ROSS REMIKER

Ross is a guy who I met in 4th grade. We both had Mrs. Schmidt.

Ross was a small, skinny guy. He also had some pretty big glasses. Now that I think about it, he looked sort of brainy or dorky. But somehow he didn't come across as a dork. He was however quite bright.

In 4th grade, Mrs. Schmidt used to keep big stacks of scrap paper on her back table. Ross (and others) used to take those pieces of paper and draw pictures of Barney. No, not the purple monstrosity that should be beaten to a pulp before it ever infects another child. No, this was the peanut-shaped cartoon from Barney's Clubhouse Pow. Ross, above everyone else, drew perhaps hundreds of pictures of Barney over time. It was some sort of fad to do that for awhile. Unfortunately, things got out of hand. And Mrs. Schmidt banned anyone from using her scrap paper to draw another Barney picture again.

Ross and I were back together again in 6th grade, with Mrs. Casey. I recall that Ross was a huge Brewers' fan. So we had that in common. In fact, I saw Ross at a Brewers' game once, in the summer of 1983. There was a rain delay. And he was wandering around. If memory serves, John Steltz was with him.

In 6th grade, Men At Work got really big. In their video for "Down Under," one of the guys takes his shoe off, holds it up, and sings, "I said to the man, are you trying to tempt me?" I remember Ross doing the same thing once, as a joke. Don't ask me why I remember that. But I do.

At some point that year, Ross blurted out an incredibly long nonsensical word. I asked him to write it down for me. But he wouldn't. He wanted to keep it a secret. However, later on in the year, Ross wanted to borrow my markers for something. I told him I would, if he wrote that word down for me. So he did. I may be speeling it wrong, but the word was: aaskinstopherdiddlyofermibbledeebabbledeeboo. I love it! I copied the word down and put it on everyone's desk. Before long, the word became a rallying cry of some sort. I can recall being in gym class, leading the class. I'd yell "aaskin." They yell, "stopher." And it would continue like that. And we all would shout, "boo" at the end. We also did this on the bus, coming back from the school picnic at the end of the year.

After 6th grade, Ross and I didn't have too much contact with each other. In high school, I think Ross played the trumpet. I think he was on the cross country team as well. He certainly had the build for it.

In freshman year, I had Ross in Mrs. Fischer's language class. I remember him giving a speech. In it, he mentioned that his little brother had once chased him through the house with a large butcher knife. I think Ross said that he barricaded himself behind a locked door to get away from him.

In our senior year, Ross broke his arm. I think it was some sort of diving board mishap.

Also in senior year, Ross asked me if he could borrow all of my Beatles' albums. He wanted to copy them onto tape. That was fine with me. So Ross stopped by my house one evening and took them. He brought them back a few days later.

Ross was planning to go to college for some sort of engineering. I believe he did just that. I think he went to UW Madison. Today he works for some high-tech company called Orbitec. He married a woman named Kristin. I believe they have at least one child. Today they live in the Madison area.

UPDATE - 11/11/06 - Care to see what Ross was drawing? Look down and view.