50 years ago tragedy hit
When Deb (Christianson) Dixon got an early-morning visit to her dorm room by Huron College's Dean of Women, she immediately wondered what she had done wrong.
"I thought I was in trouble," she recalled 50 years later.
"That's about the only time the Dean of Women would come to our dorm room. She told me that I had better sit down.”
The visit was to regretfully inform Dixon that her brother John Thomas "Tom" Christianson and his close friend Robert "Bob" Edward Andersen, both Minneota graduates, had been killed in an early-morning automobile accident.
"I was in disbelief," said Deb, who was 16 months older than her brother. "I thought I was having a nightmare. I went numb all over and it felt like I was floating.”
"I remember I was sitting at my desk and I looked away and saw the picture of Tom that I had hanging on my wall. I just kept staring at it."
The three-vehicle accident occurred a half-century ago in the early morning hour of Oct. 19, 1969, two miles east of Madison, SD, on State Highway 34. Also killed was Richard Graff of Rutland, SD, who was in the vehicle that collided head-on with the Christianson-Andersen vehicle.
Because of the two young men's athletic prowess while in high school, the Minneota male and female Athletes of the Year Awards have been named the Andersen-Christianson Awards since 1970.
And because both boys were heavily involved in band and choir, the Andersen-Christianson Award also has been awarded to the Musical Student of the Year.
Dick Christianson, who was 12 years old when his brother and Andersen were killed, remembers the tragic day well but also finds it hard to believe that so many years have passed since that fateful Sunday morning.
"I can't believe it's been 50 years already," said Dick, who now lives in St. Cloud.
"I remember Pastor (John) Thorstenson and Gene Nordquist, who was the mortician in town, knocked on our door early in the morning before church.”
"I was sleeping and I woke up when I could hear my dad (Andrew) tell my mom (Helen) what had happened because my room was next to their room. Then mom came in my room to tell me and I could see by my parents' faces that they were devastated."
Bob, the son of Juston and Esther Andersen, graduated from Minneota in 1966. Tom was a 1968 graduate. Despite the two-year age difference, the boys were close friends. "I think they became friends from sports; mainly baseball,” said Deb, who resides in St. Peter.
"They both loved sports and they were very close friends." Bob was a senior at General Beadle (later renamed to Dakota State) in Madison, SD. Tom was a sophomore at Southwest State College (now Southwest Minnesota State University) in Marshall.
One of Tom's off-campus roommates that year was Jerry Teigland, also a Minneota high school classmate. Teigland originally had planned to go along with Christianson to hang out with Andersen over the weekend.
"For the life of me I can't recall what made me decide not to go with Tom," said Teigland. "We were all friends and I know we had planned this trip in advance. But for some reason I didn't go."
Teigland instead returned to his parents' farm in Minneota that weekend. "My dad woke me up Sunday morning to tell me what happened," said Teigland, who was one of Christianson's pall bearers.
"It was a tremendous shock to me and the community. I sat for a while and then I drove into town to stop in at Andy and Helen's house.” So Tom made the trip alone and spent the weekend visiting Andersen.
According to a report, the two boys spent Saturday night at a club in Sioux Falls and were returning to Bob's dorm. Around 3 a.m., Christianson and Andersen were traveling east in a Ford Falcon two miles east of Madison, SD on State Highway 34. Another vehicle driven by Graff, with Rick Olson as a passenger, was traveling east.
Graff and Olson were also students at General Beadle College. The vehicles collided head-on, while a third vehicle driven by Volney Stier of Madison, SD, was trailing the Falcon.
Upon impact, the Graff/Olson vehicle went backwards into the south ditch, while the Falcon carrying Andersen and Christianson came to rest in the middle of the highway. Moments later, the Stier vehicle broadsided the Falcon, splitting it in half. The front end of the car was located approximately 400 feet from the rear end. Dead on the scene were Christianson, Andersen and Graff. Olson and Stier had serious injuries and were transported to the hospital in Madison, but survived the accident.
The Ford Falcon car the boys were in belonged to Andersen, but there was never any report to the fact of which boy was the driver. "Either one of them could have been driving," said Dick. "They were both thrown from the vehicle and I don't know if they ever determined which one was driving."
Dixon said that she is unable to block out the horrific memories of that day is Tom's birthday and the anniversary date of the accident.
"Tom's birthday is Oct. 11 and he and Dick and my parents had come to watch me perform at Huron College because I had the lead in the musical, Brigadoon," Dixon recalls. "We had some good family time."
That was just days before Tom and Bob's lives were taken away. "When I think about it, the sad thing is that Tom only got to be 19 for a week," she said as her voice cracked. The funerals of the two young men were held together at Hope Lutheran Church.
"It was a blow to whole community," said Dick. "The church and the basement were packed.”
"My dad was a TV and radio repairman and salesman and he rigged up a speaker system at the school so people could listen to the funeral there at the same time." Teigland recalls Andersen's ability to excel in athletics despite being small in stature. "He was only about 5-foot-6 and I remember that he was such a good athlete for his size," he said.
"Both boys were excellent athletes and also so good in music and choir." Andersen was a quarterback in football, a point guard in basketball, and a pitcher in baseball. Christianson was a running back, guard and shortstop, respectively. "But more than anything, they were exceptionally well liked by everyone," Teigland noted.
"Bob was always a character and got everyone laughing," said Deb.
"Tom was a little more quiet, but a great friend to many." Dick recently passed through Minneota on his way to go pheasant hunting in South Dakota. He placed flowers on the graves of his brother and his parents in the family plot.
"I kind of think back now to how devastating Tom's death was for my parents," he said.
"I just felt I had to not dwell on it and keep on going for their sake."
Another tragic 50-year anniversary
On the same day that Tom Christianson and his family were attending Deb (Christianson) Dixon’s performance in the musical Brigadoon on Oct. 10, 1969 at Huron College, a fatal car accident took the life of first-year Minneota teacher Timothy Dahlquist.
Christianson and his close friend Bob Andersen, Minneota graduates in 1968 and 1966, respectively, were killed nine days later in a three-car accident two miles from Madison, SD.
Dahlquist, 22, who was from Lead, SD, was a 1969 graduate of Beadle College in Madison, SD; the same college Andersen was attending at the time of his death. Dahlquist was hired by the Minneota School District in September of that year to teach Chemistry, Consumer Mathematics, and General Science.
Dahlquist was traveling west to Sioux Falls for a doctor’s appointment when he was struck by a semi-truck traveling south on the intersection of U.S. Highway 75 and 19 west of Ivanhoe. He was thrown from his vehicle, which soon burst into flames. Dahlquist was pronounced dead at the scene; one day short of his 23rd birthday.
The semi-truck driver suffered only minor injuries. Dahlquist’s funeral in Lead was also heard at the Minneota school via a special wire service.