Three retiring Decorah HS teachers share a common background

Elizabeth Lorentzen, Rick Twedt and Elaine Lore (Click on photo for larger image)

When the Decorah School Board decided to offer early retirement incentives to Decorah teachers, 17 teachers with a combined total of over 500 years of service to the school district decided to retire at the end of this year.

Of those 17 teachers, three share a bond that goes beyond having taught together for many years.  High School art teacher Elizabeth Lorentzen, high school vo-ag teacher Rick Twedt and high school consumer science teacher Elaine Lore are all three natives of Hamilton County in central Iowa, just west of I-35.

The "Hamiltonians," as they refer to themselves, have taught in Decorah for a total of 93 years.

Elizabeth Lorentzen graduated from Webster City High School, then attended the University of Northern Iowa.  She has taught visual art in the Decorah School District for 42 years--22 years at the elementary and middle school level and 20 at the high school level.

Rick Twedt graduated from South Hamilton High School, then went to Iowa State University.  He taught at North Winneshiek starting in 1977, then switched to Decorah in 1980.

Elaine Lore graduated from Stratford High School, then earned her teaching degrees at Iowa State.  She taught at five other school districts before arriving at Decorah High School 17 years ago.

When Elaine Lore arrived at Decorah High School, Elizabeth Lorentzen recognized her--as the 4-H chapter president from Hamilton County.  So, despite Twedt being a South Hamilton Hawk, Lorentzen being a Website City Lynx and Lore being a Stratford Indian, the three have been close friends ever since.

The Decorah--Hamilton County connection is continuing in new ways, even though the three Decorah High School teachers are retiring.  Decorah High School graduate Erica Munkel is now teaching visual art at Webster City Middle School and fellow Decorah HS graduate Beth Bockman is teaching math and science, also at Webster City Middle School.  Both Munkel and Bockman are former students of Elaine Lore.  In addition, Troy Smock, the son of Dennis and Emmarene Smock of Decorah, is the associate principal at the Webster City High School.