DEAN LICHTERMAN

Dean is a guy I met in 5th grade.

Dean was a nerd. That's such a childish word. But really, that's what he was. Personally, I think he was higher up on the nerd totem poll than most of the others. But he was still one of them.

Dean had very large glasses. And he always had a look on his face like he was in pain. I got along with Dean for the most part. I'm pretty sure he was involved in all the football and baseball card trading that went on that year.

Dean was also a pretty smart guy. He was into athletics. But I'm not sure if he participated much. Something tells me he may have played football a year or two. He kind of had a wide frame.

In the summer of 1982, I ran into (or swam into) Dean at the family swim place by Magee. He and I started talking. Then I went over to his house. That was an interesting experience. The house was filthy. It was also one of the messiest homes I'd ever seen. More than once I had to dodge some cat shit that was on the floor. I even noticed a pile of cat shit resting on the vacuum cleaner. I guess it hadn't been used in awhile.

Dean and I stayed in his room and played Atari. I remember we played Keystone Kapers quite a bit. Then Dean showed me something I'd never seen before, and have never seen since. He opened up the refrigerator and showed me a chocolate penis. Yes, I said chocolate penis. You don't see those two words side by side very often. It belonged to his parents. I have no idea where one would go to get such a thing. But they found a way. Awhile later, his parents came home. And I kept talking about the chocolate dick in the fridge. Dean kept telling me to be quiet. But I was having too much fun being loud. I'm sure they heard me.

Dean always had great big glasses, even as the years went by. To me, he sort of looked like an owl. He also seemed kind of stiff, as if he were standing too far upright, so as to actually bend back a little bit.

I had Dean in 6th grade as well. Or perhaps he only came into my class for reading. No, I think he was there all day. The only thing I remember is that he once did a report on the guy who started the game of basketball. Dean was a big basketball fan.

After 6th grade, Dean and I didn't talk much. We always got along. We just didn't mingle. In high school, I'm not sure what sort of crowd he hung with. Maybe he was his own clique.

On our senior video, Dean mentions that his plans for after high school are to make a ton of money, buy the Milwaukee Bucks, and have more cash than Donald Trump. I'm pretty sure he hasn't fulfilled any of those goals. Instead, I think he went to college somewhere, with ambitions of becoming a journalist. It looks like he landed a job at a newspaper in Fairbanks, Alaska. But now it looks like he's writing for a paper near Rochester, New York. It looks like he's married to a woman named Lori. But I don't think they have any kids.

UPDATE - 1/26/06 - I uploaded Dean's clip from the senior video. Also, I found some additional information about him. He attended Cornell College. Today he still lives in New York, with his wife, one cat, and three fish. He writes for the Messenger Post Newspaper, which apparently is an online newspaper in New York. He's the sports reporter. A recent photo of him can be seen below the Youtube clip. He looks pretty much exactly the same.





UPDATE - 4/13/07 - Well, Dean's wife came by and left a comment. She also E-mailed me, and provided me with a link to their website, as well as a bunch of photos. You can check out the website here. THE LICHTERMANS

The website has a detailed story of how Dean and his wife met. It also has tons of pictures - some of which I've posted below.

2ND GRADE?




HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION



PLAYING COLLEGE FOOTBALL



COLLEGE GRADUATION



DEAN & WIFE (WEDDING DAY - JUNE 10, 2000)



DEAN & WIFE (2001)



DEAN & WIFE (2003)



DEAN & CAT



UPDATE - 6/13/07 - Dean no longer works for that particular newspaper. I don't know where he works today.