WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL TWO RIVERS WI CLASS OF 1989

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

JENNY MALLEY

Ah, Jenny, what can you say? In my opinion (no doubt shared by others) Jenny was far and away the most beautiful girl I went to school with. The cool thing about her is that she had the personality to match.

I first got to know Jenny when we were in 7th grade. She and I shared every single class together. We also had our lockers next to each other. Lucky me! I was put in between her and B.J. Lutterman. It was supposed to be alphabetical. But my mom had spoken to the vice principal, Mr. Slattery at our middle school. She didn't want me next to Doug Wall. So they obliged and moved me.

Jenny was the nicest girl. And she had the cutest giggle. Aside from the obvious physical attraction, what I respected about her most of all was the way she treated people. Jenny was without a doubt part of the the "in crowd." But unlike many of her peers, she did not put down or look down upon those who were socially beneath her. She had to look way down to see me. But she was always kind and friendly to me.

In Mr. Stodola's 7th grade science class, we were watching a film strip one day. We all turned our desks to face the screen. I ended up desk-to-desk with Jenny. Oh, lucky me! For reasons unbeknownst to me, Kevin Dehne and I began to crumple up paper, and whip it at the chalkboard. After several minutes, we'd made quite a mess. Apparently Jenny noticed that Mr. Stodola was coming. So she warned me of his potential presence. Unlucky for her, Stodola heard her. So he stopped the film strip, turned on the lights, and ripped into Kevin and I. Then he turned his attention towards Jenny, scolding her even harder for trying to protect me from harm. If memory serves, he made the three of us clean up the mess.

Jenny must have been on Clarke's basketball team. One day she came to school with a broken finger. She had apparently broken it in a game the night before. She mentioned that the girl who broke it (accidentally) didn't even get called for a foul. Our math teacher, Mr. Longhini joked, "She hit you in the nose, and broke your finger."

One day Doug Wall came by my locker. Jenny and I had been talking about how cool we thought Slade's song "Run, Runaway" was. Doug misunderstood us and thought we were talking about Bon Jovi's song "Runaway." We both laughed at Doug.

Jenny sat next to me in Mr. Monka's history class in 8th grade. I seem to recall her mentioning to me one day that during the previous weekend, she had gone rollerskating. I think it was in Manitowoc at the Rollaire Skate Center. Anyway, whenever they used to play Taco's song, "Puttin' On The Ritz" the guys would change the lyrics and say "Grabbing girls' tits." And then they would go around grabbing the boobs of the females in attendance. I asked Jenny is she herself was groped. And she said yes. She also said that place decided that they would no longer play that song anymore.

Near the very end of 8th grade, Jenny had a major hairstyle change. She went from straight and spikey to short and curly. Wow! I didn't like it. It really altered her appearance. Apparently she didn't like it either. Needless to say, a few months later, at the beginning of our freshman year, she had changed it back.

During our junior year, I wanted to find a copy of the song "Pop Muzik." My friend Jason Krings said he'd find it for me. He did. He borrowed the '45 from Jenny. During our senior year, I told Jenny that I still had her record. She told me to keep it. I still have it. If you want to see the actual record, just look down. Back in 1979, someone in the Malley household purchased this.



In high school, she dated a guy named Kevin Keip and Jack Jansky (who I don't think ever smiled). Lucky guys. In our senior year, the school was abuzz with a rumor that Jenny was secretly dating one of the new teachers, Mr. Kakuk. I thought the rumors were ridiculous. Still do.

I ran into Jenny a few times at the video store. The last time I saw her was around 1993 or so. She rented "For The Boys." I haven't heard from her since. Although a few years later, Dave and I went skydiving together with her older brother Steve.

I believe that Jenny got married and became Jennifer Quigle. Unfortunately, she divorced. I think she moved to southern California.

Jenny was the full package. She had beauty, brains, personality and a great body. Wherever she is today, I'm sure nothing has changed.

Update - 1/31/06 - Jenny has dropped in. I've E-mailed her a couple of times. She did in fact move to San Diego, but has since moved north to Santa Cruz. She's also remarried, and now is known as Jennifer Bertram. Bertram... that name has a nice ring to it. She is now into buddhism, and is studying Chinese medicine. Both she and her husband are graduating in June. Then they plan to move back to Madison and open up their own business. Power to them! She has no children as of yet. But there may be some in the future. Jen sent me two pictures from her 2004 wedding. They're posted below. The hair is darker. There are eight more tattoos than the last time I saw her. And she's still as cute as ever. Thanks for stopping by Jen!




UPDATE - 4/10/06 - As mentioned by Joe Antonie in Jenny's comments, she was into breakdancing. Thanks to Cindy Rohrer for providing a glimpse of Jenny from those days. Does this scream 80's or what? I love it!



UPDATE - 5/18/06 - I think this photo came from Cindy Rohrer as well. She must have hundreds of them. This is apparently from 4th grade.



UPDATE - 8/15/06 - I've got perhaps the newest picture of Jenny. It was taken just a few days ago, while on a date with her husband. You can see it below.



UPDATE - 8/28/06 - UPDATE - 8/28/06 - Jenny and her husband were visited yesterday by fellow graduate Greg Pagel and his wife. The four of them hung out all day, and listened to some live blues music in a park. The two pictures are below.





UPDATE - 11/10/06 - Adding to her record number of updates, here's Jen, along with Lisa King, on our senior video.



UPDATE - 3/2/07 - Yesterday Jen and I actually got together for lunch. We work about seven minutes apart from each other. So I drove down to see her. We ate at a restaurant located in the same building she works in.

What a delight. I was a bit nervous to see her. After all, here was the girl that I had a huge crush on for most of my childhood. But the nervousness was unfounded. It was so cool to sit and gab with her for an hour, friend to friend. My fish sandwich was tasty too. When we were done, she gave me a tour of her work place.

Jen is as sweet as ever. We've tentatively planned to have lunch together every other week or so. I'm looking forward to it. Life is so cool sometimes.

As a side note, four hours after I left Jen, my wife stopped by to get an acupuncture treatment from her. I might just do that myself sometime.

UPDATE - 3/23/07 - I had lunch again today with the former Miss Malley. Her husband joined us as well - nice guy. Jen had a couple of interesting stories about a few of our former classmates. But... I will refrain from writing about them, despite the fact that they were funny as hell. I basically have one rule when it comes to this blog. When someone tells me something a bit "risque" about a classmate, I don't write about it. It'd kind of be like a betrayal of trust. Now if those people choose to make the comments themselves, that's great. I could make a whole other blog about some of the stuff I've been told in the past 14 months. But I won't. But I could! But alas, I won't. I'm just saying I could though. But I won't.

UPDATE - 10/4/07 - Wow, has it been that long since I've done an update on Jen? I guess so. Anyway, my wife has been a frequent customer of Jenny's acupuncture treatments. She plans to start up again with her soon. Jenny and I have had lunch two or three times. I think we're do for another one soon. I also have this new picture of her. If memory serves, it was snapped back in early September. Keep smiling Jen! Oh, and happy birthday!



UPDATE - 5/31/08 - I received an Email from Brandon Podhola today. He ran into Jenny earlier today. She's training for a half marathon. Here's the Email he sent me.


Burt

I haven't seen much action on the blog lately but I wanted to drop you a note about someone that I ran into today.

My wife, son and I take an annual hike through Point Beach State Forest and then stop for a pizza at Port Sandy Bay. I worked at P.B. for four years and I grew up where Hwys VV and O intersect so I spent a good deal of time in that place.

We were on our way back on the trail that follows the creek and two runners passed us. The woman shouted out "Brandon?" as they went buy. I didn't see who it was at first because we moved off to the side of the trail and I got whapped in the face by a branch. It turned out to be Jenny Malley (or Bertram). She was running with her husband and they were training for an off road half marathon. She said that old trail was a perfect place to train. We spoke briefly as they were in the middle of a workout and the mosquitos were getting bad as the day was heating up. I told her that I was surprised that she recognized me as most people from our class don't.

After we went our separate ways, it occured to me that we had a camera along as we usually take our annual family photo on the beach. It was obviously too late to get a picture and its not like I was going to catch them. I dont' like to drive 13 miles much less run that far. I was kicking myself since it would have made a great addition to the blog. Truely a lost opportunity.

She still looked great and her husband seemed very nice in the few minutes that we spoke.

Anyways, I thought you'd be interested in that since you two see each other from time to time. Say hi to her for me the next time you have lunch.

Hope all is well with you.

Brandon

17 Comments:

At Fri Jan 13, 12:00:00 PM PST, Blogger TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

Hello. You just jogged a Jenny memory when you mentioned Sting.

I don't know the story, or how it happened. But I recall Jenny mentioning that she once got to sit in Sting's limo. I don't think Sting was with there at the time.

So Jenny, where are you? What's the story?

 
At Sat Jan 28, 03:50:00 PM PST, Blogger TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

Ok, here's the answer to your challenge. Did anyone ever have anything bad to say about Jenny Malley? The answer is yes. I don't know the content or reasons. But the person was class of 1990's Sheri Woodkey.

Sheri kept a journal. It was like a diary. As a senior, I had two teachers who required us to have one, and write in it everyday. So it wasn't unusual to have one. But I was smart enough to realize that if you keep a notebook journal at school, there is always a possibility that it could get lost or stolen. So I never put anything in there that I wouldn't want other people to see. Sheri wasn't as bright.

During our senior year, someone got a hold of Sheri's journal. And it was passed all over. She said some pretty nasty stuff about a lot of people - one of whom was Jenny Malley. I had Jenny in Ms. Neveau's Mass Media class. And she commented on the fact that Sheri had said some bad things about her. She just shrugged her shoulders about it. It didn't seem to bother her in the least.

 
At Mon Jan 30, 10:40:00 AM PST, Blogger TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

Holy crap! It's Jenny! How did you find your way to this blog???

 
At Mon Jan 30, 09:32:00 PM PST, Blogger SonnyKidd said...

Jenny Malley is a Buddhist...the world as we know it collapsing in upon itself...she's getting her Masters in Asian Medicine and Tibetan Medicine...wow. That is a far cry from the perky blonde we all knew in high school. That one is a shocker to me.

 
At Mon Jan 30, 10:19:00 PM PST, Blogger TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

Yes indeed she is. She's in Santa Cruz. I dropped her a line. And sure enough, she wrote me back. It was great to hear from her. She's actually moving back to Wisconsin this summer. I'll have more to say later. But it's late now. And I need to go to bed!

 
At Tue Jan 31, 01:08:00 PM PST, Blogger jenny said...

yes, i'm buddhist...i don't understand why that makes the world collapse..why is this shocking...and if you thought that i was perky in high school, you don't know me very well...
so...honestly. don't you know...buddha rocks?
actually i haven't changed a bit, you'd be surprised, besides a few gray hairs and 8 tattoos, i look pretty much the same.
i'm happy as a clam, life is good. i love my husband, i love school, family's great. i have a boxer black lab named paco, i listen to loud music and watch movies everynight on my new projector which i project on the wall. i don't own a tv. my goal is to read a novel every week outside of class. what else do you want to know?

 
At Tue Jan 31, 03:14:00 PM PST, Blogger jenny said...

oh i am having so much fun with this...thanks burt... you rock!
hi brad, it's great to be back in contact. you're a good egg my friend.
i do remember sherri woodkey...i don't recall ever having a reason for us to dislike eachother. so.......whatever, right?
so I have to admit to Jeff and Burt, it was richard I admired first, way back in Kindergarten.... I trapped him in the stagecoach at Magee school and gave him a peck on the cheek along with Michele Nicholas...ah... my first kiss..

 
At Wed Feb 01, 08:25:00 PM PST, Blogger SonnyKidd said...

Hell Jen, I'm just glad someone out there in our class is still married! This blog is Dr. Phil's wet dream. I was beginning to think that our class was cursed for all the screwing around we did back in the day, like some sorta marriage Final Destination. That's awesome that you're heading back to WI. Welcome back to the land of four seasons, we missed ya.

 
At Wed Feb 01, 09:06:00 PM PST, Blogger TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

With this one of mine, this entry now has 16 comments - far and away the most of any other post. To think, after all these years, the woman can still draw a crowd.

As Meff said above, quite a legacy.

 
At Wed Feb 01, 09:50:00 PM PST, Blogger karmadog said...

Jenny-

I'm also Buddhist. What's your practice like? Love to talk Dharma sometime.

 
At Thu Feb 02, 12:48:00 PM PST, Blogger jenny said...

hey mr. greg pagel (and anyone else who cares), i have taken a vow in the Nyingma lineage, my dharma name was given to me by Tulku Thunten Rinpoche, he named me Tharpa Pamo-"Fearless Heroine of Total liberation. I practice Tonglen Meditation, Medicine Buddha Tantra, Avalokiteshvara Sudhana, and The Tara Tantra. I will visit your website, let's talk dharma!

hey jason, i recall the morning at camp tapawingo, hot stuff, huh? anyway do you remember 3rd grade with Mrs. Mclrath(SP!). you gave Larry Daffner a birdhouse kit for xmas? i personally thought it was a cool gift, however Larry didn't seem to like it? do you remember his reaction?

 
At Thu Feb 02, 02:55:00 PM PST, Blogger karmadog said...

Jenny --

Wow! You're a serious practitioner! It must be nice to live in CA, where there's a dharma center on every streetcorner. I have to drive an hour just to get to the nearest sangha!

My practice usually consists of:
1. Following the Five Precepts
2. Following the Eightfold Path
3. Sitting -- I do lots of Mindfulness of breathing, some Metta, and some Tonglen.

It's hard to be a practitioner in Manitowoc. There's no teacher, and you have to keep it a secret -- I lost a student once because I'm a Buddhist. Having 2 kids and 50 students doesn't make it easier, either. But I read sutras, sit when I can, and keep trying.
If it weren't for the practice, I'm sure I'd be dead by now.

 
At Thu Feb 02, 08:24:00 PM PST, Blogger SonnyKidd said...

Jeez Jen, 3rd grade...I can barely remember yesterday. But wait...didn't he ball his eyes out? I believe that's it. I do remember being heavily involved in theatre with the Scott twins and others. Theatre...HA! I guess that is what you could call it. I do remember my first kiss...Becky Schmidt in 2nd grade in the woods behind Holy Redeemer. She had grape jelly on her face. Hilarious what the brain retains and decides to wipe clean. I will also have it known that Jenny & I were an item back in the day. She may not have gotten a ring like Cindy (I found it on the playground) but we were sweethearts none the less...

 
At Thu Feb 02, 08:49:00 PM PST, Blogger TWORIVERSWALRUS said...

Becky Schmidt - now there's a name from the past. If memory serves, she left us to go to a Catholic school, after 5th grade. She was a tomboy.

Apparently the girl got around. Dave Svatek lost his virginity to her in the summer of 1985.

 
At Thu Jul 26, 06:27:00 PM PDT, Blogger swp said...

Hey Jenny! I was just wondering if you remember an incident involving a mustard packet and your jean jacket at the park? I hope that you have been able to lead a normal life after I commited such a villianous act upon you.Best Wishes To You!

 
At Fri Jul 27, 07:46:00 AM PDT, Blogger jenny said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At Fri Jul 27, 10:00:00 PM PDT, Blogger swp said...

I think you wiped a booger on me for that(mustard)thing.It was great to hear from you ! Shawn

 

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