Students shuttled in and out of the lecture hall in the Tharaldson School of Business during the morning, their entrances and exits marking the hourly tides of university classes. Once the University of Mary students had shed their weighted backpacks, they leaned forward attentively in their seats, as, one by one, the seven Rough Riders took the podium to give the summarized version of how they got to be where they are now, from where they began.

Where each began was in North Dakota. Where they are now are the high branches of fame in show business, regular business, music, education, literature, journalism and public service.

The seven - Angie Dickinson, William Marcil, Chester "Chet"Reiten, Bobby Vee, Harry Pearce, Sister Thomas Welder and Larry Woiwode - have all received the Rough Rider Award, North Dakota's premiere honor for native sons and daughters who have distinguished themselves. Missing only Thomas Clifford of the eight who were able to attend this reunion, the group gathered at U-Mary Thursday to offer their thoughts on success, fame and service.

Dickinson, who from a childhood in Kulm, now has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, told students plainly that she doesn't like the cliche that anyone can grow up to be anything they want. Being, say, an astronaut, for her, might be desirable but not achievable, she said. But success in show business? She made it through a combination of luck, faith in herself, tenacity and hard work, she said.

"You can do anything you want," the phrase should be, she said, "within the realm of reality."

Marcil, who achieved prominence as president and CEO of Forum Communications, joked that he started out well enough, by marrying the boss's daughter, adding more seriously, that there is no silver bullet to success. Success comes, he said, through hard work, being a team player and giving something back.

Harry Pearce traced his career path from a young attorney in Bismarck to the position of vice chairman and a director of General Motors Corporation, and chairman of the Hughes Electronics Corporation board.

What's important for leaders, Pearce said, is to surround themselves with good people, tapping the strength, innovation and creativity of employees.

"Don't ever assume you've got it all"yourself, he said.

Spokesperson Kevin Cramer introduced Chet Reiten, longtime North Dakota public servant and founder of the Norsk Hostfest, the premiere Nordic festival in the country, as "a champion of legacy and heritage."

Reiten's wisdom, disguised as a comedy monologue, came down to a couple of points:Starting a business is tough, but there are opportunities out there for folks to make successes of foundering existing businesses. Quoting Victor Hugo, he said "there is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come." And, "you'd better do public service - that's your payment for the privilege of being in the free enterprise system."

Musician and classic rock-and-roller Bobby Vee, a native of Fargo, said his life is still full of passion for music. His career start came through tragedy in 1959, when he, at 15, volunteered to fill in at a Fargo concert after the plane-crash deaths of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Richie Valens.

Success is measured for him in the lives of his grown children, his 46-year marriage, and his continuing involvement with fundraising projects and community service in his Minnesota community.

"Don't Let Your Dreams Go" is the title of one of Vee's songs: That's the truth, he said.

"Hang on to it, creating, bringing new ideas."

Kramer noted in his introduction of Sister Thomas Welder that the University of Mary has grown to its current success in only 50 years and Sister Thomas has president of the school for 30 of them.

Sister Thomas, a native of Linton, called herself "an offspring of the prairie," who always wanted to be a teacher like the Benedictine Sisters she so admired as a child.

"We are not alone," she said. "We are part of something bigger than we are.

"We do much better," she said, "if we do it together."

Best-selling author Larry Woiwode, who returned to North Dakota 30 years ago, said that when drives along, he turns in the direction of his hometown of Sykeston and says, "thank you, thank you, thank you:" To North Dakota, to his hometown, to his parents, to all who contributed to his upbringing here.

What's of concern to him today, he said, is the deterioration of the ability to communicate, both in writing and speaking, and "horizontal" communication among students - peer to peer - supplanting sources of classic learning such as reading.

"You'll never learn to write if you're not reading," he said. "I teach. That's how I return … the knowledge I was given."

Since 1961, 36 North Dakotans have received the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award.

(Reach reporter Karen Herzog at 250-8267 or karen.herzog@bismarcktribune.com.)