CRAIG STANGEL

Craig is a guy I met in 5th grade. We had Miss Krause together.

Craig was a rather tall guy, and very athletic. I remember that in gym class, he could run faster than anyone in class. Jason Anderson was his only competition. Craig would beat Jason everytime - but just barely. I recall that one day, we had to run all the way around the field at Magee. Jason told me that he thought he could beat Craig, as he figured Craig was more of a short distance runner, and not suited for long runs. It was a close race. But Craig did in fact beat Jason - by one second.

We had some sort of dress-up day once. Craig came to school with big clown hair, and sunglasses that had flashing lights on them. If you look in the picture below, you can see a picture of Craig in his costume.

Craig had a T-shirt with a picture of his own face on it.

I know that Craig's parents eventually put him into one of the catholic schools. I have no memories of him at Clarke. So he probably left after 5th grade.

The next time I saw Craig was in my junior year of high school. I was in a car with Richard, Dave, Dave's sister Kelly, and Craig's older brother Rob. We passed him on a road in Manitowoc. I was impressed that Craig remembered me. He saw me and said, "Hi Burt."

Craig's family owned and operated Stangel's grocery store in downtown Two Rivers. Sometimes we would go in there to say hi to Rob, and would run into Craig as well.

I have not seen Craig since probably 1988. He graduted from Roncalli. I think he stayed in the area for the most part, until he married Washington High School, class of 1987's Karen Swoboda. Today they live in Oostburg. I believe they have two kids.