VALORI FRANCO

Valori is a girl who joined me at Clarke. I got to know her a little bit in 7th grade, as we had Mr. Schambureck together for social studies.

Val was dark-skinned. Based on her last name, I'd guess she's hispanic. But I don't know for sure.

Val had a mouth on her. She was as loud and brash as any of the boys. She wouldn't shy away from saying anything. In fact, she was a bit too much. Her outspoken attitude often made me cringe. Sometimes she was ok. But sometimes I didn't want to be around her at all. Not that I was ever the target for her. But she seemed to have a bit of a mean streak in her. And she wasn't afraid to embarrasss someone if she wanted to.

Val and I never had much contact over the years. Although I did see one of her nipples once. It was in the hot lunch line at Clarke - 8th grade I think. She was wearing a pink, buttoned shirt. And it was a little loose or something. Because when she moved or breathed, an area between the buttons would spread, allowing a clear view inside her shirt. On this given day, I had a clear shot of her left nipple - despite the fact that she had a bra on. She had very large areolas as well. I never was attracted to Val. So a sneak peak at her goodies did nothing for me. Still, as a male, I'm required to look.

About the only other thing that stands out with Val was from Mr. Conrad's biology class during sophomore year. Val was being her usual loud self. And she kept repeating the phrase, "Slam bam, thank you maam." She said this several times - quite loudly. Why? Who knows. But at one point, Janice Erison commented to Tammy Franzen, "Isn't is "WHAM bam?" Janice was right of course.

Val didn't actually graduate with my class. She's officially listed as a member of the class of 1990. I'd heard that she was half a credit short, due to failing swimming during gym class of her sophomore year. Can you imagine not graduating because of that? Wow. At least she went back and finished.

I ran into Val many, many times at the video store. By that time she had married and had become Valori Gadzinski. She had at least one child, perhaps more. She ended up divorcing in 2000. Today it looks like she's remarried and is known as Valori Manes. Last I knew, she was living in Manitowoc.