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Memories of an old friend whose name I saw in newspaper online

On our Smart TV we saw an old grade school friend’s name in the newspaper online. I flashed to a memory.

Fourth grade circa 1976. He loved like all fourth grade boys, it seemed, a man by the name of Evel Knievel. So next to my driveway we have a 6 foot high fence. His plan wasto jump it with his bike. It was not a ten speed bike. Maybe five? For obvious reasons his parents were not buying him a ten speed.

So we took out a wooden plank and bricks. We piled the bricks then placed the plank leaning. He was going to start on the sidewalk, turn into the driveway, up the plank and over the fence.


Well my late grandmother came out wondering why we were not in the backyard. I excitedly told her the plans. We were thinking this would be nothing to Evel Knievel.

She pointed to us “put the plank and bricks WHERE YOU GOT THEM”. She then pointed to him and said “enough of this foolishness how do you think your mother would feel when I call her and say you broke your neck” she was an expert in applying “how do you think your mother would feel”.

In retrospect we were dumb ten year old boys. After grade school we saw little of each other. His parents sent him to a special school. He had serious anger problems. My mother would sometimes see his mother when shopping through the decades and each would ask each other about their sons. He got his anger issues in control.

So we saw his name. I hate when she looks at this webpage so depressing. She visits it every few days. There was his name. In the obituaries saying he died after a long illness.


First grade school friend that died, that I know of. I assume there have been others whose names I did not see or were not listed. When you reach late fourties I would think odds are in deaths favor of people I grew up with not being around.

Note we still have a fence in the same location just a different one that was installed circa twenty years ago.


Cedar Cove post tomorrow.

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