SIXTEEN

1971
Friends/Family:
Brother, Patty

My brother was home from college. He invited me to Bowling Green to a frat party. I was so excited. He was president of his fraternity and he organized a party and wanted me to meet someone. I went and met George. He was so shy. I was shy but he had me beat. He was really cute though. We just walked around campus and ended up at the student union. We finally got back to the frat party and of course, there I was, underage drinking again. I am seeing a theme develop here.

Patty and I would go to the park where there was a band shell constructed by the WPA government funded efforts of FDR and the New Deal. It was huge and had great acoustics. Patty and I would climb on stage and sing (to no one) Carol King songs. We could sing in harmony and our favorite song was "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow". "Tapestry" was a major purchase for me during this era. It was perfect for high school girls.

Patty and I were fellow cheerleaders so we would get in our fair share of trouble. One time Patty came over, took the screen out of my window and tapped on the glass. I crawled out and off we went in the middle of the night to the park. I worked at the swimming pool so I knew how to get in and especially the concession stand. After we loaded up on our confections, we would go into the showers and turn them all to HOT and full blast. We turned it into a sauna and would sit there and eat our candy and steam. Strange prank now that I think about it. We would eventually be done with that and make our way back home. I climbed in my window, Patty would put the screen back and she would take off for her house. We would do this repeatedly through the summer. Good times.

Kenny transferred from a small school so he could play basketball. He was a good player and there was talk that he could be scouted for a college scholarship. We dated a few times in my sophomore year. I considered myself lucky since he was big man on campus and even more desirable since he was the "new" kid. Anyway, things turned out well for Kenny because he did end up getting a scholarship with the Dayton Flyers. He did really well until he got spinal meningitis. They had to rush him to the hospital with a 100+ degree temperature. It was so bad that he suffered some brain damage. That ended his basketball and college career. He was put into a specialist program and studied to be a meat cutter. His life was going well and he ended up marrying his high school sweetheart from his hometown. However, due to his illness, Kenny was never the same. He ended up murdering his wife. He cut her up into pieces and placed her throughout their home. He surrendered without a fight and is serving a life sentence. What a rapid fall from the very top to the bottom of a life.



In history, this happened: 1971
http://www.infoplease.com/year/1971.html