Mike looks very serious in this picture, but he was a lot of fun. We had an amazing class of 8th graders at Westwood. Most of us, I think, were underachieving smart-alecks who needed encouragement. Our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Crossley, was the most wonderful, nurturing teacher in the world. Mike was in another class and did something so dreadful that his teacher wanted to kick him out of school. Mrs. Crossley asked us to vote on whether we would accept Mike into our class. The vote, of course, was unanimous because some of us knew Mike, and the rest of us adored Mrs. Crossley. Mike immediately fit right in and livened us all up with his good cheer and friendliness. For one of his book reports, Mike talked about a science fiction book. In the book, some fuzzy outer-space beings called wimpies or impies or wobblies or something floated around and helped the main character. Those little creatures, and Mike's book report in general, caught our imagination. During our freshman year at Rich, Sheila Qunell arranged for us to go back to Westwood for a birthday party for Mrs. Crossley. Sheila's mother made some of those cookies that have crunchy chinese noodles in them, and she called them wimpies or impies or wobblies or whatever Mike's book's creatures were called. I don't know anything about Mike after he was in high school, and have no idea how he died, but he gave me and the rest of my 8th grade classmates some wonderful memories. All of us are probably glad he got kicked out of his other class. RIP, Mike.
Nancy Kilbride (Cook)
Mike looks very serious in this picture, but he was a lot of fun. We had an amazing class of 8th graders at Westwood. Most of us, I think, were underachieving smart-alecks who needed encouragement. Our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Crossley, was the most wonderful, nurturing teacher in the world. Mike was in another class and did something so dreadful that his teacher wanted to kick him out of school. Mrs. Crossley asked us to vote on whether we would accept Mike into our class. The vote, of course, was unanimous because some of us knew Mike, and the rest of us adored Mrs. Crossley. Mike immediately fit right in and livened us all up with his good cheer and friendliness. For one of his book reports, Mike talked about a science fiction book. In the book, some fuzzy outer-space beings called wimpies or impies or wobblies or something floated around and helped the main character. Those little creatures, and Mike's book report in general, caught our imagination. During our freshman year at Rich, Sheila Qunell arranged for us to go back to Westwood for a birthday party for Mrs. Crossley. Sheila's mother made some of those cookies that have crunchy chinese noodles in them, and she called them wimpies or impies or wobblies or whatever Mike's book's creatures were called. I don't know anything about Mike after he was in high school, and have no idea how he died, but he gave me and the rest of my 8th grade classmates some wonderful memories. All of us are probably glad he got kicked out of his other class. RIP, Mike.