Photo by Frank Graham

Courtesy Frank Albertson

Courtesy Jennifer Kay “Martin” Hargleroad

Courtesy Patrick Gorman

Courtesy Greg Befort

A North Platte High School class peered into the future 20 years ago.

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Creative writing teacher Frank Albertson and his class of juniors made a time capsule.

Shop teacher John Hartig constructed the eight inch tall chest out of cedar wood.

The students wrote about the world in 1990 and made predictions of how the world would look in 2010. They nailed the box shut April 25, 1990, and painted, “Open Earth Day 2010,” on the front.

The students went on and graduated and began their lives.

Albertson retired after 28 years of teaching in North Platte and now lives in Colorado, where he teaches university classes part-time.

“I wanted the class to create something tangible,” Albertson said recently about the time capsule. “In my class we would bring into existence something that doesn’t exist. It was a perfect project. I wanted it to be a measuring point.”

They did create a tangible relic.

Even though the class and the teacher disbursed across the U.S., the box sat silently on a shelf in a North Platte High School classroom for the next 20 years.

The chest made the move from the old high school to the new high school during the big move in 2002.

Over time, people forgot where the capsule came from.

But this spring, school officials opened the time capsule and discovered it was sealed by Albertson’s class.

Included in the time capsule were 3x5 index cards that contained concerns and predictions from each student in the class. Also included was a 12 oz. can of Coca-Cola, a one dollar bill, a penny and a key.

On his card, Albertson explained what the items symbolized. He said the class believed the items included would be obsolete. They believed, that by 2010, keys would no longer be in use. The class believed electronic security would have replaced all keys.

The class also believed the penny, of little value even in 1990, would be eliminated by the government.

Albertson said the dollar represented his class’ belief that all paper bills would be replaced by metal coins and that metal pop cans would be replaced by paper cartons and that the metal rings used to open the containers would no longer come off.

“There was a news item at the time about a pike that someone caught, about eight pounds, that had a metal pop-top ring embedded in his body,” Albertson said.

Albertson, on his card, wrote that gasoline cost $1.03 a gallon with lead, $1.10 a gallon for unleaded. He wrote that whole milk was $2.40 a gallon, lettuce was $0.39 a pound and a pair of Florsheim shoes cost $85.

“Tooth transplants are not yet as common as heart transplants,” Albertson wrote. He said the prom was Saturday and the theme was “Stairway to Heaven,” $5 for juniors, seniors free.

“Try to contact someone whose name is in this capsule,” Albertson wrote.

Jennifer Kay “Martin” Hargleroad

There were 14 students in that junior Creative Writing class.

The Bulletin was only able to track down three students for interviews.

Jennifer Kay Martin, now married and named Hargleroad, did not remember the project. But she did remember the class and her junior year as her best year in high school.

“I had great friends and got a great education,” Hargleroad said. “It was a fantastic experience.”

Hargleroad said she was filled with typical high school idealism when she wrote on her postcard in 1990, “Life is a beautiful thing and you shouldn’t destroy it like we are now in 1990.”

But Hargleroad’s prediction turned out to be pretty accurate.

“I have no idea where I’ll be while you’re reading this but I hope to be a medical doctor somewhere,” Hargleroad wrote.

Today Hargleroad is a pediatric dentist with her own practice in Ft. Collins, Colo.

“I always had a strong science background and knew I wanted to be in medicine,” Hargleroad said.

After graduation, Hargleroad attended Drake and Colorado State for her undergraduate degree. She attended dental school at the University of Nebraska and obtained her master’s degree in pediatric dentistry from The Ohio State University.

Hargleroad is married to a loan officer at U.S. Bank in Ft. Collins and the couple have twin 3-1/2 –year-olds and a 19-month-old.

Patrick T. Gorman

Patrick T. Gorman focused his postcard to the future entirely on the arts.

Gorman listed some Academy Award winner from 1989 from Driving Miss Daily, Best Picture; to Best Supporting Actor, Denzel Washington for Glory.

Gorman also listed Batman as the top grossing film for 1989.

“I took a trip to the Soviet Union with other students that year,” Gorman said recently. “Batman opened in theatres while we were gone. I was so pissed. I was all about Batman.”

Gorman was also interested in the business of Hollywood in 1990. He listed the most money made by an actor that year was Jack Nicholson for Batman, $160 million.

The postcard to the future revealed Gorman’s interests and also foreshadowed his future.

Today is an acclaimed playwright and screenwriter in the Los Angeles area of California.

Variety has called Gorman’s work “hilarious” and “unfailingly imaginative.” The Los Angeles Times compared his work with the “glory days of Second City if not the earlier, funnier Saturday Night Live.”

“I loved movies and TV and films back then and I still do,” Gorman said recently. “It defined who I was.”

Gorman said growing up in North Platte also defined him.

“I look back fondly on my childhood in North Platte,” Gorman said. “Both of my sons won’t have the same experiences I had.”

Gorman said going to the University of Southern California was a big step for him coming from such a small town but that he adapted.

“Going to USC is the key to what I have been able to accomplish,” Gorman said. “I just keep writing it and putting it out there.”

Gorman has written a number of plays and screenplays but is perhaps most famous for his stage version of Star Wars. Called “Star Wars in 30 Minutes,” it began as a class project but gained recognition at the Edinburg Festival in Scotland. The play ran for a year in LA and Star Wars producer even invited Gorman and the other actors to Skywalker Ranch to perform the play for him on two different occasions.

“We weren’t sure how he would take it,” Gorman said. “We’re kind of goofing on Star Wars but he loved it and invited us back.”

Gorman said he and his family try to return to North Platte every Christmas but that he intends to return this sooner so his family can experience a Nebraska summer.

Gorman’s latest effort is a science fiction book based on a kid growing up in North Platte who goes on Harry Potter-type adventures.

“He’s just a goofy Nebraska kid,” Gorman said. “Just like the one who wrote movie details in the time capsule 20 years ago.”

Greg Befort

Greg Befort of North Platte said he “kind of” remembers the time capsule project but none of the details.

“I can’t believe it’s been 20 years,” Befort said. Befort has a daughter who will enter her junior year at NPHS this fall.

On his postcard, Befort’s concerns in 1990 were factory pollution and littering.

“Diseases which are feared now are diseases such as Aids and cancer,” Befort wrote. “By the time these cards are read in the future, they may be extinct like Small Pox is today.”

“Coca-Cola is the most favored pop these days but I prefer Pepsi,” Befort wrote. “My Buffalo Bills will get to the Super Bowl one of these years.”

“I don’t remember writing that but I’m glad I didn’t sound stupid,” Befort said recently. He said he liked Frank Albertson.

“He was a good teacher, a good guy,” Befort said. He said he remembered falling asleep in one of Albertson’s classes and, when he awoke, there was an entirely different class around him.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Befort said he asked Albertson.

“You just looked so peaceful,” Albertson replied.

The rest

Dustin Harding wrote on his card that Albertson was “a little different.”

“He is a funny person who cares and tries to change the world,” Harding wrote. “I hope you enjoy this.”

Shawn King was concerned about the “endless and heartless destruction of the Amazon jungle.”

Trish Eckhoff wrote that the minimum wage was $3.80. She also assured the future readers that “we are no different than you.”

Hazel Loving highlighted the most popular hits in 1990 including Motley Crue, Madonna, Bobby Brown and Michael Bolton.

Dyanna Lomeli was concerned about the Ozone layer. She also informed future readers that the only excitement at NPHS was when someone got into trouble.

Aaron Lewis told us about his new stock car, a 1974 Monte Carlo. He planned to race it at the Lincoln County Raceway that summer.

Angelia Hagan advised us to find out who the high school principal was.

Angelia Somers requested we look her up in 2010. We tried but couldn’t locate her.

Velma Ochoa, Michelle Folchert and Wendel Knepper advised us to “party hard.”