ROBIN RICHMOND

My first memories from Robin are from our days at Clarke. Robin was a somewhat hefty boy, not very well-liked, with the exception of his small circle of friends - which included the likes of Valori Franco and that twink Peter Flora.

Robin was the kind of person who could be very obnoxious - but only if his friends were around. Otherwise, he was too timid to say much of anything. When I was in Mr. Franke's 8th grade science class, Ken Bartz and I used to pick on Peter Flora quite a bit. Since Peter sat with Robin, some of our verbal attacks floated his way as well. Robin was such an easy target. He was annoying.

In freshman year, I had Robin in Mrs. Fischer's french class. At one point, we were learning how to say how old our parents were. When it came to Robin, he said (in french) that his mom was something like 34. Most people thought he'd made a mistake. That would mean that she had Robin when she was around 19. It's young, but it did happen. People were even more shocked when (in french) he said that his grandma was something like 49! Does anyone else remember celebrating the 40th birthday of one of their grandparents?

I don't have a whole lot of memories about him from high school. He just existed, as did I. By junior year, I believe he found himself hanging out with people like Scott Jaklin, Chris Staudinger and Marty Johnson. I believe Peter Flora was still around as well.

Near the end of our junior year, I started hanging out with Scott myself. And Scott more-or-less dropped Robin as a friend. Scott told me that he did tell Robin how cool I was, and that he should try to accept me as well.

No thanks Scott! Neither Robin nor myself were the least bit interested. Although if memory serves, Scott did drag Robin over to my house once, for a very brief visit. I was thrilled... In the end, Scott picked me and Dave. And Robin was history.

I ran into Robin many times at the video store. Now most guys will inevitably lose some hair as they grow older. But Robin had some sort of accelerated process going on. The kid was nearly bald within a year or two after graduation. It was a hell of a sight!

Robin lost his driver's license for excessive speeding once. Today, I believe he lives and works in the Milwaukee area. I don't believe he's married.