Four generations of Vikings

COEUR d'ALENE - School pride runs strong in this family.

Eighteen-year-old Myah Rietze will be the fourth generation of Coeur d’Alene High School graduates come May. She represents the sixth generation in the family line born and raised in Coeur d’Alene.

Her great-grandpa, great-uncle, great-aunt, aunt and mom are all part of the school's history in trophy cases, signs and photos.

“That means a lot to me,” Myah said. “I love this place and these people. The Viking spirit is contagious.”

The earliest relative to attend CHS was Myah Rietze’s great-grandfather, Thomas Jacobson. He graduated in 1943, when the high school was located on Seventh Street and Montana Avenue in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

Each generation played sports, and Myah’s great uncle — Ron Jacobson, Mayor of Post Falls and a 1974 CHS graduate — said he had fond memories of playing for the same school as his dad.

“I enjoyed my teachers and coaches and often think back on the good times we had,” Jacobson said. “I always cheer for the Vikings, unless they're playing Post Falls,” he added with a laugh.

Myah is the current ASB president, following in the footsteps of Jacobson, who was ASB president in 1974.

“I always loved being a Viking,” said Jacobson’s sister, Anna Jacobson Wood. “We had so much school spirit.”

Wood, a 1979 CHS graduate, said that when she attended the school, she’d have to arrive at the ballgames half an hour early just to get a place to sit or stand.

“For us it’s changed a ton,” Wood said.

Wood said the school originally had an open concept, so classrooms would have only three walls, none in the back. Desks were set up along tiers down into a pit in front of the room where the teacher taught.

“They had classrooms on both sides of kind of a hallway,” Jacobson said. “So if you're sitting here in class up above looking down at the teacher, you can turn around and see your buddies in all the different classrooms.”

The school also had pits with steps where kids would eat their lunches.

“We would always have pep rallies going on,” Wood said.

Jacobson said he remembers telling a teacher that as ASB president, it was his responsibility to get to the pits before lunch and make sure the music was turned on before class got out.

“I got away with it for half a semester before he figured out I just wanted to be first in the lunch line,” Jacobson said.

Kristi Jacobson Rietze, Myah’s mom who attended CHS from 1993-94, said she could remember senior pranks such as one year when the pits were filled with water and goldfish.

Kristi Rietze’s family home was zoned for Lake City High School when it was completed, so she and the rest of her younger siblings finished school there.

“But the saying here is, ‘Once a Viking, always a Viking,’ so I hold strong to that,” Kristi said. "I was blessed to be a Viking for two years of high school and am proud to be a Viking parent."

Kristi’s sister, Kerri Jacobson Wilfong, said she has memories of a teacher asking if she was related to one of her aunts, a former student.

Upon confirmation, the teacher followed with, “Worst student I ever had.”

“I’m a freshman and I'm scared,” Wilfong said, laughing. “Then she goes through the roll with everyone’s names.”

The follow-up question: Are you related to Anna Jacobson?

“Yeah, she’s also my aunt,” Wilfong said.

“Ugh, she’s also a troublemaker,” came the response.

“Already I'm like, 'Oh, no, I've got two strikes against me and I'm just getting started,'” Wilfong said. “She was a funny, memorable teacher.”

Each generation also had educational influence from Larry and Eileen Bieber, longtime teachers at CHS.

With so many ties between each generation at CHS, Kristi Rietze said there was something truly special about being a part of a school with so much history in her community.

“The Viking family extends beyond the walls of the school and provides a common bond among community and family members,” Kristi said. “I think any alumni you ask would say the same thing. They feel that family kind of pride in their school.”