On the Mississippi		Rafting on the Mississippi River Chicago to New Orleans, June-July 1964 Where are they now?
Home Preparations On the way Arrival Daily Log Where are they now Click on images to enlarge		After the voyage ended, the four rafters enjoyed the rest of the summer with their families. That fall, each went to a different city for a year of intern teaching under the auspices of Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, Illinois:      Norm to Royal Oak, Michigan;      Les to Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin;      Mike to Saginaw, Michigan;      Ron to Centralia, Illinois. Beginning in the fall of 1965, Norm, Mike, and Ron spent their final college year together and graduated from Concordia on May 27, 1966. Les finished his final year at The Ohio State University. The rafters all had different experiences over the ensuing years. Here’s what they did and where they are now.
Norm and Pat Hellmers		During Norm Hellmers' year of intern teaching in Royal Oak, Michigan, he met Patricia O'Brien. They were married two days after Norm's graduation on May 29, 1966. During the second year of their marriage, they canoed the Upper Mississippi River, from Lake Itasca to Muscatine, Iowa, from there they traveled on a towboat to St. Louis. In January 2003, Norm retired from the National Park Service after a 31-year career working in different parks around the country. His last assignment was in Springfield, Illinois, where he was Superintendent of Lincoln Home National Historic Site. In 2005, they moved to Valparaiso, Indiana, to be close to their two children: Jennifer (Hellmers) Bjornstad and Jeffrey Hellmers. In retirement, Norm and Pat have worked on family history and traveled in the U. S. and abroad.
Les Netland		After completing his teaching internship in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, Les Netland completed his Bachelor's Degree at The Ohio State University in 1967, went on for a MS degree in Community Mental Health at Northern Illinois University in 1973, and finally for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Illinois School of Clinical Psychology in 1992. In the interim, Les was married to Rebecca Johnson from 1969-1976 and has two children, Christine (Netland) Strudwick with grandchildren Skylar and Sophia, and Gregory Netland with grandchildren Lars and Tova. From 2012 to 2015, he had a second marriage to Debra J. Marshall, who had three internationally adopted children: Angelena, Christallin, and Julieann. His career in mental health administration and clinical care has included experiences in a state hospital, state mental health department, county jail, community mental health centers, nursing homes, and several private practices. He currently resides in Bend, Oregon, where he continues to work part-time as a psychologist on an online counseling platform.
Mike and Lynne Nell Riemer		After his internship year in Saginaw, Mike Riemer completed his final year at Concordia, graduating with Norm and Ron. He accepted a position as the Director of Christian Education at Grace Lutheran Church in Mobile, Alabama. In 1968, Mike married Marion Chalker (now Kennedy). They had two children, Laura (Riemer) Kellum and Emily Riemer. After several years of teaching in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, and then Atlanta, Mike accepted a teaching assignment with USDESEA, the school system for military families serving in Europe. Mike, Marion, and Laura lived two years in Regensburg, Germany, and three years in Huntingdon, England. During those years, he attended the overseas campuses of George Peabody College for Teachers and Vanderbilt University, earning an MS degree in Human Resource Development Counseling in 1976. That same year, Emily was born in England. In 1977, he returned to New Orleans to teach at St. Paul Lutheran School, where from 1981 to 1987, he also served as principal. In 1990 he married Lynne Nell Dietz. From 1987 to the present, he has taught in independent schools, serving as Assistant Administrator at St. George’s Episcopal School and for the past 11 years at Isidore Newman School in uptown New Orleans, where he is now Middle School Dean of Students. The Riemers lost their home in Katrina and now live in a historic bungalow in Old Jefferson, just outside New Orleans. Mike and Lynne Nell are active at St. Paul Lutheran Church and spend much time with their extended families in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Ron Wismar (1943-2011)		After the summer of 1964, Ron Wismar spent a year intern teaching in Centralia, Illinois. In 1966, he graduated with Norm and Mike from Concordia Teachers College. He began his graduate studies in psychology at the University of Iowa, following which he taught for a year at St. Paul Lutheran School in New Orleans, which he, Norm, and Mike attended as grade-schoolers. In 1968, he began six years at Emory University in Atlanta, earning MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology. He then worked for two years at the Brevard County Mental Health Center in Rockledge, Florida. In the summer of 1976, he began four years of teaching and counseling at his Alma Mater, Concordia. In 1980, he returned to New Orleans to work as a Clinical Psychologist for the Chartres Mental Health Center, from which he retired in 2008. Ron passed away on September 14, 2011. During his life in New Orleans, Ron was extremely active. At St. Paul Lutheran Church, he was an elder, served on the worship committee, was a member of the Senior Choir, participated in plays of Capricious Productions, and volunteered as a tutor at St. Paul Lutheran School. In addition, he sang in the New Orleans Symphony Chorus, served as a volunteer tour guide in the French Quarter with the Friends of the Cabildo, was a member of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization, and studied French with Alliance Française de La Nouvelle-Orléans. He was an avid traveler, having made annual holiday trips to New York City for 30 years, as well as visiting cities worldwide. In keeping with his wishes, Ron’s remains were interred in a historic above-ground family tomb in St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery (Louisa Street)  in New Orleans. Our college friend and raft patron, David Mahler, wrote a musical composition, a round, to honor Ron. The tribute can be found here. Some time after the trip, Ron wrote a story about the journey that he hoped could be published. He may have sent it to Reader's Digest. In any case, his account of the trip was never sold. A transcription of the story can be found here.
Forty years afterwards, the raft construction/launching site and starting point looked very much the same, except that vegetation had reclaimed much of the area. In 2004, it was still open to the public.		Construction/launching site — 1964 Construction/launching  site — 2004 Starting point — 1964 Starting point — 2004
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