CLASS OF 1968

Welcome to Omaha South High School Class of 1968's page!  Our records show that the Class of 1968 had 609 students in their graduating class.  Below you will find upcoming reunion details, a link to the 1968 yearbook, and a list of classmates who have passed away. ​ ​

Reunion Details

The Class of 1968's next major reunion, 55 years, will be in 2023.

​Contacts: 
Janet (Velehradsky) Raddish at Janet.Raddish@ops.org
Jackie (Buchholz) Mahr at justcalljackie@gmail.com

Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/OmahaSouthHighClassOf1968

​Reunion Committee: If you are helping plan your next class reunion, please contact the SHS Alumni Office and let us know the reunion details and we will spread the word via the Alumni Tooter*, Facebook and this website. We will also send you all the ways your Alumni Association can help. You can also complete and submit this Reunion Planner Form.

*Tooter Deadlines*
-Spring Tooter is January 31st (the spring issue is mailed March 1st)
-Fall Tooter is July 31st (the fall issue is mailed September 1st).

Reunion Lookback

​50 Year Reunion Summary
​Oh What a Night – Back in 1968
By Helene Elsasser, BOD Member and Reunion Event Coordinator
Celebration of reliving high school memories on August 9, 10, and 11, 2018. The 1950 Baby Boomers = 50th class reunion and 1968 = 68 years old. Cheers to 50 years continued on with five enjoyable events. Our guest retired teachers were: Gym Trainer, Sharon Brown and English Teacher, Tipton Biggs.

Classmate Jim Kluza officially took over the camera lens and some din on capturing every moment of all the Packer fun! Team Coordinators, Steve Bernth and Jackie Mahr led the Golden Oldies Crew Committees:  Trudy Darling Ford, Joyce Brittan Clark Donna Minarik, Janet Veleradsky Raddesh, Jown Jelinek Stearnes, Kathy Fisher Thornton, Linda Olson Yourkoski, Jerry Olson, Jim Baker, Dennis Kelly, Tom Westman, Betty Wohlfarth Findeis, Rusty Findeis, Steve Barrett, Kathy Barrett (’69), Bo Hirnak, Cheryl Sparano Goodrich, and Helene Elsasser.

Packers brought their own beverage and hopped on the “Pork Chop” trolley starting at Johnny’s Café. The infamous trolley guide, alumni Gary Kastrick (’70) gave a very personable, relaxing, and outstanding tour of South ‘O’. A stop over at Hollywood Candy (50’s & 60’s era) was another highlight of the tour. The tour ended at Johnny’s and the celebration continued with dinner and drinks on your own.

Over 200 Packers packed the Patio at Petrows. Nick, our host, grilling our hamburgers, chicken and brats on a sizzling hot summer nite.  Vinyl records and book covers were the table décor. Accented with vinyl record sculpture over the bar area. Elvis guarded the jukebox with 60’s background music for Fri. & Sat. nites. A Packers, 4-way split raffle with cash and door prizes. A $86 donation was made to the vet’s hospital. Photos were taken of classmates from other jr. high and elementary schools was a popular gathering activity. Along with videos displayed on double screens added to the atmosphere; the tribute to our vets, deceased classmates, and a variety of reunion photos were included. On the school tour, was led by Alumni and theater tech teacher-Dave Wiser (’98). Dave invited 60 Packers into his theater as guests. Packers listened intensely to Dave’s lecture over the school’s physical changes sine 1968. Also, he included the demographics, diversity, curriculum changes, and a short Q&A session. Dave’s mission statement was to educate the Packers on the ongoing Visual Arts Campaign Drive. Dave gave a very personable and awesome tour! The tour ended with buying lots of T-shirts at the bookstore!

Regency Lake & Tennis was the finale of the weekend events. It was a 68th Birthday Party theme! An Italian Buffet with a fully stocked open bar that included Signature Drinks; The Valencia, Baby Boomer, Packer ‘50 and ‘68. 12 Birthday Gifts by months were the door prizes for the drawings. (t-shirts form the SHS bookstore). 3 birthday cakes were part of the celebration. An empty chair, decked out with ribbons as a tribute to our deceased classmates with their names and pictures on them. Ron Deyo, used his talent and expertise in coordinating the class photo on Regency’s patio as Packers sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to each other!

The Golden Oldies Crew, decided at the wrap-up party to give these donations from the class of ’68: Alumni Scholarships ($1500), Visual Arts Program ($200) Cheerleaders ($100), Benny the Mascot ($100) and the Broom Man Statue ($200)

See you at the annual Packers on the Patio in Sept.!  (Thank you to the Alumni Office and to Tony Huerta for helping us with the research!)

Yearbook Link

1968 southite Yearbook

Class of 1968 Departed Packers

Frank Babka
Harvey Baker
Gordon Banks
Robert Beagle
Kathryn Besta
Kelley Bolton
Dennis M. Bratetic
Doug Brinkman
Louise (Budny) Ferrante
Janice (Buras) Barkdoll
Georgia Chlebinski
Linda (Clark) Hass
Raymond Crane
Frank DeGeorge
Peter Dosenovich
Arija (Ecies) Young
Linda (Edgerton (Poppe)) Edgerton
John ‘Jack’ A. Feeney ​
Darlene (Fischer) Smyser
Michael Fleshman
Frank Fonfara
John Fried
Richard Gaube
Danny Gibilisco
Susan (Gliwa) Vilcinskas
Gary Gottsch
Jo (Gray) Collins
William Grisinger
Gary Gruhn
Floyd Haffke
Mike Hagberg
Linda (Haines) Cottrell
Steve Heil
Linda (Hermsmeier) Babka
David Hicks
Linda (Hooker   (Vanek)) Topping
Michael Horvath
Don Jaksich
Carol (Jensen) Niehaus
David Jerabek
Carl Jones
Candy (Kaufhold) Kologenski
Sandra (Keene) Kidder
Rick Kieser
Yvone (Kiminsky) Zuroske
Sharon (Klabunde) Vanek
Edward (Krajicek) Krajicek Jr
Lawrence (Kriegler) Kriegler Jr
Caryl (Kroeger) Mustin
Gerard Krzemien
Lynne Kulisek
Frank Kuthan
Louis Lesac
Robert Linder
Karen (Loots) Darling
Valerie Lukowski
David Mahr
Chuck Maitland
Cynthia McKeen
Robert Meckna
Ron Meckna
Sue (Mertz) Torel
Donna (Meyers) Hooper
Timothy Miller
Barb (Moore) Vlasak
Twila (Nejdl) Oesterle
Sydney Oetker
Mike O'Gorman
Frank Olson
Mike Ostronic
Jeanine Perkins
John Perkins
Kathleen (Potter) Barajas
Diane (Preister) Whitmarsh
Greg Quenelle
Barbara (Ratigan) Pitts
David Ray
Donna Retikis
Patrick Robertson
Thomas Robertson
Phillip Sandberg
George Schmidt
Patricia (Schmidt) Kohler
Doug Schuman
Larry Sekyra
George Sheehan
Jim Shymkwich
Gary Sorenson
Paul Steinauer
Jim Stull
Dennis Swanson
Edward Sykora
William Talmon
Susan (Teeters) Amato
Don Tylkowski
Frank Urban
Joe Vachal
Tom Visty
Dan Whitmarsh
Donald Williams

100 as of July 2021 - Additions to this list are made twice a year when the Spring & Fall Alumni Tooters are released. ​