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It's a great small town.

We love to help each other.

We are always there for each other in crisis.

If, if needed.

It just feels like home.

It's just that comfortable.

And it's safe and it's everything, I guess, that big city living is not.

We like to have fun.

We like to, gather.

Greetings from Eureka.

Greetings from Eureka.

Greetings from Eureka!

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Greetings from Eureka.

Greetings from Eureka, everyone!

Greetings from Eureka!

Greetings from Eureka.

Greetings from Eureka, South Dakota.

Greetings from Eureka.

Eureka!

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[Narrator] It's a very special day in downtown Eureka.

Strike up the band, it's homecoming.

[sound of drum line, band, and cheering crowd] Today, students of all ages rally support for their school by taking to the streets during the annual parade competition.

[From Float] First place right here.

Definitely.

Yes.

That's a very good float, very good girls.

[Kid in parade] "Hi, Tim!

Hi, Timmy!"

Of course, homecoming is so much more than just candy and kids cheering.

It's a day to celebrate camaraderie and nostalgia and for all those classes past who have left their old stomping grounds to come home.

We are in Eureka, South Dakota today at the pep rally for Thunder.

It is homecoming week.

Eureka, South Dakota.

Look at all the wonderful people behind us, the band.

The parents are here for the pep rally.

They had an amazing parade here today, and I would love to welcome each and every one of you to Eureka.

South Dakota!

[Crowd] "Go!

Fight!

Win!"

[Narrator] Part of homecoming magic is passing the torch from one class to the next.

And making sure the fire stays lit for the next generation.

We'll come back to homecoming throughout the show.

But first, let's learn about some of Eureka's earliest school days.

[Museum Curator - Bonnie Mehlhaff] The first day of school in Eureka was August 30th of 1888.

The first teacher was Mrs.

Rena McKeever.

She had 40 students in a one room schoolhouse, and students were ages 6 to 16.

And most of them studied the same thing because there were so many kids, students that did not speak English.

Like I said, she had 40, students, a first term, which was three months.

Then it turned into 80 students and then 116.

She was the only teacher.

And then in this scrapbook, it said one morning, the students were startled when they saw Indian faces looking in their school window.

Shortly after that, someone came to school and said, don't worry, they're peaceful.

They came to Eureka to take the train to Washington, D.C.

to talk to the great white father about better rations for their people and more stock cattle.

Mrs.

McKeever also listed some of the names of her students.

One of her students was Mary Worthy, her parents owned a meat market in early day Eureka.

And Mary Worthy was one of the students who went to the depot.

And she knew a couple words in the Indian language.

One of the chiefs was Sitting Bull, so she went up to Sitting Bull.

He was wearing a blue Serge suit with a white shawl over his shoulders, and Mary Worthy walked up to him and she said, "Nice."

in his language.

He was so taken by this young, blond, blue-eyed little girl that the next spring he sent two of his braves to the worthy House with a fawn.

How interesting is that?

In the nearly century and a half since then, a lot has changed in Eureka.

But school has always seemed to be at the heart of it.

100 years after the first class with Rena McKeever.

We get a message from the mayor.

Well, I am Wendy Brockel, I have lived in Eureka forever.

All my life, except for going to school.

And I am the mayor of Eureka.

The first female mayor of Eureka.

There was a lot going on all the time.

You know, like I was.

We went to school.

Saturday nights were great around here.

50 some years ago.

I'm not going to date myself here.

50 some years ago, you know, there were dances Saturday nights and everything.

Yeah.

I love growing up here.

We've got homecoming tonight.

We've had the parade today.

We had the pep rally today.

Oh, right now is a middle school game going on.

And then the high school game.

The high school football game tonight.

Yeah, it'll be good.

And the field out there is beautiful.

Under the lights by the lake.

It's great.

But before we head out to the game, I asked the first female mayor of Eureka if she had any advice for the pep rally kids who may one day care for this town.

You know what?

If you feel strongly about something, do it.

Just step in there.

Even if you're like, "oh, I can't do that.

I...I...I."

Just do it.

Just do it.

Yeah.

[Stadium Announcer] And your North Central Thunder!

[Narrator] Things are just getting started out at the stadium.

But before the game.

Producer Greg Beesley introduces us to another caregiver who learned how to step up when needed, and just do it.

[distant sound of kids singing the national anthem at football game] [Producer] Ila Rae Reich has lived quite the life.

And it all started in a little town north of Eureka.

[Ila Reich] I was born in Linton, North Dakota, 6th August 1937.

And a little yellow house behind the fire station.

At the age of six, we moved to Eureka, South Dakota, where my father worked for, a car company.

And my mother took care of, the four children that she had at that time.

Started first grade at in Eureka through the 12th, who graduated in 1955.

I worked many jobs throughout her time in Eureka, but it was one job that would help set her future.

I did a nurse's aide at the hospital, and that's.

I decided I would become a nurse.

Soon Ila realized she wanted to travel.

So she hopped on the train and headed out west.

And after working in California for a little bit, she knew it was time for something more.

I joined the military in September of 63, when I was Air Force, from 1963 to 65.

I, did Basic at Gunter Air Force Base and Montgomery, Alabama.

[Producer] Being in the Air Force, Ila was ready to hit the skies.

[Ila Reich] We flew 131 C-130 ones from, Maine to Florida.

We dead-head that means without patients from, the East Coast.

So at McGuire to Elmendorf, Alaska, which was Anchorage.

And there we picked up our flights that were casualties from the Vietnam conflict.

[Producer] Ila would spend a couple more years in the Air Force making all the way to the rank of captain, but the call to service was too great to resist.

[Ila Reich] Having been Air Force for six years from 63 of 69 was out from 69 through 78.

So I was out for eight years.

And then I went back into the army to till 80, and then I was Army Reserve until 96.

And so I have, 24 years of military experience.

Ila would move up to the rank of lieutenant colonel, one of the few women at that time to earn that rank.

[Ila Reich] We're just fortunate as females to to have this type of rank.

I think rank is now almost not equal.

But getting there that females can come up to the same point as male is to, as far as rank is concerned.

[Producer] Thanks to some friends this past year I was awarded the Quilt of Valor for her service.

It was quite an honor to get the quilt, so I had my niece, Kelly Sue Wolfe and Hunter Heinrich presenting the quilt to me and the was presented to me.

They wrapped it around my shoulders.

It's a treasure, much of a treasure to be recognized by the nurses and nurses, a nurse.

I can nurse any place.

I can have a job anywhere.

But when it comes to areas of age or levels of education or whatever it is, they need to be informed of how to protect our nation.

And you don't think of these things until much later on in life.

It just doesn't happen.

You get to grow with this.

I mean, someone asked me why I was fine.

Why are you doing this?

Well, it's a job.

At that point.

It was a job for me.

But as you grow older, you value it.

It's a value of it [Narrator] In life, as on the football field, each position has a job, and all of them are important.

A good team values everyone because the only way we all win is by working together.

Eureka's earliest residents each brought their own set of skills, but when combined, they were able to produce incredible things.

When these European settlers arrived on the prairie, their stationary lifestyle was vastly different than the mobile teepees that dotted the landscape beforehand.

[Museum Curator - Bonnie Mehlhaff] Settlers first came to this area, to McPherson County in 1884, and the earliest immigrants came with few belongings.

Their first home on the prairie was often just the wagons that they came in.

Many dug a large hole in the ground, tipped their their wagons over, and covered them with canvas.

And that's where a lot of them lived until they could get a home built.

They used sod to build their houses.

They used cow chips and corn cobs to burn as fuel.

And after the railroad was finished, immigrants started moving to Eureka.

[Narrator] But despite its rapidly growing population, the burgeoning town's original name was a little too on the nose for some of its new residents.

[Museum Curator - Arlo Mehlhaff] The first train came to Eureka in 1887 and stopped in Eureka.

And they named this end of track.

For a while.

We don't know how the name Eureka got how they got their name, but it was referred the End of Track for a, at least as far as I could tell.

For about three months.

And all of a sudden they came up with the name.

And then from there on, Eureka grew.

[Narrator] Many of those immigrants were of German Russian heritage.

At the invitation of rulers like Catherine the Great.

Their ancestors brought agricultural know how to Russia in exchange for land and an exemption for military service and taxes.

But decades of war and eroding privileges left many seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

[Bonnie] When people came from Odessa, they sent an agent ahead to look for a spot that would be suitable.

They settled on this area because the latitude was the same, the soil was the same and the climate was the same.

[Narrator] Once here, farmers began sowing seeds and putting down roots.

[Arlo] There was a lot of wheat growing around Eureka.

In 1886, two thirds of the world's wheat was grown in the 75 mile radius from Eureka.

They had to come here because the train had no way to get into a mill any place, and they'd bring them to Eureka.

Usually it took them a day or two to get there, and then they had to stay a couple days and empty their own trailers of wheat.

And in 1896, Eureka was the world's wheat capital.

It was world's with capital from 1887 to 1902.

And then that's when they extended the railroad into North Dakota.

And people who lived closer to North Dakota took their wheat.

And in 1985 is when the tracks were taken out.

That's when our population declined, going from 1500 to about 900, people coming and going.

In a moment, we're going to learn how the descendants of those German Russian immigrants came to celebrate their heritage here in Eureka.

But first, it's almost half time back at the game.

[Sound of cheering crowd] "Let's go Thunder!

Let's go Thunder!"

[chanting crowd, clapping] [the crowd goes wild.

screaming.

cheering.]

[more clapping cheering] [Narrator] With the Thunder up by six, the half time whistle blows and players head to the locker room.

Mayor Wendy introduces me to a long time fan of Eureka football.

Don Fischer might have retired after selling his business in 2017, but you can still find him helping out around the school.

Well, back when I was in high school, we had like 272 in high school, and now I think we're about 140.

So the enrollment has gone down quite a bit.

We were playing at that time 11 man football when they're playing nine now.

At that time we were Trojans.

Eureka Trojans.

[Narrator] Whether going by the Trojans, the Patriots, the Cardinals or the Thunder - Eureka sports teams have some things in common.

[Don Fischer] We are wonderful people.

We try to greet anybody that comes to Eureka.

We got a beautiful lake.

We got a beautiful sports complex.

We got a good school.

And I love it.

[Narrator] As the second half kicks off, Don reminds me of Eureka's German-Russian heritage.

[Don] We're mostly all German people.

Germans love good food.

Though.

Food.

It's.

Eurekafest, which, originated years ago as, Eureka Schmeckfest.

Schmeck being smelling it probably doesn't make sense when you speak German.

It's kind of backwards.

So Schmeckfest.

Of course, we all know what fest is.

Schmeck means to smell.

It conveys an entire thought about how good food is and how good it smells.

And if you say it right, you can almost feel your mouth watering.

I know they ran out of cheese buttons.

One vendor had knoephla, which was fried with hash browns and butter.

What's popular is a pork hamburger.

It's like a pork sausage, but it's in a patty.

Oh, kuchen!

Kuchen, Yeah.

That's right.

We get it at the store and we pack it up and take it for 13 hours home, every year.

[laughter] Oh, things like strudla, and, and, and, schupfnoodla, and kase knoephla, boscht soup, and kuchen, and, Oh, my goodness.

Halupsi!

Ethnic foods.

And yet they're not really German and they're not really Russian.

It's a mixture of that German Russian heritage.

We had like a Germans from Russians group, and what they had was a German supper with German entertainment, probably, polka band and so forth.

And I remember, meeting with some of them at their home, and it didn't go so well where I said, "Well, maybe we should expand this from just having a little supper to a 2 or 3 day event."

You know what?

They listened and it took off, and we got a committee together.

And the biggest highlight I remember is we used to have a talent show.

We used to have the theater, 2 or 300 people.

We would packed out on a Friday night and two shows on a Saturday, and we'd have, you know, the big parade.

And then in the evening we'd have a German supper with entertainment from old time music.

This has been going on for a long time, and we're hoping that the next generation can take it over and we can all sit back.

Some of us and relax and not be and things, three days in a row.

But, no, we want to carry on this tradition of, of the old time tradition of the Germans from Russian heritage.

Now, producer Greg Beesley introduces us to one member of that next generation.

When you walk through Hunter Heinrich's house, you never know what you're going to see.

I started collecting antiques when I was about 11 years old.

My grandmother, she moved into the nursing home.

So we had the task of cleaning your house out.

And we kind of started finding these interesting things, especially the advertising stuff.

That's what I, originally got interested in.

[Producer] While some folks specialize in sports cards, comic books, or other memorabilia, Hunter focuses on things that highlight his hometown.

[Hunter] To give you guys, a few may not know advertising items for, different items with business names on them that were usually given out for Christmas.

So she had, accumulated a few of these items.

So as we were cleaning the house out, I found a few more and a few more and a few more.

And that's how I got started.

If I had to guess, I would say roughly 2000, 2500 different, items.

So lots.

[laughter] [Producer] But why advertising items?

[Hunter] I think when we were going through my grandmother's items, I kind of remember me thinking.

How many different items are there actually out there?

Because we would find a few unique items we found.

I remember a few calendars, a few bowls, things like that.

So I said to my parents, I said, well, I would like to start going to auction sales and seeing if I could find any more of this stuff.

Well, I'm still finding new things to this day that I didn't realize even existed.

So it's always a hunt.

There's always new items that I had no clue that are out there.

[Producer] As a collector and a member of the Germans from Russia heritage Society, history is important to Hunter.

That includes music.

[Hunter] There was a lady in Eureka.

They were cleaning out her dad's house.

He had passed away and her dad was in a polka band with my grandfather.

And my grandfather could play the accordion as well, but he played the steel guitar in that polka band.

But anyway, she had the accordion and she said, I don't want it.

If you wanted to see if you could try to learn it or whatever, and if not, just do whatever you want with that.

So I took it home and I started messing around with that a little bit, and I think it took me two weeks to learn my first song.

And now, oh, I could play a hundred or more songs.

And I had no lessons.

I was all self-taught, and all the songs I learned, I picked up from hearing them from other people or on the radio or different music that I have.

So yeah, I might.

I'm probably one of the last accordion players in this area.

There's a few, but there's not too many anymore.

Song centers around the history of the sights and sounds of the town of Eureka are safe in his hands.

I think it means everything because as the older generation slowly passes away, we lose a piece of history with each passing of our town.

So to speak.

So to me, preserving some of the history of Eureka and the surrounding area.

That gives at least people an idea of what the town used to be like.

[Narrator] At the end of the game, it's usually not whether we won or lost, but rather who we shared the field with and the relationships we made along the way.

Producer Jason Andera introduces us to one Eureka relationship that was meant to be.

[Producer] At 84 and 87 years old.

Janice and Joel remind you of young lovebirds.

[Joel] This woman was staring.

Says, "Boy, how long have you been married?"

And.

"Oh, boy, you two look like newlyweds."

And I said, "We are!"

[Producer] Their story begins in the late 50s.

Joel, then 19, would cruises 1950 Ford into Hosmer, South Dakota, a small town outside of Eureka.

[Janice] Eureka boys were coming to us for.

So we had to be of town.

You know!

[Producer] Joel noticed Janice, she was 16, bright eyed, sitting right beside him in his Ford.

[Joel] And of course she had to sit beside me.

I'd say she kicked the girls away.

So they couldn't... That was there... but not really.

And that's when I asked if her date she was 16 and I was 19.

And we'd go get together and then we go drive to different towns.

Sometimes we go to Roscoe, sometimes we go to Bowdle and then back to see what everybody was doing.

We just drove around.

My dad... [Joel] But her daddy didn't trust her.

Yeah, he sent my brother along with us.

I did find this out until a year before he passed on, he finally told us, he said, "Dad, dad didn't trust you, two.

So he sent me along to be with you guys."

[Producer] The pressure grew for nearly two years.

Janice's father, urged her to end things with Joel.

Finally said, yeah.

I'm getting tired of the folks disagreeing with us and I did finish my school and figured, well, the heck with it.

If I'm not good enough then I'll join the Army.

[Producer] Their young love story ended before it had a chance to begin.

Life moved on.

Janice married and moved to Gillette, Wyoming.

Joel returned from the service and married Janice's cousin.

For nearly 50 years, they lived entirely separate lives.

No calls, no letters, no idea where the other was.

[Janice] And he didn't know where I was.

And I didn't know where he was.

I asked the couple of guys, where she was at?

But nobody knew anything.

[Producer] In her early 70s, Janice decided to attend a class reunion with her brother in Deadwood, South Dakota.

[Janice] And this one guy is, isn't it?

Don't you want to know anything?

What's going on up in South Dakota?

And I said, well, I don't know that I did a few names that I named his name in Marge, and they said well didn't you know?

Marge passed on, and I says, no, I did not know that.

So I got to thinking, Well, I know how I felt because I had been a widow for ten years already, and I thought I should send him a sympathy card.

But then I thought, he won't know who I am, by my last name or anything.

So then I thought, well, I'll make a telephone call instead.

That's where that's where we connect.

[Producer] After that first phone call, Joel says his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

[Joel] Yeah if I could have, I'd have jumped in the car and went way all the way to Wyoming that night, I think I would have went.

[Producer] They began talking like teenagers again, phone bills started to climb and Janice decided to see him in person.

She was back in South Dakota for a funeral and finally had an excuse to see Joel face to face.

[Joel] She came out there and I hugged her.

I was gonna kiss her and her daughter stood there, and... [Janice] With the camera!

[Joel] I thought there's no way am I gonna kiss her when she's looking at me!

[Producer] Decades had passed, but their love had waited patiently.

And Joel didn't waste time.

[Janice] And I'll never forget my son's face and my son in law.

And then they were sitting there.

Did he really ask you?

So I said, " Yes, he did ask me to get married.

And, And I did say yes. "

[Joel] Well, I didn't know, she was my first choice, I guess and ahh, I guess you hypnotized me.

Yeah, I didn't know.

[Producer] They chose July 4th for their wedding.

Easy to remember, Joel jokes.

[Joel] She was getting so old, I figured we'd better get married on the 4th of July so we can remember the day.

Yeah, yeah... [Producer] They married in a little country church that's now a museum in Eureka.

A love story separated by time, brought back by fate and finally fulfilled.

[Joel] It came from above.

I guess, I'd say.

It did.

[Janice] The dear Lord seen to it.

[Joel] Just the way it was supposed to be.

If you've missed any of our stories here in Eureka, or just want to go back and take another look, you can see more at sdpb.org/dakotalife