JOHN STELTZ

I'm not sure if John was around at Magee or not. Something tells me he was. But I don't know for sure. At the very least, he was around at Clarke. I had John in 6th grade, in Mrs. Casey's class.

Well thanks to Cindy Rohrer, I can confirm that John was at Magee. He's in the picture below, in the lower right. I'm thinking this was 3rd grade.



John was kind of a studly-looking guy. At least he thought so anyway. And truth be told, he was quite popular with the ladies. Carrie Collard had the hots for him.

John had a big ego. He was a bit of a jerk to those lower on the social ladder than he was. But for the most part, he and I got along. I didn't have a problem with him.

When we were in Mrs. Westburg's music class that year, we often had to listen/sing to a song. It was Moving Pictures' "What About Me." Anyway, John used to air drum to the song. And it didn't take long before people started to notice. But when they did, he loved it. He was an attention whore, no doubt.

Late in that year, we had some sort of free day. And Mrs. Casey invited the students to bring in any records they wanted to play. Someone (perhaps Ross Remiker) brought in Men At Work's album "Business As Usual." It was brand new and quite popular at the time. John bragged that he had the album too. Of course I found it very curious that John went to look at the lyrics on the inside of the album in order to verify a certain line. Soemthing tells me that if he had the album at home, he wouldn't have done that.

One day John walked up to my desk and jabbed his fingernail into my hand. He actually broke the skin. It hurt for a few days. Why did he do this? Who knows.

Someone (perhaps Chip Pelnar) mentioned that he was really grossed out because John had green toenails. Apparently he'd seen them in the lockerroom.

Below is a picture from Cindy Rohrer's birthday party. If I'm not mistaken, this is from 7th grade. John is in the back, on the left, leaning against the wall.



John's parents shipped him off to one of the catholic schools. I don't even know if he was at Clarke in 7th grade. If he was, that was probably his last year with me. I'm quite sure he wasn't there in 8th grade. John ended up graduating from Roncalli.

Correction, John was at least in 7th grade, as evidenced by the picture below.



After graduating, John started coaching football at Roncalli in the fall of 1989. He was an assistant. John then attended UW Milwaukee. While doing so, he continued coaching football in Whitefish Bay. He also began to cach girls' basketball. He graduated from college in 1994.

Between the fall of 1994 and the spring of 1996 I saw John a few times. Both of us attended UW Green Bay. He was there to earn his teaching certificate. We never spoke or even acknowledged one another. John had very little hair left by then. He was also a bit paunchy. Both of us graduated in 1996.

In 1997, John married a woman named Desiree. I believe they have at least two kids. Today John continues to coach girls' basketball, as well as teach English at Seymour Community High School. The first picture is from maybe three years ago. The bottom picture appears to be the most current.





UPDATE - 11/30/06 - Out of the blue, I got a nice E-mail from John Steltz today. You can see it below. If anyone wants to write to John, you can do so at jsteltz@seymour.k12.wi.us



I am assuming this email is you Burt.

This blog was brought to my attention by one of my colleagues here at
Seymour High School. He is actually a grad of Manitowoc Lincoln (mid
1990's). Anyway, he told me he ran across it and noticed my name and
began reading. At first, when he was describing what he read, I have to
admit that I was a bit skeptical. As I surfed around and found it and
began reading the info on all of these people I was absolutely
fascinated.

I am not sure that I am worthy of being included in this group as I did
graduate from Roncalli High School. However, I am very interested in
reading about all of these people I grew up with. You know what's
really kind of funny about all of this is that your perceptions, my
perceptions, and everyone else's are through lenses of adolescents and
teenagers, only now we articulate those perceptions through mid thirties
experiences and wisdom.

I have very fond memories of grade school at Magee and middle school at
Clarke. Many of those people that are mentioned in your blog were a
big part of my youth. The memories are priceless. Some good, some bad
but all worth thinking about. Thanks for doing this. It has been
intriguing to examine the entries...I just wish I had more time.

John P. Steltz
English Teacher
Girls Basketball
Seymour Community High School