Ralph O. Mortensen shot home movies of school activities when he was superintendent of the Rolfe Community School District in the mid-1950s. Through the encouragement and facilitation of Helen Gunderson (RHS 1963 and our editor) during the 1990s, Mr. Mortensen gave his films and photographic slides to the Iowa State University Special Collections Department in the Parks Library.

Helen originally edited the films for the RHS all-class reunion held in 2000 and added music that was custom-created by Emily Anderson, a former Rolfe teacher and school board member who now lives in Story City, Iowa. That original show was 22 minutes long and available on VHS tape. It is not yet available on DVD, but Helen is working on that. She has also divided the program into the three segments that are posted below.

If viewing these films prompts memories, thoughts, and/or stories on your part that you would like to share, send Helen an email or post a message on the Rolfe Alumni Yahoo message board. And if you're not a "writer" but want help fleshing out your idea to post on this site, let use know that, too. We would be glad to help.