I remember John ("Maynard" -- did we call him that ??) for many reasons: 1) rebellious student leaning towards the "left" early on, God bless him with his good intentions in that regard, 2) Popcorn vendor as he bought the old gas-fired popcorn wagon and continued to sell bags of such at the south entrance to the Racine Zoo, 3) staunch union steward at Massey Ferguson where I held a summer job as a college student; he and I refused to use a pile of lumber one day that was infested with insects --- brought the packing lines to a halt, 4) John taking a good length of agricultural irrigation tubing and screaming through it like an elephant before packing it away at Massey-Ferguson, 5) his ability to mimic the P.A. system at Massey-Ferguson and have our supervisor, Alex Hollow, running to the phone (John hated Alex and vice-versa).
And then there's #6 when I ran into John at the Washington D.C. Dulles airport; I had moved to work with Nissan in TN after having been both union and management employed at AMC in Kenosha. John did a big sniff up the nose and accused me of being a scab and a minion of Marvin Runyon, the CEO of Nissan in the U.S. So be it and I already knew that he was commited to the union movement with best intentions albeit locked into an economy and culture that had moved on. It's an encounter that, along with the past, I treasure and hope that "Maynard" had found peace in abundance.
Don Piggins
P.S. I've never been sure that he was in our graduating class !!!
Thank you Don for posting this article. JC is a classmate that left an impression on me, as well as a smile.
The longer I live the more I come to see how clueless I was in regard to what went on in the heads and hearts of others of my classmates. But perhaps teen age is that time when everything revolves around our own little growing exploring expanding selves. That said, Maynard, yes, our John, stood apart in his unique and awesomely intelligent take on the world--which reached well beyond high school. I remember him from time to time living in an apartment and not a house with parents like (I thought) the rest of us did. Amazed the crap out of me!
It was an adventure for me to show up there and feel insanely adult, talking politics of all things. I was amazed by the graceful way he managed to welcome viewpoints that weren't necessarily his. That is a skill I still strive to cutivate. RIP John. Your gifts are missed.
I always thought that John was in the Class of 1964?. He always marched to a different tune all of his life. John was a very good boxer competing successfully in Golden Gloves and won several tournaments in the early 1960's. While he attended McKinley JHS he was always challenged to a fight which usually took place in Island Park well away from the school grounds. I could never figure out why the guys would challenge him because of his boxing skills. I previously wrote that John was the co-owner, with Tom Hanson, of the Ivanhoe Dance Club which was a popular spot for us to spend the weekends. John drove a very nice 52'Chevy Coupe. Allot better than the one I drove. I didn't hang with John during HS. I spent more time with his sister Arlene who graduated Park Class of 1966. Our paths crossed several times after HS because of his and my family's involvement in the union UAW AFL-CIO and my working summers at Racine Steel Castings while attending college. A great guy........
Donald Piggins
I remember John ("Maynard" -- did we call him that ??) for many reasons: 1) rebellious student leaning towards the "left" early on, God bless him with his good intentions in that regard, 2) Popcorn vendor as he bought the old gas-fired popcorn wagon and continued to sell bags of such at the south entrance to the Racine Zoo, 3) staunch union steward at Massey Ferguson where I held a summer job as a college student; he and I refused to use a pile of lumber one day that was infested with insects --- brought the packing lines to a halt, 4) John taking a good length of agricultural irrigation tubing and screaming through it like an elephant before packing it away at Massey-Ferguson, 5) his ability to mimic the P.A. system at Massey-Ferguson and have our supervisor, Alex Hollow, running to the phone (John hated Alex and vice-versa).
And then there's #6 when I ran into John at the Washington D.C. Dulles airport; I had moved to work with Nissan in TN after having been both union and management employed at AMC in Kenosha. John did a big sniff up the nose and accused me of being a scab and a minion of Marvin Runyon, the CEO of Nissan in the U.S. So be it and I already knew that he was commited to the union movement with best intentions albeit locked into an economy and culture that had moved on. It's an encounter that, along with the past, I treasure and hope that "Maynard" had found peace in abundance.
Don Piggins
P.S. I've never been sure that he was in our graduating class !!!
D.P.
Dian (Kaydian) (Twirly) Wehrle
Thank you Don for posting this article. JC is a classmate that left an impression on me, as well as a smile.
The longer I live the more I come to see how clueless I was in regard to what went on in the heads and hearts of others of my classmates. But perhaps teen age is that time when everything revolves around our own little growing exploring expanding selves. That said, Maynard, yes, our John, stood apart in his unique and awesomely intelligent take on the world--which reached well beyond high school. I remember him from time to time living in an apartment and not a house with parents like (I thought) the rest of us did. Amazed the crap out of me!
It was an adventure for me to show up there and feel insanely adult, talking politics of all things. I was amazed by the graceful way he managed to welcome viewpoints that weren't necessarily his. That is a skill I still strive to cutivate. RIP John. Your gifts are missed.
Joel Sys
I always thought that John was in the Class of 1964?. He always marched to a different tune all of his life. John was a very good boxer competing successfully in Golden Gloves and won several tournaments in the early 1960's. While he attended McKinley JHS he was always challenged to a fight which usually took place in Island Park well away from the school grounds. I could never figure out why the guys would challenge him because of his boxing skills. I previously wrote that John was the co-owner, with Tom Hanson, of the Ivanhoe Dance Club which was a popular spot for us to spend the weekends. John drove a very nice 52'Chevy Coupe. Allot better than the one I drove. I didn't hang with John during HS. I spent more time with his sister Arlene who graduated Park Class of 1966. Our paths crossed several times after HS because of his and my family's involvement in the union UAW AFL-CIO and my working summers at Racine Steel Castings while attending college. A great guy........