Sunday, Oct. 20  2024--My closest friend in high school was John, a handsome, quirky fellow.  His quirkiness was a result of his memory of watching as a child his mother throwing herself in front of a railroad train.  Years later John and I were in the attic of my parents’ garage listening to my 78 rpm jazz record collection.  Suddenly John started tossing my Fats Waller record as if he were a discus thrower, smashing them to pieces.  From that time on, John was known as “Waller.”  He also was a left-handed pitcher for the Dickinson Junior Legion baseball team.