I was the Student Council Advisor and did some coaching.  I really liked the aspect of the extra-curricular activities at schools.  Then this last year our Athletic Director retired and they asked me if I would be interested in the position.  So for the last school year, I have been the Athletic/Activities Director and still taught a couple of classes.  You never think about it, but there is so much that goes in to all the extra-curricular events at a school.  So this last year has been my busiest.

I have never married and have no children, so I dedicate a lot of time to school work (some say too much, but I really love what I am doing).  I still have family back in Perham and try to get back as much as I can.  But I am not going to be able to get back for the reunion.  It is great to hear (read) how some of our classmates are doing.

My home address is:
            217 Main St West
            Mankato, MN 56001
            Ph. (507)245-3702

Kyle Berns
Activities Director
121 W Main St
St. Clair, MN 56080

Phone: (507)245-3027  ext. 229
Fax: (507)245-3755