Not long ago, a distant friend of our museum, John Popp, sent us a digital photo of the 1954-1955 class of students in Grades 1-4 at Trinity Lutheran School in Altenburg.  We are pretty sure that we have this photo somewhere in our archives, but getting this copy from John gave me an excuse to use it in a blog post.  John’s father, Richard Popp, is the teacher shown in this photo.  John tells us that the only student in the photo that he could identify in the picture is his sister.  His family left Altenburg when he was quite young and never got to know the rest of the students shown here.

So I think today it is going to be your job to help John Popp out a little bit.  I have placed numbers on the individual photos.  My challenge to our readers today is to identify as many of these children as possible.  I must admit that I have asked around and have already been told the identity of most of these students.  I know I have a cousin and a half cousin-once removed in the mix.  There are also a few folks in this class who are now valuable volunteers here at the Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum, including a few that have made monumental contributions in the effort to preserve the family histories of East Perry County.

Here’s the deal.  I am asking our readers to include in the comments here at the bottom of this post or on our Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum Facebook page the ID of anyone in the photo.  That Facebook page can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/altenburgmuseum/

Please use the number on the photo to let us know which person you are identifying.  Also include other information you may know about that person.  For example, give both the maiden name and married name for the girls if you know them.  If you know where they presently live, please tell us.  We would also love to know what occupations these children entered later in life.  I am placing a blank list here of the numbers in the photo.  When we get an identification, I will update this post to show that person’s identification.  I will only use printed identifications that I find in our comments sections.  I will not just take a person’s word of mouth here in town.  I am interested in getting input from our readers.

Also, I would encourage any of the folks who are shown in the above photo to share any of the memories they may have of being in Teacher Popp’s class.

List of students:

1.  Judy Schmidt

2.  Gary Lungwitz

3.  Audrey (Schlimpert) Schubert

4.  Royce Murray

5.  Mary Popp

6.  Roy Wunderlich

7.  Patsy Fischer

8.  Richard Meinz

9.  Doris Enke

10.  Maxine Groh

11.  Lynn Degenhardt

12.  Nancy (Theiss) Ponivas

13.  Dennis Schuessler

14.  Carmen (Kuehnert) Bramstedt

15.  Dorian Boehme

16.  Delbert Meinz ?

17.  Barb Gerler

18.  Ken Preusser

19.  Carol Buck

20.  Ralph Koeberl

21.  Faith Fritsche

22.  Charles Boehme

23.  Charlotte Wachter

24.  Leon Holt

25.  Candace Murray

26.  Kathy (Zoellner) Schlimpert

27.  Earl Weber

28.  Sandra Weber

29.  Donald Boettcher

30.  Judy Gerler

31.  Don Bergt

32.  Marcia Schmidt

33.  Harold Schilling

34.  Wanda Gerler

35.  Ken Voepel

36.  Bob Schmidt

37.  Charlotte Lungwitz

38.  Beverly Petzoldt

39.  Kathy (Palisch) Berkbigler

40.  Ruby Holt

41.  Brenda Lorenz

42.  Donald Murray

Please share this post with other people who you think can help with these identifications.

Just one more side note:  Our museum Facebook page is very close to getting 1000 “likes”.  If you are not one of them, I urge you to like our page.