By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

Ten years ago, Ragan Durrenberger, a 1992 Prior Lake High School graduate, was an innocent bystander who was shot and killed in a Minneapolis nightclub while celebrating a Vikings’ win.

Since 2000, Prior Lake High School annually honors community members, past and present staff members and students in Ragan’s memory as a person who consistently demonstrated a positive attitude, perseverance, a drive for excellence in his work and the ability to build positive relationships.

To date, 51 tiles hang on Ragan’s Wall, located to the left of the trophy case on the east wall in the lower level of the lobby at PLHS.

This year, community members Sue Heaton and Sue Bruns, high school staff members Nancy Jans and Charles Lundstrom and senior Madalyn Baldwin were honored with nominations and tiles that were hung on Ragan’s Wall May 12.Ragan's Wall honorees from left,
Nancy Jans, Madalyn Baldwin,
Charles Lundstrom, Sue Heaton and
Sue Bruns with Becky
Durrenberger.

“This is always a heartfelt experience to come back to the high school my sons attended and graduated from to recognize honorees for Ragan’s Wall,” said Becky Durrenberger, Ragan’s mother.

A lot of things have happened over the past 10 years since that long weekend that Ragan decided to come home from Phoenix to visit in 1998, she said.

Durrenberger shared three things she has learned over the past 10 years about dealing with change in a person’s life. She said it is important to recognize what a person has lost, what still remains and what will come from the experience.

“I lost Ragan’s voice on the telephone telling me he loved me,” she said. “I lost his hugs. I lost a jokester who was always pulling pranks to make life a little more fun for everyone.”

Durrenberger said she still has her memories and photographs and her spiritual faith and understanding has grown stronger.

Since Ragan’s death, four people received his organs and others his tissues, she said. Every year she comes back to Minnesota to participate in the Victim Intervention Program Inc. (VIPI) walk at Como Park in St. Paul to recognize those lost to homicide and suicide and provide support and help for family and friends of the persons who died.

“Every year that walk brings us closer together sharing memories of Ragan,” Durrenberger said. “We also share the hope that we have encountered over the past 10 years.”

Durrenberger said when she thinks back to the initial phone call she received telling her that Ragan wasn’t coming home ever again, “It was like a brick wall,” was built in front of her.

“I had no idea what the future held or how to process the information,” she said. “I didn’t know where to go.”

With the support of friends and family, Durrenberger said she came to realize some brick walls need to be walked around.

“But with this brick wall my friends put up a ladder,” she said. “When I got to the top of the wall I saw things I never knew existed.”

From atop that brick wall, Durrenberger said she realized she could help people dealing with change. She started newsletter called the Journey of Hope, where she posts poems or stories she finds on the Internet reminding people what life can offer.

She puts together workshops for people experiencing change and she participates in the VIPI walk to share her stories with others.

Every year Durrenberger said it is great to be a part of honoring people who have reached out and overcome fear to help other people. “These are all qualities Ragan lived his life by,” she said.

Honorees

Every year a review committee looks over Ragan’s Wall nominees and chooses people from the community, staff and high school (past or present) who embody Ragan’s memory.

This year the review committee received more than a dozen nominees.

Heaton was nominated for her community involvement. She is a member of the district ABC Committee; she is the gymnastics representative for the Laker Athletics Booster Club; she organizes the sports panoramic poster ad campaign; is the treasurer of the Patrons of Arts and Activities; and mentors students through the Excel program.

Outside the high school, Heaton is a Bravo teacher at Jeffers Pond Elementary, runs the oratorical contest through the Prior Lake Optimists Club and runs Laker Idol for Lakefront Days.

Bruns, another community member nominated for Ragan’s Wall, was a member of the Prior Lake-Savage School Board, who according to the nomination letter, “made a lot of changes and impact” while serving the district.

The nomination letter went on to describe Bruns as a person who is always around the school visiting, laughing and has a smile on her face. “She is always willing to put in extra hours to get things done and make sure they get done right,” the letter stated. Her “positive attitude and strong and genuine character make her a great role model and a great addition to Ragan’s Wall,” the nomination letter reads.

Current staff members Jans and Lundstrom also hung tiles on Ragan’s Wall this year.

Attendance secretary Jans hung her tile next to her son Josh’s tile that was hung last year on Ragan’s Wall. “It’s an honor,” Jans said. “I was very surprised.”

Jans was nominated by students who wrote, “Nancy Jans is a wonderful person, plain and simple.” Jans works with students every day without judgment or criticism, the letter reads. “She understands students. She never excludes anyone from a conversation and is open and always willing to listen.”

Communications teacher Lundstrom was also selected for Ragan’s Wall.

Lundstrom will be retiring this year after many years of service with the district. His  nomination letter reads, “Lundstrom is an amazing individual who has impacted many lives over the years. He is such a creative person who gives so much back to the school.” Lundstrom’s life has been about educating others and he knows how to ask the right questions that make students think, the letter reads.

Baldwin, a senior, received a tile to hang on Ragan’s wall for her dedication to Prior Lake High School.

Baldwin’s nomination letter reads, “She is very reliable. You can always count on Madalyn.” Baldwin is a strong leader of the high school another letter reads. She is the National Honor Society secretary, a part of Students Offering Support, is a co-captain for the basketball team and is a Sunday school teacher with her church.

“Madalyn’s selflessness reflects through her time spent helping not only friends and peers, but little kids at her church.”

 Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at shogendorf@swpub.com.