PAULA JONAS

The quickest way to get me to write about someone is for that person to come on my blog and post some comments. In honor of Paula's appearance, this is what I recall.

I first remember Paula in 7th grade. And it's an odd, ongoing memory. At some point that year, Paula decided that she was in love with me - or so she said. Granted, she wasn't serious, obviously. But nonetheless, whenever our paths crossed, she would declare her undying love for me. I have to wonder if she even remembers that. But it lasted for months. What was her motivation for it? I don't know. Was she egged on by a few select friends? I don't know. I kind of liked the attention. Although I was embarrassed by it too.

By 8th grade, all the love was gone. (Sigh) I had her in Mr. Stodola's math class. For whatever reason, one day I had the word "Borf" written on my paper. She walked by and said, "What's that... boy?" The attention-starved Dave Kanera then walked by and said something like, "Yeah, it's Boy Burt. He has to say that so he knows what sex he is." For several months, Dave and Paula referred to me as Boy Burt. Whatever.

I don't know which year it was. But I know it took place at Clarke. It was a Monday. We were in the hot lunch line near one another. And Paula had spent way too much time in the sun over the weekend. Her arms were burned as bad as I'd ever seen anyone's. Honestly, they were as red as tomatoes. You could tell she was in pain too.

In high school our paths didn't cross too much. Initially, I thought of her as being really snobby. However, from what I saw, she got much nicer with age. In fact, she was quite charming and friendly by the time high school ended. I found her to be very pleasant.

At some point during high school, she began to go out with class of 1990's Cory Shimulunas. I don't know if it's true or not. But in our senior year (I think) I heard that the two of them had some sort of argument and broke up - allegedly right before a big basketball game. And the basketball coach, Mr. Wegner was pissed at Paula for doing it at that time. So much drama! Did it happen? Who knows. But if it did, it obviously didn't last long. They must have made up. Because eventually they got married, and remain so to this day.

I ran into Paula and Cory hundreds of times at the video store. Both of them were as nice as could be, and were always smiling and happy. To this day, I believe they still live in Two Rivers. I think they have three children. Last I knew, Paula worked for Aurora.

UPDATE - 2/15/06 - Paula has provided a recent picture of her and her daughter. Thank you Paula! (Click it to get the full size).



UPDATE - 7/20/06 - On July 15th, Kevin Dehne and I stopped in to see Paula. We met her three kids as well. Although her husband was out of town at the time. We sat and talked (and gossiped) for maybe 25 minutes, and had two sodas as well. Before we left, we snapped the photo below.



UPDATE - 11/20/06 - Here's some video from that 7/15/06 visit.



UPDATE - 10/4/07 - Back in July, Erin Hynek visited Two Rivers. One night she went out with Brenda Gordon and Paula. While they were out, they ran into Mark Gordon. The results are the picture below.