MR. TREMBLEY

Mr. Trembley (Jerome) was the 7th grade English teacher. As far as I know, that's all he ever taught. For me and my class, he was also our homeroom teacher - which means we had him for English in first hour.

Trembley was a pretty amiable fellow. For the most part, we got along. Although we did have our differences as well. If memory serves, he played basketball in either high school or college. I think he was quite proud of his athletic background. I can recall him telling us that in one of his feet (his right one?) all the tendons had been broken. He provided "proof" of this by bending his foot to the side, further than it probably should have been.

Mr. Trembley once caught Toby Schwartz and I cheating on a spelling test. I think he failed both of us on that test.

I can't recall the incident that led to the next encounter. I was probably just being obnoxious. But Trembley took me into the hall and calmly read me the riot act. He wasn't a big screamer. But the two of us went toe-to-toe in our verbal sparring. Finally at one point, he said something to me like, "Don't you care about anything?" Being my normal cocky self, I looked him right in the eye and said, "No." Trembley looked really hurt by that statement. He simply said, "Ok." Then we both walked back into class. From that day forward, he was very distant towards me. It kind of seemed like he had taken the attitude that he was reaching out to me, trying to help me in some capacity, but had given up when I turned him away. Honestly, it really seemed like he was being that dramatic. All I was interested in doing was ending our conversation, and avoiding detentions. But Trembley apparently took it to heart.

Mr. Trembley had a small bald spot on the back of his head. All year long, both B.J. Lutterman and myself would say, "Spit shine... 25 cents" while we pretended to spit on our hands, then wipe it on the back of our heads. I don't know. We thought it was funny.

I think Mr. Trembley is retired. I believe he lives in Manitowoc.