waynealumni.org

It has a bad last few weeks for Wayne Alumni. If you have looked at the In Memory page recently, I have added announcements of three alumni from the 70's. Since that was in the range of my era, I knew all three, but only casually. None of these remembrances are particularly interesting, but maybe if you knew one of these gentleman, feel free to comment.

John Sullivan was two years older than me. I didn't know him well, I can't remember every encounter I had with him, there probably were several. But one stands out for some reason. One late afternoon on the day of a soccer game under the lights, some friends and I had come up to the high school early, and were playing some football on the small soccer field that was perpendicular to the end of D wing. Some of the varsity soccer team was there early, and John came over, already suited up for the game. We were kicking field goals over the soccer goal posts, and John wanted to see how far he could kick one. As he made one, he would move back until at some point, he was out of range. I think we paced off his kicks, I'm sure they were over 50 yards. My friends and I shagged footballs for a while, as some of his friends eventually came over. Like I said, I didn't know him that well, but I was quite surprised when I saw he was a luthier. As a bad guitar player, I can appreciate the effort it takes to make a handmade instrument like that. I never would of imagined. I'm not sure why, but it seems like a lot of Wayne people ended up in Oregon.

I never met Bill Thurston, as far as I know. I exchanged a few emails with him about the Alumni web pages, when he would update his email address or Bio. Then one day he sent me his photo from atop Mt. Kilimanjaro. He obviously had the alumni page in mind when he carried the Wayne Eagles pennant all the way to Africa. I appreciated that he gave me the opportunity to use that picture on the website. When I received his Bio update last year, I realized that I had known his wife for years, and the next time I saw her, we discussed Bill's love of mountain climbing. I had hoped to one day thank him personally for the photo, but never got the chance.

I can't remember when I met Tom Monahan. I knew him from school, though him being 3 years behind me in school, I'm not sure how or when we met. So those memories are kind of fuzzy, but I remember Tom mostly from a phone call I got from him sometime in the late 1970's. He was looking to cut some firewood, and would I ask my parents if he could cut some from their property. I really don 't know why he called me, but I talked my Dad into it, and Tom spent some time cutting wood near my house. I went back there a few times and helped him a little. I don't know for sure, but I think he said he was cutting it to give to his father for Christmas. One day he got his truck stuck in some mud, and seems like my Dad and I tried to pull him out, but we didn't have much luck. So the truck sat there for a while. My Dad was pretty easy going, but it could be seen from the road and I knew that he wasn't happy the longer it went. I think he was just having a hard time getting the help he needed to get it pulled out, but he did after a week or so. I don't recall seeing Tom again after that.

To John, Bill, and Tom's family and friends, we are sorry for your loss.