Robbinsdale High School Alumni
Minnesota (MN)
Mark Pruhs
Robbinsdale High School
Class of 1971
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MARK'S PROFILE
| First Name | Mark |
| Last Name | Pruhs |
| Graduation Year | Class of 1971 |
| Gender | Male |
| Current Location | Maple Grove, Minnesota |
| Hometown | Golden Valley, Minnesota |
| Relationship Status | Married |
| About Me | Last update, 2.04.19. Back at Robbinsdale High School, (class of 71), I always had a camera with me, a Nikon F along with a darkroom at home I built in the basement when my parents went away for a long weekend in early 1969. Dad wanted to wait until summer to build it, I didn't want to wait that long. I sold prints to everyone starting in my sophomore year and shot over 14,000 pic's in just my senior year. The school paper paid me for every print I did for them, the Annual paid 3 times my black & white rate of .50 for 5"x8" and .75 for 8"x10" because they demanded an exclusive on the picture. My cost was .05 for 5"x8" and .10 for the 8"x10". The jocks and jock'ets paid for pictures of themselves, the cheerleaders were great customers and purchased hundreds of prints every year. Homecoming was always a great pay day as was when we took third place at state for basketball, I shot 700 pic' at each of the 2 State Playoff Games. I would shoot dress rehearsals of the plays and the big musical each year, lots of prints sold to everyone plus staff, the musical was my top payday. The school district paid me also to photograph Armstrong High School as it was being built at $10.00 a trip. For 24 months I would go to the construction site 1 or 2 times a week and on opening day, 12.01.1970. In my Junior and Senior year I had first period study-hall and had a deal with my homeroom teacher that I would call if I was not going to be at school by second period. Why, I would develop film at night and make contact sheet and prints from the negatives in the morning. This was the only job I had while attending school. I also have photo credit in the RHS 72 Yearbook, they paid me to come back and shoot for them. It has been a great hobby that turned into an enjoyable and profitable career in photography, wedding, portrait and some commercial work along with sales & marketing with an office in the home. I shot my first wedding at 17, neighbor girl had to get married (I think it is still a secret), her parents knew I had a good camera. But, in July of 2001 a guy in a big old Caddy doing 60-70 MPH was on his cellphone in a construction zone on I94. He did not notice that both lanes were stopped, he never applied his brakes, he totaled 2 vehicles and damages 3 others, he had minimal insurance. I tried to work but had to cut back and by 2006 I could not hold a camera anymore. Married in 1977 to Mary, she has a good job, so I live off her in our home in Maple Grove. We have 3 kids, 29, 32 and 36 as of 1-2019, the youngest, Erin, graduated from the U of M and has her Masters. Son #2 is a Master Sergeant (MP) in the Army, he spent 1 year in Iraq (we did not sleep well that year) and is currently stationed in Germany. Oldest son has a 4 year business degree from St. Cloud State and is at Target Corp. With Mary (the wife) we have been to Europe twice, 6 Cruises, one with all 3 kids for 16 days to Hawaii and back for our 25th wedding anniversary. Rafting in the rain-forest during a week in or off the coast of Venezuela along with scuba, snorkeling and flying in ultralights. Just your typical vacation like when we were in Colombia with a English speaking guide and his Spanish speaking driver. We would have enjoyed that much more had we known we would be alive at the end, nobody but the guide and driver knew where we were. My last 2 business cars were Mercedes convertibles, SLK and then a SL500. My fun car, a 1967 Jag with a 3.8L straight 6 and 4 on the floor. Channel 11 did a live remote for their 5 & 6 PM news from our home due to our Halloween setup, it's bigger that most. We have made a few crafts for the Minneapolis Aquatennial Milk Carton Boat event over the years, our largest was 6500 1/2 gallon milk cartons with 38 adults and kids on-board. It was a 95 foot long, 8 foot wide circus train with a 20' long cannon, we did a skit with clowns loading my youngest son in the cannon and shooting him 45 feet forward into the smokestack of the train engine, or a kid dressed the same appeared. We did win first in the top event for creativity. Another was a 6000 milk carton bridge, 50 feet long with 5 neighborhood families, 21 people on the bridge-deck 8' above the water, they were very concerned it would collapse and put all of us in the water, we had a picnic on it. I used much of it for the circus train the next year, it cost me $2500.00, we won $500.00, the top prize. Smaller craft of 3500, 3350, 2120 and only 1460 cartons. We always won money for creativity, never for speed, but, anyone can make a fast boat, they paid more for creativity. We always made the local news, a friend from California called after seeing us on CNN. ...(read more) |
Class of 1971 Alumni
→ Reunite with 47 class of 1971 alumni that have joined.
Anne Clark
Class of 1970
Evelyn Wille
Class of 1949
Sue Cahlander
Class of 1978
Daniel Peterson
Class of 1978
Lylis Olsen
Class of 1978
Michael Murto
Class of 1978
Jim Eberle
Class of 1977
Denise Mattson
Class of 1971
Mark Metcalf
Class of 1978
Dean Sjoquist
Class of 1975
Timothy Lies
Class of 1978
David Rathje
Class of 1979
Diana Brecht
Class of 1973
Craig Jentink
Class of 1971
Shawntana Sistrunk
Class of 2009
Karl Schnapp
Class of 1969
Sherry Cowell
Class of 1999
Judie Cass Lueck
Class of 1962
Recent Class of 1971 Reunions
Plan a Class of 1971 Reunion for Free
RHS Class of 1971 & 1972 50th Reunion
Invited Classes: 1971, 1972
Date: Sep 17, 2022
Description: Additional Information on Facebook 'RHS Seventyone'. Buy Tickets at 'MyEvent.com' until 5:00pm CST on 9.13.22. $71.50/...(read more)
Class of 71 & 72 50th Reunion in 2022
Invited Classes: 1971, 1972
Date: Sep 17, 2022
Description: Check out 'RHS Seventyone' on Facebook. RHS 1972 (Robbinsdale High School) on Facebook Additional Information and BUY ...(read more)
Robbinsdale All-Class Reunion
Invited Classes: All Classes
Date: Oct 19, 2013
Description: Contact Thomas Walsh, School Board President at 763-593-1013, or walsh016@tc.umn.edu
ROBBINSDALE ALL SCHOOL REUNION and COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
Invited Classes: All Classes
Date: Oct 18, 2013
Description: PRESS RELEASE: Largest Minnesota All School Reunion to Draw Thousands Bobbie Socks, cords, buzz cuts, pigtails and ...(read more)
RHS ALL SCHOOL REUNION AND COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
Invited Classes: All Classes
Date: Oct 18, 2013
Description: * Friday October 18 ,3-6pm --Meet and Greet with tours of grade schools and Sandburg Middle School and the former RHS bu...(read more)
Robbinsdale All-Class Reunion
Invited Classes: All Classes
Date: Oct 18, 2013
Description: Go to robins.classquest.com to sign up for reunion on-line!