MR. RYSTICKEN

I don't know a whole lot about Mr. Rysticken. I believe his first name was Tom. He was a math teacher in high school. I never had him myself.

Meff had him in his freshman year. At one point, Mr. Rysticken told him that he needed to come see him after school for some extra help. But did they meet in the classroom? Oh no. Rysticken made him come down to the weight room - which was called "Hulk Hall." When Meff got down there, he found him doing bench presses. So in between grunting and sweating, Rysticken spewed out some wisdom about fractions or something. It was a surreal experience, to be sure.

Mr. Rysticken is the father of fellow graduate Craig Rysticken. In my senior year, Craig mentioned (in Mr. Schwantes' class) that his dad was furious at him for apparently losing the car keys. Craig denied that he'd lost them. But he made it clear that that was a battle he wasn't going to win.

Craig once told my friend Dave Svatek that he would sometimes fool around and wrestle with his father. It was mostly all in fun. But according to Craig (allegedly, according to what Dave told me) Mr. Rysticken would sometimes get a little too aggressive and really start going wild on Craig. Craig's childhood aggressive nature has been well documented in this blog. Perhaps it was an inherited trait. Who knows.

I believe that Mr. Rysticken has been retired for awhile now. I imagine he still lives in Two Rivers. In addition to Craig, Mr. Rysticken had a daughter - class of 1986's Kristine. Something tells me that Craig may have had a much younger sister too. I could be wrong about that though.