John was the first person I met when my family moved to Metuchen in the summer of 1959. He came over to our house very soon after we moved in and invited me to join him in some game or activity, and we became fast friends throughout 7th and 8th grades. He introduced me to Jean Shepherd's radio show, for which I will be eternally grateful. We camped out on my side lawn often during the summer, and listening to Shep on a transistor radio was part of the late night ritual.
During high school we drifted apart but remained friends. Unfortunately, John had a tendency to make bad decisions, and that tendency got him into no small amount of trouble. Nevertheless, it's hard to see why it had to take a fatal turn, because he was very bright, clever and talented, and he applied those abilities in many positive ways. Life is full of "what might have been," and had John been granted a longer life, I know I would have looked forward to seeking him out at reunions to catch up on his latest accomplishments. His death, a mere two years after MHS graduation, was my first experience with the death of a contemporary whom I really knew, and is just as hard to understand now as it was then.
Daniel Lupfer
John was the first person I met when my family moved to Metuchen in the summer of 1959. He came over to our house very soon after we moved in and invited me to join him in some game or activity, and we became fast friends throughout 7th and 8th grades. He introduced me to Jean Shepherd's radio show, for which I will be eternally grateful. We camped out on my side lawn often during the summer, and listening to Shep on a transistor radio was part of the late night ritual.
During high school we drifted apart but remained friends. Unfortunately, John had a tendency to make bad decisions, and that tendency got him into no small amount of trouble. Nevertheless, it's hard to see why it had to take a fatal turn, because he was very bright, clever and talented, and he applied those abilities in many positive ways. Life is full of "what might have been," and had John been granted a longer life, I know I would have looked forward to seeking him out at reunions to catch up on his latest accomplishments. His death, a mere two years after MHS graduation, was my first experience with the death of a contemporary whom I really knew, and is just as hard to understand now as it was then.